Duke Loses to Miami for the First Time Since JFK Was President

How quickly do things change. One week ago, the Duke Blue Devils were 10-0 and were unstoppable. They had won every ACC game by at least nine points and had dispatched of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and swept Maryland. It was over.

Since then, Duke has lost twice ... with both losses to teams that shouldn't have a chance at beating them. Wake Forest pounded the Blue Devils into submission on Sunday; Miami did the same thing on Wednesday ... beating Duke, 96-95. It was the first time Miami had beaten Duke since 1962.

Now, a runaway regular season title has turned into a dead heat between the Blue Devils and arch rival North Carolina (who are also 10-2) for the top seed in the ACC Tournament.

The biggest knock against Duke is that they are a "donut team" -- they gun threes and have no low post presence. Detractors have asked what would happen if the threes weren't falling. Well, we now know. Duke went 8-for-28 from the arc against Wake and struggled early against Miami (the Canes had built a 59-39 lead). Eventually, the bombs started hitting and the Blue Devils mounted a valiant comeback ... but came up a little short.

Of course, not hitting threes isn't the lone problem: Miami scored 55 points in the second half of this game and shot an amazing 57% from the field. If Duke can do one thing, it is play defense. That has gone out the window over the last two games:

"Our team -- there's something missing this week," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We are not the same team these last two ballgames. It's almost like someone has come in and invaded their bodies."

Give credit to Miami. The Canes are trying to make an NCAA tournament push and a win like this shines some light on them. Dwayne Collins (26 pts) and Jack McClinton (22 pts) were beasts for Miami and Duke had no answer for either of them.

The Canes are now 5-6 in conference play and 18-7 overall making them the pure definition of "bubble team" right now. Things are turning for the better, as Miami is on a three game winning streak (which followed a stretch where they lost 6 of 7). They get Maryland at home this weekend before traveling to Clemson next Wednesday.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-21-2008 @ 10:20AM

Dave said...

Wow. Coach K really is asking, "Who are you, and what have you done with my players?"

2-21-2008 @ 11:08AM

gpetty said...

Todays ACC Headlines believes the losing streak is do to "unreported injuries" -- Scurvy, Flops, Wojoitis, Vampireis Epidermis, Into Thin Air Syndrome are just afew of the ailments having a negative effect on the Devils.

http://todaysaccheadlines.blogspot.com/2008/02/duke-unofficial-official-injury-report.html

Read the full report, then click on the header to see what Ol' Roy and the rest of the ACC has to say about the latest fued on Tobacco Road.

Having said that, how in the world did the Canes put up 96?

2-21-2008 @ 1:52PM

John said...

The Canes put up 96 because they missed no less than four gimmees in the opening 5 minutes. Those opening jitters kept the score down.

2-21-2008 @ 4:09PM

tobrien28 said...

As a Duke fan i fear they won't win a game in the tourney.

2-21-2008 @ 4:40PM

Charles Daley said...

With all of the Duke bashing going on lately, it seems like people have lost perspective as to what is really happening to the college game. Duke and to an extent North Carolina, as well as a few other NCAA teams are playing basketball the way it was envisioned years ago with basic fundamentals and teamwork. Many other teams have lapsed into a streetball mentality pretending to be in the NBA, which by the way really means NO BASKETBALL ALLOWED. It is unfortunate that the officiating has also has gone south with many officials too scared to call the game correctly, instead to allow the so called athleticism to go haywire and flaunt the rules. I remember when I took my younger son to the Dean Smith Basketball Camp back inthe early 90's and watched how the coaches worked with the young players instructing them on how to play the game, and later hearing of their dread of the inclusion of certain Big East teams because of the possibility of disrupting the ACC brand of basketball. Well folks that day is here, you are looking at ACC streetball with it's one on one offense, reach and grab defense, and officiating that allows the players to dictate the rules as opposed to the player conforming to the rules. If these players are so athletic they should not have any problem with that. The college as well as the high school game has changed and with so many so called fans (posers) with a smattering of basketball knowledge calling the shots nowadays I'm afraid the game will go the way of the dinosaur. I truly hope not

2-22-2008 @ 3:13AM

Jaysway18 said...

The only problem with everyone throwing dirt on DUKE's grave is that they're still in first place. They'll walk through St John's and Tech at home, virginia has nothing to play for and won't do much other than watch SS chuck it 30 times and then it's back home for unc-chapel hill in Cameron. K has figured out that complex offensive attack (don't give psycho t-bag any free throws) so with that win, they take the ACC and hop on the Raleigh/Charlotte express as a one seed.
Orrrrrrrrrrrrrr, unc-chapel hill drops one to a surging wake team that has had a full week to prepare and DUKE gets handed the conference. Either way.