Duke Is No Lock To Win 2015 NCAA Tournament Game

Mike Krzyzewski Duke
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

In 2007, it was a 79-77 loss to Virginia Commonwealth after Eric Maynor‘s 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left. In 2012, it was a 75-70 loss to Lehigh after star guard C.J. McCollum poured in 30 points to give the Mountain Hawks an historical No. 15 over No. 2 seed win. Last year, the senior starting lineup of the Mercer Bears railed to shock freshman Jabari Parker and the Duke Blue Devils by defeating them 78-71.

Yes, the Blue Devils have looked like one of the best teams in college basketball this year. Yes, history at times is still doomed to repeat itself. An opening game loss in the NCAA tournament for the team is certainly possible when you take into account the team’s awful display in a 91-86 overtime win over the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The Blue Devils gave up too many points to the Hokies on dribble penetration and allowed a team with two league wins to sink 12 three-pointers. This is a Hokies team that lost to Radford out of the Big South conference by two points and dropped a two-point defeat to Appalachian State out of the Sun Belt conference this season. While the Hokies look to be improving under head coach Buzz Williams, the team’s lack of overall talent and size in the paint should have made the Blue Devils visit to Cassell Coliseum a breeze.

Instead, the Blue Devils had to claw for 45 minutes behind a 30-point effort from Jahlil Okafor. Okafor dominated most of the night in the paint on an overall thin and small Hokies frontcourt. If Williams could have mustered more bodies against Okafor, the Blue Devils would have been leaving Blacksburg with a loss and a huge dent in their hopes of getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Furthermore, the Blue Devils knocked down 10 threes of their own. Senior guard Quinn Cook knocked down six to finish with 26 points. Freshman Justise Winslow added 15 points on 7-for-12 from the field. Point being, getting in a back and forth shooting match with a team 14th in the league standings is not a good thing.

Were the Blue Devils playing down to their competition? Probably so, but the team is likely to face an opponent like that in the early stages of the NCAA tournament. As Blue Devils fans know, it has very much been a feast or famine result since the loss to the Rams. Outside of the program’s fourth national title in 2010, the Blue Devils have been knocked out after winning one or fewer games in four of those seasons.

It is a concern that Mike Krzyzewski must keep in mind. While the Blue Devils have won a ton of impressive games on the road with many freshman contributors, the road to a national championship is a whole new ball game. The lights get a little brighter and the stakes raise when you have the shot of going home and your season ended. If the Blue Devils find themselves playing like they did last night, history could repeat itself in this year’s tournament.

Michael Costeines is the ACC basketball Blogger for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MCosteines, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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