In the midst of a 4-game winning streak, all ACC victories and the last three by 20 or more points, many have to be thinking that Duke is peaking at the right time.
Following the loss to Clemson, the Blue Devils faced some tough choices, get better in their weak areas or continue to try and play no defense and not rebound and win games. The likelihood of the latter happening was becoming less and less.
So, Duke regrouped, refocused and we’ve seen a much different product.
Following Duke’s impressive 78-56 victory over a pretty good and certainly very big Florida State team, Seminoles Coach Leonard Hamilton said he didn’t think that Duke’s loss to Clemson was surprising and thought they came out a different team and have gotten better since then.
Clearly, but I disagree to an extent in that while the loss wasn’t surprising, how they lost was. Duke was dominated on the glass, they couldn’t hit the water from a boat sitting in the middle of the ocean. They had no energy, no fight, and were essentially blown out. Not a good sign for a supposed national title contender.
A loss could have been acceptable had they had played half-way decently, Clemson is a good team, but a blow out loss was surprising.
Hamilton is right in that the team has grown and improved. You can see that progression in the last four games.
While many will say Duke victory over Virginia a couple weeks ago, came as the result of a lucky Rasheed Sulaimon bounce, the reality is that the Blue Devils controlled that game for most of it but simply didn’t put it away. Virginia being a good team fought back, but Duke made the plays necessary to win.
The Blue Devils since have dumped NC State, Miami and now Florida State by 20 or more points. They’ve done it using a significantly improved defense and rebounding and a regular rotation of 10 players to keep fresh legs.
A big factor in Duke’s recent turn around could be attributed to a more focused Mike Krzyzewski. After the death of his brother Bill the day after Christmas, Krzyzewski admitted he was knocked back and not at his best.
As a result his team was clearly not at its best either. Duke’s renewed sense of energy, and tough defensively play in the last four games is clearly is a reflection on the coaching Krzyzewski has done and the focus he has regained. The players have responded and as a result the team has gotten better.
The Blue Devils play games now with much more intensity on the defensive end and the result is clear in the number of turnovers and the increasing number of transition points and points off of those turnovers.
At the beginning of the season this team was advertised as a team that would run. It was even the words used on the team poster, however, that hasn’t been the case until now.
For a team to be a running team they will have to rely on defensive pressure and until recently this was shaping up to be one of the word defensive teams in recent memory.
The other aspect of the turnaround has been the rebounding, on both ends of the floor.
Against the much longer and taller Seminoles, Duke outrebounded them 47 to 24. They in fact had more offensive rebounds than Florida State had total rebounds. That is astounding and they did a lot of the work on the offensive glass.
Guys like Amile Jefferson, Jabari Parker and even Marshall Plumlee crashed the boards and helped the Blue Devils get second chance opportunity after second chance opportunity.
Duke has been a good, and at times a very good offensive team, however, they weren’t getting as many opportunities due to their inability to create second chance points for their shooters.
That has changed over the course of the last three games as the rebounding has progressively gotten better. The emergence of Rasheed Sulaimon into more of the player he was last year has only helped.
His ability to create shots for himself and others off the dribble have helped improve a previously stagnant half-court offense. Having him come off the bench in a second wave has also given that second team more offensive fire power.
While Krzyzewski said he doesn’t know how committed to the two-team system it is hard to imagine with how well it is working, that he is going to go away from it anytime soon.
The Blue Devils have seemingly found their rhythm and perhaps are peaking and beginning to become the team most thought they would be.
If that is the case, it is coming at the right time as Duke faces its toughest stretch of the season. Including the Florida State game, which ended favorably enough, the Blue Devils face Pitt on Monday, and Syracuse on Saturday.
Both games come on the road in what will be the most hostile environment the Blue Devils have faced all season. A win in either or both propels Duke back into the national spotlight a bit and would send a wave of confidence through the team that had been lost a bit.
The key is not to get complacent and to continue to play with the same intensity they have during this four-game stretch. If that happens then we can say Duke is peaking.
