ShareThisDURHAM, N.C. - For a team struggling with consistency, Duke certainly didn't have a problem with inconsistency Monday. To a man, coach and players alike, the Blue Devils were remarkably consistent when it came to identifying their biggest problem.
"A loss like yesterday is frustrating, because it's not a good performance," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's a very inconsistent performance."
"It just comes down to being consistent, as individuals and as a team," Duke forward Ryan Kelly said.
"We have to be consistent in how hard we play, just being there mentally, knowing the scouting report, knowing what we're doing," Duke forward Mason Plumlee said.
Sunday's overtime home loss to Miami is one that will provoke some soul-searching for a team like Duke, which at times has looked the equal of anyone in the country -- with wins over Michigan State and Kansas -- but was third in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 6-2 heading into Wednesday's game at North Carolina.
Objectively speaking, this is a crisis only by Duke standards: The Blue Devils have lost four games, three to certain NCAA tournament teams and a fourth to a potential tournament team.
Subjectively speaking, this is a crisis of Duke's standards: This team isn't doing what Duke teams have always done to win. It doesn't play consistently strong defense. It doesn't have go-to offensive players. Krzyzewski has gone through eight starting lineups looking for a combination that works, with nine different players starting games.
"It's been one of the most different teams I've had," Krzyzewski said. "Overall, they've done a good job, or we wouldn't be 19-4, but different guys have done well and we've done enough to win that many games. ... That's not usually the case for our team. Usually we have one or two guys who are all-ACC candidates."
There's no question Duke has players who are capable of playing at that level: Plumlee did it against Maryland. Andre Dawkins did it against Michigan State. Austin Rivers did it in the loss to Miami. Seth Curry should probably do it more often, and Kelly presents significant matchup problems. Yet none of them has done it regularly.
Defensively, there are even bigger issues. What Duke does well defensively -- guarding the perimeter, denying the entry pass, protecting the basket -- hasn't worked as well or as often as Duke expects, by the players' own admission. Again, consistency is the issue.
"It's very frustrating," Kelly said. "We've worked very hard to put ourselves in a position to execute well in the games, and we haven't done that consistently. That's something that has to change."
It's an open question whether Duke is lacking defensive-minded players like, just for example, former forward Lance Thomas, or if the Blue Devils are just too young to pull it off with only one senior and two freshmen and two sophomores in their nine-man rotation.
"This year, we have older guys who are in new roles themselves," Rivers said. "It's an old team that's finding (itself) with the young guys. It's a unique team."
Rivers may be a freshman, but he's right about that: For Duke, this is a unique team -- still a good one, no question about it, but very much a change of pace.
"It just depends on whether you like predictability or unpredictability," Krzyzewski said. "I would rather have a predictably good team."
(Contact Luke Decock at luke.decock(at)newsobserver.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
