Duke greets Boston College Eagles in Durham
Georgia Tech handed Duke its first ACC loss on Saturday leaving observers to wonder if that was the start of yet another late-season downturn for Mike Krzyzewski's bunch. The defeat dropped the Blue Devils from fifth to eighth in the latest AP rankings and in the tough ACC, a second conference loss this early could be tough to overcome. The good news is Duke will be hosting a weak Boston College team on Tuesday at Cameron.
Another year, another hot start for the Duke Blue Devils. How long before it all comes crashing down? Maybe it’s already started.
You may recall the 2008-09 Blue Devils went 18-1 SU (10-7-1 ATS) before losing four of their next six games and falling out of the top spot in the polls. Or how about 2007-08, which started off at 22-1 SU (13-7-2 ATS) before hitting the skids with a pair of losses at Wake Forest (+8½) and Miami (+6½).
You have to go back to Duke’s last national championship in 2001-02 to find a year that didn’t feature some kind of late-season slowdown.
This year, the Blue Devils rattled off 13 victories in their first 14 games (at a healthy 9-4 ATS) before they went down to Georgia Tech (+7) on Saturday and fell 71-67. Cue the dramatic music.
Duke dropped from No. 5 to No. 8 in the rankings after coming up flat against the Yellow Jackets; the Devils were playing their fifth game in 12 days and clearly didn’t have enough left in the tank – a problem that should continue to haunt them between now and March Madness. Duke ranks No. 258 out of 347 Division I teams in depth as measured by bench minutes played at 28.6 percent.
The good news for the Blue Devils is that their next game is against a relatively weak opponent in the Boston College Eagles (10-6 SU, 5-7 ATS). The Eagles rank No. 78 in team efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy, well behind Duke at No. 2.
They’ve lost four of their last eight games to the likes of Harvard (+12) and Maine (NL), a member of the America East Conference, which rates No. 26 out of the 33 conferences (including independents as a group) in efficiency. Only North Carolina State (No. 90) has a lower efficiency ranking than Boston College out of the 12 teams in the mighty ACC.
Duke also has the benefit of returning to Cameron Indoor Stadium for this matchup. Duke is undefeated at home this year at 5-3 ATS, the most impressive win coming against Clemson (+11½) two Sundays ago. The last time the Blue Devils lost in Durham to a team other than North Carolina was back in 2006-07, when Virginia Tech (+8½) won 69-67 in overtime.
Boston College, however, is 3-1 SU and ATS on the road this year. And while the Eagles may be near the bottom of the ACC ladder, this is the best conference in Division I according to efficiency. Every game is a potential pitfall for the Devils.
“When they’re young, there’s an adjustment period,” coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters about the perils of conference play.
But maybe this Duke team is finally experienced enough to handle the workload. There are only three freshmen and two sophomores on the roster; the starting lineup employs two juniors and two seniors, led by shooting guard Jon Scheyer (20.1 points, 6.1 assists per game) at the ripe old age of 22.
Duke players have an average of 1.91 years under their belts compared to 1.82 years for Boston College and 1.69 years for your typical Division I team.
This also figures to be a rare year where Duke can honestly say it has a tougher lineup than Boston College. This year’s Eagles are having a whale of a time getting to the foul line with a free-throw/field goal attempt ratio of 31.9 percent, or No. 283 in Division I. The Blue Devils look like a Rollerball team by comparison at 35.2 percent, or No. 218 overall. This is a big advantage for Duke at 76.8 percent from the foul line; the Eagles are hitting 70.9 percent of their freebies.
One last caveat before the betting odds for Wednesday’s matchup come down the wire: Ken Pomeroy has Boston College ranked No. 330 in “consistency” out of the 347 Division I teams. The Eagles have some ugly losses on their record, but they also beat Providence (-1½) and Michigan (-5) on the road earlier this season. As they say, anything can happen.
Georgia Tech handed Duke its first ACC loss on Saturday leaving observers to wonder if that was the start of yet another late-season downturn for Mike Krzyzewski's bunch. The defeat dropped the Blue Devils from fifth to eighth in the latest AP rankings and in the tough ACC, a second conference loss this early could be tough to overcome. The good news is Duke will be hosting a weak Boston College team on Tuesday at Cameron.
Another year, another hot start for the Duke Blue Devils. How long before it all comes crashing down? Maybe it’s already started.
You may recall the 2008-09 Blue Devils went 18-1 SU (10-7-1 ATS) before losing four of their next six games and falling out of the top spot in the polls. Or how about 2007-08, which started off at 22-1 SU (13-7-2 ATS) before hitting the skids with a pair of losses at Wake Forest (+8½) and Miami (+6½).
You have to go back to Duke’s last national championship in 2001-02 to find a year that didn’t feature some kind of late-season slowdown.
This year, the Blue Devils rattled off 13 victories in their first 14 games (at a healthy 9-4 ATS) before they went down to Georgia Tech (+7) on Saturday and fell 71-67. Cue the dramatic music.
Duke dropped from No. 5 to No. 8 in the rankings after coming up flat against the Yellow Jackets; the Devils were playing their fifth game in 12 days and clearly didn’t have enough left in the tank – a problem that should continue to haunt them between now and March Madness. Duke ranks No. 258 out of 347 Division I teams in depth as measured by bench minutes played at 28.6 percent.
The good news for the Blue Devils is that their next game is against a relatively weak opponent in the Boston College Eagles (10-6 SU, 5-7 ATS). The Eagles rank No. 78 in team efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy, well behind Duke at No. 2.
They’ve lost four of their last eight games to the likes of Harvard (+12) and Maine (NL), a member of the America East Conference, which rates No. 26 out of the 33 conferences (including independents as a group) in efficiency. Only North Carolina State (No. 90) has a lower efficiency ranking than Boston College out of the 12 teams in the mighty ACC.
Duke also has the benefit of returning to Cameron Indoor Stadium for this matchup. Duke is undefeated at home this year at 5-3 ATS, the most impressive win coming against Clemson (+11½) two Sundays ago. The last time the Blue Devils lost in Durham to a team other than North Carolina was back in 2006-07, when Virginia Tech (+8½) won 69-67 in overtime.
Boston College, however, is 3-1 SU and ATS on the road this year. And while the Eagles may be near the bottom of the ACC ladder, this is the best conference in Division I according to efficiency. Every game is a potential pitfall for the Devils.
“When they’re young, there’s an adjustment period,” coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters about the perils of conference play.
But maybe this Duke team is finally experienced enough to handle the workload. There are only three freshmen and two sophomores on the roster; the starting lineup employs two juniors and two seniors, led by shooting guard Jon Scheyer (20.1 points, 6.1 assists per game) at the ripe old age of 22.
Duke players have an average of 1.91 years under their belts compared to 1.82 years for Boston College and 1.69 years for your typical Division I team.
This also figures to be a rare year where Duke can honestly say it has a tougher lineup than Boston College. This year’s Eagles are having a whale of a time getting to the foul line with a free-throw/field goal attempt ratio of 31.9 percent, or No. 283 in Division I. The Blue Devils look like a Rollerball team by comparison at 35.2 percent, or No. 218 overall. This is a big advantage for Duke at 76.8 percent from the foul line; the Eagles are hitting 70.9 percent of their freebies.
One last caveat before the betting odds for Wednesday’s matchup come down the wire: Ken Pomeroy has Boston College ranked No. 330 in “consistency” out of the 347 Division I teams. The Eagles have some ugly losses on their record, but they also beat Providence (-1½) and Michigan (-5) on the road earlier this season. As they say, anything can happen.