For the second time this season the Blue Devils entered a Saturday night with a lot to play for – this time it was for a share of the regular season. For the second Saturday this season they failed to meet the moment. This time on their home court against UNC the Blue Devils showed they are still not quite ready for prime time The Tar Heels came into Cameron and made it their home. They played like a desperate team, a hungry team and a team that knows what it is and what it wants to be there. Duke, well, not so much. The Blue Devils did a lot of standing around, a lot of watching UNC players give maximum effort while they seemed to be in awe. Duke managed to come back from 15 down to UNC but still fell short in the end 84-79.
The atmosphere was there, the fans were there and for some reason Jon Scheyer’s team either took Cameron for granted or haven’t fully grasped that the Cameron home court advantage isn’t something that is merely implied but something that has to be achieved and worked for – for 40 minutes EVERY game. I could run through a bevy of statistical failures for Duke in this game but it doesn’t tell the story. The story, as I said, in my preview of this game would come down to heart and hustle. The Blue Devils did it for 20 minutes while the Tar Heels, your ACC regular season winners, did it for an entire game and deserves the gloats and the spoils that come with it. Admittedly there is no shame in losing to a team that is clearly better than you, but helping that team achieve that goal is something each man on this team needs to think about. It’s very easy to say that Duke looked unprepared but this loss, and yes, it’s only a single loss had zero to do with X’s and O’s and everything to do with showing up to meet the moment. Coaches shouldn’t have to prepare you or motivate you to go out and play Division I basketball – if they do then there are bigger issues at play. It comes down to something a coach told me once – “You can’t be a part-time dog”.
