Duke falling apart in 2016?

The Duke Blue Devils are a staple in Men’s college basketball. This is not some program that crops up once in a long while, but one that has been consistently great for the better part of the last 30 years.

With head coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, the Blue Devils have been one of the more historic powers in all of college sports. Krzyzewski showed up in Durham, N.C., all the way back in 1980. Since then, Duke has won five national championships, spanning from 1991 to last year, with an epic victory over the Wisconsin Badgers.

Now, Duke finds itself in a tough spot. While being ranked 24th is a great feat for most schools, this is nothing but a harsh insult for the folks at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke has not dropped out of the rankings for even a single week in the last eight years, and a loss this week has likely done the trick.

So what is the issue? The Blue Devils looked great to start the season, rolling through their non-conference schedule as usual. There were wins over the Georgetown Hoyas and the Indiana Hoosiers, with only a few losses to the Kentucky Wildcats and Utah Utes.

Within the ACC, things once more looked good. Duke came out firing with its usual winning salvo, beating the likes of the Boston College Eagles, Wake Forest Eagles and Virginia Tech Hokies. However, it has been all downhill since with losses to the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Syracuse Orange, all unranked squads. With a win over the North Carolina State Wolfpack, some thought the slide was over. Then, an 11-point loss to the No. 15 Miami Hurricanes on Monday.

All of this begs the question, who are the Blue Devils? Is this a team going through a very rough January that can pull out of the doldrums and rebound for a terrific March, is it a group that will wilt and be knocked out before the Sweet 16? It’s unfathomable to imagine the NCAA Tournament without Duke, but seeing it go far at this juncture is more wishful thinking than anything for the Duke faithful.

The schedule is only going to get harder, with one of the toughest stretches for any team in the national awaiting. Duke has a good chance to win its next two games, facing the unranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and North Carolina State. After that, the Blue Devils enter the gauntlet, squaring off against the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals, No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers, No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels and then Louisville again.

For once, it is Duke with its back up against the roverbial wall. It will be fascinating to see how the Blue Devils respond in this most unfamiliar of situations.