With the beginning of Duke’s ACC schedule fast approaching, it is a good moment to pause and take a measure of the team’s progress so far. Right now, Duke boasts a flawless11-0 record, beating opponents by an average margin of 26 points. The Blue Devils are also the proud owners of two quality wins over Top-10 teams, Michigan State and Kansas State. Scoring 89 points per game while shooting 50% from the field, Duke is the 4th highest scoring team and the 7th best shooting team in all of Division I basketball. Needless to say, it’s been a good start.
BUT,
It could all be brought down by a toe. Duke’s point guard, superstar freshman and projected lottery pick, Kyrie Irving, sustained ligament damage in his foot while driving into the lane against Butler on Dec 4. Though he re-entered the game shortly after, it later became obvious that the injury was much more serious than first thought. Three weeks after the incident, the full extent of the injury is still unclear. Irving is listed as being out of the lineup “indefinitely,” and he has since been seen walking on crutches and wearing a hard cast – leading some to speculate that surgery has been eliminated as an option, or at least postponed. But beyond that, the university has released very little information concerning the extent of the injury. He may return in January; he may not return at all.
With the looming possibility of losing their point guard for the season, the obvious question is this: How good is Duke without Irving? The answer is unclear. On one hand, it is certainly not the apocalypse: it is easy to forget that Duke still has two senior all-American candidates in Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith; in addition, two of Irving’s backcourt reserves, Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, could easily start at 335 of the 345 teams in Div-I basketball. There are no gaping holes in the roster. On the other hand, Irving was the team’s only viable true point guard (sorry Tyler Thornton); he also often appeared to be the best player on the court by a wide margin, commanding the fast break and dismantling opposing defenses single-handedly. His talent will definitely be missed. Most still peg the Blue Devils as a Final Four team, but their position atop the polls is certainly less stable than it was before the injury.
The real problem, however, is that we may not find out how good Duke is for some time. The three games that the Blue Devils have played since losing Irving have not been extremely educational; they were won by an average of 33 points, but only against the likes of Bradley, Saint Louis, and Elon. Not exactly basketball powerhouses. To make matters worse, the remaining matchups on Duke’s schedule, the heart of the ACC schedule, might not be any more informative, since the ACC is at the weakest it has been in recent memory. No other ACC teams are in the AP Top-25, and this may lead some to question the value of any ACC victories. Certainly the conference season and tough road games should provide some tests, but even if Duke goes 15-1 in the ACC, many analysts will still wonder how good the Blue Devils are without Irving.
Luckily, Duke happens to have a hall-of-fame coach who has been there before; this isn’t the first time Krzyzewski has had to adjust to the loss of a key player. In late February 2001, Duke center Carlos Boozer suffered a foot injury that many thought would keep him off the court for the remainder of the season. Krzyzewski responded by completely restructuring the offense, converting the team into a small, quick, three-point shooting machine. Without Boozer, the Blue Devils still won the ACC tournament and advanced to the Final Four, when Boozer was re-integrated into the lineup and helped the team to its third national championship. Now, in the face of similar uncertainty, all Duke fans can do is repeat the popular maxim: In K we trust.
