Duke Basketball: 4 Toughest January Games Without Coach K

The Duke basketball team is going to be without head coach Mike Krzyzewski for approximately four weeks as he recovers from back surgery, so what games will be the toughest to win without him?

The Blue Devils are headed into ACC portion of their schedule, and there are some tough games ahead. Unfortunately they’ll have to make due without head coach Mike Krzyzewski for a few weeks.

While there are no cakewalks in the ACC, there are indeed some games which could be key matchups in not only determining conference standings at the end of the season (as well as tournament seedings), but also how the NCAA Tournament selection committee views Duke’s overall body of work.

Coach K will be ably replaced (if it’s actually possible to replace him) by assistant coach Jeff Capel starting with the January 7 game against Boston College in Durham, and from that point on there will be anywhere from 8-9 games without Krzyzewski in command.

After dropping their first ACC game to Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils dispatched of Georgia Tech in a 110-57 rout that saw the return of the suspended Grayson Allen in what will be Coach K’s last game for the next few weeks.

Hopefully Coach K will be back in time for the grudge match against North Carolina on February 9, but in the meantime here are four games which could prove to be tough wins for the Blue Devils without their head coach around.