Five gifts the Duke basketball program needs for Christmas

Christmas is here, and the Duke basketball program should have some specific things on its list.

The holidays are different this season for everyone, but hopefully Santa Claus drops-off some much-needed presents for the Duke basketball program.

Duke (3-2, 1-0 ACC) has endured its fair share of ups-and-downs this season.

An uninspiring victory over Coppin State began the year, followed by an embarrassing loss to No. 8 Michigan State in Durham.

Another unsettling victory over Bellarmine, who was playing its first game as a Division I opponent, pushed the Blue Devils to a game over .500 on the early season, but Mike Krzyzewski‘s team was knocked back down following a beatdown at the hands of No. 6 Illinois, also in Durham.

Following the loss to the Fighting Illini, Krzyzewski commented that he believes the NCAA should reassess playing college basketball in the midst of the pandemic, something the Hall of Famer was heavily ridiculed for.

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The Blue Devils then canceled their remaining non-conference games, although only one was confirmed on the schedule, as all three remaining non-ACC games had been postponed because of COVID-19 within the opponents’ program at some point.

Then, Duke got the bad news that five-star freshman Jalen Johnson would be out indefinitely following a foot injury just prior to its trip to South Bend, Indiana for its first league game of the season.

However, the Blue Devils put forth their best game of the season against Notre Dame and headed into the holiday break on a positive note.

The Duke basketball team still needs many gifts for Christmas

Despite the performance against the Fighting Irish, the Blue Devils still have a number of things to work on if they want to get into the conversation with teams like Gonzaga and Baylor when March approaches.

Duke was one of the many teams significantly impacted by the delayed season and lack of practice time given its youth and inexperience on its roster.

With only one more game in the calendar year, hopefully, 2021 is exactly what the Blue Devils need to get back on track en route to their sixth National Championship.