Duke basketball still lacking consistency to win games

The Duke basketball team is still lacking consistency to win games. 

Tuesday night was no mirage or one-off game, and it continued a troubling trend with the Duke basketball team. The Blue Devils just aren’t consistent enough to win games against tough competition.

Digging a hole against teams like Coppin State, Bellarmine, Boston College, and Wake Forest isn’t ideal, but it’s not as difficult to erase an early deficit.

It’s quite different trying to rally against teams like Michigan State, Illinois, and Virginia Tech, something Duke has not been able to do this season.

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After two early-season home losses to the Spartans and Illini, many were hoping the Blue Devils used their practice time and few games to try and improve on what had been troubling them early in the season.

It did not work.

Duke dug an 18-point hole against No. 20 Virginia Tech and rallied to cut the deficit to one, but the team could not find enough buckets down the stretch to complete the comeback.

Duke basketball needs to find its best five players

The biggest issue with the Blue Devils this season is that there is no consistency.

There was no preseason practice like there has been in previous seasons, games have been postponed and canceled at a moment’s notice, five-star freshman Jalen Johnson has been injured, and head coach Mike Krzyzewski had been sidelined because of COVID-19 protocols.

Not a good combination for a young team that needs as much practice time as possible and as many games as possible.

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The talent gap in college basketball seems massive from teams that have been together for multiple seasons like Gonzaga and Baylor compared to bluebloods like Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina, who have much younger rosters. But there are still significant improvements the Blue Devils can make prior to March.

With that being said, we get into our latest edition of ‘Stock Up, Stock Down’.