Duke basketball weekly report card: ‘Here comes Duke’

Duke basketball’s combined overall grade for Week 4 and 5 of ACC play: B

The month of January was hot and cold for the Duke basketball program. The final two weeks of conference play reflect that more than anything.

In Week 4, the team was on one of the worst streaks the program has ever seen. One week later, coming off Saturday’s 79-53 home win over Clemson (10-5, 4-5 ACC), Duke (7-5, 5-3 ACC) is playing its best basketball of the season. Now, the Blue Devils prepare to face Miami (6-10, 2-9 ACC) on the road at 7 p.m. Monday and then host UNC (11-5, 6-3 ACC) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

ALSO READ: Duke report card for Week 3 of ACC play

Finally, the Blue Devils seem fully in sync with each other. More than one or two players are scoring in volume, taking some of the weight off Matthew Hurt’s shoulders. Duke is starting to look like Duke again. However, it didn’t happen overnight.

With that, let’s look at the adversity in Week 4 that propelled the Blue Devils toward a positive streak in Week 5. We’ll begin by giving out overall team grades on offense and defense, before finishing with a look at the three Duke basketball players who deserve recognition on the honor roll right now for holding it down in each of the past two weeks…