feature-image

Imago

feature-image

Imago

The Duke Blue Devils slumped to an overtime loss to the Lousiville Cardinals, allowing the Cardinals to complete a season sweep over Duke. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has had a hard time dealing with his team this season. The usually dominant Duke were massive underachievers this season.

Terrell Owens holding Dude Wipes XL

Their push to make the NCAA Tournament will be severely affected by this loss. However, it is hard for everyone to blame Duke much when they lose in OT against a team better than Coach K did have his comments about the loss, and believes maturity was the key.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

ADVERTISEMENT

“Their athleticism and maturity knocked us back. I thought we really fought the rest of the way at a high level and you have to put yourself in a position to win.”

The Blue Devils fill their team with top recruits every year who usually leave for the NBA after one season. They have had stars like Zion Williamson in recent years. However, the high talent wasn’t enough this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Duke Blue Devils: How do they rebound from this season?

With the regular season all but over, it does not look like the Duke Blue Devils will be in the post-season this time around. While two wins in their next two games could help their case, it seems increasingly hard now. This will be a bad year for Mike Krzyzewski and the rest of the Blue Devils. But they need to move on from it.

ADVERTISEMENT

article-image

USA Today via Reuters

It is unclear how many of their freshmen will be declaring for the NBA Draft at the moment. The only name we know of for certain is Jalen Johnson. Johnson dropped out of the team to focus on his NBA training. Top prospects like BJ Boston and Terrence Clark are also expected to declare for the 2021 NBA Draft.

ADVERTISEMENT

READ MORE: ‘Was Never Invested’- NCAA Analyst Comments On Whether Jalen Johnson Leaving Makes Duke Blue Devils Better

Coach K lamented maturity, but it is a problem his recruiting has created. Keeping the team very young every year has had its drawbacks and this season is an example of it. As experienced teams handled the season better, blue-bloods like Duke have to lick their wounds for next season,

ADVERTISEMENT

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Ishaan Bhattacharya

1,510 Articles

Ishaan Bhattacharya is an NBA, NCAA Basketball, and Combat Sports writer at EssentiallySports. Currently, Ishaan is pursuing a Post Graduate Degree in Journalism from Xavier's Institute of Communication. Previously, Ishaan has written for The Indian Express, The Quint, Sportskeeda, and WrestleClub. Ishaan has a keen interest in theatre and films, and has dabbled in the art, winning several awards for his scripts over the years. He has written for popular YouTube channels such as The Wrestling Hub and WhatCulture. Now, Ishaan also heads the site's NCAA Basketball division.

Know more

ADVERTISEMENT