Around the ACC -- Day One

The first five games of ACC men's basketball are done and we already have plenty to talk about.

At the top, North Carolina and Duke passed their first tests. The Tar Heels dominated Boston College 83-60 in Chapel Hill, while Duke fought off Georgia Tech 81-74 in Atlanta. 

The surprise came in Winston-Salem, where Wake Forest matched last year's league win total. The Demon Deacons edged Virginia Tech 58-55 on a C.J. Harris 3-pointer with 16.9 seconds to play. That's great for the improving Deacs, who went 1-15 in ACC play last season. But it probably doomed Virginia Tech to another year of watching the NCAA Tournament on TV.

Speaking of hits to the NCAA Tournament resume, Florida State absorbed a body blow. Clemson blew out the Seminoles  79-59. A 20-0 Tigers run did in FSU. How could Clemson score 20 points in a row on anybody?

Virginia staked its claim to the No. 3 spot in the league behind UNC and Duke by winning its 12th  consecutive game. The Cavaliers took care of Miami 52-51 in Charlottesville.

Duke will carry a 43-game home court winning streak into Thursday's game with Virginia at Cameron Indoor Stadium. It appears getting No. 44 in a row won't be easy.

High noon in ATL

Duke gets its earliest tip-off of the season today as it attempts to flush Wednesday's tough loss at Temple out of its system.

Here's a preview that appeared in this morning's Herald-Sun.

The Blue Devils need to develop a toughness that seemed to come naturally to past Mike Krzyzewski teams. Duke had it in earlier wins this season against Michigan State, Michigan and Kansas. It's been missing lately, such as in losses to Ohio State and Temple. 

Looking at the ACC

Herald-Sun colleague Harold Gutmann and I teamed up for a look at all 12 ACC teams as we enter conference play on Saturday.

Just click here to find it.

Harold covers UNC for the paper. He took six teams and I took the other six. It's not a pretty sight.

Road Kill

Losing 85-63 at Ohio State on Nov. 29 was one thing for Duke. The Buckeyes are legitimate NCAA title contenders and have multiple players with NBA futures.
That game also fell on the heels of a trip to Maui, where Duke played and beat Tennessee, Michigan and Kansas. So a loss in Columbus wasn't a surprise. The margin, though, was troubling. 
Wednesday night's 78-73 loss at Temple is an entirely different matter. Duke was healthy, coming off two easy home wins and had only played five games over the previous 30 days.
Getting outrebounded by a smaller Temple team and struggling with sloppy turnovers should serve as a wake-up call for several Duke players.
During a break in between two Duke practices Thursday, Blue Devils associate head coach Chris Collins said it's up to the players to change their attitudes about such hustle plays.

"The feeling from us is anger," Collins said. "You want to win. Hopefully our guys share that same emotion. Not to be down in the dumps about it but to be angry and be more focused going into the next game. We want them to be angry about it and to want to be better in a lot of those areas.”

Duke opens ACC play at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday. Technically the Temple game wasn't on the Owls home court at the Liacouras Center. But the larger Wells Fargo Center did have the Owls logos and there were plenty of Temple supporters among the 20,420 in the stands.

So let's call it a road loss for Duke. That means, counting Ohio State and losses at Virginia Tech and North Carolina at the end of last season, the Blue Devils have lost four true road games in a row. 

A struggling Georgia Tech (7-7) team appears to be the perfect antidote. But, don't forget, UNC was drilled 78-58 by an equally bad Yellow Jackets team last January in Atlanta.

Duke's getting a chance to improve its attitude and approach today with two practices and a weight-lifting session. It appears to need such work.

Philadelphia Freedom

Duke’s appearance in Philadelphia for tonight’s game with Temple is stoking memory banks and spawning retrospectives from Independence Hall to the Triangle.

Last Sunday night, prompted by a question from a reporter from Penn’s student newspaper, Mike Krzyzewski spoke glowingly about the city’s rich history of college basketball.

The Big Five schools – Penn, Temple, Villanova, St. Joseph’s and LaSalle – all play Division I, all take the game seriously and all used to gather for games at the Palestra. At least one of the Big Five teams has made the NCAA Tournament for 34 consecutive years.

While Duke will play Temple at the Wells Fargo Center, which the 76ers and Flyers call home, Krzyzewski appreciates the Palestra from his playing and coaching days at Army in the 1960s and 70s.

“It’s a place where when you walk in and there’s nobody in it, you feel like something good has happened here,” Krzyzewski said. “Kind of like our place. There have been a lot of great, great games in that arena.”

Of course, Krzyzewski and Duke have special memories from another Philadelphia basketball venue, even though that building no longer exists. We’re approaching the 20-year anniversary of the Duke-Kentucky NCAA Tournament East Regional final in March 1992 that was decided in overtime by Grant Hill’s pass and Christian Laettner’s famous shot.

A book written by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, The Last GreatGame, is available for sale tomorrow. It chronicles the years leading up to Duke-Kentucky to add perspective and breaks down the game in-depth. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy. It’s a terrific read.

Meanwhile, in Philly, Daily News columnist Dick Jerardi takes the opportunity of Duke’s presence to pay tribute to the career leader in Division I men's basketball coaching wins.

As for tonight's game with Temple, it's a chance for Duke point guard Quinn Cook to continue his fine play against a higher level of competition.

Welcome

If you've found your way to this post, you are either a relative, a serious sports fan or both.

The bulk of my work appears at www.heraldsun.com, the Durham Herald-Sun's website. That's where my coverage of Duke athletics, primarily the acclaimed men's basketball program, can be found. In this corner of cyberspace, I'll provide links to that work plus a little more.

In New Orleans, where I worked covering some, um, interesting Saints' teams under Mike Ditka and Jim Haslett, this would be called lagniappe -- a Cajun term meaning "a little something extra." If you buy a dozen muffins, the baker may throw in a free cookie. If you read the Herald-Sun, you can pop over here for more Duke coverage.

I'll offer as much insight as I can and share some other behind-the-scenes stories that don't fit in the newspaper. I also throw some tidbits on Twitter. Check out @stevewisemanNC.

Drop me an email at swiseman@heraldsun.com with any comments. If you like what I wrote, say so. If you don't, share that as well. I'm a big boy. I can handle it.

Enjoy.