Every Miss Begins With K

First off, I love Coach K. But, I've been all over message boards ever since the Virginia game and everyone and anyone with a brain realizes that taking the air out of the ball is a bad idea, ESPECIALLY with this team.

For 15 years, I've been a devout Duke fan and I have seen them implore this style over and over again and sure, it works a majority of the time but it doesn't a percentage of the time and that percentage, even if it is small, leads to the most agonizing losses I've experienced as a sports fan. Outside of the Giants blowing a 38-14 lead in a playoff game against San Francisco, all of the most brutal losses I've ever experienced have been from Duke. Whether it was blowing a 10-point lead at the end of the 1994 Title game because of pulling back on the offense or blowing an 18 point lead in the Elite 8 against Kentucky, which gift wrapped a title for the most overrated coach in history, Tubby Smith or blowing a 17 point lead in the 2002 Sweet 16 to an inferior Indiana team, which I will over and over deem as the worst Duke loss in history considering the way it happened, how good the team was and how bad Indiana was or the 2004 National Semifinal against UCONN when they blew an 8-point lead with 2 minutes left and pissed away their 4th National Title.

I hate this philosophy. It is the equivalent to a prevent defense in football and in both cases, they prevent you from winning. You can't play not to lose especially with this team. For years, Duke has gotten away with imploring this strategy because they had the Johnny Dawkins, the Grant Hills, the William Averys, the Jason Williams, the Chris Duhons of the world that could wind the clock down all the way and then use their superior dribble penetration skills to either drive to the hoop or drive and kick to an open shooter. However, this year, Greg Paulus and Jon Sheyer are not dribble penetrators. They are excellent shooters but they can't create their own shot either so when they wind the clock down they never get a good shot.

Now, next year with Nolan Smith, this strategy will work a little better but please, for the love of God, stop doing it and if you're going to do it then please, throw Josh in the post and don't keep at the top of the circle. Let's see if they abandon this philosophy come Sunday against Georgia Tech or they give me, and every other Duke fan, a heart attack. It's not the team, it's the philosophy. Every good coach adapts to his players and in order for this team to maxmize its potential, it must run its normal, half court offense for a FULL 40 MINUTES!!