Size DOES Matter

I will certainly take it but Duke is looking more vulnerable each and every game. With both Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek out, Duke looked like a talented high school team playing a group of grown men. AND, let's not kid ourselves about this win, this isn't exactly the Temple of old with Cheney at the helm and players like Eddie Jones, Marty Collins, and Pepe Sanchez at their disposal. Temple came into this game at 6-6 from a lousy conference, albeit an up and coming conference with the emergence of Dayton, Rhode Island, and Xavier (all in the Top 25). Pretty amazing since the ACC has only 3 teams in the Top 25 (UNC, Duke, Clemson) and Clemson has lost two consecutive games including a stunner at home against Charlotte.

For all of those people who ignored the Zoubek injury and pretty much laughed at me when I said it would cost this team games won't be laughing when Duke falls to mediocre ACC competition in the next few weeks. Lance Thomas, who missed the game with a resp infection, has been battling a variety of injuries all year and who knows what Duke will get from him for the remainder of the year. David McClure, who was a nice player and for most of last year, was Duke's most consistent performer just isn't the same player after yet another off-season knee injury. Even if he didnt have the surgery, he is still only listed at 6'8'' and provides absolutely no offense. After that, where do you go? Duke's front court is thinner than Ally McBeal and no one seems to get it. Duke has one plan and one plan only: jack up threes, run and spread the floor, and overplay passing lanes. If that plan works, they can take down just about anybody in the country (with the exception of Memphis and Kansas). I leave out UNC, only for the reason, that even when one program is up and the other is down, the games are usually competitive because the juices are flowing at even the lesser of the teams seems to play outside of their bodies. However, when Plan 1 or Plan A or Plan Alpha fails, then it inevitably means Duke fails because they have no way else to beat you, even if you are a mediocre team. You can get by the Albanys and Cornells of the world not hitting on your Plan A but if you think you're beating Virginia and FSU let alone UNC and Clemson without Plan A, you have another thing coming.

This only leads me into a topic that pretty much only I continually touch on and is pretty much ignored across the board in Duke Nation: transfers. How is Eric Boateng on Duke looking right now? He's a productive player on ASU who is only getting better. I watched ASU v. OSU the other day and he showed some really nice moves. How is Jamal Boykin doing right now? He went for 16 and 10 in his 2nd game at Cal. Now, I know there were some family issues there but if he was playing minutes prior to that, you have to think he would've stuck around. Coach K going to an unusally short bench each and every year seems to be biting Duke in the ass. We're not talking about projects either. Boykin is a former California POY and Boateng, even though he hadn't started playing bball until he was 15, was a McDonald's All-American. Just think about that "incredible" class Duke had coming in for JJ and Shelden's Senior season that was supposed to lead to championship after championship. Only one player exists on the team right now! Paulus. McRoberts bounced to the NBA after an unspectacular two year stint, Boateng transferred, Boykin transferred, and Pocius, who never plays anyways, is out for the season.

This isn't the first time transfers have hurt Duke: Michael Thompson ring a bell? I still stand by the notion that Duke would've won the 2004 National Championship if Thompson didn't transfer because he would've been more than adequate enough big man to play Okafur for 2 minutes up 8 points.

As you can see, I am very down as a Duke fan right now because I want the ability to win championships. I am not stubborn enough nor stupid enough to believe they should win it each and every year because that's impossible but let's be honest, it's nice to go into the season knowing you have a chance. That's all you can ask for. I don't like that everything needs to break right just for Duke to be a second weekend team. I want Duke to be a final weekend team and that will not be the case this year nor will it be next year either. Missing out on Greg Monroe and just adding guards won't solve any problems at Duke and unless Lance Thomas or Brian Zoubek transform their games, it will be another quick exit for Duke next year. Instead of extending scholarships to Marty Pocius who will never ever play, lets extend one to a 4 star big guy. You don't need to always have 5 star big guys you know. Look at Dejuan Blair for example. He wasn't heralded as the best player at his position but take a shot on size, please. Without it, you can have all the amazing guard play you want, you will always hit a ceiling and that ceiling is nowhere near a championship.

Next up is Virginia on Sunday, at home. I think Duke is better than Virginia and I think Virginia is clearly a shell of the team they were last year. However, they have the chops to go into Cameron and beat Duke like they did earlier this year when they beat Arizona at Arizona. If Thomas comes back and plays substantial minutes, I like Duke to pull it out. If they have to play small like they did last night, Virginia and Sean Singletary has a 50/50 shot of coming out of their with a big road ACC victory.

Prediction: Duke 85 UVA 79 (You didn't think I was going to predict Duke losing did you?)