Duke 70 - Clemson 59: A Sinking Feeling Even after Win (Kyrie Irving is Tweetin again)

I am not sure when the exact moment was that the feeling hit me last night.  Yet, when it hit, it hit hard.  It was the sinking feeling that Duke has hit a plateau.  They are what they are with this current line up and haven’t improved much since mid season.  In reality Duke hasn’t played that well since the game at Maryland on February 2^nd.

“Why the negative attitude?  Didn’t Duke control the game tonight and win?”

Yes they did but it’s the way they won, so ugly.  As much as the score was in control most of the game, Duke was not.  Kyle Singler was in a rush and had 4 turnovers and Nolan Smith had 8.  12 turnovers from the SENIORS had me Google-ing “Updates on Kyrie Irving” this morning let me tell you. 

What did I come up with?

 Kyrie tweeted the following regarding the rumors of his return yesterday, “The rumors are not true ... I will not be playing tonight and I'm still in my walking boot.”….sigh.  Not playing “tonight”! THAT MEANS CHAPEL HILL BUCKLE UP BABY HERE WE COME!!!!!!! 

Not likely sorry.

So Duke won by 11, played sloppy as heck and don’t have me hopeful for the UNC game Saturday.  Stay tuned for a preview of that game later this week or Saturday.

Hey remember that guy Dawkins?  He was good.  Whatever happened to him?

Am I the only one asking this question?  Where the heck is the kid?  I am not sure if Dawkins limits defensively or maybe his practice habits are what are causing his lack of playing time, but it’s driving me a little crazy.  I love Dawkins game and Duke’s offense hasn’t been so good lately that it isn’t in need of a great offensive talent like Dawkins. 

I understand that Seth Curry’s role in the offense has increased since his UNC second half outburst.  I also understand that Tyler Thornton is a stud defensively and relives Nolan from having to play PG all the time.  Yet, Dawkins is not only another great shooter out there he really has a good all around offensive game. 

I am hoping that his benching lately (Outside of the Virginia game since the UNC “Curry Coming Out Party”, Dawkins hasn’t played over 18 minutes in a game and has played less than 10 minutes in 3 of the last 4 games.) 

Only 6 players played over 10 minutes last game, Dawkins was not one of them.  Duke has depth but it seems that Coach K has lost his confidence in it.  If Coach K doesn’t have confidence in the bench moving into the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament I fear Duke will not be cutting down the nets again this April.

NCAA Tournament starts for Duke in a little over 2 weeks; can Duke plug some of the holes in their game in that time?