Snow and treacherous conditions led to the highlight of everyone's week, Duke-UNC, being postponed until Thursday, so Duke's only game of the week came against Maryland. That matchup resulted in a close win that sent the "rivalry" out in style, which you can read about here.
Since that was the only game of week, there isn't a lot to talk about on the court that hasn't been discussed already. Except for those all-white throwback unis Duke wore against the Terps— those were nice.
Anyways, the UNC cancellation means four games in eight days for the Blue Devils, including three games in five days, with the last two being in Chapel Hill and hosting Syracuse (who is still finding creative, unbelievable ways to win games).
However, I'm not too worried about that.
Coach K managed everyone's minutes well against Maryland — although some of that was forced by foul trouble (cough cough Rodney Hood) — and figures to be able to do the same against a struggling Georgia Tech team.
That may make these games a little closer than Duke fans would like them to be, but the goal is to get through this stretch with four wins.
I'm thinking the Georgia Tech game will essentially be a glorified scrimmage for the Devils. Both the players and coaching staff know that they'll need to come out strong and put the game away early so they can have the ability to manage minutes as they please, which can be done against a lowly Yellow Jacket squad.
After that, two games in three days is something that Duke has had to deal with before this season and isn't all that uncommon, whether teams play Thursday and Saturday, Saturday and Monday, or Sunday and Tuesday.
In happens a good amount for teams like Duke who have seemingly all of their games televised, so it won't feel too out of the ordinary. Not to mention it makes pretty good practice for the NCAA Tournament.
And I'm not all that worried about the players, either.
These days, with kids growing up on the AAU circuit, they'll play three or four games a day during a week-long tournament. Obviously, those games seriously lack the intensity you need to bring for a college conference game, but it helps the players shift their focus to the next challenge fairly quickly.
So this stretch shouldn't be too bad for Duke, assuming they take care of business early against the Yellow Jackets.
That's much easier said than done, but there is a good chance of it getting done.
The week ahead will certainly test how far this team's mental toughness has come from the start of conference play.
Good news is that there will be more basketball than normal us to enjoy. Let's have some fun!
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