Duke stumbled in the last week of the ACC's regular season, losing two of three games, but that means nothing at this time of the year.
When Friday's second round of the ACC Tournament starts, and Duke takes the court at the Greensboro Coliseum, it will still be a solid favorite to win Sunday's championship.
Duke is the No. 2 seed after dropping an 81-67 decision to North Carolina last Saturday in Chapel Hill, a result that broke a tie for first place between the two and decided the ACC's regular-season title. In its previous road game, Duke lost 64-60 at Virginia Tech.
But right now, those losses hold no significance for Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"Look, when we get on the bus, (our record is) 0-0," Krzyzewski said. "We have to prepare for the next part of our season. (UNC) was a big game, but the upcoming games are the biggest games. The games we will play in the next few weeks are the biggest and most important games."
Tournament time has always been Krzyzewski's time. Nine of the last 12 ACC titles have been carried back to Durham and Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last season's national championship went back there, too.
Nolan Smith, Duke's point guard, was bitterly disappointed in his team's play at UNC, but is confident that Duke can make adjustments and win another ACC title and possibly land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
"Our overall team effort (at UNC) wasn't what it was supposed to be in this type of environment and this type of game," Smith said. "It's got to be better.
"And going forward, every game in the ACC Tournament could be my last ACC Tournament game. After that, it's over. We've just got to regroup as a team and get our focus back together."
Duke will have had five days off before starting the tournament, and that should have given Krzyzewski ample time to drill his team on its shortcomings and allow players to rest. Krzyzewski can also take a look and see if anything is wrong with Kyle Singler's play.
Singler seemed off his normal game in the last month, mostly in shooting. He made three of 14 shots from the field against UNC and missed all five of his 3-point shots. In the first UNC-Duke game Feb. 9, Singler went 3 of 17 from the field and 1 of 6 on 3-point shots against the defense of Harrison Barnes.
In Duke's last six games, Singler made 30 of 83 shots from the field (36.1 percent). He made two of 19 3-point shots. Krzyzewski said that if Duke needs a last shot to win a game, he still wants Singler to take it.
"I don't get concerned about them missing shots," Krzyzewski said. "If missing shots leads to them playing poorly, then I'm concerned. Kyle's never played poorly.
"You tell me a game when Kyle's played poorly. He's had a couple of games where he's shot poorly. He's never played poorly."
Duke has one factor few teams in the tournament will be able to match. Smith and Singler are seniors. They have played in 120 wins in their careers, an average of 30 a season. Seniors understand pressure and can handle distractions.
And last year, the play of three seniors led Duke to the ACC championship and the NCAA championship, the fourth in the program's history.
"Our team last year improved, even though we were an older team," Krzyzewski said. "The week of the Final Four, we got better. Those kids have a good example to follow from last year.
"The thing is, you can't over-practice them right now. You've got to make sure that they're fresh physically, emotionally and mentally while you're getting better. It's a fine line, really. You've got to be careful."
bcole@wsjournal.com
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