1. CBSSports.com: Gregg Doyel hits the nail on the head in this column (by the way, Doyel covered the ACC for the Charlotte Observer before going to CBSSports.com and wasn’t exactly close with Mike Krzyzewski over the years) on Duke‘s Cameron Crazies. The one caveat is that he didn’t really offer a solution to the boredom and lack of ownership. For comparison’s sake Coach K offered his thoughts (courtesy of Duke Hoop Blog):
   

   “Our crowd sometimes becomes fans instead of part of the game. Overall, our crowd has been part of what we’ve done. They haven’t come there to watch us play. They’ve come there to compete with us. I think this year it’s more of watching us play and cheering us on. When you do that you don’t really understand the game situations as well. You don’t have a feel for the game. You can’t be as on point. That doesn’t mean we don’t love them. But, this team needs it more and would benefit from that support.”

   I think both Doyel and Krzyzewski are probably right. The Cameron atmosphere was developed as Duke got more talented. It gradually became more and more controlled in the 1990s and eventually morphed to its present state. Other than big games (I’m thinking of Maryland and North Carolina recently) and big-time players, the Crazies don’t seem as connected with the game as in the past. It has started to feel like more of a show. Basically, I think Coach K describes the current issue that led to the problem brought up by Doyel.
   Author’s Note: As a side note, Coach K gave a pretty scathing press conference after Duke beat St. John’s at home. It’s worth a watch.

2. ACC Sports: Adrian Atkinson (normally our North Carolina defensive-charting connoisseur) took a look at Duke’s most used lineups this season. Remember, he’s only using Duke’s conference games so the sample size is fairly small, meaning you should take the efficiencies with a grain of salt. That said, I think his overall conclusions are fairly interesting. Duke’s most effective lineup is Tyler Thornton, Seth Curry, Austin Rivers, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. It’s a little surprising to me that this lineup isn’t used more often given the fact that its defensive efficiency is so outrageous. It’s also worth noting that Duke’s defense drops off dramatically by just replacing Thornton with Andre Dawkins. Even worse than that (shockingly) is replacing Ryan Kelly with Miles Plumlee (which leads me to believe that both Plumlees are good defenders at the five, but horrid defenders at the four). Anyways, these numbers are fascinating and worth a look.
3. Fox Sports South: Apparently, Harrison Barnes isn’t a fan of pink shoes. At halftime against Georgia Tech Sunday, Barnes switched from the team’s pink kicks to the normal ones. Andrew Jones makes it sound like Barnes really struggled in the pink footwear, but Barnes was 4-8 from the field with 11 points at the half. More interestingly, Barnes shared his pregame soundtrack and meal. Tunes: John Legend. Food: “I always eat mashed potatoes, rice, spaghetti, chicken and steak […] Two pieces of chicken, one piece of steak, [and the] steak’s cooked medium.”
4. Palm Beach Post: If you told me one ACC coach would get a midseason contract extension I wouldn’t have been surprised. Pretty much all but two coaches appear to be doing strong jobs; Jeff Bzdelik and Jim Larranaga are the outliers (I also would probably hold my horses on Steve Donahue and Brian Gregory until I see them recruit, but that’s different). But it was Larranaga who got himself a three-year extension through 2019. Larranaga looks older than many of his coaching brethren, but he’s only 62. My guess is that the extension came (at least in some part) indirectly associated with the current NCAA investigation of Miami athletics.
5. Charleston Post and Courier: It’s not directly related to the ACC, but former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins is taking a short medical leave that will probably last until the end of the season. Cremins did a terrific job putting College of Charleston on the map the last few years, though his trip to the Final Four at Georgia Tech stands as his career’s crowning achievement. Assistant coach Mark Byington will take over in his stead. The details of Cremins’ medical issues weren’t announced, though it’s reportedly not life-threatening and may be sleep-related.

EXTRA: Dan Wolken thinks college basketball should push its season back to January (moving March Madness to May) in order to shirk college football and the NFL, attempting to keep casual sports fans from ignoring the regular season. It may be in the NCAA’s best monetary interest, but I can’t see something this drastic happening without a big push. Still it’s an interesting piece.

Evan Jacoby is an RTC contributor and correspondent. You can find him @evanjacoby on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

There are no Top 25 matchups or truly ‘great’ games on tonight’s schedule, but it is another packed Wednesday of important conference battles so there will be plenty of action worth monitoring.

Villanova at Louisville – 7:00 PM ET on ESPN (***)

Peyton Siva Looks to Get Louisville Back on Track Tonight Against Another Top Point Guard (Getty Images/A. Lyons)

• In what would have been billed as a big-time matchup at the beginning of the season, this game now features two unranked teams (Louisville is still #25 in one poll) with a combined 6-9 record in the Big East. But this will still be a fun game to watch, and the away team is playing its best basketball of the season. Nova has won two straight games and lost by only four points at Cincinnati in the game before, as Maalik Wayns has finally taken his game to the next level. His averages over the past three games are an insane 30.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. He’s also gone 30-33 from the free throw line in that stretch. He’s second in the conference in scoring (18.7 PPG) and leads the Big East in free throws made. Nova needs other players to be strong with the ball against Louisville’s high-pressure defense, as the Wildcats average a terrible 17 turnovers in conference games, worst in the Big East. If Jay Wright’s team can take care of the ball and get to the rim instead of settling for outside shots, they have a chance in this game. Jayvaughn Pinkston will play a key role as an emerging threat (18 points, 11.5 rebounds in his last two) at the forward position that can attack the rim.
• If Louisville wants to get back into consideration as a ranked team, they must win this game at home. The Cardinals continue to deal with injuries but have all of their key cogs healthy in this one, as leading-scorer Kyle Kuric (13.4 PPG) returned from an ankle injury to score 21 points against Pittsburgh in their last game. Louisville has the advantage on the wings with Kuric, Russ Smith (12.5 PPG), and Chris Smith (10.1 PPG) and they will try to swarm Villanova defensively, who only has one true ballhandler in its lineup. Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng have tough matchups with Maalik Wayns and Mouphtaou Yarou, respectively, that are worth watching to see who has the edge on the perimeter and in the paint. Overall, Louisville’s depth and defensive pressure should prove too much for the Wildcats.
• Louisville is a nine-point favorite at home in the KFC Yum! Center and cannot lose this game if it wants to be taken seriously in the Big East. The 10-10 Wildcats come in with some confidence and will look to play the role of spoiler as Wayns tries to prove he’s the best point guard in the conference. Expect the Cardinals to wear out Villlanova in the second half and come out with the win.

#8 Duke at Maryland- 9:00 PM ET on ESPN (***)

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1. Washington Post: John Feinstein takes a look at the ACC’s mediocrity since the additions of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College — despite a 9-0 vote against it from the basketball coaches — in 2004. Since then, the league has slowly become a two-team battle between Duke and North Carolina. Mike Krzyzewski faults the way the expansion was handled because it killed the round-robin for a system that benefits the same teams every year by having fixed playing partners (i.e., it’s fine for Duke and North Carolina because they get tons of exposure already and play each other twice, but Boston College plays Virginia Tech and Miami each year, which isn’t nearly as valuable).
2. Fayetteville Observer: Bret Strelow takes a look at the Duke coaching staff, anchored by three guards who all played together in Durham nearly two decades ago. Jeff Capel has already been a head coach, but there’s little doubt that Steve Wojciechowski or Chris Collins would struggle to find a head job if they looked. The three also have a record of dealing with adversity at Duke, having played in the infamous 1994-95 season when Coach K took most of the year off to recover from back surgery and the Blue Devils finished under .500. Now they’re trying to help a team that’s facing some recent adversity, albeit a whole lot less, achieve its potential this season.
3. Orlando Sentinel: Apparently Florida State felt “optimistic” going into its ACC opener against Clemson. Well, as you probably know, it’s going to be tough to be optimistic coming out of the game now. The Seminoles allowed nearly 80 points and lost by a final deficit of 20 to the Tigers, not exactly the start they were looking for. Now, with no real marquee wins and six losses already, Florida State is almost certainly on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Seminoles need to turn things around very quickly.
4. Duke Basketball Report: Strelow mentioned it briefly in his article above, but Al Featherston also talks about the new positioning of Jeff Capel on Duke‘s bench. Capel now sits in the middle of the bench where he can talk to players as they come out or to try to get a feel for the team’s sideline energy. Two players I expect he’ll talk to frequently are Tyler Thornton and Quinn Cook, who Coach K has running the point together currently to help Seth Curry move off the ball where he excels. As the year goes on, expect Cook to see more and more time and Thornton to be used primarily as a spark plug at crucial junctures.
5. Charlotte Observer: The ACC is transitioning both on the bench and on the court. The conference has multiple new coaches for the second time in as many years, while freshman play an important role on most teams trying to replace the departed stars. That transition has shown so far in the loss column, where ACC teams combined to lose an astonishing 50 non-conference games coming out of the weekend.

Evan Jacoby is an RTC columnist and contributor. You can find him @evanjacoby on Twitter. Night Line will run on weeknights during the season, highlighting a major storyline development from that day’s slate of games.

Over the past month, Duke had won five straight games and quietly risen to #3 in the AP Poll and #2 in the RPI without skipping a beat. But home victories over the likes of Western Michigan and UNC Greensboro won’t make fans forget about the Devils’ embarrassing 22-point loss at Ohio State earlier in the year, and it would take a strong road performance to erase those memories. Wednesday night showed the Blue Devils get thoroughly outplayed by unranked Temple in downtown Philadelphia, confirming the suspicion that Mike Krzyzewski’s team could be vulnerable both defensively and on the road heading into conference play. Coach K will need to refine his rotation and strengthen his team’s defensive intensity if they want to realistically compete with North Carolina for another ACC title.

Duke Had Major Trouble Defending Temple on Wednesday Night (AP/T. Mihalek)

Perhaps no team played as difficult a non-conference schedule as Duke, which would suggest that they are well prepared for their old familiar foes when conference play begins this weekend. The Blue Devils played Michigan State, Ohio State, Belmont, Michigan, Kansas, Davidson, Tennessee, and Washington as part of one of the most challenging schedules in the country. But Wednesday’s game against Temple was just their second road game (although it was played on one of Villanova’s two home courts, not Temple’s), and they were dominated in both. At Ohio State on November 29, Duke allowed the Buckeyes to shoot 60% on two-pointers and 57% on threes, amounting to a horrendous 130.8 efficiency rating for the Buckeyes. On Wednesday night, Temple shot 58% on twos and 50% on threes for a 114.7 efficiency. Considering that Missouri’s 126.5 offensive efficiency is the best in the country, it goes without saying that Duke is allowing its opponents to score way too easily in hostile environments.

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1. Tobacco Road Blues: Adrian Atkinson (@FreeportKid) drops all sorts of interesting stats on North Carolina throughout the day. He’s also taken the torch from Luke Winn and David Hess by charting North Carolina‘s defense through the first quarter of the season. To put it mildly, the findings are fascinating. First and foremost, Harrison Barnes is a horrendous defender. Barnes is allowing opponents to shoot over 50% from the field. Shockingly, Dexter Strickland is second worst in field goal defense. Not surprisingly John Henson dominates the category, holding opponents to 24.3% (!) from the field. The final surprise for me was how dominant Reggie Bullock was this year compared to last year. Atkinson admits that there’s probably a little luck at play here, but Bullock has the highest stop percentage (at 71.8%). I also think it’s important that Bullock guards the perimeter, leaving Henson and Tyler Zeller free to get in position for rebounds (so nearly every missed shot leads to a stop). I think we will do a more in-depth post looking at the defensive styles of the Tar Heel defenders to try and explain some of these numbers (specifically Barnes and Bullock), but check out Atkinson’s piece first.
2. ESPN (or full Insider article): Speaking of Barnes’ struggles, is his draft stock slipping? Chad Ford thinks that Barnes is in danger of slipping, and his argument makes sense. Barnes is living on his jump shot this season (taking one dribble or less). He has turned the ball over too much and generally hasn’t tried to get to the rim with regularity. Combine that with the defensive numbers mentioned above, and it’s a little surprising Barnes hasn’t fallen already.
3. Fayetteville Observer: Moving down the road to Duke, the Blue Devils only have one game in the next 17 days. Just for comparison Duke started the season playing eight games in 18 days. In addition to giving the team a rest for finals, the break should give Mike Krzyzewski a chance to really work on all of the big picture things that were too big to tackle in between games. The primary issue is defense: “‘The coaches stressed that defense has always been part of the Duke standards,” Thornton said. “This year we haven’t really lived up to those standards, so Coach talked to me, Quinn (Cook) and Seth (Curry) and said it starts with us. From now on, we don’t care who we’re playing, we’re going to get after them.”
4. Gant Daily: Before the season, Florida State had a lot of hype, but so far the Seminoles have struggled to live up to all of it. Michael Snaer is still really excited about their potential though. Florida State’s three-game losing streak, which came during a gauntlet stretch of four games over a week, showcased the team’s offensive struggles, most of which come from turning the ball over too often. If the Seminoles can protect the rock and crash the defensive glass more, look out.
5. Soaring To Glory: Boston College‘s recent start-to-finish win over Stony Brook and the competitive loss to Providence has renewed a sense in optimism in the team. The Eagles’ dominant stretch against the Seawolves came in the five minutes before the half, when they extended a three-point lead to a 17-point advantage. The Eagles also played well for much of the game against Penn State and Boston University (read: they had slim leads in the second half) before falling apart in the second half. It’s too early to make a definitive generalization, but the trend definitely looks positive for Steve Donahue’s squad.

BONUS I: Mike Krzyzewski won Sports Illustrated‘s Sportsman of the Year. Here’s his acceptance speech. It’s worth the time.

BONUS II: Yesterday, I linked a great profile of Virginia’s center Assane Sene, but made the mistake not to mention the new documentary that follows four Senegalese players including the Cavalier big man. See the trailer below:

The Duke–Washington game on Saturday was an interesting look at both teams. Here are three thoughts, for each team, that I garnered from each team that will be interesting to follow going forward.

Duke was much better with Tyler Thornton on the floor. Thornton’s stat line at the end of the first half: 18 minutes, 0-0 from the field, two assists and two turnovers. But there’s a reason he played more minutes than any other player: He locked down Abdul Gaddy and the Husky offense. There’s no other reasonable explanation for why Washington’s offense looked so stagnant at that time. Thornton is a sparkplug for this Duke team. He may not fill up the stat sheet, but the team visibly has more energy when he’s on the floor. His on-ball defense also covers up Duke’s mediocrity at defending dribble penetration. The offense also played very well, despite his apparent lack of production. Don’t be surprised to see Thornton start for Duke going forward.

Tyler Thornton is Duke's Leader on the Defensive End (Eugene Tanner/AP).

On a related note, Washington’s offense is almost entirely based on its backcourt’s ability to utilize dribble penetration. Tony Wroten was really the only effective offensive weapon the Huskies had in the first half; luckily, he was a one-man scoring machine then. Wroten is the real deal. He was by far the most talented player on the floor. It remains to be seen whether he just took advantage of a huge mismatch with Duke (he’s a 6’5″ wing with boatloads of athleticism; no one that gets playing time at Duke fits that description), or whether he can be the go-to guy for the Huskies this year. But one thing I do know is that he’s an NBA talent.

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Duke dominated the first 33 minutes of today’s game versus Washington in Madison Square Garden. Absolutely dominated. With seven minutes to play, Duke was up 19. It wasn’t really that close. Washington‘s offense had come to life after an abysmal first half, but the Huskies put on an offensive show the last seven minutes. In that period, Washington went 12-15 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line to score 28 points. It held Duke to 0-1 from the field (because of all the fouls), 13-22 from the charity stripe and forced five Duke turnovers. Foul trouble in the backcourt made Duke’s near-collapse even more noticeable. Seth Curry and Austin Rivers were the first to go, leaving the Blue Devils without their most consistent free throw shooter and their best isolation player. It also left a depleted backcourt to deal with constant penetration from Washington’s guards.

Tony Wroten Was Washington's MVP in a Loss to Duke. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

But, obviously, the game was 40 minutes long. In the first half Duke shut Washington’s offense down, only allowing the Huskies to shoot 32% from the field for a meager 26 points. The Blue Devils forced turnovers, converted in transition, and took advantage of ten offensive rebounds. For most of this time, other than Tony Wroten, the Huskies looked totally lost on offense. Madison Square Garden was rocking with the crowd entirely composed of Duke and Washington fans so much that it was easy to forgot that today’s event was a double-header. The Husky fans were outnumbered significantly, but the building was loudest when Lorenzo Romar’s team cut the lead to single digits. The second loudest moment was when Mason Plumlee made his first free throw.

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Will Rothschild is an RTC correspondent and can be found on Twitter @warothschild. He filed this report from the Duke-Colorado State game Wednesday night in Durham.

After eight games, the Seth Curry Point Guard Experiment is over at Duke.

While running through a trio of good-but-flawed teams that lacked both the defensive physicality and the experience to expose their flaws at the Maui Invitational, that’s exactly what happened to the Blue Devils in their 22-point beating at Ohio State last week. And among the most glaring truths that game revealed was just how far Curry has to go in his development as a point guard.

There is a long tradition of combo guards running the show at Duke under Coach K. From Johnny Dawkins to Jeff Capel to Daniel Ewing to Scheyer to Nolan Smith, Krzyzewski has never hesitated to rely on players who weren’t natural points to initiate the offense. While Roy Williams says he prefers to have three “true” point guards on the roster at all times and was known at Kansas to play two at the same time, Coach K has gotten it done at times with none.

Duke Is Still Searching For A Point Guard

So it wasn’t particularly surprising in November to see Duke’s starting five include three natural shooting guards – Curry, Austin Rivers and Andre’ Dawkins – and two forwards – Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee – while highly recruited true point guards Tyler Thornton and Quinn Cook watched from the bench.

“But,” Kryzewski said after Wednesday night’s defeat of Colorado State, “getting beat by (22) points will lead to a lot of things.” It appears the point guard rotation may be one of those things. Though he certainly wasn’t the only Blue Devil who struggled against the Buckeyes – Dawkins was scoreless in 19 minutes – Curry’s performance was troubling. He made just one of six three-point attempts with no assists and three turnovers. So there was Thornton, a sophomore who played just 9.9 minutes per game last year after picking Duke over Georgetown and Villanova among others, trotting out for his first career start Wednesday night, a move that sent Dawkins to the bench.

In an 87-64 victory, Thornton proceeded to tie his career-high with 28 minutes and four assists. He did not commit a turnover. Meanwhile, Cook, after playing just 13 total minutes in the three games in Maui, followed up a promising 14-minute appearance in Columbus with 16 more minutes against Colorado State, finishing with a pair of assists and, like Thornton, zero turnovers. More importantly, the Duke offense looked more cohesive as everyone seemed to pick up on Thornton and Cook’s passing mentality. Duke finished with 21 assists on 31 made field goals, and even Curry looked more comfortable as a distributor, setting a career-high with eight assists even as his shooting struggles continued (he’s now made just two of his last 11 3-point attempts). Clearly, some of this may attributable to the level of the opponent, but it was a remarkable change for the Blue Devils.

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Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter.  See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge kicks off tonight with several outstanding games.  There are two games in particular that every college hoops fan should enjoy thoroughly.  Let’s go ahead and break down the action.

Can Jared Sullinger get Ohio State a marquee win against Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge? (Al Messerschmidt/Getty)

#15 Michigan at Virginia – 7 PM EST on ESPN2 HD (****)

• The biggest take away from Maui for the Wolverines was freshman point guard Trey Burke’s ability to run the Wolverine offense. Michigan will need Burke to continue to drive the offense against a very good Virginia defense. John Beilein’s team currently is the #1 team in the country in two-point field goal percentage (62.8%). However, the team is struggling from beyond the arc and at the free throw line. They are also struggling to get to the line. This is probably a result of their frequent three-point attempts (39% of their shots come from downtown). In what may shape up to be a half-court battle, Michigan must find a way to get to the line more frequently. If Michigan is able to reduce their three-point shots like they did against UCLA and drive the ball to the lane with Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr., the team will be on its way to a win against the Cavaliers.
• Virginia’s defense has been nothing short of spectacular this year. They are holding teams to an effective field goal percentage of 37%, which is good for fifth in the nation. Expect the Cavalier’s defense to force the Wolverines to shoot from the outside by playing zone. On the other side of the ball, the Virginia offense runs on free throws. If they are not getting to the line, they will have a difficult time winning the game. This is mostly because Tony Bennett’s team is struggling on the offensive glass and is turning the ball over on almost 22% of their possessions. Since the Cavaliers play at a slow pace, poor offensive rebounding and turnovers result in empty possessions and offensive inefficiency. They will have to improve in both areas to beat Michigan.
• The Cavaliers have the best defense that Michigan has faced thus far and the Wolverines have the best offense Virginia has faced thus far. The game will come down to which team executes its strength in the half-court more effectively. If you see Virginia forcing Michigan to shoot a lot from the outside, they will have a better shot at winning. If the Maize and Blue is finding smart shots from inside the arc and pulling down the offensive boards, expect them to win in a slugfest.

1. Grantland: Shane Ryan’s post about Duke‘s developing guard play is very interesting to read knowing the result of the Maui championship game against Kansas. Ryan breaks down Duke’s evisceration of Michigan’s zone with screenshots (a trend that I am really starting to enjoy). Ryan looks at the blend of talent and Duke’s system, though he ignores the possibility of Tyler Thornton coming off the bench and hitting the biggest threes of his life… But in all seriousness, it’s amazing how much Mason Plumlee’s play in that game got written off by a prayer (and the Seth Curry travel before it). The story went from Mason Plumlee locking down Thomas Robinson the last eight minutes while sinking clutch free throws for Duke to a desperation heave, but that’s a different post for a different time.
2. BC Interruption: The Eagles’ SBNation blog takes a look at the best player on a  young, bad Boston College team. His name is Patrick Heckmann. Possibly because he played at high-level competition in Germany, Heckmann seems like the most consistently aggressive player on the Eagles. Heckmann also has the advantage of size and solid athleticism. Heckmann is far from a finished product, but he’s definitely a little light in what could be a very long season on the hardwood in Chestnut Hill.
3. Washington Times: Maryland‘s beatdown at the hands of the Iona Gaels pointed out a lot of flaws. Mark Turgeon is blaming himself for the inconsistency from his players. The bottom line is the Terrapins have a long way to go. Sean Mosley has picked up where he left off two years ago, but the rest of the team is struggling. But Turgeon clearly isn’t used to losing:
   

   It’s hard to be good. Right now, we’re taking the easy way out. We don’t run the defense because that’s hard. We don’t box out because that’s hard. We don’t execute our plays against pressure because that’s hard.

4. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Doug Roberson checks in with coaches from around the state of Georgia, including Georgia Tech‘s Brian Gregory, to talk about who inspired them as children. Gregory’s inspiration came from an old high school counselor, who told Gregory, “If you work hard and are a good person then usually things work out pretty well.” It’s definitely interesting to see where coaches, whose job requires inspiring student athletes every day, derived their inspirations.
5. Raleigh News & Observer: Michael McAdoo‘s lawsuit against North Carolina and the NCAA was dropped this week, but the process is far from over. McAdoo’s lawyer is planning on filing an appeal next week. McAdoo was ruled permanently ineligible after the NCAA’s investigation of North Carolina’s infractions under Butch Davis because of academic fraud. McAdoo was signed by the Baltimore Ravens after being drafted in the NFL’s supplemental draft. The lawsuit is one of many against the NCAA currently that could mean major changes for the organization in the near future.