Blue Devils need to find a way to get their spark back

WASHINGTON – Paging Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Shane Battier, et. al. Trouble in the empire. These dances are starting to end way too early.

Duke wasn’t just upset Saturday. Duke was roasted, aura and all. Never mind the 73-67 final score at the hands of West Virginia. A six-point margin does not do justice to this thrashing.

Something is amiss in Mike Krzyzewski’s world, and not just whatever bug took away his voice and pushed his temperature to 104 degrees the other day in the Belmont escape. Hard to say that about a team with a final record of 28-6, but nobody has any higher bar in March than Duke.

That’s a credit to the Blue Devils’ history. But it puts the present in a curious light.

Last year, they lost in the first round of the ACC and the first round of the NCAA tournament, to Virginia Commonwealth. Imagine, Duke not winning a single postseason game.

This year, they managed one victory in each tournament. But now they’re gone, quickly and decisively – and nearly lost to Belmont.

Can too much be made of that? Tough question. It is a young team, with only one senior. Best not to get caught up in talk-show hyperbole over a couple of disappointments. But then again, this is Duke – the place that produced 10 Final Four trips in 19 years. The Blue Devils are not supposed to be ironed and pressed for home delivery in the second round.

So it is natural to wonder just what is going on, if things are that different from the time when Duke rolled through this month with talent and reputation and star quality.

“We can’t play through those people,” Gerald Henderson was saying from the quiet locker room. “We have to create our own legacy. We have to do it ourselves. Nothing is really given to you when you come here. We’ve learned that the last two years. We’ve got to make stuff happen … we have a lot of work to do.”

It was not just the fact Saturday, but the manner in how it happened.

“When you think of Duke, you think of winning championships,” said senior DeMarcus Nelson, who will graduate from Duke with no Final Four trip – something few recent Blue Devils have done. “It stings a lot. Everyone in this locker room is a winner. We’ve had a great year. But today West Virginia was better than us, and that is a feeling that won’t sit well with us.”

What is it the mighty teams do, when someone is trying to push them around?

•They hit the big shot.

But Duke missed 15 3-pointers in a row at one point, and had only 14 field goals in the first 38 minutes.

•They exert their muscle.

But Duke was destroyed in rebounding 47-27.

•They turn to their veterans.

But Nelson was 2 for 11 Saturday and 3 for 17 for the tournament.

“He probably struggled with trying too hard,” Krzyzewski said. “I think sometimes at the end, a person who cares sometimes puts too much on themselves.”

No, the game-saver came from the other side. A West Virginia reserve guard named Joe Mazzulla turned into Kobe Bryant – tormenting the Blue Devils with 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. A 6-2 guard beat Duke with almost a triple-double.

“They played with more swagger than we did,” Blue Devil guard Jon Scheyer said.

More swagger than Duke? How in the name of J.J. Redick does that happen?

Krzyzewski had mentioned something similar on Friday, about how times had changed in Durham.

“We could impose our will certain years,” he said. “The last two years have not been that way.”

The Blue Devils are not exactly in imminent danger of being in the NIT. “Duke is still going to be Duke,” said Nelson, on his way out the door.

But the bodies do not look the same, and neither do the months of March. It’ll take some retooling, if Duke is to still be Duke, and then there is Beijing for Olympic coach Krzyzewski. He has a lot of work to do.