Duke Slays Pack 77-53

Tonight’s game is what it is…an embarrassing performance that must be forgotten. State came out and was unable to steady the ship as Duke came out firing on all cylinders. It was almost like what ever the scouting report read we did the opposite. The game started out with a made three pointer by Winslow and from that point on things snowballed out of control. I will admit that Duke is a better team than the Pack at this juncture; but they are in no way shape or form better than us by 25 plus points. We talked about how State must weather the storm, but tonight they didn’t have any answer to Duke’s attack. Hats off to the Blue Devils and Coach K as he had an excellent game plan that frustrated the Pack by throwing a variety of zone, press, and man to man defensive looks during the course of the game.

We are who we are at this point and let’s hope that going forward in the dance we can find the form that has yielded great success over the past month. I am forcing myself not to get too emotional over tonight’s result. Yes I am disappointed like the majority of Wolfpack nation, but the season is not lost and there is more basketball on the way. I truly believe that the Wolfpack will benefit from neutral officials that the NCAA offers. The officials did not cost us the game tonight but they were of no help either. It is no secret that Duke gets plenty of home cooking in the ACC Tournament and tonight was no exception.

Let’s hope our guys can use the next couple of days to heal up and work on their craft to be in the best place physically and mentally as we prepare to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that we can be a tough out; however, performances like tonight really prevent me from getting too excited. This team is a roller coaster but let’s hope they have a couple more thrills left on this wild ride of a season.