'We don't look good; something is wrong'

Talent can only take a team so far.

Right now, there are no teams in the country as talented as the Blue Devils. Connecticut is good and because of its undefeated record, worthy of the top ranking. But make no mistake, Duke is better.

However, anyone who has seen more than a few NCAA Tournaments knows that the most talented team frequently ends up walking away without the hardware in hand and Queen playing on the loudspeakers.

Just ask the fellows down the road in Chapel Hill. Last year, no team had a starting five (or six) that could rival North Carolina's. But the Tar Heels were knocked out by a less-talented Utah team, one that played more disciplined and passionate basketball.

Mike Krzyzewski has seen his share of NCAA Tournaments, and that is why he is concerned about his team. On the one hand he sees Duke's seemingly limitless potential, and on the other, a trio of consecutive listless performances against less-talented opponents.

At his post-game press conference Saturday, Krzyzewski did not look like a man whose team had just clubbed the third-best team in the conference by 25 points. Instead, he looked as though his team had been on the receiving end of the beating.

"We need to get better," Krzyzewski said of his team's uninspired and sloppy performance. "I'll bet they scored 16 to 20 points off of our offense. That's unacceptable. That's us letting them score. I'm saying this, and we won by a sizable margin, but we don't want to pick up bad habits."

At halftime, with Duke leading 45-30, Krzyzewski gave the team what Shane Battier described as an "animated" speech in the locker room. He held them there longer than usual, and the Blue Devils did not take the court until right before the game restarted, giving them no time for second-half warmups.

But poor play was not limited to turnovers, as Duke struggled defensively at times.

"In the first half, they were really sticking it to us," said Carrawell, whose stifling of Ron Hale was a Duke highlight. "They were able to get into the lane whenever they wanted. There was not a lot of help side 'D' and they broke us down."

The performance of Corey Maggette was symbolic of Duke's recent slide. As gifted an athlete as Krzyzewski has coached, Maggette did not play intelligently. In 16 minutes, he had a career-high seven turnovers and four fouls.

"We're concerned [about our play]," Shane Battier added. "I don't want to sound like the doomsday preacher, but we've taken a step back."

Doomsday is nowhere near. The fact is that Duke can play the way it did on Saturday and still win the conference and coast into the Tournament. But Carrawell, for one, knows that talent is not enough.

"In the last two games we've been relying on talent," he said. "We're good, but we can be beat.

"We didn't play with a whole lot of passion and the last couple of games you could say we haven't been Duke. We're not laying it on the line like we did when we beat Kentucky and Maryland earlier. Eventually, if we keep playing this way, it's going to catch up with us and bite us."

It's a good start that the players recognize that they're not playing as well as they can. The goal now is to reflect on these last three games, have good practices and come out ready to play against Clemson, St. John's and North Carolina.

Perhaps this is just a midseason slump. But the fact that the Blue Devils are vulnerable to these lapses is less than comforting. What is to prevent this lethargic play from resurfacing in early March?

If it takes a Maryland or a Kentucky to get this team ready to play, an early round NCAA exit is not inconceivable. The only difference then is that there would be no time to reflect and bounce back. The season would be over, and a great opportunity lost.