In 2006, Duke celebrated Valentine's Day with an easy 93-70 victory over Wake Forest at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It was the 12th consecutive ACC win for the second-ranked Blue Devils, and the only drama remaining for the final month of the regular season surrounded J.J. Redick's quest to become the conference's all-time scoring leader.
Things are a little different in 2007.
The final six games of the regular season mean everything for a Duke team that has gone 0-for-February, suffering the Blue Devils' longest losing streak in 11 years and dropping out of the top 25 for the first time since 1996.
Even more surprisingly, Duke, once 18-3, is nearing the NCAA Tournament bubble. Although Duke is No. 18 in the RPI and fourth in strength of schedule, the Blue Devils sit in a tie for sixth place in the ACC at 5-6, with three of their final five conference games away from Cameron.
That stretch run starts at first-place Boston College on Valentine's Day, when Duke should not expect to receive any love from the hostile Eagles' crowd.
"We knew when we started this season that every game was going to be a big game for us because of who we are this season, and that has not changed," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's not just whether we've won four or five in a row or lost four in a row-the next game is huge all the time for us."
Krzyzewski has not lost faith in his team during the swoon, recognizing that the Blue Devils are a few bounces away from being near the top of the conference standings.
"One shot determines two of those games," Krzyzewski said. "Losing and how you lose-is it lack of effort, is it lack of belief, is it lack of work? It's none of those things for our guys. They believe, they work hard. We just travel a narrow road between winning and losing."
Those shots, however, have not fallen of late for the Blue Devils, and Duke has found itself in seldom-traveled waters. The program that has garnered a top seed in eight of the last nine NCAA Tournaments-and hasn't fallen below a third seed since 1996-is not even guaranteed a bid at this point in the season.
Krzyzewski, though, said his team cannot afford to think that far down the line and must remain focused on the upcoming trip to Boston.
"With our team-and we've done that with basically all our teams-[we] just concentrate on the job at hand," Krzyzewski said. "If you don't take care of the job at hand or don't attempt to do as well as you possibly can, then the big picture will always be not as good."
Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell can sympathize with Krzyzewski, having seen his team suffer through a similar streak in ACC play. After starting the season 17-0, the Tigers lost five of six before a win last week over Florida State.
"Everyone in our league has definitely gone through a stretch where they haven't played well," Purnell said. "With the balance of this league-the No. 1 rated league in America-most of the time it shows up with a streak of losses."
Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt views Duke's struggles as a sign of the times in college basketball, with parity becoming the standard across the nation.
"It's not like it was 15 years ago, with the departure of kids early, with mid-majors having older players, with more talent coming from around the world," Hewitt said. "There's a lot more parity out there. Duke's still a good team. If I was picking the tournament field today, I'd have to say they're in, and they'd definitely be a factor."
For now, the Blue Devils remain focused on Wednesday night, hoping the trip north can inspire a similar movement in the conference standings.
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton, who is quickly becoming a veteran of being on the Tournament bubble, summarized the outlook for much of the conference.
"What I want to do is win as many games as I can and let the chips fall where they may," Hamilton said. "I know in the ACC there's going to be some wins and losses, and you can control your own destiny if you just keep winning."
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