Stat Chat: Not in my house

Last Saturday's contest was one of the best college basketball games of the season; unfortunately for Duke, when the buzzer sounded, they were on the wrong side of the win-loss column. Despite some late heroics, the game came down to one glaring problem for the Blue Devils: the team has no depth in the post.

Before I start railing through the numbers, I do understand that Amile Jefferson played a fantastic game against Syracuse. The sophomore put up a stellar line of 14 points, seven rebounds, six offensive, and five assists. On top of that, his rebounding led to 10 of Duke's 22 second chance points. However, as was the major theme of the contest, Jefferson was forced to watch the end of the game on the bench due to foul trouble.

With the exception of Jefferson, Duke was inept in the lane. From 2-point range, including points in the paint as well as the mid-range jumper, the Blue Devils shot 16-for-36—44.4 percent. However, take away Amile Jefferson and the shooting percentage drops significantly to 38.4 percent. If these numbers aren't a strong enough indicator, then the 36 total threes taken—granted, they made 41.7 percent of those shots—is.

There's also the concern of physical size when taking the ball to the basket. Parker is the second best scorer in the post aside from Jefferson, but even the freshman star struggled and was blocked an astounding five times. Overall, Duke was blocked nine times, with perhaps the biggest one coming when Rodney Hood attempted a dunk in overtime with the game on the line.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, this is not a new trend. This season, Duke has been blocked 81 times, averaging 3.68 shots blocked per game. In ACC play, that average inflates to 4.44 shots blocked per game. The team's natural athleticism allowed for an impressive 18 offensive rebounds, but the Orange's size in the lane caused problems all night for the Blue Devils.

Sure, offensively size was a problem, but the defensive end proved the be the difference maker in the game. When Duke was near full strength—which was rare in the second half and overtime because of the aforementioned foul trouble—the team held its own offensively. After regulation, Syracuse held only a four-point advantage in points in the paint (36-32); however, in overtime, the Orange scored six more points in the paint against a defense lacking both Jefferson and Parker.

You can point to any number of defensive efficiency numbers and they all point to one thing: Syracuse was going to shoot 2-pointers and they were going to convert on shot attempts. Only four of the Orange's 54 attempts were from beyond the arc, and they converted on three of those 3-point attempts. Syracuse is a good team and Duke played a great game, but if fans take away one weakness from this game, it's the lack of depth in the post for the Blue Devils.