Duke is one of the best teams in the country.
Zombie Duke is the best team in the country.
Zombie Duke is the squad that has near-inexplicable ability to rally from almost any second-half deficit. Duke is fallible; Zombie Duke is fatal. And yet, they're one in the same. It's only when you've played Duke into a hole that you make yourself vulnerable, that you bring about the darker, desperate, dominant side of Duke.
A double-digit second half lead. A secure sense of impending victory. Then it all slips away.
Zombie Duke slows you down, dunks on your face, then struts off with another win while you're left to stare at the gaps between your fingers and wonder how all that blood wound up pooling around you.
The fifth-ranked Blue Devils won at No. 25 Miami on Monday night 83-75. They did it by ripping an 18-0 second half run in a four-minute-and-30-second span. They flip-turned upside down all that the Hurricanes (13-4, 2-3) thought they had going for them. Instead of logging a season-best win, Miami is now a team in need of credibility on its NCAA Tournament dossier. The Hurricanes' outlook took a drastic turn over the course of about 10 minutes of game time.
Incredibly, Miami put itself in position for a statement victory by pulling off a 19-2 run early in the second half to build a 59-46 lead. It was the run that begat Duke's. At that that point Duke had 19 turnovers and was getting minimal help from Grayson Allen and a below-average night from Marvin Bagley III. (The star freshman finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.) Duke's defense was typically, laughably Duke-ish, which is to say sub-par. The 'Canes were capitalizing on straight-line drives to punctuate possessions with powerful dunks and artistic layups.
Turns out that was just necessary prelude for the transmutation of Duke. The Blue Devils switched to a zone scheme, then found their offense, and suddenly it was like Miami ran sets in mud. Duke didn't turn the ball over in the final 11 minutes of the game. It finished 11-of-21 from 3. Six of those triples came from freshman shooting guard Gary Trent Jr., who had a career-high 30 points. He became the first Duke freshman ever to hit six 3s in consecutive games.
Wendell Carter Jr., who's due for a lot more attention any day now, had the eighth double-double of his freshman season (15 points, 14 rebounds). Carter's block with 1:35 to go in a 73-70 situation (Duke leading) was the soul-snatching change of possession for Miami. Just a "I'll take that, thank you" kind of block.
🗣 Wendell Carter Jr pic.twitter.com/sZjfyLGWTT
— 0x NBA All Star (@Carnage45) January 16, 2018
Watch it again. The Miami player with the ball is Dewan Huell, who is 6-foot-11. Carter treats him like a little brother. Seconds later Trent hit a 3 to give him a new career high. Game was clinched then.
There is no other team like the Blue Devils. Their capability of creating a win out of a losing situation is downright bizarre. Bagley's just OK, Allen has five points in 38 minutes, the bench does nothing -- and it does not matter.
And for the most part, it hasn't been a detriment to Duke's season. The Blue Devils have only lost twice (Boston College and North Carolina State; two teams that will be hard-pressed to make the NCAAs), and if the NCAA Tournament started today they'd probably be a No. 1 seed.
That zone defense was the right call at the right time against a team without an alpha point guard who could break Duke out of that zone. Any road win in the ACC that doesn't come at Pitt is going to be on with value and probably earned. Yet Miami's not a top-25 team. Duke will face much better. Zombie Duke is a fun plot development to this season, but eventually the head on that creature is getting cut off, right?
Hell, I don't know. Duke's talent is developing at a rate that will keep it as good offensively, overall, as any team in the country -- Oklahoma included. I want to say that this is not a sustainable template. If you're falling behind to Miami and losing games to NC State and Boston College, you're not winning six straight in March. That's pragmatic.
And yet Duke's talent and composure under pressure -- remember, Allen is the only veteran on this team -- is just freaky. This team's only getting more comfortable with each other too. How big of a lead is safe against the Devils? If Trent and Carter are going to play like stars in , then I don't think that question has a reasonable answer.