Duke Blue Devils Basketball: The Season that Could Have Been

Coming off the most disappointing season in years, and a first-round exit in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, many questions surrounded the Duke basketball team to start the season.

Would they be able to shake that first-round loss? Would they be able to overcome the loss of their best player from last season, Josh McRoberts? Would they be able to establish some sort of an inside presence?

To start the season, it seemed as if Duke had answered all of these with an emphatic YES!, after beating a good Marquette team at the Maui Invitational championship and destroying a well seasoned Wisconsin team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They did so with balanced scoring, good freshman play from Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, and Taylor King, and an excellent strategy of spread 'em out, drive and kick for an open three.

When their shots were falling, they were as good as anyone, as shown by their wins against Wisconsin and North Carolina in Chapel Hill. However, many experts, including myself, still questioned whether or not Duke could win in March without a dominating inside presence.

It showed in losses against Pittsburgh, the Carolina rematch in Durham, and against Clemson in the ACC Tournament. Their ability to consistently hit the three abandoned them, and they were left with no stabilizing force down low to combat their outside struggles. Their lack of toughness really showed when they didnt hit their shots.

Unfortunately, it didn't end there as the same thing happened against Belmont, where they barely, and I mean barely, squeaked out a win. Eventually they hit their demise against West Virginia.

The lack of an inside game hurt them no doubt, but I am proposing that they had an even bigger problem than an inside game, one that many experts failed to expose, which was the lack of a true point guard.

If Duke wants to play a Phoenix Suns style of basketball, then they better find a point guard who can actually get in the lane. I like Greg Paulus, he is a great shooter with great toughness, and when Duke was playing their best basketball, he was at his best. The problem is that they just could not get enough easy baskets or layups, or even free throws, something Duke thrives on.

Remember, when Duke won the National Championship in 2001, they were without Carlos Boozer for an extended period of time due to a foot injury, and they went undefeated in that stretch. The difference was that they had Jason Williams and Chris Duhon, two guys who knew how to get in the lane and either get a layup or draw two guys for an open three for someone else.

Coach K has always had a great point guard when his teams have been successful, because they not only run the team through leadership (which Paulus does do), but also through making every play when the team is struggling, something Paulus only could do when he was hitting shots.

If Duke wants to return to the top of the college basketball world, Nolan Smith HAS to turn into that guy, otherwise Coach K should rethink his recruiting needs. A dominating big man is always great to have, but is much harder to find. Finding a quick and heady point guard who can create for his teammates isn't that hard to find, just go the the courts of New York City.