Duke Basketball: Blue Devils Have No Shot at ACC Tournament Title

The Duke Blue Devils continue to get pummeled on their way into the ACC Tournament, and it will only serve to see them leave empty handed. 

It doesn't happen often in the ACC, but Duke is heading into the tournament with far too many questions and not nearly enough answers. 

They were taken to task by a deeper North Carolina team that dismantled them on the final day of the regular season. 

They have been exposed as a program that lives and dies by the three-point shot, their Kryptonite is as abundant as playing tough on the perimeter. Oh, and they lost a vital part of their rotation heading into the ACC tourney in Ryan Kelly. 

Steve Wiseman of the Herald Sun reports Kelly injured his ankle in Tuesday practice and will be out of the tournament. 

The hope is for a strong showing yielding a solid seed, one that may allow Kelly to rest as much as possible early on in the NCAA tournament. Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski issued Kelly was in obvious pain but that he was able to walk out of practice under his own volition. 

Duke loses a key part of the team and a player that can ignite Duke with passion and zeal. The Blue Devils have been known to play far too often from behind. 

A player like Kelly can be counted on to spark a surge, and what he lends in depth cannot be undersold. Duke has other issues facing them this weekend, the big one being North Carolina that completely owned them in a game where the Blue Devils shot 6-for-21 from beyond the arc. 

Austin Rivers was flat and a late come-from-behind surge never came. Duke is running cold, and North Carolina is as hot as any team in the nation. 

The other issue is Duke's defense which continues to be cringe-worthy at best. Transition buckets are plentiful and trips in the lane for two are the norm for the opposition. 

The lackluster showing on that end of the court doesn't simply get remedied in a day or even a week. Duke is heading into certain doom, and there is nothing that can be done about it. 

Follow @gabezal