Duke's Stock Rising, But Still Not Peaking

At this time last year, Duke was ranked in the top tier of college basketball and was on their way to a No. 2 ranking behind a strong 22-1 start.  They beat a handful of quality top-25 opponents and looked to be true contenders for a deep run in March...then it all fell apart.

Duke's current season seems to be off to an eerily similar start, but there is something different about the Duke of January 2009 and the Duke of January 2008.  The latter was playing at peak performance this time last season; the former still seems to have far to climb before reaching the summit of its potential, and it's sitting on a No. 2 ranking (No. 3 AP) nonetheless.

The year's Blue Devils have shown flashes of that potential all season long, whether it's come from Gerald Henderson's stretches of dominance against Florida State and Georgetown, Kyle Singler's stat-sheet-stuffing consistency, or Jon Scheyer's clutch shooting in the final minutes of key games. 

But despite all of this, we've still yet to see what Duke is truly capable of.  Henderson has put together a couple of dominant halves of basketball, but not two dominant halves in the same game, as of yet.  Singler has been Mr. Consistent in a number of statistical categories, but has only put together four 20-point performances this season (he's certainly capable of scoring 20 on a nightly basis).

Nolan Smith is still figuring out the point guard position and Greg Paulus, potentially Duke's best threat from long range and certainly their most experienced player, has only recently started to look like...well...himself.

There is still a large contingency that swears this team is the same team that fell short the last two postseasons, but they're certainly not.  This Duke team can grind out victories against tough, gritty teams.  This Duke team can rebound, and this Duke team can certainly play defense as well as anyone in the country. 

More imporantly, this Duke team, unlike last January's Blue Devils, can still get better.  And considering that they're currently ranked as one of the top three teams in the nation, that is a very good thing for Blue Devil fans looking to see their team reemerge as a legitimate National Championship contender.