Trip Down Memory Lane: What Duke Team Will Show Up Next?

Duke fans everywhere understood that their early season win in the NIT Season Tip-Off over No. 13 Connecticut was a sign of how good the Blue Devils can be, both defensively and in the national spotlight. Although they had an overall bad shooting night from the floor, they still found a way to defeat a high-caliber team away from Cameron Indoor.

Next up for Duke was a match-up against Wisconsin in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an event in which the Blue Devils had compiled a perfect 10-0 record. Though the game was in Madison, Duke was the heavy favorite going into the match after its big win over the Huskies.

Everything was heading in the right direction.

Last season, the Blue Devils had a similar start. After defeating Southern Illinois and Michigan at Madison Square Garden to win the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, Duke headed into their Big Ten/ACC Challenge match-up with fourth-ranked Purdue holding a 7-0 record.

Although the Blue Devils handled the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, they fell suspect to another early season upset against Michigan in Ann Arbor. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction, that is until an opponent who had entered their game against Duke struggling out-hustles and outworks Coach K's team.

The 2007-2008 season also got off to an eerily similar start.

After starting the season 10-0, which included wins over Princeton, Illinois and Marquette to take home the Maui Invitational, the Blue Devils stumbled against Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden.

Duke was heading in the right direction, that is until yet another opponent hits the Blue Devils in their early season stride and leaves Duke with its first loss of the season and with questions to answer.

Do you see a pattern here?

Like I mentioned above, the Blue Devils once again started this season off strong, winning games by large margins and dominating the tempo of each and every game. What could go wrong?

A perfect 10-0 record in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and a 6-0 record on the year couldn't have prepared Duke for the Wisconsin Badgers team that showed up to battle the Blue Devils early in the season.

Whether it was Trevon Hughes nailing a long three-pointer with the shot clock down to one second or a big man in the post getting an easy dunk or lay-up, the Blue Devils had no answer for Bo Ryan's team on defense.

The offense wasn't much better either, even though Kyle Singler led a late Duke rally that cut a once 11 point lead down to one with just five second left.

The Devils were denied the win, however, dropping their record to 6-1 on the year and giving Duke its first loss in the event.

The Blue Devils rebounded with a 80-71 win against St. John's at home, extending their NCAA-leading home non-conference winning streak to 73 games.

However, that game also left Coach K with problems that needed to be addressed and questions that needed to be answered.

I can't say that we all didn't see this coming in the first place, though.

So much is expected from Duke, both on the local and national level. Expectations are always high, from the fans and from the media. Sometimes, there are high-level teams in the country that the media will overlook a loss when the team may have an all-around bad night, but not Duke.

When the Blue Devils lose, the whole country finds out within a matter of minutes. "Devils Denied Win" and "Duke not as Dominate as you Thought" are headlines that you will find on popular Internet domains. The Duke players will never be able to forget the past and move on.

I'm afraid to say it, but the Dukies will relive the Wisconsin game every time they step foot on the hardwood this season. They will never be able to rid their minds of the final seconds ticking off the clock, down by four and with no chance to win the game.

These early season losses are never forgotten by the ESPN commentators either, bringing up a turnover near the end of a game that may have changed Duke's seed in the tournament come March.

It's a trip down memory lane, every loss embedded into the Blue Devil faithful until the last seconds of the season. The early season losses normally hurt the worst, but they can also be a wake-up call to a team that greatness is expected.

Duke received its wake-up call earlier than they wanted to this season. It's now up to Coach K's guys to accept this new challenge to which they have been bestowed, get over the loss and work hard the rest of the season.

This Duke team has greatness within them. Are they ready to walk down memory lane, or are they ready to ignore what the rest of the country has to say and play some Duke Blue Devil basketball?