Duke Basketball: Loss To St. John's Exposes Blue Devils' Road Problems Again

Fact: Duke is one of, if not the best, basketball programs in the country.

Fact: Duke rarely loses at home.

Fact: Duke seldom loses neutral-court games.

Fact: Duke has a fantastic postseason record.

Fact: Duke is a little better than a .500 ball club on the road.

Granted, most teams at any level of basketball don't do as well on the road as they do at home. But for Duke, the difference is amazing.

Over the last five years, Duke's record breaks out, as follows

Home: 79-7 (92 percent winning percentage)

Neutral: 23-3 (88 percent)

NCAA Tournament: 9-3 (75 percent)

Road: 26-18 (59 percent)

If I were Coach K, this would drive me bananas! With all of the success, all of the achievements, all of  the dominance, I would be sick that we are so good everywhere else but don't get things done any better than this on our opponents' home courts.

To compare, over the last five years, Kansas, another elite level program, has posted a 35-12 (74 percent) road record. That's not as good as their home, neutral or tournament records, but there is not nearly the drop-off as there is for the Blue Devils.

One of the reasons why there is such a disparity between Duke's home/neutral site record and their road record is that they choose to play so few true road games in their non-conference schedule.

Rather than using non-conference games to prepare themselves for the rigors of going onto other ACC campuses, the Blue Devils choose to play in the less-menacing environments found in neutral court arenas.

Has that kept them from winning conference titles, conference tournaments or NCAA championships? No.

But, it would still be a burr under my saddle to think we are awesome everywhere else, but a little better than average on the road.