Singler's Shooting Slump: What's Up with One of Duke's All-Time Leading Players?

Kyle Singler came into his senior year known as a multi-talented offensive player with the ability to score down low or from distance...one of the top inside-outside threats in the country.

He, rightfully so, was selected as a preseason All-American candidate, as well as a Wooden and Naismith Award nominee.

His overall numbers in 2010-11 are neither eye-popping nor alarming.

He is averaging 17.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He is making 42.1 percent of his shots from the field and 80.8 from the line.

Where Singler is struggling is from beyond the arc. Until you start looking at the actual numbers, you don't see how serious this situation is.

On the year, Singler is connecting on 33.5 percent of his three-pointers, good for just No. 30 in the ACC.

In games after New Year's Day, it gets worse. Singler is only shooting 30-for-103 (29 percent).

The last six games of the season is where the bottom has dropped out. Since the road game at Virginia on Feb. 16, Singler has only made 2-of-19 threes—an arctic 10.5 percent.

Commenting after last night's loss to North Carolina, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "We're a confident team. Just because you miss shots, it's not about confidence. Sometimes you miss shots. If you're not confident, you don't take the shots. Confidence is not our problem. We're okay."

Even from Coach K's assessment of a shooter's mindset ("If you're not confident, you don't take the shots."), Singler's poise my be shaking a little. In this latest six-game slide, Singler is taking two fewer threes per game.

Duke is a good team that has won 27 games already this season, with a major player, freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, going down to injury.

Recent results have demonstrated that they, like every other team, need to be firing on all cylinders as they enter this stage of the season.

Last year, Singler was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player after averaging 20.0 points, nine rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in wins over West Virginia and Butler.

To win this great award, Singler went 6-of-11 (.545) from three-point range at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Can he find that same magic during this year's March Madness?

If so, Duke will make a deep run, and will probably be one of the teams competing for the NCAA Championship in Houston.

If not, Singler will finish out a fantastic four-year career, wondering what happened.