Five Things We Learned in Duke's Victory over Belmont

Friday kicked off, for all intents and purposes, the start of the NCAA Basketball season.

Most Division I teams were in action last night, but arguably the most entertaining game of the night came at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The sixth ranked Duke Blue Devils survived a scare from the Belmont Bruins, 77-76, in what was both team's opening match.

Let's look at what we learned from this great game moving forward. 

5. Belmont Is for Real

Those who don't keep up that closely with College Basketball may have been unaware of what the defending Atlantic Sun Champions brought to the table. They were made aware last night. 

For those of us who already knew, it wasn't at all surprising to see Belmont hang in there tooth and nail with sixth ranked Duke. Belmont, after all, does return nine of its top 11 players from last years squad who went 30-5 and won the Atlantic Sun conference. 

Although they failed to upset Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament last year, Belmont may have better luck this time around. They can shoot the lights out and, offensively, can stay in the game with any team in the country. This team also showed tremendous heart to come back from being down 16 points in the second half to make it a one point game late before Duke put them away.

Belmont will get another chance to pull off a marquee upset. The Bruins very next game is against ninth ranked Memphis. The Tigers are one of the most athletically gifted teams in the country, but as Belmont showed they can play with anyone, the game is sure to be a must watch on Tuesday. 

4. Mason Plumlee Is Primed for a Breakout Season

The middle of the Plumlee brothers may very well have cemented his position as the best (at least for now) on the Duke Blue Devils roster.

Mason Plumlee scored 13 points and pitched in 14 rebounds for Duke, and looked at times like the best player on the court.

Plumee showed a nice inside post game that was not seen as much last season, mostly because he didn't get very many shots with Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith around. 

Plumlee has tremendous skills and athleticism, and he will be the X-factor in many Duke games this season. 

3. Andre Dawkins Is Clutch

When Duke needed to make a shot to seal the game, they turned in desperation to an unlikely source. 

Although Plumlee, Seth Curry and Austin Rivers were the stars of the game, it was Andre Dawkins who sealed the victory with a deep contested three with under 20 seconds remaining to push the Duke lead from one to four. 

Dawkins scored just six points on 2-7 shooting, and the analysts calling the game were questioning whether he would even be on the court for the final stretch of the game.

But when head coach Mike Krzyzewski put him back into the game, Dawkins delivered in a big way.

If he can continue to knock down big shots, it will take a lot of pressure off of Plumlee and Rivers to know they have a reliable knock down shooter they can go to in late game situations with a game on the line. 

2. The Streak Will Continue for Another Season

During Duke's active 87 home winning streak against non-conference opponents, no opponent had played the Blue Devils within two points. 

Until Friday night.

Duke's one point margin of victory over Belmont is the lowest margin of victory Duke has had during the streak. Although Ian Clarke's meaningless three pointer at the buzzer changed the score from four to one, it still is symbolic of just how tight Belmont played Duke in this game.

The good news for the Blue Devils, however, is that now that they've gotten by the Bruins, their streak seems to be well intact. 

Although Duke does play a fairly difficult non-conference schedule this season, many of their toughest games are either in tournaments or on the road.

Duke will face off against Tennessee in their opener in the Maui Invitational and could run into teams such as Memphis, Michigan, UCLA or Kansas. They also will go to Ohio State and play Michigan State and either Kansas or Kentucky in the State Farm Champions Classic.

Their toughest non-confernce home game will likely not come until late January, when they take on St. John's. Although, Colorado State and Western Michigan are both solid mid major teams. 

All in all, though, Duke should be the favorites and will likely continue their streak. If you do the math, if Duke goes this season with the streak in tact, the total would be a staggering 94 games. 

1. Duke Isn't There Yet

Although they showed signs of being a Top 5 team, Duke still looked raw in their debut this season. 

Austin Rivers scored 16 points but didn't necessarily stand out as their go to player. That isn't to say he won't develop into it, much like Harrison Barnes did with North Carolina last season, but he may need some time to get there. 

Duke's defense was suspect, especially in the second half when they let Belmont score 46 second half points. When Duke held their largest lead of the game with 14 and half minutes left, Belmont had a mere 37 points, which means they put up nearly 40 in the span from then to the end of the game.

The question remains which player will take over on offense when they need a bucket. Although Andre Dawkins bailed them out with his three pointer, that shot was assuredly not what Coach K drew up in the huddle. Will it be Rivers, Plumlee or possibly even Seth Curry? 

One thing is for sure, while Duke has the pieces to be in the National Title hunt, they will need to improve and make corrections before ACC play comes around if they wish to compete with North Carolina.