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MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021 | 9
COLUMN
The similarities between this year and ‘95 The potential of Duke being .500 at the end of January was not a topic of conversation entering the season. But through 10 games this year, the Blue Devils have been an utter disappointment. Without a quality win so far and a challenging ACC slate ahead, Duke is on the verge of missing the NCAA tournament. While many view this season as an unprecedented low in the modern era of Duke basketball, it actually bears many similarities to the last time the Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament in 1995. Let’s go back to that 1994-95 campaign, when head coach Mike Krzyzewski missed the final 19 games due to back surgery and Duke fumbled down the stretch en route to a 13-18 final record. During their nonconference slate that season, the Blue Devils lost at the hands of two major conference opponents in Connecticut and Iowa, falling out of the AP Top 10 by ACC play. Sound familiar? And once conference play began, the wheels came off for Duke. Six straight losses during January proved to be fatal, a losing streak that
Max Rego
this year’s Blue Devils have to avoid by beating one of Georgia Tech, Clemson or Miami in the coming week. You may think that, considering the talent present on the roster, this year’s team is an even bigger disappointment. But are we really sure that the 1994-95 team didn’t have a similar talent level? Cherokee Parks, Jeff Capel and Trajan Langdon, the top three scorers on that 1994-95 club, were current or future All-ACC caliber players. When you juxtapose those three with Matthew Hurt, DJ Steward and Jalen Johnson, the resemblance in terms of pure ability is apparent. The caveat here is that, as previously mentioned, Coach K missed the final 19 games of that 1994-95 campaign. In fact, those Blue Devils went 9-3 in the games Krzyzewski roamed the sideline. But this year’s team can’t use that excuse. Rather, it’s the little things that appear to be the main dilemma this season. Championshiplevel teams make their presence felt not just with high-flying dunks or accuracy from beyond the arc, but also with the stuff that doesn’t get mentioned by the casual observer. These types of teams don’t just do these smaller tasks sometimes, they do it on every possession of every game. Space the floor? Check. Help the helper on dribble drives? Check. Close out to corner shooters? Check. I think you get the
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Jalen Johnson has shown flashes of what made him a top recruit entering this season. point. This year’s Blue Devils have checked all these boxes during various spurts this season, but with a schedule that has featured two Big Ten contenders and a deeper ACC, sometimes just fails to cut it. Looking back on everything that’s transpired this season, from an array of schedule changes to the Jalen Johnson injury, having a year filled with disappointment shouldn’t be a shock. Furthermore, Duke followed up that 1994-95 season with two
Final Four appearances over the next six seasons, a sign that the program can easily bounce back from the doldrums. Keeping things in perspective might help the Blue Devil faithful deal with a down year. In the parity-filled world of college basketball, stretches of dominance are tough to sustain without blips on the radar. Whether this is one of those blips, or Duke finds a way to turn around this season, remains to be seen.
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Cherokee Parks
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Crossword ACROSS 1 Ingredient in many a sandie cookie 6 Stick in the oven 10 Hooded snake 15 Part of the Dutch Caribbean 16 Voice above tenor 17 Brainstormers’ flurry 18 Relent 19 Lead-in to prompter 20 They’re on their second decade 21 Singer Ella with the 2018 Grammy-winning R&B hit “Boo’d Up” 22 Hot food? 25 Reason for seasonal shots 26 Biblical garden 28 Bad way to be led
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Card game with melds 8 Divulged 15 Scrubbed 16 Wonder Woman, for one 17 Part 1 of a story attributed to 34-Across 18 Elevate, redundantly 19 Bed of roses? 20 Fortitude 21 Sellout abbr. 22 Institution founded by Benjamin Franklin, in brief 24 Part 2 of the story 26 It adds punch to punch 27 Goes back and forth (with) 29 Nast of publishing 1
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47 “That’s true about me, right?” 50 Singer Grande 51 Portmanteau coinage for a queer-identified e-sports player, say 52 Alternative to an elevator 57 Knit and ___ 59 Bit of help in an escape room 61 “The Raven” poet 63 Prefix with judge or trial
Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.
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Foie ___ “___ better be good!” Barnyard bleat Author of the concise yet evocative story told in this puzzle Unwelcoming Show of approval Subject of a 1960 expedition by Sir Edmund Hillary Yoga pose Sainted 11th-century pope Feeling of a frosty wind End of the story Montana mining city Mister, abroad
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One of the only remaining “people’s republics” A whole bunch Sneaky critters Like this puzzle’s story, in length Dub, say One being dubbed Confirm, as an email address “No making changes now”
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53 54 55 Shortening in a coffee order 56 57 58 59 60 2 ___ group (hospital 61 62 classification) 3 Leif Ericson, for 63 64 one 4 Burning desire? PUZZLE BY RUTH BLOOMFIELD MARGOLIN 5 Sullies 25 “Stardust” 52 Single 37 Struck out on 6 Let the cat out composer one’s own of the bag Carmichael 55 Limo window 38 Squabbling 7 Gator’s tail? feature 28 ___ party 8 Alternative to a 39 Cry of pain fence 31 It flows to the 57 Opposite of 43 Echo, e.g. harbor of Le purity 9 Like some 44 Unfazed Havre smoky Scotch 45 Do loop-the58 Take to the 33 The south of 10 Biometric ID loops, maybe hills? France, with “le” method 46 Not so fast? 11 Article in El 35 1991 sequel to 59 Kylo ___ of Mundo “Gone With the 47 Popular new “Star Wars” Wind” holidays gifts of 12 Surmounts 2001 36 Part of the 60 “Dr.” with the 13 Accustomed DreamWorks 2011 hit “I 50 Hit 2008 Pixar 14 Oust logo Need a Doctor” film 20 People found in rows Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past 22 Push puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). 23 Sign of cat love Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. 24 Cat hate
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