The Duke Blue Devils made a valiant effort, but eventually lost to North Carolina, 79-73. When you are in the ACC...and especially when you are Duke....valiant efforts are meaningless. Duke fans will admit to that even though most had to be a bit proud to see Duke knock UNC back with some good hard punches.

Duke is now 5-5 in the ACC, good for sixth place in the conference, and currently riding a 3-game losing streak....positions the Devils don't normally find themselves in. So, where do they go from here?

Well, the waters get rough from here on out. Duke plays on the road for 4 of their next 5 games [and 5 of 7]. First off is another rival: Maryland. While the Duke-Maryland rivalry has been knocked down a peg or two in recent years, the hatred still is real. For this young team to have to go into College Park and beat a struggling Terps team would do wonders for their confidence. After that, they head up to Boston College to face the ACC co-leading Eagles. As Duke is young, BC is experienced. Chestnut Hill is a tough place for ACC foes to play since it is all relatively new to them.

The Devils do get a home game against Georgia Tech....the same Tech team that gave Duke their worst beating of the season. Then back on the road against Clemson [who is good, but struggling mightily right now] and St John's [a bad Big East team]. To end the season, Duke faces it's biggest rivals: hosting Maryland for senior night and then heading to UNC. A very difficult schedule, to say the least. And with things getting bad in Durham, sometimes bad times snowball.

I still think this is a good team that can make a mini-run in the NCAA tournament due to their defense alone. But they cannot make another Final Four run with a weak bench and a lack of a go-to scorer.

Still, the Devils have a few things going for them. First off, they are Duke....and wearing Duke blue means you play with pride no matter what. You don't mail it in and you don't give up. Second, Coach K won't allow this team to lose focus and tank the season. Even though the schedule is tough....he'll have his Blue Devils playing tough.

Success is a relative term. In Durham, success means cutting down championship nets or, at the very least, getting to the Final Four. However, for this current team, success means improving as a unit. This was a team that wasn't good over the past couple of years. J.J. Redick's scoring and Sheldon Williams' shotblocking covered up a lot of ugliness. They are gone, but Duke lives on. The current roster must do what they can to make the best of a season that won't go into the Devils' scrapbook as a keeper. There is a lot of talent coming into Durham next season, so this should be just a temporary hole they've gotten into.

You are Duke. You better be proud.