Folks,

I read these threads daily and though I'm not a frequent contributer, I do read what others have to say. My apologies if I missed this somewhere, but I don't think I've seen this in any of the postgame threads. I've been watching Duke for 40 years now, for about the first 25-30 I watched 90% of our games one way or the other. I still probablt see about 75%. In my opinion there is one overarching problem with this team as I look back over the years. There is no ON COURT accountabiliity. We do not have a true leader out there to hold his teammates to account and to let them know what is expected in real time.

We have the greatest coach in the history of college basketball. If you have any doubt, look what happens after halftime the past few games when he has 10 minutes to hold them accountable for what they have done. I realize he is the coach before the game as well, but (again my opinion) that is more about strategy than accountability. Hurt is a great player, but not a leader. Sorry, but I don't see any evidence of that in Goldwire either.

A lot of this can be attributed to the lack of a preseason and practice. That is where team leaders emerge, and this team has not had that opportunity. I don't want to get too much into the weeds, but on a pure talent level this year's team is at least as good as last year's, but I'd take Trey Jones to win every day. He was the kind of player who lead, and held his teammates accountable on the court, in the moment. I think there is still a chance for that to happen, Roach is emerging on the court and maybe, as our point guard, he can find his voice.

Let me be clear this is not a "blame" or "shade" post. This is just a realization that with fewer multi-year players and a lack of time for cohesion we are where we are. I will cheer like crazy for our guys every game and I will love our teams every year, but I think it's more than just stats or a particular game performance that needs to be looked at.

Go Devils! GTHC!