Wow. What a dispiriting way for the Blue Devils to end their season, with a 77-54 blowout loss to Villanova that featured their worst shooting performance of the seasoneven worse than the Clemson game.
Veteran Duke-watchers knew the end was inevitablethe team was simply too dependent on its perimeter offense. To wit: Gerald Henderson shot 1-14 and Jon Scheyer mustered 3-18. Kyle Singler was 5-13.
Ryan Campbell emailed me this morning with an interesting point:
I realized earlier that Duke has fallen at least a round short of their seed expectation in each of the last five tournaments. Even when given a 6 seed a few years ago they didn’t even make it to the second round.
What’s the outlook for Duke next year? How much does its future depend on Gerald Henderson’s pro plans? Will they get the big man they so clearly need? Will Plumlee or Zoubek develop, or is there a recruit coming in?