By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

Illinois was ranked #18 in the NET with six Quad 1 wins, a credential none of Duke’s ACC opponents can match. Yet the Blue Devils overwhelmed the Illini by 43 points, that program’s worst loss ever.

Everyone talks about this being a down year for the ACC but Duke is only winning in conference by about 20 points per game. The Blue Devils did beat Stanford by 36 and Miami by 35 but those are the only ACC blowouts that compare with Saturday night’s take down in New York City.

I mean Duke’s most recent ACC game at Virginia was settled by a score of 80-62. 18 points. The Devils’ margin over the team from the Big Ten, which has six teams in the NET top 23, was 2 ½ times that.

Note that Illinois has some really big wins: Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and UCLA. The Illini played two point games against Michigan State and Tennessee. The Vols were #1 at the time of that cliffhanger.

Illinois won at Oregon by an amazing 32 points! The Ducks have wins over Alabama, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

Despite this glossy resume Illinois was no match for Duke. Coach Jon Scheyer loved his team’s ball movement. Duke recorded an astonishing 28 assists — from 10 different players.

The ball movement was so good Duke got tons of easy shots and open looks. And knocked them down, hitting 52% from three and 56% overall.

Duke scored 54 points in the first half even though star Cooper Flagg made just one basket. The explosive Devils piled up 56 in the second half as Flagg swished a three and added two monster dunks for a total of 16 points along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Among starters Flagg was the leading scorer, yet all of Duke’s first five scored in double figures. Kon Knueppel knocked in 15, Khamen Maluach added 13, T.J. Proctor 12, and Sion James 11. What balance!

Adding to the Illinois defensive nightmares, the Duke bench poured in 43 more points. Talk about relentless offense. The 6’7 freshman from Fayetteville Isaiah Evans led all scorers in the game with 17 points. Caleb Foster scored 12 points, even though he played just 7 minutes.

Duke’s path to victory also included some stellar defense, though it was not as glitzy as the offense. Duke made 5 steals and scored a whopping 20 points off Illinois turnovers. The Blue Devils held the Illini to 37% from the field and limited their second chance opportunities.

Now ACC teams have had some success shooting threes against Duke. The Blue Devils allow conference opponents to shoot 35% from beyond the arc, which is just 8th of 18 teams. Yet Illinois suffered a miserable night from three point land, making just 2-26. That’s a mere 7% if you’re scoring from home.

And Duke played without its best defender. Long armed Maliq Brown suffered a shoulder injury in Charlottesville. His return is likely at least another week away.

In fairness, Illinois is playing without freshman forward Morez Johnson, a key player. The Illini have now lost three straight games.

Illinois Coach Brad Underwood said afterward that because of Duke’s length, size, and ability to defend inside three point shooting is a must. And to be sure, most ACC teams have had difficulty attacking the basket against Duke.

But note that Illinois made 21 of its 37 shots inside for a respectable 56%. Also, Illinois over the season is not a good three point shooting team, hitting barely 30% of its shots outside the arc. So maybe this game plan was flawed.

Scheyer spoke at length last week about the challenge of players doing the preparation and execution consistently, noting it requires hunger and belief. “This team has risen to the occasion,” he said after the win over Stanford. We certainly saw that again in Madison Square Garden.

The Blue Devils were obviously locked in to play in front of 19,000 mostly Duke fans; the Garden is sometimes called “Cameron North.” But how well will the Devils get back up for their midweek game against 2-14 Miami, whom this team beat 89-54 just five weeks ago?

Duke finishes with home games against Florida State and Wake Forest, followed by the season finale at UNC. Only the latter will count as a Quad 1 game.

Playing non conference in February

This program has a history of playing top opponents from power conferences in February. In the mid-nineties Duke played a home and home series with UCLA during the final 2-3 weeks of ACC play. Starting in 2001 Duke annually played St. John’s, also home and home, as well as other quality opponents like Temple and Tulsa.

Then coach Mike Krzyzewski saw great value in playing non conference games in the middle of ACC play against the type teams Duke might see in the NCAA Tournament.

ACC teams of course know each other so well, that playing out of conference against a good team can be a refreshing change—and certainly a less detailed scouting report.

The Duke teams Scheyer played on from 2006 thru 2010 played three games against St. John’s (two of them at the Garden) and one game against Tulsa. Two of those Duke teams reached the Sweet Sixteen and the third, in 2010, won the NCAA Championship. Those big time non conference games in February prepared the Blue Devils for March.

With the 20 game ACC schedule it’s a challenge to fit in a game with a team from a power conference late in the season. But I think it would help the ACC to do more of what Duke is doing in February.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee puts so much emphasis on inter conference play, but almost all of the games take place in November and December when traditionally many ACC teams are still finding themselves. Conferences get branded as strong or weak during those two months with few good ways to change that perception in January and February.

Strong leagues like the SEC is this season, play one Quad 1 game after another it seems. Weak conferences-as the ACC has been adjudged-have very few Quad 1 opportunities during conference play.

So some teams in these parts are improving but not getting credit for it. Certainly Louisville is much better now than it was in December as is Clemson. Yet neither is ranked in the NET Top 20, due to fewer Quad 1 wins than the teams ahead of them.

Both Wake Forest and North Carolina have a chance to make the NCAA field according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. But they may have to beat Duke to get a bid.

This would be a great time to play a team from a power league and pick up a Quad 1 win outside the ACC. Someone like Illinois.

Source: wralsportsfan.com