The Duke Blue Devils suffered an upset loss to Clemson, 72-59, on Saturday with coach Mike Krzyzewski admitting that this year's squad is not comparable to the great Blue Devils teams of the past.
"We are not a very good team," the legendary bench tactician said as quoted by Yahoo! Sports. "When I say we're not very good, we're not very good compared to who we've been. And who we've been has been very good."
The Blue Devils shot a lethargic 34% from the field, settling for jump shots and failing to score inside. Although Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood combined 35 points, point guard Quinn Cook was a miserable 3 out of 14 from the field. Likewise, four of their shooting guards failed to score more than a basket.
Parker, guarded by Jaron Blossomgame for much of the game, scored 10 points in the first half highlighted by two three-point shots. The much-hyped freshman, however, struggled in the second half with the Clemson defense shutting him down.
The loss dropped the Devils to 1-2 at the start of ACC play, the first since the 2006-07 season. It followed a win over Georgia Tech which many thought was a breakout win after the Devils lost their first assignment, Notre Dame.
The 16th-ranked Duke has failed to live up to its preseason billing, losing to elite programs like Kansas and Arizona and even had trouble beating unheralded teams like East Carolina and Vermont.
"We're not some powerhouse," Krzyzewski said as quoted by ESPN.com. "We need to get a lot better.
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