Duke Loses to Miami for the First Time Since JFK Was President

How quickly do things change. One week ago, the Duke Blue Devils were 10-0 and were unstoppable. They had won every ACC game by at least nine points and had dispatched of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and swept Maryland. It was over.

Since then, Duke has lost twice ... with both losses to teams that shouldn't have a chance at beating them. Wake Forest pounded the Blue Devils into submission on Sunday; Miami did the same thing on Wednesday ... beating Duke, 96-95. It was the first time Miami had beaten Duke since 1962.

Now, a runaway regular season title has turned into a dead heat between the Blue Devils and arch rival North Carolina (who are also 10-2) for the top seed in the ACC Tournament.

The biggest knock against Duke is that they are a "donut team" -- they gun threes and have no low post presence. Detractors have asked what would happen if the threes weren't falling. Well, we now know. Duke went 8-for-28 from the arc against Wake and struggled early against Miami (the Canes had built a 59-39 lead). Eventually, the bombs started hitting and the Blue Devils mounted a valiant comeback ... but came up a little short.

Of course, not hitting threes isn't the lone problem: Miami scored 55 points in the second half of this game and shot an amazing 57% from the field. If Duke can do one thing, it is play defense. That has gone out the window over the last two games:

"Our team -- there's something missing this week," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We are not the same team these last two ballgames. It's almost like someone has come in and invaded their bodies."

Give credit to Miami. The Canes are trying to make an NCAA tournament push and a win like this shines some light on them. Dwayne Collins (26 pts) and Jack McClinton (22 pts) were beasts for Miami and Duke had no answer for either of them.

The Canes are now 5-6 in conference play and 18-7 overall making them the pure definition of "bubble team" right now. Things are turning for the better, as Miami is on a three game winning streak (which followed a stretch where they lost 6 of 7). They get Maryland at home this weekend before traveling to Clemson next Wednesday.