College basketball week 8: 5 biggest takeaways

Here’s your weekly dive into what we took away from the last seven days of college hoops.

The heart of the college basketball season got underway this week as conferences across the country kicked off the league play that will make up the bulk of the next several months. On Friday, the Big 12 showcased its top three teams as Baylor, Kansas and West Virginia all won on the road against conference foes.

On Saturday, the Big East and the ACC took center stage with both Duke and North Carolina suffering road defeats and Creighton and Villanova delivering a statement game for that conference. Sunday rounded off the weekend with a plethora of Big Ten matchups, including Minnesota’s road upset of Purdue late in the evening.

With all of that action, there were plenty of opportunities to learn about those teams best positioned to make the NCAA Tournament or better in March. Here’s a look at our biggest takeaways.

1. What’s the matter with the Duke Blue Devils?

The Duke Blue Devils opened ACC play by getting blown out by the Virginia Tech Hokies as junior Grayson Allen served the first game of his indefinite suspension on Saturday afternoon. After the game, head coach Mike Krzyzewski and multiple players lamented a lack of “continuity” among the Blue Devils. Others noticed as well.

This is the second straight game where Duke’s inability to play together offensively has been raised as a concern. In the midst of all of the Allen chatter after the junior tripped another player against the Elon Phoenix, there was a second Duke player making lesser headlines. After the Blue Devils’ assisted on just seven of their 23 made field goal attempts against Elon, leading scorer Luke Kennard had this to say:

Over the last two games, the Blue Devils have assisted on just 29.4 percent of their field goal makes. That mark is down from an already low season long 46.4 percent assist rate (303rd nationally) and would rank dead last in the country by a wide margin were it to continue over a full season.

The impressive ball movement that characterized Duke’s offense early in the season seems to have given way to an increasing number of isolation plays that newcomers like Jayson Tatum feel comfortable with. For the Blue Devils to be at their best — to be the national title favorite that they were in the preseason — they’ll need to rediscover that old brand of basketball that can force teams into tough defensive rotations as they attempt to cover the plethora of weapons Duke can put on the floor.