Duke Sets Eyes on Florida State Rematch
Duke will look to avoid another loss to Florida State but this time they won't have a home-court advantage.
Mike Krzyzewski was worried about his Blue Devils headed into their match up with Boston College on Sunday.
He was worried mainly because he didn't want his team to look or think ahead to the next game, a rematch with Florida State in a battle for first place in the ACC.
Duke erased any doubt of looking ahead as they took care of business against Boston College and now the attention turns to the Seminoles and make no mistake Duke's full attention is on the boys from Tallahassee.
Not a single player interviewed in the Boston College post game failed to mention the upcoming game with Florida State. The players and Krzyzewski know the vast importance of the game.
"I was worried about tonight's game, especially in anticipation of the Florida State game on Thursday night," Krzyzewski said.
"At this time of the year a lot of strange things happen in college basketball because nobody's going to give up and if you overlook anybody there's a good chance you're going to get beat. And we didn't overlook Boston College and came away with a really good win."
The Seminoles have already handed Duke a loss on the season beating them on Michael Snaer's last second buzzer beater back on January 21.
In that game the Blue Devils blew a nine point lead in the second half and allowed the Seminoles a wide open shot at games end to beat Duke.
This was a particular tough pill to swallow as Duke had a chance to put the game away and didn't. It isn't something you can do against a team as talented as the Seminoles regardless of where the game was played.
The Blue Devils didn't do themselves any favors dropping the game at home as they must now face Florida State on their own court, a place that has been a house of horrors for highly ranked Duke teams of the past.
Just last year Florida State handed the Blue Devils a loss in Tallahassee and any Duke fan knows that winning there hasn't been easy.
This isn't the most talented Duke or Florida State team but the Seminoles are confident and playing good basketball. They aren't scared of Duke and the fans will certainly come out in force to given any advantage they can to their team.
The Blue Devils have been road warriors in ACC play and are 6-0 on the road in conference play. A seventh win will not come easily.
But a win is something they must get, not just to remain contenders for the ACC Regular Season crown but to be considered contenders for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
A loss and Duke is not likely to finish higher than second in the ACC and their shot of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament is all but gone. A win doesn't guarantee them anything but there is much more to lose with a loss.
So in the next three and a half days Duke has to get focused, and prepared to face a very good team in a hostile environment with a lot of pressure.
We will have a closer look at the match up later in the week.
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Posted by Duke Sports Blog at 2/20/2012 
Categories: Duke Basketball
Tags: Duke Basketball Florida Basketball ACC Basketball
Categories: Duke Basketball
Tags: Duke Basketball Florida Basketball ACC Basketball
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