Alas, like my Duke Blue Devils, thought leadership only made it to the Elite Eight this year ( see the Jargon Madness bracket here ).
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After Simone Egwu's putback for Virginia, Williams and Alexis Jones scored inside for Duke and the Blue Devils were on their way to their 28th consecutive road victory against an unranked opponent.
Kelly had eight points for Duke, and the Blue Devils are 19-1 with the 6-foot-11 forward in the lineup this season.
Curry hit his first seven shots during Duke's torrid start, helping the Blue Devils cruise to a 69-53 victory Saturday night in a game that was never in doubt.
Louisville forced 12 Duke turnovers with 10 steals, held the Blue Devils to just one field goal over an 11-minute stretch in the second half and made an adventure out of something as simple as Duke's guards trying to cross halfcourt.
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Curry made one 3, hit a scooping layup and banked in a runner during Duke's 6-for-6 start that helped the Blue Devils to a football-esque 14-0 lead.
But they were 9 of 15 from 3-point range, the best by far of any Duke opponent this season and well above the 29.3 percent the Blue Devils had allowed.
C. (AP) Seth Curry kept burying shots against helpless North Carolina defenders to give No. 3 Duke a big lead, then Mason Plumlee dominated inside to keep the Blue Devils in complete control against their fiercest rival.
It was during Kelly's absence that Duke suffered 27-point loss at Miami on Jan. 23, a game that saw the Hurricanes romping unchecked through Duke's passive defense and even slapping the floor in an apparent jab at the Blue Devils' tradition.
The move freed up some space for the Duke guards and immediately led to six quick points to start the 19-7 run that put the Blue Devils ahead to stay.
Hurley's ties to the Blue Devils played a factor with White, whose father, Kevin White, is the AD at Duke.
But the real star for the Blue Devils was junior faceoff man Brendan Fowler, who won 13 straight at one point to give Duke possession for long stretches.
This year's Midwest Regional field is also compelling: The Blue Devils could meet and Michigan State in the round of 16 in Indianapolis where both Duke and the Spartans reached the 2010 Final Four and Duke won its most recent national title.
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