Duke Basketball: Blue Devils will be fine after Boston College loss

DURHAM, NC - NOVEMBER 11: Cameron Crazies and fans of the Duke Blue Devils hold up signs following the game against the Utah Valley Wolverines at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 99-69 and the win gives Mike Krzyzewski his 1,000th victory as Duke's head coach and his 1,073rd overall (73 at Army). (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

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DURHAM, NC – NOVEMBER 11: Allen /

This loss should wake them up

Never poke a sleeping bear.

The Duke Blue Devils are the best team in college basketball. This loss, albeit disappointing, does not change that fact.

Duke has survived games against some of the best players in the country and the best teams in the country, finding out a way to come back and win again and again.

A loss to a weaker team (at least on paper) is going to do nothing more than wake them up. This team got caught looking ahead, assuming they could waltz in on the road to a usually weak team and get the win without trying. Boston College proved their arrogance wrong and showed them why the ACC is one of the most difficult conferences in college basketball.

Duke will remember this loss. How it felt, how it happened, and, most importantly, how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is a lesson that great teams would rather learn in December than March.

And the good news is that the Blue Devils will be able to prove that they took this loss to heart, as the next portion of their schedule might be the easiest (at least on paper) run of games that they have until the end of the NCAA Tournament.

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