Duke basketball: How are the Blue Devils doing without Bagley?

The Duke Blue Devils are on a current three game winning streak. Can they keep this up while their star player remains benched with an injury?

So a funny thing happened in Durham. After losing to their rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Blue Devils have won three straight games.

It isn’t so much the wins as that they are doing it without star freshman Marvin Bagley III, who has missed the past three contests with a knee injury.

This type of play has raised questions as to how has Duke improved and even are the Blue Devils possibly better without their future top-five draft pick?

The initial response to that would be no. I mean how can any player be better without a guy who was giving them 20 points and 10 rebounds on the season. However, at closer look, it appears possible on the surface.

During Duke’s mini slump the Blue Devils were allowing over 73 points per game. During their present three game winning streak, that number is down to just under 60.

Additionally, Grayson Allen is playing better. The senior was scoring just under 10 points per game during that stretch with just one of those game reaching double figures. He was also shooting only 32.7 percent from the field and had a total of six three pointers in those four games.

During the past three games without Bagley, Allen has been a different player. He is averaging over 22 points per game while making 42.8 percent of his shots. He also has found his range from deep hitting 12 three pointers in the past three games.

Again, on the surface this team looks better. However there is a reason I said the surface. Part of Duke’s streaks this year have all been a result of their conference schedule.

During the team’s 6-2 start to the conference season, they played what could be argued as one of the easiest conference schedules in the ACC. They played three of the bottom four teams in the conference five times.

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During their 1-3 stretch, which included a loss at St. Johns, they played two of the top three teams in the conference with their one win coming against Notre Dame, who currently sits 11th in ACC play.

Their latest three game stretch has come against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. The Clemson win looks good on the surface, but came against a team that is missing two starters.

In other words, whether Bagley had played or not, the odds of Duke going 3-0 during this set were pretty high.

So where does this leave Duke? Probably no different from where they’ve ben all season. The Blue Devils will continue to be in line for a one seed, even though they will not win the ACC regular season title.

There is a slight chance they will have to win four games in four games like they did last season to win the ACC championship, and even that was only good for a two seed and a second round exit.

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The biggest thing will be if Bagley is coming back. If I were Bagley I would call it a season. There is no doubt he will go in the top five and may still go number one overall. Why risk that to potentially further injure a knee that appears to be minor at this time?

Of course, I’m not Bagley and the decision he and Duke make will have the ultimate biggest effect on the outcome of the rest of this season for the Blue Devils.