It's understandable to lose a neutral-court game to an elite team with a future Hall of Fame coach who has won 12 consecutive Big 12 titles, like Kansas. And it's understandable to lose true road games to quality opponents -- like nationally ranked Florida State and Louisville and even unranked Virginia Tech.
But this?
This was something entirely different.
Duke just lost a home game to an unranked rival that hadn't topped Duke inside Cameron since I was in high school, and it's been a while since I was in high school. It's been 22 years, to be exact. I graduated in 1995. That's the year Forrest Gump won Best Picture at the 67th Academy Awards, the year Sheryl Crow won Best New Artist at the 37th Grammy Awards, and the year NC State last beat Duke at Duke.
Until Monday night, that is.
Final score: NC State 84, Duke 82.
So the preseason No. 1 is now 15-5 overall, 3-4 in the ACC and saddled with a home loss to an NC State team that had in the previous 15 days A) lost a game by 51 points (to North Carolina), and B) lost consecutive games to the schools picked 14th (Georgia Tech) and 15th (Boston College) in the preseason ACC media poll.
(Note: The ACC only has 15 teams.)
NC State point guard Dennis Smith was awesome. He finished with 32 points, six assists and four rebounds while showing why some NBA scouts think he could end up being the best pro from this freshman class. But the story is still Duke. Because Duke is halfway through the maximum number of 40 possible games it can play, and the Blue Devils seem just as out of sorts and vulnerable as ever.
And it's foolish to blame things on health still.
This isn't about health.
Every relevant player on Duke's roster played in this game. That hasn't been the case all season, obviously. But it was the case Monday night. And the Blue Devils still allowed NC State to shoot 50.9 percent from the field. Two days earlier, Duke trailed Miami by double digits at halftime at home before rallying to win. And though most focused on the impressive comeback, the following should've never been ignored: Duke had to rally to beat Miami at home. That's not good. Duke doesn't look so good. And it's now fair and reasonable to wonder if the Blue Devils will ever be what basically everybody thought they'd be in the preseason.
Put me down for skeptical.
To be clear, I'm not ruling anything out because there's still a lot of talent on the roster, and because Mike Krzyzewski should return from back surgery next month, and closing the casket on the possibility of the winningest coach in history doing something special with a roster this talented is probably unwise.
Coach K might fix things.
That wouldn't totally shock me.
But, man, he sure does have a lot of things to fix.