Crisis mode might have passed for Duke

Krzyzewski, players finally all back for top preseason pick.

DURHAM, N.C. — The drama looming around No. 18 Duke seems to have finally stopped. Maybe the struggles have, too.

For the team picked No. 1 in the preseason, the past three months included plenty of bumps — their Hall of Fame coach was sidelined, key players missed games, access to their locker room was denied, and they lost more games than expected.

But with No. 8 North Carolina in town tonight for the renewal of one of college basketball’s fiercest rivalries, the Blue Devils (18-5, 6-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) hope they’ve got everyone and everything back — including their confidence.

“They are coming together, and we’ll see if they come together at a high enough level to compete at the level we would like to compete at,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

That’s been a challenge for a team that entered the season as the favorite to win it all, largely on the strength of one of the nation’s best recruiting classes, a strong core of returning players and a Hall of Fame coach.

The big problem: For most of the season, they haven’t been available at the same time.

They are now: Krzyzewski — who is preparing for just his second game since returning from a monthlong break for back surgery — says this is the healthiest the Blue Devils have been all season.

“We’re not the only team in the country that has setbacks like this,” Krzyzewski said. “We just have had more.”

Krzyzewski left the team in early January to have back surgery, and returned for last week’s victory over Pittsburgh. Guard Grayson Allen was suspended indefinitely — which turned out to be for one game — and was stripped of his team captaincy after tripping an opponent for the third time in a calendar year.

Freshmen Harry Giles, Marques Bolden and Jayson Tatum missed the start of the season due to injuries, and forward Amile Jefferson — arguably the most important player on the roster — was out for two weeks after bruising a bone in the same foot he broke last year.

Duke lost four of seven games from Dec. 31-Jan. 23 and spent a week at No. 21 in the AP Top 25 — the lowest ranking for a preseason No. 1 team since 2013-14, when Kentucky dropped out of the poll.

Things bottomed out when, after a home loss to North Carolina State, Krzyzewski summoned the team to his house for a meeting, kicked them out of their locker room and banned them from wearing Duke gear in public. The team regained those privileges before the next game at Wake Forest, a victory that began the Blue Devils’ three-game winning streak.