Ellen Ozier / Reuters

Mike Krzyzewski has to do more yelling, cajoling and coaching than he has with recent Duke teams, which is because the Devils aren't as talented as they have been in the past, writes TSN's Mike DeCourcy.

Unable to count on Livingston and gifted forward Luol Deng, who also entered the NBA draft, Krzyzewski and his staff labored during the offseason to revise Duke's approach. Krzyzewski first wanted to build a schedule that worked to the Devils' advantage. He planned for two elite-level tests (Michigan State and Oklahoma) and for two midlevel games against teams expected to win their conferences (Illinois-Chicago and Toledo). He arranged an extended break, from December 18 to the January 2 ACC opener, so the team's progress could be evaluated and, if necessary, redirected.

Krzyzewski figured the offense would need to be more structured because of the absence of creative offensive players. "When we started out, we were too structured," he says. "After one week of practice, I junked it. If I'm the other coach, I always know where J.J. is. So we need to run motion, we need to go on the break a little bit, we need to kind of vary this."

The Devils run set plays now, but not rigidly. Michigan State associate head coach Doug Wojcik once helped to prepare North Carolina against the Battier/Williams teams and this year did advance work for the Spartans' game against the new Duke.

"To me, they play off of concepts," he says. "They're not as set-play oriented as we are, and yet they're not motion-oriented like an Illinois. They kind of know where they're getting shots in their sets, but they'll break off those sets. They take what the defense gives them."

The Devils are ahead of Wake Forest by 14 points with 5:12 remaining. Redick has carried them with 33 points, including a 4-point play that pretty much ended the game. But Krzyzewski is not relaxing. He is several feet onto the floor, out where you'll often find Rick Pitino or Jim Calhoun, shouting instructions to center Shelden Williams.

Redick and Williams have been the constants for Duke. They typically draw multiple defenders but consistently generate points. Williams provides the defense — which no longer is as effective at denying passing lanes and turning steals into easy baskets — with the best shot blocker in Krzyzewski's tenure. Duke's consistency helped the Devils to surprise even themselves by starting the season with 15 consecutive victories.

It was impressive that Duke could reach 15-0 given not only its original shortage of bodies but the other problems that cropped up. Power forward Shavlik Randolph missed four games with mononucleosis. The Devils began working in Love at that position, and he broke his foot in early January and missed 10 ACC games. Freshman wing David McClure subsequently was lost to a knee injury.

INTERACTIVE Durant reaches No. 1, but for how long?

With few big bodies and few players, Duke constantly has shuffled its lineups to create mismatches and put players in advantageous positions. Mostly, it has worked. But there was nowhere to turn when five Blue Devils fouled out during a loss at Maryland that gave the Terps a season sweep.

"With their lack of depth, people feel if they can get into their bench, they have a good shot at being successful with them," Maryland associate head coach Dave Dickerson says. "But people don't realize, they've already (at least) split with UNC and Wake, and those are two of the best teams in the country. They're still a great team."

As long as they don't think so, maybe. There is a danger inherent in every success, from the unbeaten start to the thrilling victory over North Carolina to the dismissal of Wake Forest.

"It's like going to a carnival and looking at the distorted mirror," Krzyzewski says. "Sometimes, being at Duke gives you a distorted view of yourself. What you need to do is look at the regular mirror and say, 'This is who we are, this is what we need to do.' "

Duke cannot lose sight of its identity-its new identity. The uniforms still look the same. But it's a different picture. All you need to do to understand this is glance at the coach. He might be a little harder to find now. And some nights, a little harder to hear.

More news

Terry Gilliam / AP

Spartans take big step forward

Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.

Carlos Osorio / AP

No. 22 Michigan beats Illinois

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 15 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13, helping No. 22 Michigan remain unbeaten at home with a 70-61 win over Illinois on Sunday.

Headlines

• Label

Seton Hall beats Pittsburgh

Calipari on birthday: 2 years were vacated, I'm 51

Judge: Laurie Fine's past not relevant in suit

Faster, stronger: Metamorphosis of the big man

Arc: History doesn't bode well for Murray State

Gillispie OK with 0-11 Big 12 record; likes effort

Sun Devils add ex-Memphis coach Porter to staff

Younger Singler content with role at Oregon