Duke faces another difficult test on Monday night when it travels to meet Notre Dame. It would be under any circumstance, but it should be specially tough because the Irish will be desperate after a couple of losses last week.

The Blue Devils should feel desperate too, even though they escaped Wake Forest with a win on Saturday. They have lost three out of five and are in danger of falling out of the top 25. Even the wins have been hard-fought, and any aura of invincibility Duke has from playing at home seems to be gone as well.

Don't get me wrong -- Duke is a long way from missing the tournament, but look at what is still ahead for the Blue Devils. They are an underdog at Notre Dame. They still have to go to Virginia, North Carolina and Miami, which just beat the Tar Heels at home. UNC and Florida State still have to visit Cameron, where Duke figures to be favored, but also where it just lost to North Carolina State. The ACC schedule is not very forgiving to teams that are scuffling.

jeffcapel013017.jpg
Interim Duke coach Jeff Capel has seen his team struggle in ACC play. USATSI

If they lost all of those games, assuming wins in the other games left on the schedule -- and that's a sketchy assumption -- the Blue Devils would enter the ACC tournament with 11 losses. That would be tremendously disappointing for the preseason No. 1 team in the country, even taking into consideration all of their roster issues. And if you think that's not possible, keep in mind that Duke's best win so far this season came nearly two months ago against Florida, which is a borderline top 25 team at best.

Even in what seems like a disaster scenario for Duke, it would enter the ACC tournament at 20-11 and very likely on the good side of the bubble. There are so many teams that can't put together anything looking like a tournament-quality resume right now that even with six weeks to go, that would probably stand up as good enough for a spot in the tournament. Can you imagine Duke playing in Dayton on a Tuesday night in March with a roster full of future NBA guys?

The game with the Irish could be a pivotal one in turning Duke's season around. A loss, while expected, is just another step down what has been a slippery slope for the Blue Devils. However, a win in South Bend would be their best of the season, and maybe give them that boost of confidence that pushes them to the kind of finish that we all expected to see from this team back in November.