Coach K can adjust well

If you're familiar with Duke basketball, you know today's home game against Virginia is one you can't miss (2 p.m., ESPN).

Fans of the Blue Devils would prefer never to watch them coming off a loss. But the fact is, they're more entertaining after they lose than after they have won, say, 25 in a row.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski likes to tinker when things aren't going Duke's way:

After four losses in six games in 2008-09, he inserted Elliot Williams in the starting lineup against St. John's and had Williams pressure the ball.

The Blue Devils went 10-2 the rest of the way, capturing the ACC tournament title.

Last season, Duke had lost three of seven when Krzyzewski began running more motion offense to free up Kyle Singler on Feb. 4 against Georgia Tech. Nine days later, Krzyzewski put Brian Zoubek in the starting lineup against Maryland.

Duke won 18 of 19 after the Singler move, securing the ACC and NCAA titles.

Following Duke's 66-61 loss Wednesday, there's an eager anticipation around the program to see what Krzyzewski will come up with now.

Here's the best guess. Duke still is trying to develop some kind of an inside game without injured freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, whose penetrating drives collapsed defenses. Duke may turn to sophomore center Mason Plumlee to collapse defenses. Although he can be erratic, he scored 25 points against Marquette to lift Duke to a win on Nov. 22. He also provided a strong presence on the boards with 14 rebounds Wednesday night despite missing a couple easy shots against Florida State.

The Blue Devils may try to run some of their offense through him to open up their perimeter shooters.

Barnes on the rise: In the Duke locker room after an early-season win, a reporter asked Irving to compare his play with that of fellow freshman Harrison Barnes, who was struggling.

Irving politely declined.

Good move.

With Irving injured, Barnes is developing into an ACC rookie of the year candidate. He ranks third among ACC rookies in scoring at 11.8 points per game, and the freshmen ahead of him - Wake Forest's Travis McKie and J.T. Terrell - may lose votes because they play on such a poor team.

N.C. State's dilemma: The clamoring for freshman Ryan Harrow to play more minutes for N.C. State will continue as long as senior Javier Gonzalez keeps playing the way he did in Tuesday's loss at Boston College (zero points, two assists in 19 minutes).

Harrow's scoring average (10.9 ppg) is more than double Gonzalez's (5.0 ppg) in a comparable number of minutes. Harrow also provides more assists per minute with about the same number of turnovers as Gonzalez.

On defense, Harrow did get turned around against Boston College. But the team plays with more energy when he's running the point.

National POY watch: Just when it seemed Duke's Nolan Smith was among the frontrunners in the national player of the year race, Brigham Young guard Jimmer Fredette finished with 47 points on the road Tuesday at rival Utah, including a 40-foot buzzer beater shortly before halftime. He may now be the leader in a player of the year race that also includes Smith, Connecticut's Kemba Walker and Ohio State freshman Jared Sullinger, and is a lot more entertaining than the dreadful Heisman Trophy saga that played out with Auburn's Cam Newton this season.

Top 25: In the only game today matching top 25 teams, 14th-ranked Texas A&M tries to extend its winning streak to 12 games as No. 15 Missouri visits (1 p.m., ESPN2). Also at 1 p.m., Maryland will try to secure its first win over a team in the RPI's top 50 as it travels to No. 7 Villanova in a huge game for the ACC.

On Sunday, No. 8 Purdue visits West Virginia at 1:30 p.m. in a game matching teams that fell to Duke in the 2010 NCAA tournament.