One of the questions that annoys Mike Krzyzewski, and one that has come up in recent seasons, is whether he expects too much of his star players. Krzyzewski used to play J.J. Redick heavy minutes, even in early season games, and that seemed to take a toll on Redick as the season progressed.

Duke often talks of having a deep, balanced roster, but you see Krzyzewski shorten his bench, and lengthen the playing time for stars, once ACC play begins. That trend has accelerated this season with Kyrie Irving now possibly lost for the year.

Senior Nolan Smith is the workhorse this time, as Krzyzewski pointed out. But in answering a question about Smith’s role, Krzyzewski seemed to anticipate, and address, whether Smith is overburdened.

“Nolan is having a great year. He had a great year last year. He has improved even more,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s got a lot on his plate for us – handling the ball, defending the ball, scoring the ball, leading the team. He’s done all those things at the highest level. He’s having an All-American type of year.”

“I’ve never heard of an All-American being given too many responsibilities. As soon as you do that you are playing defense on your All-American player.

“The great players in our league, not just at Duke, have a lot of responsibilities. And they want it; they prepare for it. They thrive on it. And Nolan has to continue to do that.”

Smith is averaging 33.2 minutes, which is fourth in the league, and Duke’s Kyle Singler is fourth at 33.7. Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney leads the ACC at 37.8 minutes per game. Krzyzewski had high praise for Singler, saying,” Kyle is going to be one of the top five stat guys in the history of four program. He just has gone quietly about getting 20 points and 8 rebounds and being the warrior.”

Krzyzewski scoffed at any thought that Duke expects too much from those two.

“If we lose in March, it won’t be because those two guys are tired,” Krzyzewski said. “It’ll be because somebody was better than us on that day.”