Since 1998, Duke has been awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament nine times. That’s almost twice as many as Kansas and North Carolina (five apiece), and at least three times as many as any other team, yet the Blue Devils have endured a well-documented struggle with high expectations.
Having been upset in its last five NCAA Tournament appearances after earning—except in 2006-07—25-plus victories per year, Duke has heard its fair share of flak. In fact, as the Blue Devils enter Indianapolis as the only No. 1 seed left, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski can’t help but feel for the dispatched favorites.
“People are going to throw [criticism] in Kansas’s face just like they throw in our face [that] if you’re eliminated before the Final Four... you’re some type of failure,” Krzyzewski said.
Krzyzewski and Co. will be in a familiar position this weekend, battling against national perception. Arguably overseeded with a suspiciously easy regional draw, the Blue Devils are once again expected to win. Any lesser result will bring on a barrage of criticism and even more claims of the NCAA conspiracy to overrate Duke. Even the bookies in Las Vegas have deemed the Blue Devils the prohibitive favorite, but the team refuses to buy into that line of thought.
“This isn’t an easy tournament. Otherwise, more people would go to the Final Four every year, and more people would win it,” Krzyzewski said. “It doesn’t take much to get eliminated. It can be one guy having a bad minute. It can even be a coach making one sub the wrong way.”
However, Duke has shown throughout this tournament that its strengths combat the meltdowns that have plagued it in the past.
The Big Three has become a more resilient bunch as the season progressed. After starting out ice-cold from beyond the arc against Purdue in the regional semifinal, Jon Scheyer adapted his game to accentuate another of his strengths: free throw shooting. He ended up with 18 points off of 7-8 shooting from the charity stripe, proving that even without the 3-pointer, the Blue Devils are still dangerous.
“We’ve grown a step further in each of our years. It says a lot for our group to get to this point, but we really want to finish it off,” Scheyer said. “I feel like the confidence that comes from just being through it helps more than anything.”
Years of playing together has helped foster a mutual belief in and respect for everyone on the team. In the one-and-done era of college basketball, very few teams—mid-majors excluded—can boast a starting lineup of three seniors and two juniors.
“Everyone’s gotten better. Nolan and I, and the seniors, we’ve gone through a lot,” junior Kyle Singler said. “We’ve developed a closer bond with each other, and it’s tougher to break us apart.”
The recent emergence of Brian Zoubek has also helped spark the team to a plus-8.3 rebounding margin in its current eight-game winning streak. For the first time since Duke advanced to the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 2004, the team has a player who can corral missed 3-pointers, keeping offensive possessions alive.
“Zoubs does a lot of stuff that doesn’t show up in the box stats,” junior Nolan Smith said. “He sets screens, he gets offensive rebounds for kickouts. He does all the little things.”
In fact, the only similarity between the 2009-2010 Blue Devils and any predecessor from 2006-2009 is the name on the front of the jersey. But forgetting the past could send Duke back home to a national chorus of boos louder than ever before.
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