NEW YORK—Leaving the Barclays Center just past 3 a.m. Saturday, there was a word that I couldn't get out of my head: learning.
In the wake of Duke's 74-69 loss in the ACC semifinals to North Carolina, multiple Blue Devils as well as head coach Mike Krzyzewski used the word—or at least some variation of it—over and over, talking about the things they could take away from a defeat that seemed to sting about as much as any this season.
"You learn from those experiences," Krzyzewski said. "That's the whole year for us is there are so many new things for these guys, and playing against two top-quality opponents. Winning [the night before against Notre Dame] and then—I thought we got off to a bad start, not that we weren't ready. I thought that we weren't physical enough."
When this Duke team came together in mid-August with the addition of Marvin Bagley III, it was clear that with seven scholarship freshmen, not everything was going to go smoothly. And despite a perfect early nonconference slate, the Blue Devils started off league play 1-2.
But with Duke emerging from the middle of the pack to become one of the nation's most effective defensive units, the Blue Devils showed that they can learn—when Duke has struggled, it has made the tweaks and changes to get things right, even if it's taken time for things to evolve.
Yet, I still glanced at the date on the top of my screen, and yes, it read March. That means this group of players has been together for nearly seven full months. And although I understand that most of them are not yet 20 years old, many were touted as some of the nation's best young basketball talents.
If they are good as people previously said they were, then why can't they put it together for the "40-minute performance" each of them so frequently mentions?
This whole group of Blue Devils—both young and old—has come to Durham to join "The Brotherhood" because they are committed to growing as basketball players and learning how to become successful professionals.
I'm a Duke student. I know what it's like to be a student and how I've made a commitment to learn at the University.
So for me, at the end of each semester, whether or not I like it, I find myself studying for final exams. After all the work I've put in over the course of multiple months, I know that it takes one last push to put on my A-game and get the results I want on my test.
For Duke's team, the NCAA tournament is that test—it's the ultimate six-question, win-or-go-home multiple choice exam. There is nothing on it the Blue Devils haven't prepared for, but they must execute.
Otherwise, they will fail.
"We’re all great players, we’re all talented, we’re not selfish...but we’ve got to be able to do it for 40 minutes," freshman Wendell Carter Jr. said Saturday night. "I think a lot of us have done that—Gary, Marvin, Trevon, they’ve been playing very well, and we’ve just got to be able to do that for multiple games."
If Duke doesn't make it to San Antonio for the Final Four, that doesn't mean its players are failures. In fact, I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that every player currently in the Blue Devils' starting five will see some time on an NBA court next season.
But this team as a unit will have failed. There is no regular-season or tournament title for Duke to hang its hat on, unlike last season. If the Blue Devils can't get to college basketball's final weekend, I'd be hard-pressed to slap any letter grade at the top of their exam except an F.
That said, losing in the ACC semifinals to its archrival isn't a major misstep for Duke. If you're a Blue Devil player, coach or fan, it's likely no more of a blip than any other defeat this season—Duke will still wind up with no more than eight losses this year, and the Blue Devils will almost certainly earn yet another No. 2 seed in March Madness.
The time for learning, however, is done. Duke is one of about 10 teams I could legitimately see winning this year’s national championship, and with no truly dominant teams, I really do think the Blue Devils have as good a shot as anyone.
Grayson Allen and Coach K talked about turnovers, a lack of experience and tough opponents Saturday night. The fact is that none of those things are going to change in a week’s time—Duke is young, it is going to make rookie mistakes and in the NCAA tournament, it's only going to be up against the best of the best.
Excuses aren’t going to cut it. The Blue Devils have no option but to get back in the gym, study up and show that they have the right answers for whatever questions are thrown their way in the next three weeks.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."