Duke’s Dynasty: Dead or Dormant?

Now, nobody wants to call Duke "dead" like I do, but their dominance will never be the same. This year, Duke ran through the ACC, but I think that was mainly due to the ACC being home to some horrific basketball. Since Coach K retired, Duke has been a five-seed who lost in the Round of 32, a four-seed who got upset in the Elite Eight by Cinderella NC State, and now, arguably the greatest team of all time that failed to reach the national championship because of an all-time collapse. Duke hasn’t won a national title since 2015 and hasn’t made the national championship game since then either. Their two Final Four losses have been as heartbreaking as they got beat by UNC ending Coach K’s career, and now this blown lead.

Coach K was always the cream of the crop when it came to coaching. And while I think Jon Scheyer is a great recruiter, I believe he lacks in-game adjustment ability. That was fully on display last night, with Houston ramping up the pressure and holding Duke to just one field goal in the final ten minutes. Last year, we saw Duke unable to adjust for DJ Burns, allowing him to routinely dominate their bigs. If there was ever a year for Duke to win, this was it. Vegas gave them minus odds against three of the best teams of the last decade, teams that each would win a national championship in different years. The talent discrepancy between Duke and Houston was drastic, but Houston had two things Duke didn’t: heart and experience. The latter proved to be the key. A young team like Duke couldn’t close on the big stage, and when you’re playing a team like Houston, that can’t happen. The door was left cracked just enough for LJ Cryer, J’Wan Roberts, and Emanuel Sharp who brought more experience than every one of Duke's starters combined.

Duke is still going to be great. They’ll probably be near this point again next year. But I think the era of freshmen carrying teams to titles is coming to an end. The list of elite Duke talent that hasn’t won anything because they got bounced by older, more experienced teams is growing. This trend applies to all college basketball dynasties. With NIL and the transfer portal, we will never see another run like Duke had in the 2000s and 2010s, and that’s just a fact. The real question is: can Scheyer adjust and finally get them over this hill they’ve been stuck on for nearly a decade? To that, I really don’t know. But one thing is certain, last night was their chance, and they completely blew it.