This Year’s Duke Team Is Different In A Great Way
They’ll get sick of us again soon, but for now, it’s nice that the Duke Haters are taking a break.
After a terrific season to date and getting to the Final Four for the first time as a head coach, Jon Scheyer is getting his flowers, as people say these days.
Matt Norlander has a great column up on how Scheyer has put his stamp on Duke after taking over for Mike Krzyzewski, who had an epic 42 year run in Durham.
Trust us, you’ll want to read this. It’s one of Norlander’s best. And UNLV? Who would have guessed that?
There’s another column by Jeff Eisenberg on the same basic theme. Win or lose in San Antonio, following a legendary coach like Krzyzewski, much less one with such a strong personality, is an astonishing accomplishment. And he’s just 37.
There’s something else that neither writer touches on that’s also pretty amazing: Duke Hating is way down. This team is easy to like.
Cooper Flagg is a superb talent. Kon Knueppel is still vastly underrated. People are starting to get it about Khaman Maluach and Tyrese Proctor, really, has made his case.
There’s no lightning rod this year, no Laettner, Redick, Allen or Wojo to focus contempt on, which helps. Duke fans love this team and even people who can’t stand the Blue Devils recognize that this group is unusual and...fresh?
That works.
Think about it, Duke fans. When you look at outstanding Duke teams on a likeability scale, this one is going to be near the top. The ‘78 team was immensely likable because it was young and out of the blue and caught fire. The ‘86 team built and built until it was great. Coach K brought all the starters to one of the first Final Four pressers and the media loved them. The 2001 championship team? People admired them. 2015? That was a fun group too.
When Duke came into the post-Alabama presser, the announcer said “all five Duke starters are here,” and we counted six. What’s he smoking?
Then we realized: Scheyer was there, with his hat on backwards like his players, and looked for all the world like he was a sixth starter. Coach K, for all of his greatness, would never have done that. In fact, we’d bet he never wore a hat in public, at least not at a basketball-related event. How cool was that?
This team, as much as any we can remember at Duke, is just immensely likable. You want them to do well. You want to see what they’re capable of. And if things go well in San Antonio, we’ll get an idea of just what they can do at the highest possible level.
And because they’re so likable and so easy to pull for, if they don’t win, it’ll sting a little more. This is the most fun Duke team we’ve seen since 2001.