Duke Lapping The ACC

Duke Lapping the ACC

On Saturday night in Charlotte, the Duke Blue Devils celebrated another ACC tournament championship. It was the 24^th time the demons from Durham cut down the nets in one of college basketball’s signature tournaments. Coach Jon Scheyer emerged victorious in the ACC tournament in three out of his first four seasons as the head Blue Devil. Who knew the trend of ACC domination would continue after Coach K’s retirement? I certainly did not expect it.

The bad news for the ACC is this trend is not slowing down anytime soon.

Impaired Superiority

Like last season, Duke’s time at the ACC tournament was impaired by injuries. Last year, it was Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown going down to injury in the quarterfinals. This year, Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba were not available going into the tournament at all. Neither year did it change the outcome. Duke still took the title.

It’s an embarrassment of riches at this point bordering on comedy. The once proud ACC with a lavish history of college basketball legends cannot hold up to the superiority of Duke on the hardwood, even if the Devils are down two starters. Duke still wins.

Will Anything Change?

Whether this trend continues, only time will tell, but if I were a Duke fan, I would feel really good about my program for the foreseeable future. Some reasons come to mind.

Firstly, the transition from Coach K to Jon Scheyer has been about as seamless as anyone could have hoped for. Coach K maintains a presence in the program, but he has stepped out of the spotlight and Scheyer has grown into the position in the four years since named head coach. And Scheyer is only 38 years old.

Secondly, procuring talent continues at a matchless pace. Coach K’s adoption of the one-and-done recruiting model is maintained by Scheyer with quality transfers added to supplement the elite high school talent. And with a few players staying yearly, Scheyer has masterfully blended the prior era with the current era, and maintaining the most talented roster in the country marches on.

Thirdly, the financial investment supporting talent recruitment will remain. Much is made about Kentucky’s alleged $22million for this year’s men’s basketball roster. I’m not convinced that Kentucky has the most expensive roster in the country. Given Duke is a private institution not subject to FOIA requests, it’s difficult to put to paper exact figures. On3 reported that Duke would have $8-10million to fund NIL compensation for its roster this year. I tend to believe this figure is markedly higher, but that remains to be seen.

Fourthly, the ACC has work to do to close the gap with Duke. The league was rightly criticized in recent years for poor performance, including placing only four teams in the 68-team NCAA tournament field last year. The conference made new coaching hires that improved some teams and this year saw gains as the league expects to double its NCAA participants this season. However, if Duke is still winning the league tournament down two starters, there remains a significant gap to close. I would watch Louisville, Virginia and NC State as contenders in the coming years given recent coaching hires.

Carolina Down

When you have a strong weight, one way to neutralize it is to offset it with an equally powerful counter-weight. This is what rivalries do.

So looking at the history of the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, it usually goes that when one school wins big the other one responds right behind it. Duke won the 1991 and 1992 national titles and Carolina won the 1993 national title. Duke won the 2001 national title and Carolina won the 2005 national title. Carolina won the 2009 national title and Duke won the 2010 national title. Duke won the 2015 national title and Carolina won the 2017 national title. You get the point.

But right now, I do not see Carolina countering Duke in the immediate future.

Significant questions remain about whether Tar Heel coach Hubert Davis is the right person for the job in Chapel Hill given the inconsistency of the Tar Heels under his leadership. Additionally, UNC will go through a transition in athletic directors later this year. Will the new AD keep things as they are, or will changes be made? And this doesn’t even consider the boiling situation surrounding what to do about the Dean Dome. Some very difficult conversations and decisions are on tap within the UNC athletic department and university administration.

Duke Will Win the National Championship

As you fill out your NCAA tournament bracket for an office pool, an online fantasy group, a family competition, or for personal enjoyment, I would take the Duke Blue Devils over the field this year.

Most years taking one team over the field is not a smart choice, but this feels like the year Duke will get it done. It’s been eleven years since that 2015 Duke team cut the nets down and they’ve had numerous great teams since then that came up short. It just feels like it’s time for it to happen again and Duke has the roster to do it.

On a closing note, it’s time for the NCAA tournament and the madness to begin. Here’s to many great games, wild upsets, brackets busted, and history made over the next three weeks! Beware the Ides of March!