Duke Basketball 2022-2023

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

I’d say it had a lot similarities to 2020 had that tournament occurred and we had say gotten to the S16 as a 3 seed. Which is to say, met expectations with the fun UNC is bad bonus.

 

[Slap the Floor]

It's amazing how much I don't really care about this loss. Maybe this is what it's like not viewing everything through the lens of Coach K's legacy.

 

[Devilsforlife]

Most tolerable NCAAT loss since Oregon 2016.

 

[physicsfactor]

A little frustrating that if the correct call is made at the end of the UVA game, Duke is probably in Greensboro in KState’s 3 spot.

 

[DUKERULES14]

It's amazing how much I don't really care about this loss. Maybe this is what it's like not viewing everything through the lens of Coach K's legacy.

That's true, but the time will come (and I'm sure you know this), that Jon will have to cash in, otherwise the narrative of "Duke can't be elite without K" will build steam.

This season was a grace year, and maybe next if we have players leave we didn't expect, but Scheyer will eventually need to produce a season which tells America "Duke is still Duke."

He got fairly close this year somehow, but didn't quite make it all the way

 

[LastHearth]

I think even if he made it to the FF, this year would still be thought of as K's legacy year. Like Tubby in 98, Ollie in 14 or Hubie last year.
He has to do one with all his own players before people consider it his team.

 

[Devilsforlife]

If Scheyer can keep us at a top 15 level most years, with solid offensive and defensive principles and roster building, he will break through sooner or later, imo. Stay in the mix year after year at a blue blood and things will eventually fall into place for you. Kansas last year is a good example of this.

I’ll only start to worry if Bennett/Painter tournament chokes become commonplace (which I don’t foresee) or if we become a fringe top 25 team more often than not.

 

[DUKERULES14]

I feel what y'all are saying, and frankly, I share it myself, but I think the lack of consternation over this year's result is in part because:

1) We expect roughly three of the freshmen to return, which gives Duke a good nucleus for next year, and:

2) UNC had a disaster followup to what happened last year

As much as I want it to happen, UNC likely won't keep Davis much longer, and a critical component to Jon's success here is roster retention we've not seen in nearly a decade here.

 

[Devilsforlife]

This year was fraught with injuries and a bit of a retooling season as we came off a FF with a stacked roster and went through a coaching change with no Paolo/Zion/Bagley/Carter level freshmen coming in. I think Jon did a good job of maximizing what he had. Similar vibe to 2016 after Amile went down in that regard. Got a break in the tournament with an upset to reach the S16 that year, didn’t this year. It is what it is. Hopefully we return much of this core for an all-in season in 2024.

Davis has a 2-3 years to turn over the roster and prove this year was on Roy’s old players who sent him into retirement. That run last year bought him time. I’m also not convinced there‘s a surefire hire out there for UNC even if they do end up moving on, certainly no one of the caliber of Roy back in 2004. Wes Miller, Stackhouse? Meh. Those elite SEC coaches sleeping on beds made of money aren’t coming over to the ACC anymore, either.

 

[rome8180]

Most tolerable NCAAT loss since Oregon 2016.

While I mostly agree, our bracket imploding made it way more upsetting than it should have been.

It feels like such a squandered opportunity. And most of the reasons it happened were outside of our control -- Mitchell's injury, Flip being a shell of himself, Tennessee's outlier shooting performance (especially from that guy Cumquat), and the way the game was officiated.

All these factors make me feel like we didn't really lose this game, at least not in the sense of being definitively outplayed. When you combine that with the collapsing bracket, it bothered me more than last year. I'm probably crazy to think that. And I bet I'm the only one who does. But watching Izzo get fellated while he makes the Final Four run we should have is going to be rough.

Also, we've never entered a tournament playing as well as we just did. Closest was 2015, who I believe only lost to Notre Dame after January. But we still didn't have the same 10-game win streak with metrics saying we were the 2nd best team, etc.