Eyes will tell you all you need to know. If you’re one who pays attention to the details of Coach K’s philosophy on communication, you already know his thoughts on how important the eyes are in telling a story. Words are only a fraction of what makes up communication, but a person’s eyes can you tell you all you’d ever need to know about someone in one brief moment. As the horn blew at the scorer’s table and Kyle and Nolan dropped their heads and slinked their way off of the court for the last time in a Duke uniform, I was screaming at the TV as the producers panned from Arizona fans celebrating in the crowd to Sean Miller trying to keep his team calm and then to Arizona players high fiving and chest bumping. I needed to see them leave the court. I wanted to see their eyes. Selfishly, I needed some closure to this debacle of a season finale. I got a brief glimpse of Coach K talking to his two seniors on the sidelines, but I couldn’t tell anything from that other than that none of the three seemed to know what to do or say. Then another reaction shot from the court, and then finally … Nolan on the bench, looking out on the court, I saw his eyes. There were a few tears, but nothing as memorably emotional as Chris Carrawell coming off of the court and draping himself on his coaches in exhaustion and in the bitter realization that he gave his best, but his best wasn’t quite good enough to win. I didn’t expect Nolan to cry because he knows real loss and real pain, and this is just a basketball game. But I did expect an answer. I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know why the season was ending, why were we getting destroyed by Arizona, what the hell happened. Nolan’s eyes told me that he was wondering the exact same thing. I don’t think anyone knew what happened. There’s only one thing we know for sure at this point … this season is over.
First, let’s start with the game itself. The 2nd half that Arizona put together is the best half of basketball I’ve seen since UNLV ran Duke out of the gym in 1990. I’m confident in saying there is not one team in America that would have beaten Arizona last night. Sure, Duke’s defense contributed to the offensive performance of the Wildcats, but their offense made Duke’s defense take on uncomfortable challenges. Classic man-to-man defense says to stay low, slightly off of one shoulder, and an arm’s length away from the player with the ball. The way Arizona hit contested jump shots forced Duke’s defenders to defend too closely which led to blow-by opportunities for Arizona guards. And when I say Arizona guards, I mean everyone on the court. Help-side defense had to rotate over from such a great distance that it would leave a player open for a wide open three. Usually you can hope a team misses enough of those looks to stay in the game, but Arizona was not missing anything. You can blame slow feet or you can blame a lack of conditioning from Kyrie Irving as a culprit, but for anyone who has ever competed against a team who can do no wrong, it messes with your head to the point where your body doesn’t respond like it normally does. My advice – do not waste a single minute breaking down the game film. All you’d see would be a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes being caused by doubt, frustration, anxiety and exhaustion. A bunch of guys, normally unflappable, looking around wondering what the hell happened.
And cut with the chemistry talk. There was no chemistry issue against Hampton, there was no chemistry issue against Michigan. Additionally, there was no chemistry issue against Arizona. Putting blame on Kyrie’s return is just a contrived conclusion found while aimlessly seeking for an answer as to why we lost. Nolan Smith had a bad game. Nolan Smith hasn’t had a bad game in a really long time. Kyrie Irving hasn’t played extended minutes for a really long time. So by that, I concluded that Kyrie Irving playing extended minutes caused Nolan Smith to have a bad game. Nolan had a bad game because he’s human. It happens. Just a few short months ago, I celebrated my San Francisco Giants destroying four of the most dominant starting pitchers in all of baseball. Tom Brady didn’t win the Super Bowl. Tiger Woods hasn’t won a major since 2008. Sometimes the best athletes have bad performances. So why are we so quick to blame this on Kyrie’s return? Because Nolan Smith is one of the most beloved Duke players ever, and he laid an absolute egg in his last game ever as a Blue Devil. Did Duke lose because of Nolan? No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. But Nolan had an awful game at the worst of times, and it was a direct result of nothing more than being mortal. Don’t fall into the trap of somehow trying to use this Duke loss to undermine Coach K’s ability to lead championship teams, because that’s what “they’re” doing to you, Duke fans. Within minutes of the final horn, I saw two memes spreading around Twitter … K’s declining success rate in the Sweet 16 round, and Kyrie’s impact on team chemistry and Nolan’s role. I’m begging you, Duke fans, take a step back and see how transparent that is. Nolan, and likely Kyrie, are gone after this year. So let’s place the blame on the guy who will be at Duke for years to come and try to chip away at the respect and adoration Coach K’s players and fans have for him. That’s not working on me, I’m sorry. Nolan Smith, our leader, our player of the year candidate, one of my favorite players of all-time, played an extremely bad basketball game. And it makes me feel for him even more.
It’s fitting that the team poster this year featured the motto “One”. Thought it was used to demonstrate the bond between the players, this season will forever be remembered as Kyrie’s year. Over the first 8 games, he electrified us with every aspect of his game. After being stolen away from college basketball by a freak toe injury against Butler in early December, Duke fans followed along with one of the most frustrating rehab efforts in sports history. Meanwhile, the team rolled on to a 21-4 record without him, and even while celebrating an ACC record 19th ACC championship, the big story was the enthusiastic proclamation of the freshman phenom that he might record for the NCAA tournament. There were so many great moments for Duke this season. A legendary 2nd half comeback win against rival UNC, career high after career high by Nolan Smith on his way to being named as a finalist for every post-season award in existence, a 2nd straight undefeated home record and the nation’s longest home-court winning streak, and Coach K passing legend Dean Smith in all time wins on his way to being the 2nd coach ever to win 900 games in a Division I career. But to me, watching the season unfold felt like skimming through the pages of a book rushing to get to the end to see how it finishes. Now’s the time of year to look back and reflect on the great moments this team provided us, but once you find out the hero dies at the end of the second act, the beautiful soliloquy a few scenes earlier just doesn’t have the same impact.
So what now? We have more Kyrie drama to look forward to. Just moments after Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler slipped away from the podium for the last time and the floor was opened up for questions for Mike Krzyzewski, the Charlotte Observer asked Coach K about Kyrie’s plans regarding the NBA draft. This certain reporter (who will remain unnamed) knew he wouldn’t get an answer, and he knew exactly what kind of reaction he’d get from Coach K. And still he asked. This from a member of the same media who writes daily columns laughing at athletic directors for having the audacity to hope to land that elite head coach for their open position. What’s the difference? What’s the difference in asking Mike Krzyzewski a question that you KNOW he won’t answer and, for argument’s sake, Debbie Yow thinking she has a shot at an elite basketball coach. But this is what we have to look forward to this off-season … the “will he” or “won’t he” decision that Kyrie Irving has to make. I’m not willing to say I feel strongly that he’ll go one way versus the other. There’s a long list of pros and cons for both decisions. There will be those who say he’s an idiot if he doesn’t take the money and run, and there will be those who will call him a sell-out if he hangs up that beautiful #1 jersey after 11 glorious performances. There’s going to be a third group who will sit back without an opinion waiting to jump on whichever of the other two groups gets to have their voices heard. Me? I’m in my own group. I don’t care what Kyrie Irving does as long as he ends up doing what he wants to do. If he comes back, I’m not going to be in the ear of every Carolina fan telling them our lease on the rivalry has been extended. If he goes, I’m not going to be looking down our roster next year trying to figure out how we’ll ever win a basketball game. Kyrie Irving gave me two gifts this year. The first was the gift of being able to tell my kids and eventually tell their kids that I saw Kyrie Irving play basketball in person. The second gift, the understanding that expectations can suck the joy out of being a fan.
I remember back in October reading how NBA scouts were crowning Duke as the most complete college basketball team they’ve seen in years. I remember walking into Cameron on October 23rd to see Duke taking on St. Augustines and looking up at the four National Championship banners picturing how it would look with the 5th hanging beside them. I remember the feeling after the Kansas State game when my dad turned to me and said “I don’t think anyone can beat us.” Now, looking back on the season where Duke won 32 games and an ACC Championship, it just seems like this year sucked. Next year, this will not happen. I’m going to enjoy the journey. Next year, regardless of how Duke’s season ends, I refuse to be left wondering “what happened?”
Devilwolfing 