Duke will be much different from this year, they lost a great deal of interior depth with the graduations of Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek. I seriously doubt Ryan Kelly will be there to pick up the slack for either of the plumlees. I really hope Coach K plays both Mason and Miles together, but with there not being a glut of interior defenders as there was this year it may be risky to have them both running out there at once.

I am unsure what Carrick Felix will bring, and the jury is still out on Joshua Hariston. Would really like to have one more big body down low, but they will play the hand they are dealt. Odds are they will play that hand pretty well.

Returning the same starting five for a third straight year would do wonders.

Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant are seniors and will not be back next year.Kramer started 34 games last year and Grant started 25 games.

Shit you're right. Kramer felt like he was there forever. I think they can replace Keaton Grant. But Kramer was a gamer (no rhyme or pun intended).

jon scheyer's court awareness and shooting will be sorely missed. scheyer may not be nba material, but probably the smartest player(bballwise) in the nation this past year.

I'd be willing to bet that some of the Cornell kids had a pretty good understanding of the game.

ZeroCool wrote: jon scheyer's court awareness and shooting will be sorely missed. scheyer may not be nba material, but probably the smartest player(bballwise) in the nation this past year.

lol gtfooh

that is why the bballwise is in parenthesis. 2q, after reading some of your posts, you have absolutely no room to talk. oh yeah. Duke University, national champs. what a dumbass.

The Dukies got a commitment from 2011 big man Tyler Adams today. At 6'8" 250 lbs., it looks like he could provide a lot of toughness on the interior once he arrives in Durham.

On another note, Duke and Butler will be playing each other next season in East Rutherford, I believe December 4th

Glad to see Duke is playing another BIG game on the road....SMH

Duke will likely get Purdue at Cameron this year for ACC Big Ten Challenge, so haters can add another gripe.

^^ cool bro

The often underrated talent of Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek will be greatly missed -- especially the the last month of basketball that we saw from Zoubek; my God, I've never seen anything like that from out of nowhere -- but I am also looking forward to a new Duke era. We will be returning to our days of run-the-court, score in bunches basketball, and, with Seth Curry, Kyrie Irving, Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins on the perimeter, it is going to be beautiful.

"And once again, Coach K and Duke are the golden standard in college basketball." - Jim Nantz

^^^ I have to admit, I laughed at that one

The only thing that worries me is the interior depth, they are stacked at guard. We will definitely miss Z and Lance, and this will be a totally different type of team next year. This team will have pressure on it to repeat, and that's never a good thing, I'm really looking forward to seeing Seth Curry though!

Joshua Hairston
Mason Plumlee
Miles Plumlee
Carrick Felix (6'6" 195 but plays closer to the basket)
Ryan Kelly (he's scrawn, but he's tall?)
Kyle Singler

Most of these players are 6'8" or greater

Yeah, I hear ya, none of them are a beast like Z was last year, but I do like this team next year, more up tempo!

This is huge news for Duke. Singler was the player that most impressed me this past season--he totally dominated games at times, and Butler couldn't slow him down.

But repeating is very, very, very tough. It requires a ton of luck to go along with the talent (which Dukes has). Just look at the odds. Say Duke is the overall number one. Chances of winning in each round, per historical percentages:

1 vs. 16: 100%
1 vs. 8: 80%
1 vs. 4: 70%
1 vs. 2: 55%
1 vs. 1: 50% (Final Four)
1 vs. 1: 50% (Title Game)

This makes for a 7.7% chance of winning the title.

Say we bump Duke up by 10% (saying they're significantly better than other 1-seeds historically). That puts them at:
1 vs. 16: 100%
1 vs. 8: 88%
1 vs. 4: 77%
1 vs. 2: 60%
1 vs. 1: 55%
1 vs. 1: 55%

Odds of winning 6 straight, where we take the historical chances and then make them MUCH better for Duke? 12.3%, or about 1-in-8 chances.

Let's give the odds like Duke is the greatest team over the past 15 years:
1 vs. 16: 100%
1 vs. 8: 100%
1 vs. 4: 85%
1 vs. 2: 75%
1 vs. 1: 65%
1 vs. 1: 65%

Even then, the odds are only 26.9%, and that's assuming Duke would win 100% of games against an 8-seed, which is similar to playing a top-25 team on a neutral site that's giving it's absolute best.

I think Duke will be very, very good, but I also think some of you may underestimate how tough it is for any one team in particular to win a title. It takes an awful lot of luck and good breaks.

I think many Duke fans still see those 91 92 banners and think, hey why not again?

College basketball has changed drastically since then, for better, and worse.

I'm merely happy for the chance.