Feeling lonely, a little like the win column in the men's basketball team's record that's still waiting for a number other than zero? Feeling like you're the only college basketball fan in the country forced to go from rooting for a 37-2 squad to an 0-2 one?
Don't worry, you're not alone. Everyone else in college basketball has been dealing with this for a long time; Duke just avoided joining in for a while. Universities have always had to deal with players graduating. Now basketball teams-the Blue Devils included-must cope with stars leaving early. It's called turnover, and it's nothing new.
All of this leads us to last Friday night in Madison Square Garden, when Jim Calhoun, coach of the Connecticut Huskies-the defending national champion, ranked No. 1 in the nation Connecticut Huskies-said of his squad's just-completed game against the Blue Devils, "Both teams are trying to search out who they are."
The preseason top-ranked team in the country still seeking its identity? Couldn't the voters in the Associated Press poll find a program that looks in the mirror and recognizes what it sees? After all, we really shouldn't be shocked at Calhoun's comments. His Huskies lost Richard Hamilton, merely a first-team All-American, and Ricky Moore, defensive stopper and veteran leader extraordinaire, from their 1999 title team.
Once upon a time, a school, even a defending national champion, couldn't lose two players of Hamilton and Moore's caliber and start the season atop the polls. But welcome to the 1999-2000 season. What UConn has-Khalid El-Amin, Kevin Freeman, talented youngsters and lots of big-game experience-is enough for No. 1.
Of course, Michigan State probably would've earned the top ranking if it weren't for Mateen Cleaves' injury. The Spartans added Duke transfer Mike Chappell and a strong freshman class to last March's national semifinalist.
Post-injury, Michigan State has been bumped to all of second in the current AP poll. But these Spartans aren't the Blue Devils of two years ago, who lost leading scorer and rebounder Elton Brand for a large chunk of the season and did pretty darn well in his absence. Honestly, do the Cleaves-less Spartans really scare anyone? The superstar point guard should return in time for the Big Ten schedule and a title run, but his injury shows how close even the top teams are from going from contender to mediocre.
Michigan State fans can have such high expectations because the Spartans are one of the few top teams from a year ago who gained more talent than they lost. A look at the rest of the top 12 seeds from the '99 tourney should make Duke fans feels a little less lonely.
Maryland lost Steve Francis, plus Laron Profit, Obinna Ekezie and Terrell Stokes. St. John's lost Ron Artest. Stanford lost Arthur Lee. Kentucky lost Scott Padgett and Wayne Turner. Cincinnati lost Melvin Levett. Utah lost Andre Miller. Miami lost Tim James. And on and on and on.
Yet the AP voters still rank all 12 schools among the top 27 teams right now. Polls are all relative, and it's hard to fall much when the rest of the world's regrouping and reloading too. Duke fans shouldn't be wallowing in self-pity much more than anyone else.
If you want to feel bad for a college basketball team, give some belated sympathy to Virginia coach Pete Gillen. Last season, the Cavaliers had more walk-ons (seven) than scholarship players (six). Gillen has put together a successful coaching career, but he'd probably sell his soul for the Blue Devils' current roster.
Duke can put a starting lineup on the floor of Jason Williams, Nate James, Chris Carrawell, Shane Battier and Carlos Boozer. That's five spots, five McDonald's All-Americans. Off the bench, the Blue Devils have Mike Dunleavy, Matt Christensen, Casey Sanders and Nick Horvath.
Yes, Duke's players are either young or adjusting to new roles. But that's how college basketball works. Players leave, others step up, others come in as freshmen. The Blue Devils could do much, much worse than the nucleus of Carrawell, Battier and James and the best recruiting class in the country.
Duke had the bad of luck of seeing Boozer, potentially its best big man, injure his foot in August and fall behind in conditioning and practicing. If Boozer had been at 100 percent last week, maybe the Blue Devils would've escaped New York with a win or two. Instead, they lost two close games to two good teams. Duke proved it can compete against talented opponents. Now its players need to learn how to pull those games out, and that's the kind of thing a young team is supposed to discover with experience.
Duke committed to the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic before all the defections took place. Mike Krzyzewski might not have wanted to open his season against Connecticut and Stanford knowing his current roster, but Duke couldn't back out and what was the worst that could happen? An 0-2 start, which did in fact occur.
This isn't college football, though. The Blue Devils have the time and the talent to fill up the win column in a hurry. And their fans should have the comfort of knowing that many of the Duke's competitors are stuck in similar predicaments. In March, we might be talking about what a great learning experience those two nights in New York were.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW is a weekly column written by a Chronicle sports columnist. It appears every Wednesday.
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