Wake up, people. It's almost November.
For some reason, there just isn't much buzz on campus for basketball season, definitely the least I've seen in my four years. Coach K has even been reduced to imploring freshmen to come to games, as he did Monday in Cameron.
Last season was disappointing, but it seems to have dampened expectations for this year way below where they should be. There are some other factors, namely Greg Monroe signing with Georgetown and Duke not yet having any real opening to the season. The Blue-White game will spark some interest Saturday (just don't place too much value in it; the most impressive players the past three years, respectively, were Shavlik Randolph, Lee Melchionni and Brian Zoubek. If Marty Pocius drops 27 Saturday, he'll get five minutes per game all season).
But usually everyone is ready to go by now.
Here's my theory: Everyone who was a fan of Duke before they came here probably started following the team sometime between 1998 and 2001. In that four-year stretch, the Blue Devils went an absurd 59-5 in ACC play, won three conference tournaments and basically had more talent come through Durham than in any other period in school history.
They made it look too easy.
Now, after coming down to earth from an almost unprecedented run, Duke still was picked to finish second in the ACC. By the way people are acting around here, you would think they were projected to finish 10th.
While the fans might be down on this team, the players certainly aren't. Sunday at ACC Media Day, senior captain DeMarcus Nelson wasn't holding back his own expectations-he said the phrase "championship team" at least 10 times. Even K joined in. "We're definitely going to be a better team than last year," Krzyzewski said Sunday.
To be fair, everyone thinks their team is going to shock the world at media day. But the Blue Devils' No. 2 preseason conference ranking is not unfounded and they do have reasons to be optimistic.
First, take away the name Duke. It's hard, but try.
An anonymous team that finished .500 in the ACC and made the NCAA Tourney returns every player but one, keeps 80 percent of its scoring and adds the No. 6 recruiting class in the country.
Most people would expect that team to make some serious noise. But because Duke was so over-analyzed and its problems broken down and talked about so much last season, for once, Duke just might be under-hyped.
And for all the attention on Duke missing out on the best player in next year's class, many people seem to forget that the Blue Devils got the best player in this freshman class.
Krzyzewski didn't want to make a Luol Deng comparison, but don't be surprised if Kyle Singler is the center of the offense by the end of the year.
Finally, Duke has the depth to really run. I know, there has been talk of the Blue Devils running for the last few years and it hasn't happened. But they really have no other choice this year, if only to get some playing time for all their wings.
If Lance Thomas can provide Casey Sanders-like energy and rebounding, this team can play the way Duke did in 2001 when Boozer was out. They have less talent than that team, but they have the right combination of shooters and slashers to make it work.
I'm not saying you should steal the Spanish benches from their hiding spot on Central and start burning them. But this team deserves some more excitement than it's getting. If nothing else, it's going to be fun watching people mix up Singler and his buzz-cut with Steve Johnson.
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