It's a Monday for Duke Basketball.
Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching staff are talking to a five-star recruit just steps away from Cameron Indoor Stadium's floor. On the court, the Blue Devils are beginning their first official practice of the season-but even without coaches, it's clear who's running the show.
Senior Greg Paulus stands over the Duke 'D' at center court, his voice booming to fill the empty arena and his teammates scattering on cue to start their drills.
They begin a three-man weave, like you've seen done in any other high school gym, except it's Cameron and most of the players are former McDonald's All-Americans. The seasoned point guard seems just as comfortable yelling orders in his first shift-flanked by veterans Dave McClure and Jon Scheyer-as he does in the next, guiding freshmen Olek Czyz and Miles Plumlee.
Paulus is one of Krzyzewski's three recently named captains, along with juniors Gerald Henderson and Scheyer. The tri-captain model is making a comeback only a season after Krzyzewski emphatically turned away from it by naming DeMarcus Nelson the lone captain, even though Paulus had shared the honor as a sophomore two years ago.
On its face, the sudden switch seems like a knock on Paulus and his leadership ability, at worst, and contradictory at best-especially given how frequently Krzyzewski talked about the previous "dilution" of the captaincy in 2007 and the importance of having only one captain in 2008. But the coach insists that the decision was purely circumstantial and not a reflection on Paulus, who led Duke in assists and 3-point field goals last season and in points in both contests against UNC.
"We have more guys capable of leading-it's as simple as that," Krzyzewski told me before practice Monday. "Some of the years we've done multiple captains, we've done multiple and not all those guys were ready to lead.
"It's kind of like on our Olympic team. We didn't name captains, but if we did, they would have been Jason [Kidd], Kobe [Bryant] and LeBron [James], and they all brought something different. They had different styles of leadership and different levels of experience, and that's what we're trying to do with these guys."
No, Paulus isn't Kidd, Henderson isn't Kobe and Scheyer isn't LeBron, but the three new Blue Devil captains are walking into an analogy that runs deeper than what Coach K initially intended to imply.
Krzyzewski followed up his Olympic anecdote by telling me that he chose Scheyer because he could be a forceful leader, Henderson because of his talent and nerves of steel and Paulus because of his enthusiasm and desire to make everyone around him better.
But the real similarity between the two situations lies not only in the players' attributes, but also in the task at hand.
Although the "Redeem Team" storyline was overblown this summer, it was clear Team USA had something to prove. Under the weight of expectations and an intense national spotlight, Krzyzewski needed a gold medal to vindicate the system he developed and later sold to a roster of the NBA's finest and an attentive nation of fans.
Comparable to the United States falling short of gold in the 2004 Olympics, Duke is coming off two seasons in which it failed to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Granted, Krzyzewski is quick to remind me that the Blue Devils have won 50 games over the last two seasons, which is, admittedly, a lot of wins.
But the expectations here are different-and I get the feeling Coach K wouldn't want it any other way, despite his occasional complaints about the media and fans' reactions to the Blue Devils' recent March woes.
The beauty of the national team, though, was that all of the pressure didn't have to fall on one man's shoulders. There was Kidd and Kobe and LeBron, and for that matter, there was also Carmelo and Dwyane and Deron.
With three Duke captains, each with different skill sets, strengths and personalities, the pressure to win-and win often-can be diffused, shared and, optimally, overcome.
And Krzyzewski is banking on it. He needs his change in strategy to work, particularly considering how he elevated the captain's importance relative to the successes of last season-and downplayed it when the team faltered.
Because just as he had to pitch a changing style of USA Basketball, he is constantly trying to sell the image of Duke Basketball as both steeped in history and responsive to the evolution of the college game. Just ask the recruit sitting in the folding chair on Coach K Court watching Monday's practice.
Or Paulus, who gets another chance to prove himself as Duke's captain.
"The guys on that team have gone through the last two years and have learned a lot. They have all evolved," Krzyzewski says. "[Paulus] had to learn from experiences. And he [like Nelson] should be on a mission in his senior year, after going through ups and downs at the highest level. Now with experience, depth and talent, how can he now show what he can do?"
After all, it's a Monday for Duke Basketball.
And the best part about Monday is that you have the rest of the week to show the world what you can do.
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