Turn back the calendar to October 27, 2007, when Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler donned their Duke jerseys for the first time. It was the Blue-White scrimmage and the two highly-rated freshmen—Singler was Rivals.com’s top-ranked small forward and Smith was the No. 8 shooting guard in that year’s recruiting class—did not disappoint. The two combined to make 16-of-35 shots and score 42 points in that game.
Smith, whose 19 points that night would be his second-highest total of the season, was relegated to the bench for long stretches of games freshman year. Singler’s season developed differently—he averaged over 13 points and consistently played more than 30 minutes a game. But as the season wore on, the young freshman struggled as well. When the Blue Devils lost to West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Singler scored just six points.
“It was crazy because after that game you realize that your season is over and that all the hard work you put in to the year, it’s just done and it’s finished,” Singler said. “It was just a weird feeling.”
Year Two began with big expectations, as Smith earned a spot in the starting lineup alongside Singler. The team had lost DeMarcus Nelson to graduation, but returned everyone else. This was the year, it seemed, Duke Basketball was going to regain its place atop the college basketball world.
And things began well. The squad won 18 of its first 19 games and surged to the top of the national rankings in January. Duke went 11-5 in the conference and took home the ACC Tournament title. For the first time in three years, the team made the Sweet 16, despite a scare from Texas in the second round in which Singler scored 17 points and Smith added 11 of his own, even though he came off the bench behind Elliot Williams.
Next up was Villanova. The Wildcats outplayed the Blue Devils on both the offensive and defensive end on their way to a 77-54 victory. Singler made only 5-of-13 shots in the game and Smith scored four points.
Once again, Singler and Smith came up short in Duke’s biggest game.
“It was definitely a sick feeling after losing in my freshman and sophomore year,” Smith said. “We definitely took it very hard on ourselves.”
But the 2010 season changed everything.
At Countdown to Craziness, Smith entered the court to the song “Public Service Announcement,” starting with the lyrics “Allow me to reintroduce myself” and showed a confidence that was rarely seen in either his freshman or sophomore years.
And Nolan did more than just talk the talk. He backed up his words on the court as well. Smith scored double-digit points in all but two games, playing 35 minutes a night and averaging more than 17 points a game.
But his most important moment as a Blue Devil came in the Elite Eight against Baylor. Singler went 0-for-10 from the field and scored just five points in the game, but Nolan was not ready to head home quite yet. He made 9-of-17 shots and scored a career-high 29 points to send Duke to the Final Four.
Singler rebounded from his tough night against the Bears to drain 15-of-29 shots in the final weekend for 40 points and Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors. Nolan added 32 important points in those two games.
“[My sophomore offseason, we were] really trying to prepare ourselves mentally and physically to come back for our junior years to accomplish what we did,” Smith said. “Now that we’ve reached that ultimate goal, we still have that taste in our mouth that what happened freshman and sophomore year can happen, and it’s not a good feeling.”
After three years, Singler and Smith find themselves in very similar situations. Both are national champions. Both are highly rated by scouts, and both spurned the NBA draft last spring to come back and try to win another title.
“We do know that that would be a very great accomplishment if both of us could win back-to-back and go out as seniors with two championships,” Smith said.
Few college basketball players can claim that they led their team to consecutive titles. Even fewer players’ numbers are immortalized in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Only three have accomplished both.
This year, Smith and Singler have the chance to attain that feat.
“When I came to Duke, I’ve always looked up there and saw J-Will’s [number] and coach Johnny Dawkins’s [number] and saw those great players up there,” Smith said. “And now that I’ve won a championship, I want to continue to do great things for this program. That was why I signed my name on that dotted line to come to Duke University. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to come in here and see the No. 2 hanging up [in the rafters].”
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