During the 2010 national championship season, then-seniors Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek and Jon Scheyer practiced every day against a team including three newbies: a pair of freshmen and a transfer player ineligible to appear in games. During their first years at Duke, Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee and Seth Curry earned their stripes on the second unit—known as the “blue” team—which matched up against the trio of senior leaders in practice.
“When you’re seniors going against freshmen, you end up beating up on them a little bit,” Scheyer said. “I think they had some growing pains as freshmen. Practices were kind of games for Seth. Ryan and Mason were going against Zoubs and Lance everyday. They certainly grew a lot.”
Thomas, Zoubek and Scheyer were bounced from the NCAA Tournament’s first round as freshmen, only to win it all in their final season. After the Blue Devils lost in the round of 64 again last year, the core of the 2009-2010 blue team has been entrusted with executing what they saw a trio of seniors lead three seasons ago: making March memorable again.
“The three of us did something unbelievable—won a national championship,” Kelly said. “Then we had some experience of some disappointments. We’ve had some ups and downs, and going through those things together has put us in a position in our senior year to be leaders.”
Curry, Kelly and Plumlee are the top scorers and minute-getters returning from last season, all having averaged double-digit points for the first time in their Duke careers.
But it was not always so easy for the trio—Kelly and Plumlee combined to play just 20 minutes per game in their first season on campus. The former did not get on the floor in the team’s national championship victory and the latter did not step onto the floor until December after beginning the season injured.
“Mason would be so stubborn with me, but in a good way,” Scheyer said. “That will make him such a good player for the rest of his career.”
Curry was not allowed to play at all following a season in which he played nearly every minute of every game at Liberty University and scored 20.2 points per game.
“We’ve built friendship and camaraderie on the court and off because we’ve been through a lot of hard times—them not playing as much as they wanted to at times and me not playing at all [in 2009-2010,]” Curry said. “Just playing on the blue team—the second team with Ryan and Mason—helped us a lot. I had the luxury of being able to run that blue team a lot.”
Three years later, Curry, Kelly and Plumlee have taken the place of the 2010 seniors as the leaders of the first unit “white” team. Kelly’s current frame would overpower his freshman one. Plumlee’s current post repotoire seemingly expands game by game, and Curry’s experience on the perimeter has grown beyond that of a spot-up shooter.
But as their roles have grown, so have the expectations placed upon them. Curry was a captain last season and the two forwards earned that role this year. And after recording 12 double-doubles last season, Plumlee could have been a first-round pick in the 2012 NBA Draft had he chosen to go that route.
But he had two reasons to come back for his senior season: avenging last year’s finish and playing one more season with Curry and Kelly.
“If you don’t like the people here, you wouldn’t come back…. Liking the people is one of the biggest things,” Plumlee said. “[But winning] is what you’ll remember.”
And head coach Mike Krzyzewski has made no effort to take the pressure off Plumlee, saying that as he goes, so go the Blue Devils.
“I think he is one of the best players in the United States,” Krzyzewski said. “He having that type of year will be key for us. I’m very anxious to see how that will turn out.”
Curry is setting similarly high goals for himself despite being hampered by a leg injury in the preseason. His first priority is winning a second championship, and part of that is being “the best guard in the ACC and the best senior guard in the nation.”
The hope for reaching those expectations rests on what was started three years ago on the blue team and the familiarity that has developed since then. They know each other’s games and say the chemistry they have built in that time is more valuable than any amount of talent.
“I think experience is something you can’t really point to in a box score,” Plumlee said.
There is something else about these seniors that can’t be put in a box score—their camaraderie as they prepare to begin their final seasons at Duke.
“We can help each other get off a little bit. Pause,” Plumlee said amid chuckles from Kelly. “You know what I mean, though. We have an understanding for each other’s games.”
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