Duke Celebrates National Championship, Names Captains At End Of Season Banquet

By Mike Woolfson | Apr 24, 2015

Even after winning his fifth National Championship less than a month ago, Mike Krzyzewski has been hard at work trying to build his roster for next season. He has been getting after it on the recruiting trail as he recently got point guard Derryck Thornton to reclassify and commit to Duke, and is still waiting to hear back from Brandon Ingram as to whether he will join the Blue Devils.

Thursday night though, Coach K took a night off at Duke’s year end banquet where the team celebrated their Championship and looked forward a little bit. Four of the eight players from the Championship team will be gone next year, prompting Krzyzewski to say “I miss you” while addressing the team that took him to title number five.

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The banquet included a nice send off for Quinn Cook, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow, some awards being handed out, and new captains being named for the 2015-16 season.

Among the awards handed out Cook and Okafor shared the teams MVP award. Although Okafor won ACC Player of the Year, the team wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did without Cook. Cook, who was regularly criticized for not having a banner, led the team to the promised land and Coach K was very appreciative of that.

“You pointed us in a direction that we wanted to go, and then you led us every step” Krzyzewski said. “We’re so scrutinized as a program, a lot of people before the season and during the season would always say to you, ‘Quinn, you don’t have a banner. You got a banner.”

Towards the end of the ceremony Coach K took the time to announce that three of the returning players from the National Championship team, Marshall Plumlee, Matt Jones and Amile Jefferson, would be co-captains for the 2015-16 version of the Blue Devils.

Next season Duke will look to repeat as National Champions and they certainly have the roster that is capable of doing so. With the three co-captains giving the team intangibles and leadership, Grayson Allen, a former McDonalds All-American, and a top two recruiting class, this team should be in the Championship conversation again next season.

The banquet was a great way to culminate a season that ended exactly the way Quinn Cook and Mike Krzyzewski would have hoped. It was also a quick little glimpse into the future, and what will come next year with the three upper class men being named captains. They will have big shoes to fill as Cook graduates, but there is little doubt that they will be up for the challenge.

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