Duke basketball: 5 excuses Coach K cannot honestly use next season

The 2021-22 season will be a fair gauge of modern Duke basketball strategy.

It’s best not to forget that the Duke basketball program was a laughingstock underachiever in the eyes of outsiders last season. Considering the arrival of another elite recruiting class plus the return of a new-and-improved eventual All-ACC First Team performer in sophomore Matthew Hurt, the final 13-11 record — and subsequent late-March vacation — was simply inexcusable.

Still, though, head coach Mike Krzyzewski often served as a spin doctor for his squad, prescribing countless reasons for the shortcomings.

Some were new. Others were tired.

Of note, while the pandemic-related restrictions and headaches posed unfortunate hurdles in Durham, what the five-time national champ and many Dukies on social media too often failed to mention was that other schools faced these same challenges.

Now, seeing that Krzyzewski is 74 years old, his success in this final stage of his career will largely depend upon his willingness to refrain from becoming as defensive as a prototypical aging legend in any position of power. Here’s just one such sign of the Hall of Famer’s struggle in this respect: telling pundits to look at all the banners hanging inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Time and again, escalating from his last national title in 2015 through the 2020-21 disaster, Coach K has littered his postgame speeches with unhealthy excuses. Well, one at a time, the following are five such excuses that the Blue Devils really have no excuse to use during the 2021-22 Duke basketball season…