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

The fourth inexcusable Duke basketball excuse next season: Crowds

Barring another pandemic or some other unforeseeable issue, the famed Cameron Crazies will be back on hand after Cameron Indoor Stadium sat empty of all fans throughout the entire 2020-21 Duke basketball campaign.

One would think that should help the Blue Devils drastically improve upon their lousy 8-5 home record from last season.

In other words, Mike Krzyzewski and his cohorts will be unable to use the lack of crowd support at home games as a valid excuse for any losses that may occur in Durham.

However, the return of patrons to sporting events across the country should, of course, include all the places where Duke will visit next season. That said, as has become the norm for the Blue Devils, the only likely true non-conference road game will be the one in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. And as of yet, there’s no guarantee that matchup will be away from home either.

As for road games, well, as alluded to throughout here, the target on the Blue Devils’ chest has steadily worn off a bit the past few years as the program has come up short of making much noise in March — and none at all in April. In addition to that, there are no players on the projected 2021-22 Duke basketball roster who stand out as future targets for haters.

Therefore, it’s not at all likely that the intensity of opposing home crowds will reach the level of when, say, a Grayson Allen or JJ Redick wore the jersey.