The 30 reasons Duke basketball will win 30 games: Nos. 1-5
1. Seeing that this is the 42nd and final hurrah for the college game’s all-time wins leader, Mike Krzyzewski’s last group of Blue Devils is sure to play with an extra dose of passion throughout the regular season and beyond.
2. On that same note, Krzyzewski himself is likely to enjoy some added bounce to his 74-year-old step, knowing that this will be his final chance to orchestrate Duke basketball greatness from the bench once again.
3. Meanwhile, Coach K’s successor-in-waiting, Jon Scheyer, ought to enjoy a heightened role when it comes to in-game strategizing and barking at the refs. A heavier peppering of the 33-year-old’s Millenial mind and youthful charm is sure to bode well for a somewhat young batch of Blue Devils.
4. Barring any potential issues from the recent pandemic uptick, the 2021-22 Duke squad could play in as many as 40 games between the regular season and postseason. Well, it could be as many as 42 if the team fails to earn any byes in the ACC Tournament, yet such a lowly conference record might alone make 30 wins an impossibility.
5. The Blue Devils should be playing with a chip on their shoulders after the program finished with a relatively embarrassing 13-11 record last season — the first time Duke has gone without an invite to the Big Dance since 1995.