Duke basketball in the NCAA Tournament
Selection Sunday takes place on March 13. And then this year’s NCAA Tournament will begin on March 15 before ending with one team still standing on April 4 in New Orleans.
If the predictions from the past couple of slides turn out to be accurate, then the Duke basketball players would arrive at the Big Dance with a sizeable chip on their shoulders. And that could be a good thing. Yes, with a sufficient arsenal to win the whole shebang and slightly lightened pressure from not being a No. 1 seed, it all might be just what the doctor ordered for these hungry Dukies.
Plus, keep in mind that Mike Krzyzewski is seemingly due for another April confetti party, given his average of roughly one every seven seasons since arriving in Durham from West Point as the program’s new head coach for the 1980-81 campaign. It will have been seven years from the last.
ALSO READ: A story guarantees the best Duke season in history
Furthermore, superstitious folks might feel optimistic about Duke’s chances this go-round after seeing Coach K rotate between odd and even years in compiling his five national titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015) over the past three decades.
Odd. Even. Odd. Even. Odd. Even in 2022? Indeed, for anything else would seem odd.
Now, rather than forecast the opponents and the specific magic that might play out along the way for the Blue Devils, we’ll leave all that up to the basketball gods — or the fans’ imaginations — to figure out.
Final prediction: Mike Krzyzewski retires with a 33-6 overall record in his last season and a sixth national title to his name.
Should these predictions hold, the result would be a final “One Shining Moment” for the game’s all-time wins leader — at 1,203 when the Kount stops.