It’s tough to say that a season is a failure if it ends with a trip to the Final Four, but this was no ordinary finish to the year for the Duke basketball team.
A collapse of epic proportions stunned the country as Houston advanced to the National Championship with a 70-67 victory over the Blue Devils and created perhaps one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in program history.
This was one of the best Duke teams ever assembled, both through the eye test and the advanced metrics. It didn’t play many close games and was rolling through the NCAA Tournament until Saturday night, even though it looked like the Blue Devils would roll to a win midway through the second half.
Jon Scheyer watched his team win an ACC regular season and tournament championship but the constant bashing of the conference for its poor results made it feel like an empty accomplishment.
There was only one way for Duke to feel truly validated this season and that was winning the whole thing – and it looked like a formality at various points of the postseason.
Yet, even if the Blue Devils didn’t win the National Championship, it wouldn’t automatically make this season a failure. If Duke had lost a close, competitive game against Houston or even dropped a nail biter in the title game to Florida, positives could still be drawn from the year that was.
There would be nothing to be ashamed about losing to one of the best teams in the country if you just couldn’t make enough shots or things didn’t fall in your favor.
But this? The way this ended? It will leave a gaping hole in Durham, one that’s bigger than the heartbreaking losses suffered in the 2019 Elite 8 and 2022 Final Four.
A 14-point lead with eight minutes to play.
A 9-point lead with under three minutes to play.
A 6-point lead with under a minute to play.
All gone. Every great highlight that Cooper Flagg made or big shot from Kon Knueppel was out the window after this team acted like it never had before at the most important juncture of its season.
Lack of communication of defense, not rebounding, an uncharacteristic turnover on an in-bounds play, and a critical missed free throw.
Were the lights too bright? Stage too big?
Whatever the reason, Duke’s season ended in San Antonio on Saturday night in a way that no one will forget and it’s something that will follow this team and its players when looking back at the year that was.
Regardless of how it tries to be spun, it was not a success but more like a failure. When you have the expectation of winning a National Championship and the best roster in the Final Four and you lose like Duke did, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.