Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways from Blue Devils big win over Kentucky
Duke has the potential to send Coach K out on top
It’s impossible to ignore the overarching narrative with Duke this season and honestly, it wouldn’t make any sense to try to ignore it, UNC, N.C. State, and Wake Forest fans aside. Krzyzewski’s final season in Durham. Can he go out on top?
The answer is yes. At the end of the day, the Champions Classic is the first game of the season—hardly a crystal ball into March. But it does give us a general idea of how good a team is. As is usually the case, some thought that Duke might have been overrated at No. 9 because of the name on the front of the jersey. After all, they did go 13-11 and miss the NCAA Tournament last season.
The win over Kentucky shows us that barring injuries, last year’s struggles were likely a one-off. Forget the final score – Duke just looked like a top 10 team with their length and athleticism. At the most basic level, this is a team capable of winning the ACC and making a Final Four run come March.
Notice my phrasing: “Capable.” Duke’s potential or ceiling is the only thing this takeaway is concerned with. Of course, we don’t know whether they will end up on top of the ACC and making a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. Getting A.J. Griffin healthy and avoiding any other serious injuries will likely play an enormous role in how Duke’s season unfolds.
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At a bare minimum, we saw on-court confirmation that Duke has the talent and potential to send arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time out on top. That alone is newsworthy.