Why Duke Should Learn From Their Rivals North Carolina

Duke will more than likely be ranked No. 1 or not far off going into the 2010-'11 season.

Expectations are high for the defending champions, who lost three starters but added McDonald's All-American Kyrie Irving, high scoring Liberty transfer Seth Curry, and return NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding player Kyle Singler.

Just like Duke, last season North Carolina was ranked very high in the preseason polls and was expected to win the ACC title. Instead they went from being the reigning NCAA champions to NIT runners up.

They had NBA prospect Ed Davis, the ever so solid Deon Thompson back for his senior year seven footer, Tyler Zeller who showed promise as an elite scorer the previous season, and incoming stud John Henson with the Wear twins, Travis and David.

On top of that they had defensive stalwart Marcus Ginyard who missed the championship season due to redshirting the previous year. All this led Rivals.com to declare UNC the top team in the ACC prior to the 2009-'10 season.

Here is what they said;

Even with the loss of Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington to the NBA, there’s no way the Tar Heels don’t repeat as conference champs. Ed Davis, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller give UNC one of the nation’s top front courts, and freshman forward John Henson is as talented as any recruit in the country. The biggest question mark is at point guard, where sophomore Larry Drew steps in for Lawson.

Larry Drew was the biggest question mark but he was not the only reason that led to Roy Williams comparing their season to earthquake ravaged Haiti where 200,000 people lost their lives.

A frustrated Williams had to eventually explain himself by saying, “"What those people are having to go through is just unbelievable, and it does put what we're going through in a different light, but it doesn't make it any easier, but it does make us understand what we're facing."

This just goes to show that in the world of college basketball nothing is certain. Injuries and team chemistry issues are enough to curtail a promising season, and Duke must be aware of the dangers.

Eamon Brenan did a best case worse case scenario in his blog for ESPN and these are his glass half empty scenarios about the Blue Devils.

All of which is not to say Duke doesn't have a few nagging questions surrounding its new squad. Chief among them is how the Blue Devils plan to replace the comprehensive rebounding greatness of center Brian Zoubek. Duke advanced to the national title thanks in large part to Zoubek's ability to keep possessions alive; his offensive rebounding rate of 21.4 percent was the highest mark in the country. Can the Plumlees and Singler pick up where Zoubek (and, for that matter, senior forward Lance Thomas) left off?

Zoubek’s emergence as a rebounding machine was as critical to Duke’s success last season as the gills that help fish breath under water. The Bearded Wonder is now a member of the New Jersey Nets after going undrafted.

One can’t help but wonder if he had not been injured his first few seasons at Duke what he would have accomplished.

Without Zoubek, winning in the later part of the season will be a little harder for Duke. The Plumlee brothers look promising but Miles has to avoid foul trouble and Mason needs to be more aggressive.

The first red flag of the season arrived in the form of Singler recently having arthroscopic knee surgery. A minor issue but when it comes to basketball players, any work done on the knee is worrying.

To put things in perspective though, Los Angeles star Kobe Bryant had the same procedure done on his right knee in July 2010 and is expected to be available for training camp by Sept. 23.

What is reassuring for Duke fans is that this is the third time the All-Star guard has had this procedure done.

“It's just an injury, and that's what drove me nuts and made this even sweeter was everybody kept talking about, he's old, he's old," Bryant said. "I was hurt. I drained my knee, and all of a sudden reeling off 30-point games like they're 10-point games and everybody said how young I looked. I was hurt."

Bryant has won two NBA championships since having surgery on his knee in 2006 hence if this is the same type of injury for Singler then it is one less thing to worry about.

The future is bright for Duke so long as they stay humble and focused. I once read a story where a coach overheard a Duke player asking his team mate “what time are we playing on Saturday?” during an tournament game.

The Saturday game was the Final Four, needless to say the coach was very infuriated by that comment as it was dismissive of his team considering Duke had to beat them before they moved on to the Saturday game. Duke lost by a missed lay up.

Arrogance like this is very non productive. Lets just hope humility extends to the fan base as well.