Duke Basketball: Reliving 2010-11 Season

Duke is currently practicing for a visit to China and Dubai and we should have a clearer picture of the season to come shortly.

Will Coach Krzyzewski go with a 4-guard and Mason Plumlee or will Alex Murphy prove he can do a Kyle Singler impression and start as a freshman power forward? Or will Ryan Kelly secure that spot or senior Miles Plumlee?

Is Subzero or Austin Rivers any good? How about Michael Gbinije or Marshall Plumlee?

So many questions.

Quinn Cook had surgery earlier in the year and says he is now healthy. Strange because he looked all right playing in the McDonald’s All America game. If he was only partially healthy then, now that he is at full speed things are looking very promising.

Maybe the point guard spot is his to lose after all.

The season can’t come soon enough so in the mean time lets take a look back at the last season, examining Duke’s most emotional games.

Duke Versus Princeton

The season opener is one of the most important games of the season.

It gives an inkling of the season to come; let’s the fans get a first look at the freshmen. Not to sideline the upperclassmen as it is a good time to see who stayed in shape and whose game has improved.

In this instance, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler were coming off a year when they led Duke to a championship, they were a known product.

What was important as the progress of Mason Plumlee and the first look at Kyrie Irving, lorded as the first great point guard to enroll at Duke, since Jason Williams.

Duke ranked No. 1, did not disappoint, routing Princeton 97-60, hitting 55 percent of their shots including 14 made three-pointers.

Princeton had not been beaten like that in since Dec. 31, 1968 by North Carolina.

Better still Irving was just as good as advertised scoring 17 points and dishing out 9 dimes. Smith chipped in with 22 and 6 assists.

Fellow senior, Singler dropped 16 on 7/10 shooting and Andre Dawkins had 11 points off the bench.

Another spectacular debut was expected by Seth Curry who had watched Duke’s run to Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth championship from the bench as he sat out the required year after transferring from Liberty.

Curry did not disappoint, with 14 points and made all but one of his three shots from downtown.

Duke improved to 30-1 on home openers and won their 43rd straight home game against an unranked opponents.

Duke Versus Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Normally the ACC owns the Big Ten in their annual matchup but for the second year running ACC schools seem to drop the ball.

On the first day the Big Ten won four-of-five games.

Blue chip freshman, Jared Sullinger, was leading a veteran Ohio State team so their win over Florida State was bearable. But Illinois beating favored North Carolina, with the number one recruit in the country was hard to swallow.

Duke needed to set the precedence, not an easy task. They had drawn Michigan State, a team coming off back to back final four appearances. However they were coming to Cameron Indoor stadium.

Once again Kyrie Irving was on form scoring 31 points as Duke beat Michigan State 84-79 in a knee trembler.

Duke broke open a double digit lead mid-way through the second half, but Tom Izzo would not take that one lying down. The Spartans chipped away at that lead but in the end Duke’s three throw shooting saved the day, down the stretch, as they made 9-of-12 to seal the deal.

Big Ten won the overall series, but Duke gave the ACC some pride. So did Maryland (God bless Garry Williams) and Boston College, lucky enough to draw Indiana who won only three games that season in the Big Ten.

The general air among the Duke faithful was hopefulness. There were whisperings of another championship.

Irving was getting praise as the best point guard in the land, in certain cases the best freshman. Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler were just as productive and Duke, 7-0, was still ranked No. 1.

Duke Versus Butler Bulldogs

This was the rematch of the championship game from the previous season. No. 1 ranked Duke was undefeated and that did not change as they beat Butler 82-70.

Better yet this victory tied Mike Krzyzewski with Adolph Rupp with 876 wins for third on the all-time winning list. Rupp achieved that feat in 41 season at Kentucky while Coach K had done it in 36 seasons as a head coach at Army and Duke.

Butler would not take this one lying down, they made a significant run,13-6, to make the game 60-57 with 7:23 to go in the second half.

The game was in New Jersey, where Kyrie was from. The freshman knocked down consecutive three pointers to put the game on ice. He even had Coach K gushing.

“He’s a really good player and a beautiful kid,” Krzyzewski said. “Those two threes he hit came when he read that the man went under the ball screen, that’s his read. They kept us three two-point possessions ahead of them.”

Surely Duke is on its way to the Final Four again. Forget about the Josh McRobert years, or the JJ Redick/Sheden Williams years when they would do well in the regular season and fall at the finish line.

Duke was for real baby! "Super, scintillating, sensational," to quote Dick Vital.

Little did we know that what looked to be a small little hiccup turned out to be a roaring storm.

Yes you remember don’t you? Kyrie Irving injured his toe. Because he finished the game no one suspected that it would be this bad. Next day it was swollen, and Duke fans received some heart breaking news: Out indefinitely.

The Rise of Nolan Smith

Up until now Nolan Smith was a package deal. He was a part of the big three the previous season with Scheyer, and Singler. Now he was Irving, Smith and Singler.

With Irving going down Coach Krzyzewski had to turn to someone to play point guard. The obvious choice was probably Seth Curry. Smith had had his chances as a freshman and a sophomore to play point guard, but he had come up short and could not displace Greg Paulus.

Even at the end of his sophomore year, Elliot Williams was seen as a better option than Smith to play the point.

But this time Smith was ready. He had watched Jon Scheyer’s transformation from shooting guard to point guard in the championship run. No longer was he going try to be something he was not, he was just going to have fun and play his game.

The first game for him to prove this was against Bradley on December 8. However, another player would seem to upstage him.

Andre Dawkins starting his first game for Duke went off for 28 points, as Duke defeated Bradley 83-48.

Dawkins hit 8-of-9 three-pointers bringing back memories of JJ Reddick.

Smith, the leading scorer, missed all eight of his shots but dished out 10 assists. Singler was steady as usual with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Curry and Ryan Kelly added eight each.

Plumlee Brothers had 14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks as Coach Krzyzewski moved into third place, two games behind Dean Smith, for all-time coaching wins.

Smith did not have the numbers scoring wise but he ran that team the right way with only two turnovers.

Duke Versus St. John's

Some people consider the St. John’s game the turning point of the season. It would either make or break Duke, 19-1 at the time. They lost their first game of the season, in January, to Florida State.

This was just an out of conference match to tune the guys up and strengthen the RPI. St John’s had several seniors and was resurging under first year coach Steve Lavin, but no one foresaw the drubbing they would give Duke, 93-78.

Nolan Smith had proved more than capable of running Duke in the absence of Irving, and was the ACC leading scorer and assist man.

Against St. John’s he would have no help as he went off for 32 points in vain. Singler chipped in 20 on 7-of-17 shots including 1-7 on three-pointers. No other player stepped up.

This game was a sign of things to come, Duke's defense let them down badly.

(It hurt twice as much that Len Elmore was calling that game. He kept predicting a Duke run but it was clear that it was a reverse jinx ploy, well at least to one Duke Fan)

Three months later this shoddy defense reappeared against Arizona and saw the end of a promising season in the NCAA tournament.

Duke Versus North Carolina

Both teams had split the regular season games, each winning at home. this was their third meeting and it was in the conference tournament finals.

Harrison Barnes was back from the dead, Kendall Marshall had replaced Larry Drew in the starting line up and had the audacity to over take Smith as leading assists man in the ACC, breaking up what would have been a record season for the Duke No. 2.

North Carolina was on a 14-1 run at the time, their last loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium five days before Valentines day. But they would avenge that loss in March with a 81-67 victory over Duke.

As if to send a message as to who the best point guard in the ACC was, Nolan Smith went off for 20 points and 10 assists as Duke blew out their arch rivals 75-58.

Kendall Marshall only had 8 points and 4 assists.

Singler and Dawkins had 11 points each with Miles, Curry and Kelly each scoring 9 apiece.

North Carolina, the reigning ACC regular season champions, would go deeper in the NCAA tournament where they lost a nail biter to Kentucky.

Duke, the regular season runner up, would win their third consecutive ACC tournament and retain bragging rights over their rivals. That was their tenth tournament title in 13 years.

This season Saw Coach Krzyzewski (900 wins) become the most winning active coach in division one basketball and needs only two wins to pass Bob Knight as the all time winner.

Nolan Smith was named ACC player of the year and was subsequently drafted 20th by Portland Trailblazers. Singler went in the second round to Detroit.

Freshman Kyrie Irving would return for the NCAA tournament and do enough to realise his dreams of becoming the first overall pick int he 2011 NBA draft. He became the second Duke player to be taken first, after Elton Brand was taken No. 1 in 1999.