Another year, another round of "Will Duke's youthful talent outlast the more experienced ACC challengers?"
The Blue Devils are the preseason pick (for the fifth time in eight years) to win the ACC and preseason No. 1 in the country (for the second year in a row). But Mike Krzyzewski's one-and-done reliant program has not finished first in the regular season in the ACC since 2010.
Jayson Tatum, last season's star freshman, did help deliver an ACC title for the Blue Devils, who knocked off North Carolina and Notre Dame in Brooklyn to win the first tournament in New York. The 15-team league will be back in Brooklyn this March for Round 2.
Tatum, after his one-year cameo at Duke, is in the NBA now. So is seldom-used, one-and-done big man Harry Giles and guard Luke Kennard _ all first-round picks. Don't forget Frank Jackson (NBA), Chase Jeter (transfer) and Sean Obi (no, really, he graduated and transferred to Maryland).
The regular season in the ACC has been more difficult for Duke to conquer. Krzyzewski's 2015 team, with three one-and-done stars, won the national title but finished a game behind a senior-laden Virginia team in the ACC standings.
Carolina, with older (and bigger) teams, has finished first in the ACC four times since Duke last did _ including each of the past two seasons.
The Tar Heels, with senior guard Joel Berry, tournament hero Luke Maye and Pitt transfer Cameron Johnson, figure to be Duke's top challenger this season. Notre Dame and Miami will be in the mix, too.
But the team best positioned to challenge Duke this season was Louisville. That was with coach Rick Pitino and Brian Bowen, the Cardinals' own shiny one-and-done recruit.
Louisville has neither after an FBI investigation found Bowen was allegedly paid $100,000 by an adidas executive to play for the Cardinals. Pitino, after several previous strikes, was fired by the school last month, and Bowen has yet to be cleared by the NCAA.
Maybe that's the window Duke needed to rule the ACC's regular season. Or the Devils' talent this season _ with four five-star newcomers _ might just be so overwhelming that no one in the ACC will have the chance to catch them.
