Allow me to play a bit of Devil's Advocate

[EarlJam]

Next Year. First of all, screw next year. We still have month upon month of what should be absolute complete focus on celebrating what our current team accomplished - a National Championship. And my, my; it could not have come at a better time or with a better group. Just when critics were saying Duke had lost a step; when they were saying this class brought the program down, this class shunned the critics, knew itself and won the whole thing. In general, forget next year. Let's celebrate what we have NOW, a National Championship!

Okay, now I will contradict myself a bit. I will look to next season. But I will look to next season with fun, lightness, while making sure to do 100 jumping jacks and improvised dancing each day to celebrate what we have now.

Next Year:

Everyone seems to think that we will be awesome again next year. With Kyle, awesome. Without Kyle, very damned good. Overall, I agree, but I must say this: If we are to be very good or awesome, it is going to take another Coach of the Year effort from K. Let's not forget the intangibles. We are losing our leader, Jon Scheyer. That is HUGE. Yes, Irving, I'm sure, will be great, but he will be a freshman and we are losing four years of experience in the Duke system in Scheyer. Same for Zoubek and Thomas. We are losing a TON of experience.

Personally, while I have full faith in Duke and Coach K, I think expectations for next year are set a bit high right now. Yes, I believe we will be good, but a lot of things will have to come together for us to compensate for all of the lost experience.

In the meantime, I will celebrate April 5, 2010 tomorrow. National Championship Day +15.

-EarlJam

[Very Duke Blue]

Thank you EJ. Very good post.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Great post. I sent EJ a PM requesting he put it on the front page. That's good stuff, and hard to argue with.

[lawgrad91]

EarlJam, you are entirely correct. We need to focus on what happened just two short weeks ago, and let the next season worry about itself.

I'm not sure my family is ready for me to improvise dances every day between now and next season. The dogs already think I'm insane.

[wilson]

Guilty as charged.
We're gonna be effin' sick next year. Just filthy good. It will make it that much more satisfying when the heels improve markedly and we wear their asses out again anyway.

[bjornolf]

K's gonna have that problem of figuring out how to spread the minutes with all the talent he has. And we'll still have quite a bit of experience.

Kyle Singler..............Sr..........F
Nolan Smith.............Sr..........G
Miles Plumlee...........Jr...........PF
Seth Curry...............So.........G (as a player, but a Jr. in school and but basically a Jr. with the year of practice in the system)
Mason Plumlee..........So..........F
Andre Dawkins..........So..........G
Ryan Kelly................So.........F
Kyrie Irving..............Fr..........PG
Josh Hairston............Fr.........PF
Tyler Thornton...........Fr..........PG

And are we still gonna get JUCO Carrick Felix? He won't really be a freshman either. Does anybody know how good he is? DBR says he's an "ultra-athletic" wingman who went JUCO to work on his academics and heal from an injury to his hand. An "ultra-athletic" wingman certainly wouldn't hurt that line up.

Yes, we're losing some IMPORTANT experience, but we're a hell of a lot more experienced that teams like Kentucky and UNC will be. ;) The main place I see as a problem would be lack of a true center. We might miss Zoubek more than a lot of people think. However, unlike other years, we DO have several BIG forwards we can throw out there.

And we'll finally see what Nolan and Kyle can do with a true point guard on the floor. I LOVED Jon, and he did an AMAZING job, but he was never a true point.

[TillyGalore]

Bout time someone realed (pun) us back in.

I'm not ready to think about next year, I'm still enjoying this year. A lot can happen between now and the finals next year. No guarantees we will make the final four never mind take the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Bout time someone realed (pun) us back in.

I'm not ready to think about next year, I'm still enjoying this year. A lot can happen between now and the finals next year. No guarantees we will make the final four never mind take the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

This is the best attitude and one I share. I've grown a bit tired of those already trying to determine line ups of a team who will have to work out an identity in order to succeed at the levels so many fans fantasize. Enjoy the moment! It's special and worthy of savoring.

[DukeUsul]

My favorite part of this year was watching the guys grow better and become a great team. Looking at next year - we have a couple of great seniors and some juniors who have worked hard for a couple of years.... but I'm really looking forward to seeing how all they young guys develop and come together. That's what makes all this fun.

[pinkbend]

What Duke will "look like" next year is whatever kind of team Coach K puts together! I look for a three-guard configuration, but, hey, I'm going to leave all that up to the one who put together this year's team with changes and changes and changes! That's why Mike is the coach and I am the devoted fan! What I DO NOT want to do is focus so much on "next year" that I don't savor THIS year! And I don't want to imitate the idiocy of the tarholes who thought they were "destined" to repeat. Yeah, right....thank goodness Duke has class instead of crass. If we DO win another back-to-back, I've got my tee shirts all ready to flaunt...nicely, of course!