DURHAM -- Kevin Durant didn't go to Duke, never played against Duke and long ago made the jump from college basketball to the NBA, yet Durant may have had a bigger impact than anyone on how the Blue Devils fare this season.
By leading the United States to the 2010 World Championship in Turkey, Durant secured the U.S. team an automatic berth in the 2012 Olympics.
Otherwise, the United States would have had to slog through the FIBA Americas championship in Argentina in August and September - and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski would have been there instead of taking his team on a tour of the Far East.
Duke's two-week trip to China and Dubai in August is a vital proving ground for a Duke team undergoing significant changing of the guard from the previous five years.
Just as the departure of J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams marked a break between generations of Duke players, the graduation of Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith leaves unanswered questions. Who will take command, both on the court and in the locker room?
"We have really good talent," Krzyzewski said. "We don't have a guy who has the experience of being that talent every day, what it means to be one of those guys who you depend on every practice and every game. ... Really, it's a little bit more like when [Jon] Scheyer was a freshman. We had lost Redick and Shelden. There wasn't one guy who did it all the time."
That makes the extra practices and exhibition games associated with the overseas trip essential, as Krzyzewski and the Devils try to figure out whose team this actually is.
Will the veteran big men - Mason Plumlee most notably, but Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly as well - take control, particularly as their role in the offense is unavoidably expanded? How will Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins fare without Singler and Smith? Are any of the freshmen, highly touted guard Austin Rivers in particular, ready for a starring role?
Right now, Krzyzewski doesn't know the answers to any of those questions.
But he figures he'll have a better idea when he gets back from Dubai.
"Going on the tour that we are gives these guys an opportunity to step forward and establish themselves," Krzyzewski said. "With their team first, and then with the public after. ... It's kind of a rite of passage, from being a good player to being an outstanding player. Some guys make it freshman year. Some guys do it along the way. I'm looking forward to seeing who does that."
One of the most interesting areas to watch will be leadership, and if anyone steps forward. Krzyzewski said Tuesday that he didn't see Singler and Smith as leaders, not like Shane Battier and Steve Wojciechowski and Grant Hill.
If the next generation has a leader within it, no one has emerged yet.
"I thought Kyle was a leader in his role," Krzyzewski said. "Every day, Kyle played hard and every game Kyle played hard. That's a form of leadership.
"Would I say then that he's this leader? I would not say that. That's not a comfort zone for him. Nolan was a little bit more of a leader, but he was more of a big brother. What a leader does, is either develops or perpetuates a culture. At any moment, you sit somebody down and say, 'We don't do it that way.' "
If the Blue Devils are further along with all of this than they would be otherwise on opening night, they can thank Durant and his U.S. teammates for taking care of business so Krzyzewski could take this team east instead of taking a different one south.
"It would have been a very interesting summer," Krzyzewski said, but it will be anyway for the Blue Devils.
