Duke, UNC, NC State men’s basketball all look to bounce back after disappointing seasons
After the first season in 42 years in which a Triangle team failed to win an NCAA tournament game, there’s one fundamental Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State are all emphasizing this year: rebounding.
Not literally, of course — although Hubert Davis has pledged to put as much priority on offensive rebounding as his predecessor famously did — but for all three teams, there’s new motivation to show that a bizarre pandemic-plagued season that ended in various forms of disappointment was merely a blip.
Duke faced long odds to make the NCAA tournament even before a COVID outbreak shut its season down during the ACC tournament, Roy Williams suffered his first-ever first-round NCAA loss in his final game at North Carolina, and N.C. State did win one postseason game — but in the NIT.
For the first time in a long time, all three teams have the same chip on their shoulders — and all three also have reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last, especially with fans back in buildings.
Duke, in Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell season, again has the blend of one-and-done talent and veteran experience that brought the Blue Devils within one play of the Final Four in 2018 and 2019. Filling the shoes of Marvin Bagley III or Zion Williamson, this year’s freshman star is Paolo Banchero, a versatile power forward who will be the fulcrum of the Duke offense. Duke has had some close calls in recent years, but the Blue Devils face new pressure other than to send Krzyzewski off on the right note.
“They can’t play for me. They’ve got to play for us,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re not going to be good unless we own it. Like you can’t do it for somebody. You’ve got to do it for you, for your group. That’s the mentality that we’ve had and we’ll continue to have.”
North Carolina will have a slightly different look under Davis, who has already charted a different course from Williams on everything from transfers (bringing in Brady Manek and Dawson Garcia, among others) to style, with bigs like Armando Bacot encouraged to roam away from the lane. Last year’s Tar Heels clearly underachieved given their talent level; a new voice and new approach may allow players like Caleb Love to truly flourish.
“I’ve said before that I want to travel the same road,” Davis said. “I’m just going to do it with my own personality and my own shoes.”
And N.C. State returns high-scoring forward Jericole Hellems and defensive stopper Manny Bates, the league’s most disruptive post presence. The Wolfpack struggled through multiple COVID pauses, the loss of leading scorer Devon Daniels and the growing pains of freshman point guard Cam Hayes, none of which should be an issue this time around. After losing a pair of top recruits to the pros, Kevin Keatts brings in a full recruiting class for the first time in three years along with Virginia transfer Casey Morsell at a time of massive change in the Triangle basketball landscape.
“We’re N.C. State. We don’t try to be Duke. We don’t try to be Carolina,” Keatts said. “They have their own programs. And we fight for us. I like the brand that we’re building. We’re getting there. We’re putting some pieces on the floor that can be effective every night. I like the direction our program is going in.”
Even if two iconic coaches had not chosen this offseason to move into the next phase of their lives, these would still be absolutely pivotal seasons for all three programs. Now, the stakes are even higher.
Krzyzewski wants to go out a winner, seeking a sixth national title. Davis wants to pick up where Williams left off — perhaps not last season, but the two Final Fours and another No. 1 seed from 2016-2019. And while Keatts gets theoretical credit for an NCAA tournament appearance in the canceled 2020 season, it’s still fair to expect the Wolfpack to take a leap forward in his fifth season.
It’s also fair to expect a rebound from all three teams this time around. There’s nowhere to bounce but back.
