And we're back...

Another college basketball season has come to a close. Duke has been crowned national champion for the fourth time since 1990. Not too shabby, Blue Devils. Here, at Roundball Portfolio, we would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge the glaring absence of posts over the course of the past year. And what we did give you - and by you I mean Pat McGuire the Sig, random Sacramento Kings fan, and Attorney Kyle (Kyle, after this post, you will be glad I kept your identity hidden) - wasn't all that good. Take, for example, an early season post in which I ranked North Carolina as the second best team in the country or a midseason post in which HAL 9000 listed John Wall as a freshman on the decline. Despite these failings, I, for one, am feeling energized. It's my hope that I will get a couple of posts up per week in the offseason. I'm hoping my former compatriots will jump on board as well. We'll see how it goes, but please don't be surprised if this lasts for all of, well, this post.

As I was saying, Duke took top honors again - just when I thought Coach K was slipping into irrelevance (or at least irrelevance relevant to his stature in the 90s and 00s). Obviously, there are a ton of questions to answer heading into next season for a number of programs - will the Tar Heels bounce back?; will Kentucky reload after losing 8-9 players from their already youthful roster?; who will take the helm in Eugene?; what was Oliver Purnell thinking?; and the list goes on. But, for the moment, let's examine what Duke's triumph means for Coach K and for Duke going forward.


1) Coach K is back. Unless you're a Duke fan, chances are you're none too pleased with the Blue Devils' latest championship. Regardless, you would be hard-pressed to deny that Coach K is back. In fact, the real argument may be whether Coach K ever left. I'm not arguing Coach K had lost it, but, if you look at his team's performances over the past few years, his teams exhibited some glaring flaws. Lacking in athleticism, weak in the paint, and an overall lack of toughness just to name a few. This team was different. While not overly athletic (that will start to change with Duke's 2010-11 recruiting class), these Blue Devils, as annoying as they may have been, had plenty of big bodies in the paint (Zoubek, Lance Thomas, and the brothers Plumlee) and a grit lacking in previous Duke squads. I think the thing that shocked me more than anything is the timing of Duke's return to the summit. You see, I've had a sneaking suspicion that things were going to turn around for Duke. The problem has never been Coach K's Xs and Os. Rather, it's been getting the players you need to compete at the highest level. Duke's image as Laettner Redick University didn't help matters. The 1999 Elton Brand/Corey Maggette/William Avery team was beginning to look like an aberration. (And, yes, on some level this was becoming a race thing.) But then the Olympics happened, and Kobe and Lebron caught Coach K fever, singing his praises at seemingly every turn. These are the guys high school phenoms look up to, and I do believe the relationship Coach K fostered with the game's finest will do nothing but help lure recruits to Durham. Just so we're clear, I don't mean to say Duke is on the verge of a dynasty or even that they're my favorite to repeat next year, but I do believe the demise of Coach K predicted by some (myself included before his turn as Dream Team skipper) was premature. Oh, and I should also mention that I think it pretty much goes without saying that he's one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball.


2) With the additions of transfer Seth Curry, JUCO Carrick Felix, and a talented recruiting class led by McDonalds All-American Kyrie Irving, Duke will be formidable next year and will have a chance to repeat if Kyle Singler returns. Jon Scheyer got the press, and Nolan Smith showed marked improvement, but Singler is the Blue Devils' best and most important player. He's a matchup nightmare - able to post up smaller forwards but too talented a shooter and ballhandler for true post players to defend. On top of this, he's as heady a player as there is in the nation. He makes everyone around him better, is an excellent passer, and lets the game come to him. I'm not sure if Singler is going to be successful at the next level, but I do know he's a fantastic college basketball player. One has to wonder, though, if Singler will return for his senior season. His turn as Final Four MOP means his draft stock won't be getting any higher. While he may not be a lock for the first round, one doubts there's anything I guy as polished and limited athletically as Singler (I do believe he's athletic enough to play in the Association) can really do anything in his fourth year to change the minds of Chad Ford and those of his ilk.


3) On a more sinister note, I think RBP has a duty to illuminate a set of circumstances that may have played a part in Duke's return to prominence but has received scant attention in the mainstream press. As I noted in part 1 of this post, Coach K's return to greatness dovetails quite nicely with his position as head coach of Team USA basketball. Additionally, I noted that Coach K forged a special bond with the game's finest - Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Everyone knows the Olympics are the ultimate propaganda tool for the New World Order, a stripping off nationalistic sentiment for the sake of international unity. You may not know this, but Lebron and Kobe are freemasons. In fact, as is revealed here, Lebron is actually a member of the inner sanctum of freemasonry. Of course, Dick Vitale and the other ESPN talking heads will have you believe that Duke won its fourth national championship as a result of hardwork, precise execution, hustle, and heady play. The national media will no doubt point to Duke's admittedly impressive 35-5 record, ACC regular season championship, ACC tournament championship, and run to the title game as evidence that these Blue Devils earned their rings. I, for one, am not convinced.