Duke Basketball

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski expects Tre Jones will declare for the 2020 NBA draft. 

Appearing on The 247Sports College Basketball Show podcast with Evan Daniels, Krzyzewski brought up Jones when asked if he's had a chance to sit down with any of his players to talk about going pro. 

"We put in for the advisory committee. You can send it in, and we will do that for a number of our guys so they can get a look," he said. "Obviously Tre Jones we know is going to go, whenever he announces."

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman has Jones ranked as the No. 21 prospect in this year's draft class:

"Jones helped hold Cole Anthony to 4-of-14 shooting over the weekend while totaling 21 points and 11 assists of his own. Whether he projects as a starter or not, Jones figures to be an asset for any team regardless of role. Even his scoring hits a wall, his passing IQ, defensive pressure and intangibles will carry over."

Jones was a solid contributor as a freshman last season, averaging 9.4 points and 5.3 assists per game with a 41.4 shooting percentage. 

As a sophomore in 2019-20, Jones developed into a star. He was named ACC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and ranked first or second on the Blue Devils in scoring (16.2), assists (6.4) and steals (1.8). His three-point percentage skyrocketed from 26.2 as a freshman to 36.1 this season. 

Per ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA executives "widely agree" the predraft process this year will be limited, "if not lost altogether," because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

The 2020 NBA draft is scheduled for June 25 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. 

If you couldn't believe your eyes when you saw North Carolina as the No. 14 seed—as in, dead last—in the ACC Tournament, that reality is upon us. It's a year full of firsts in the ACC.

For the first time, Florida State sits atop the league at the end of the regular season, earning the No. 1 seed in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the prized double bye. Neither Duke nor North Carolina is a top-three seed, the first time that has happened as well.

The Seminoles have second-seeded Louisville and third-seeded Virginia biting at their heels. But to meet either, Leonard Hamilton's group will have to win a quarterfinal matchup against either Miami or Clemson and then square off with Duke, Wake, Pitt or North Carolina State.

The Seminoles and Blue Devils only met once this year, with Duke stealing a 70-65 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 10. Since then, FSU has won six of its past seven games and comes into the tournament, which begins Tuesday, as one of the hottest teams in the country.

The full bracket can be found on the conference's official website. Now, on to the prognostications.

                        

Last-Seeded UNC Makes It to Quarterfinals 

2019-20 has been a disaster for Roy Williams' squad. The signing of 5-star guard and certain high lottery pick Cole Anthony was supposed to make the Tar Heels a legitimate contender. Instead, UNC has sputtered through its worst season in more than a decade and is on pace to miss the NCAA men's basketball tournament for just the fourth time since 1974.

Despite all that, and a series of injuries that derailed any hopes of an at-large bid midway through the season, the Tar Heels have been competitive with—and even knocked off—some of the best teams in the ACC.

Were it not for a cataclysmic collapse in overtime against Duke in the midst of losing 12 out of 14 games in two months, North Carolina might have been able to avoid playing Tuesday night. As it is, they will have to beat Virginia Tech, a team they lost to in double overtime in January, and the Syracuse Orange, whom they beat Feb. 29, to reach a quarterfinal matchup with Louisville.

Is it unlikely given the way this year has gone? Absolutely. But if Anthony, Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot can put it all together on consecutive nights, Carolina could see the Cardinals on Thursday.

                     

Duke Doesn't Make It to Friday

No team in the ACC has the talent level—or inconsistency—of Duke.

In the past six games, the Blue Devils have lost to NC State by 22, lost to Wake Forest by 12 in double overtime and face-planted offensively against Virginia but beat Virginia Tech by 24, NC State by 19 and Carolina by 13 on Saturday night.

Mike Krzyzewski's group has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in ACC play, especially when you consider that before the three aforementioned losses, the Devils has won 16 of their past 18 games.

As a top-four seed, Duke will get a double bye but will likely face NC State, the same squad it beat by 19 and lost to by 22, in the quarterfinals. Unless Duke can hold the Wolfpack to 23 percent three-point shooting, as it did in the most recent showdown, the Blue Devils might just be going home early.

                     

Follow Keegan Pope on Twitter @ByKeeganPope.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski thought Justin Robinson's performance in Saturday's 89-76 win over North Carolina was straight from the silver screen.

The Blue Devils senior, who walked on to the team in 2016, had 13 points and six rebounds.

"It's better than Rudy," Krzyzewski said after the game, per ESPN's David M. Hale. "It's almost like a movie. He's been outstanding, and hopefully he keeps it going."

Rudy told the story of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, a walk-on at Notre Dame who eventually suited up for the Fighting Irish in 1975.

Whether Robinson's narrative matches up with that of Ruettiger, he's closing out his college career in style. The son of Hall of Famer David Robinson, he might be playing himself into Duke's regular rotation as Coach K prepares for the ACC tournament.

https://twitter.com/LukeDeCock/status/1236455142930567168

Between Vernon Carey Jr., Tre Jones and Cassius Stanley, Duke isn't lacking in star power, but an unsung hero such as Robinson could make a difference toward the Blue Devils' hopes of reaching the Final Four.    

For most of the 2019-20 men's college basketball season, the Duke Blue Devils have ranked among the five favorites to win the national championship.

That is no longer the case following a recent stretch of three losses in four games.

Per Tuesday's Caesars Palace title odds, the five best marks belong to Kansas (+550), Gonzaga (+700), Kentucky (+1100), Baylor (+1100) and Dayton (+1300). The Blue Devils were tied for sixth place with Louisville at +1400, with San Diego State (+1500) and Michigan State (+1600) nipping at their heels.

Not only have Duke's Vegas odds dropped, but its projected tournament seed has too.

Just two weeks ago, the Blue Devils were the projected No. 5 overall seed. That almost certainly would have made them the No. 2 seed in the East Region, starting with two games in Greensboro, North Carolina, followed by two more in Madison Square Garden, potentially culminating in a major "home-court" advantage in the Elite Eight against projected No. 1 seed San Diego State.

But the Bracket Matrix has Duke projected for a No. 3 seed, which means starting in Greensboro is no longer guaranteed, and there's no telling into which region the Blue Devils would be placed.

If you think the seed doesn't matter, be sure to note that Duke has a 4-5 record in its last five NCAA tournament appearances as a No. 3 seed or worse, and it hasn't advanced beyond the Sweet 16 from that starting position since 1990.

If the Blue Devils can rally to win the ACC tournament, they may still get that No. 2 seed in the East and the coveted NC-to-NYC path to the Final Four that comes with it. However, that's a big "if" with the way they have been playing.

It might seem a little preposterous to voice concerns about the Blue Devils shortly after Monday night's 88-69 drubbing of NC State. But showing up on offense at Cameron Indoor hasn't been Duke's problem—it's getting that show to go on the road.

Even before the back-to-back-to-back road losses in the latter half of February, Duke was struggling during a down year for the ACC.

On Jan. 8 at Georgia Tech, the Blue Devils blew an early 12-point lead and survived by the skin of their teeth when the Yellow Jackets went ice cold down the stretch. Six days later, Duke lost at Clemson, in large part because it had no answer for the frontcourt duo of Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack.

Then came the six road games in February, in which Duke shot a collective 25-of-107 (23.4 percent) from three-point range. It still managed to score 97 at Syracuse, 98 at North Carolina and 101 at Wake Forest, but mostly because those were defense-optional foul-fests that produced an average of 75.3 combined free-throw attempts.

All told, Duke is 4-4 in its last eight road games with a scoring margin of negative-15, even though only one of those eight contests was against a projected NCAA tournament team (the loss to Virginia).

So what gives?

Why is Duke—which beat Kansas on a neutral court and won by 12 at Michigan State in the process of opening the season 7-0 away from home—suddenly playing like an apathetic bubble team when it leaves Durham?

It's not the dynamic duo's fault. In the eight games in question, Tre Jones averaged 19.3 points and 5.3 assists while Vernon Carey Jr. accounted for 18.6 points and 9.4 rebounds. Both the point guard and the center scored in double figures in each contest, combining for at least 30 in all eight games. Moreover, aside from Jones' assists (6.2 per game), each of those numbers is higher than the year-to-date marks for those guys.

And Jones' assists are a bit lower because the non-Carey portion of the supporting cast has been either inconsistent or downright bad.

Jordan Goldwire isn't regarded as a go-to scorer for the Blue Devils. He shoots less often while on the floor than anyone else on the roster. Still, he has averaged 8.9 points over his last eight home games, reaching double figures on four occasions. But in the last eight road games, he scored either zero or two points six times, averaging 2.6.

Matthew Hurt has had similarly problematic home/road splits. In the last eight home games, Hurt is averaging 12.1 points and shooting 43.8 percent from three-point range. On the road, those numbers plummet to 5.3 and 26.1, respectively.

Just between those two guys, that's a staggering difference of 13.1 points per game over nearly two months.

Cassius Stanley's averages haven't been that divergent, but three of his worst performances of the season were the February road games against Boston College, NC State and Virginia. He shot a combined 5-of-22 from the field and averaged a meager 5.0 points in those contests.

It's a small miracle that Duke competed with Virginia and beat Boston College while getting six points and nine points, respectively, from the law firm of Goldwire, Hurt and Stanley.

As troubling as those offensive numbers are, though, the real problem has been the defense.

Duke was more than adequate on that end of the floor in the aforementioned BC and UVA games, winning the former 63-55 and losing the latter 52-50. But in the other four road games in February, the Blue Devils allowed 88, 96, 88 and 113. That's 96.3 points per game, and that is decidedly not a winning formula.

With scores that high, you would think Duke was getting bombarded with threes. To the contrary, those four opponents shot a combined 23-of-62 (37.1 percent) from deep, which is only 17.3 points per game. That leaves 79.0 coming from twos and free throws, which highlights Duke's limited interior defense.

Jones, Goldwire and to a lesser extent Stanley have been great at denying three-point looks all season, but all it takes is one ball screen with a big man to open up the floor. Carey is a limited defender (and more likely to get into foul trouble) when you get him out of the lane, and Hurt has been a massive defensive liability all over the court.

This has resulted in either easy buckets at the rim or reaching fouls on a far-too-regular basis. And when Carey is the one who picks up early whistles, Duke doesn't have a Plan B for creating offense from the 5.

The obvious answer has been staring head coach Mike Krzyzewski in the face for a while, and he finally opted to dabble in the dark magic of zone defense.

Coach K went deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out the 2-3 zone late in the first half of Monday's win over NC State—forced into this emergency decision by watching the Wolfpack simply ball-screen his defense to death.

The impact was almost instantaneous. NC State, which is not a great three-point shooting team, couldn't figure out how to score with any regularity the rest of the way. Defense turned into offense as Stanley threw down thunderous alley-oop dunks en route to a blowout victory.

So, will that be Duke's new normal on defense?

With North Carolina coming to town—a team that shoots even worse from three-point range than NC State and which made 33 twos and 21 free throws against Duke less than a month ago—sticking with the zone for at least one more game seems like the obvious decision. But we'll need to wait and see if that's the long-term solution to a season-long issue that has come to a head in the past few weeks.

If the Blue Devils revert to man-to-man for the tournament and continue to get lackluster scoring outputs away from home from the guys not named Jones or Carey, a repeat of the 2014 Mercer fiasco could be forthcoming.

                      

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.

Mike Krzyzewski had a blunt response to his team's skeptics following Duke's 88-69 win over North Carolina State on Monday.

"I mean, you can question my coaching and what the hell—and then when you do question it ... just come into Cameron and look up in the ceiling, and then find out if you should question that," Krzyzewski told the Blue Devils' postgame radio show (via 247Sports).

Coach K's track record speaks for itself. He's the all-time winningest coach in Division I history, having guided the Blue Devils to 12 Final Fours and five national championships.

But the 73-year-old isn't immune to the questions that can arise from a poor stretch of results. Duke entered Monday having dropped three of its last four games, slipping from seventh to 12th in the Associated Press' Top 25 poll.

Following an 88-66 loss to the Wolfpack on Feb. 19, Krzyzewski told reporters his team was "not competitive."

The legendary coach is a victim of his own prosperity since Duke's bar for success is basically a trip to the Final Four. 

Following the Blue Devils' most recent title in 2015, they've yet to advance past the Elite Eight. Last year's loss to Michigan State was particularly disappointing since the squad had three players (Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish) who were selected in the top 10 of the 2019 NBA draft.

Should Duke's Final Four drought extend to five years, all of the banners hanging in the Cameron Indoor Stadium rafters won't be of much comfort.

No. 7 Duke suffered its third defeat in four games in a 52-50 loss at Virginia on Saturday. 

It's the sixth loss of the season for the Blue Devils—their fifth in conference play—and knocked them out of a three-way tie for the ACC lead. 

Duke had a chance to go ahead with 40 seconds left in the game and trailing by one. But head coach Mike Krzyzewski let his players slow the offense, leading to a jump ball with the possession arrow favoring Virginia and 15.8 seconds remaining.

After the Blue Devils immediately fouled on the inbounds play, the Cavaliers missed the front end of a one-and-one, which gave Duke one last chance for the tie. It nearly did so when Vernon Carey Jr. tried to pump-fake past Jay Huff, only to get stuffed at the rim. 

Jay Huff sealed @UVAMensHoops’ win with his TENTH block of the game! 😤

(via @Stadium) pic.twitter.com/nZIJW7gf6m

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 1, 2020

It was a perfect end to the day for Huff, who finished with 15 points, 10 blocks and nine rebounds. 

A last-second heave by Tre Jones fell off the side of the rim as UVA survived.

Mamadi Diakite tallied 14 points and five rebounds while Duke's Jones and Carey each poured in 17 points. The Blue Devils shot just 30.5 percent from the floor as the Cavs defense stifled one of the country's top teams. 

Saturday marked the third win over a ranked opponent this season for Virginia, which had already taken down No. 7 North Carolina and No. 5 Florida State this season. While UVA's tournament resume was already in solid form, the victory over Duke adds another signature win for the reigning champions. 

For that, the Cavs can thank Huff, who put together one of the best games of his career. Before Saturday, Huff hadn't scored 15 or more points since a mid-January meeting with Georgia Tech. That game also saw the junior post a career high with six blocks—a number he blew past against the Blue Devils.   

Jay Huff recorded 10 blocks in a win over No. 7 Duke.

He is the 1st player in the last 20 seasons with 10 blocks in a game against an AP Top-10 team.

Huff also joins Ralph Sampson as the only players with 10 blocks in a game in Virginia history. pic.twitter.com/ovBMdF3kPM

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 1, 2020

No block was bigger than the 10th and final one of Huff's night, which essentially sealed the victory, as Carey's shot had no chance.

"Really happy for Jay," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said afterward. "We needed everything he brought. The timing and the length, we needed it all."

Virginia and Duke and tied for second in the ACC with two games to play. Louisville and Florida State remain tied for first with the Seminoles falling to unranked Clemson on Saturday.

 

No. 6 Duke men's basketball entered its road game against unranked NC State on Wednesday with a 22-3 overall record and 12-2 mark in ACC play, but the Blue Devils emerged with a stunning 88-66 loss in which they trailed wire-to-wire.

After the game, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski honestly assessed his team's performance.

"Sometimes when you've eaten a lot, you're not as hungry," he said postgame, per ESPN's David M. Hale.

"Our team obviously tonight didn't feel like they needed the win. You have to stay hungry while you're winning at that level because we're not a team at that level, we've just won that many games and tonight we were not competitive."

The Blue Devils were winners of seven straight, including a 70-65 victory over No. 8 Florida State. But they left Raleigh, North Carolina, with their third loss against an unranked team this season.

Almost nothing went right for Duke outside the performance of freshman big man Vernon Carey Jr., who posted 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

The rest of the Blue Devils shot just 32.7 percent from the field. The Blue Devils also went 4-of-17 from three-point range and 10-of-22 from the free-throw line.

Poor shooting nights can happen to the best of teams, but the Blue Devils' defense faltered in the face of a potent NC State offensive attack that featured three players with 21 or more points, led by Markell Johnson's 28.

All three of Duke's losses to unranked teams have a common theme: The opposition's offense plays far better than expected, and at least one player gives the Blue Devils significant problems.

Of note, Stephen F. Austin's Kevon Harris scored 26 points in an 85-83 overtime road win over Duke, and Aamir Simms and Tevin Mack combined for 47 points in Clemson's 79-70 victory.

Duke is still one of the game's best defensive teams, with KenPom.com ranking the school seventh in efficiency on that end. But the upset losses that dot Duke's schedule have to be at least a bit concerning.

"It happens," Krzyzewski said after the NC State loss. "This isn't an Xbox game. It's a human being game."

Duke is a young team: Four of its top six scorers are freshmen, and the other two are sophomores.

Growing pains in the midst of the season shouldn't be surprising, but the result from Wednesday still is considering Duke was an eight-point favorite heading into the night, per B/R Betting.

Still, Duke is as capable of winning this year's national championship as anyone in a wide-open race for the title.

The Blue Devils are a well-rounded bunch and just one of three schools that rank top 11 in offensive and defensive efficiency, per KenPom. Kansas and San Diego State are the others.

Wendell Moore Jr.'s buzzer-beating layup propelled the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils to a comeback win over the unranked UNC Tar Heels 98-96 in overtime on Saturday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

WOW! WHAT AN ENDING!

NO. 7 DUKE WINS IN STUNNING FASHION AGAINST UNC! pic.twitter.com/OZ50X9eQcF

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 9, 2020

The Blue Devils trailed 77-64 with 4:31 left in regulation but sent the game to overtime at 84 apiece after a buzzer-beating jumper from Tre Jones, who finished with a game-high 28 points.

TRE JONES TIES IT AT THE BUZZER!!!!! pic.twitter.com/DJhk46cPFO

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) February 9, 2020

Cole Anthony's 24 points and 11 rebounds paced the Tar Heels, who fell to 10-13 overall (3-9 ACC). The Blue Devils improved to 20-3 (10-2 ACC).

     

Notable Performances

Duke G Tre Jones: 28 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB

Duke G Cassius Stanley: 22 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST

Duke F Wendell Moore Jr.: 17 PTS, 10 REB, 2 AST

UNC G Cole Anthony: 24 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST

UNC F Garrison Brooks: 18 PTS, 5 REB, 2 BLK

UNC G Christian Keeling: 13 PTS, 4 REB, 2 STL

    

Clutch Jones and Moore Performances Help Blue Devils Steal Win

Tre Jones was simply phenomenal at the end of Duke's comeback win Saturday.

He scored 15 points over 1:51 of game time combining the end of regulation and the beginning of overtime.

He executed a perfect missed free throw, collected his own rebound and unleashed a shot in traffic to tie the game.

He scored three more points in the final 16 seconds to help turn a 96-91 disadvantage into a 98-96 win.

And he did all that while playing in the most hostile road environment possible for a Duke player. Moreover, all of that was done without Duke big man Vernon Carey Jr., who fouled out with just over four minutes left in the game.

Jones did pretty much whatever he wanted by the end of the game, slicing through traffic for layups and willing his team to victory in a game that looked completely out of reach by the under-four timeout.

But he had a little help from his teammates, perhaps no one more than the hero of the game in Wendell Moore Jr.

The freshman was fantastic in the closing seconds. First, he hit a layup to bring Duke within 96-95 with 13 seconds left. Then, he rebounded a Jones miss at the line by tapping the ball back to the guard, who fired a game-winning shot attempt.

Like North Carolina State big man Lorenzo Charles in the 1983 NCAA men's championship, however, Moore was in the right place at the right time to collect an air ball and put it home in one fell swoop to deliver a win.

Moore gained Duke legend status with the victory:

Wendell Moore. A hero forever engrained in this rivalry.

— Duke Digest (@DukeDigest) February 9, 2020

The fact that he was even out there on the court and excelling was impressive enough given a recent hand injury that kept him sidelined, as noted by sports anchor Matt Harris:

Charlotte’s Wendell Moore Jr. broke a bone in his right hand Jan. 4th. Had surgery. Missed 6 games.

He worked to get back for UNC game and scored career-high 17 points, including the game-winner.

Unreal pic.twitter.com/FLXvRcVfOk

— Matt Harris (@Matt____Harris) February 9, 2020

Jeff Goodman of Stadium praised Jones' game:

Gimme Tre Jones any day. I know, he can’t really shoot it from the perimeter. But he does EVERYTHING else. Leads, sets up his teammates, gets to the basket and GUARDS.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 9, 2020

And ESPN Stats & Info noted how Jones joined some elite company:

Tre Jones finished with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in tonight's OT win vs North Carolina.

He is the first player with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the Duke-UNC rivalry since Michael Jordan on Jan. 22, 1983. pic.twitter.com/Dj6lBjb0YX

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 9, 2020

Duke was on the verge of losing to its third unranked opponent this season, but that didn't happen as Jones and Moore were the heroes for a Blue Devils team looking to chase down Louisville for first place in the ACC before conference tournament play begins.

      

Tale of Two Games As Excellent UNC Performance Erased Down Stretch

UNC was simply fantastic for the vast majority of the game, outplaying Duke on both ends en route to leading the Blue Devils by 13 points with 4:31 remaining.

A victory seemed inevitable, especially with Carey Jr. (18 first-half points) fouling out.

But everything that could go wrong did for the Tar Heels down the stretch.

First, UNC struggled at the line, making just five of its final 12 regulation free throws. The problem was Duke seemingly countered every miss with a basket of its own on the other end as the lead slowly wilted away.

Second, bounces and calls were not in UNC's favor. Credit to Jones for executing perhaps the best missed free throw in basketball history given the result and the circumstances, but the odds of the ball bouncing in such a way and the ball eventually going through the hoop were slim at best.

Furthermore, a no-call marred the end of overtime, as Moore clearly fouled Andrew Platek as the two players were diving for a loose ball with UNC up 96-95. That ball went out of bounds, Duke was able to inbound and UNC never got the ball back after a Jones free throw and a miracle Moore layup.

Third, Anthony had three turnovers at the end of regulation and overtime, with Brooks adding one of his own. Anthony was exceptional on this day, and UNC isn't coming close to a win without his efforts, but the turnovers still stung as every possession's value mounted down the stretch.

College basketball analyst Mark Titus noted the following to sum up the game best:

There were at least 1,000 moments where all UNC had to do was not do ______, and they did exactly that thing every single time

— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) February 9, 2020

    

In a season where almost nothing has gone right for a 10-13 team that started the year in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll, this loss is tough to swallow despite the Tar Heels' fantastic performance for much of the game.

But as Jonathan M. Alexander of the News & Observer noted, the defeat may be "indicative" of UNC's season. 

There are no moral victories for UNC after this one, and now the Tar Heels must find a way to finish strong as they look likely to finish out of the NCAA tournament field for the first time in 10 years.

            

What's Next?

Duke will host No. 8 Florida State on Monday at 7 p.m. ET in a battle for second place in the ACC. FSU is tied with Duke for that spot courtesy of a 10-2 record.

UNC will stay in-state to visit Wake Forest on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

The 2019-20 college basketball season is seemingly missing star power, which Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski attributes to early NBA draft entrants. 

"I think the whole state of college basketball has been hurt by how many kids have tested the waters," Krzyzewski said Tuesday, per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. "It's not the one-and-dones. We've lost about 70 or 80 kids who weren't even drafted."

Per Thamel, at least 85 underclassmen went undrafted over the past two years. While there are only 60 picks in the NBA draft, 86 underclassmen declared last season alone.

Duke has seen this problem firsthand as a team that recruits and develops top talent every year.

The Blue Devils had lottery picks Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish leave last season after their freshman campaigns. However, center Marques Bolden left with a year of eligibility remaining and went undrafted.

Four Duke players were selected in 2018, but Trevon Duval was not taken after he left following his freshman year.

Some of those who left early could've developed into college stars if they had stayed, improving the sport.

Five straight Wooden Award winners from 2014 to 2018 played at least three seasons in college until Williamson won the award last season. 

Krzyzewski has had a lot of success relying on freshmen in recent years, but he doesn't like the overall landscape of college basketball.

"I wish the whole thing would change," he said.

With the G League raising salaries and more opportunities coming for international careers, the NCAA appears to be falling behind.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski offered an olive branch to Duke fans on Wednesday, according to Derek Saul of the Duke Chronicle, after shouting at the student section for chanting at Pittsburgh head coach and Duke alum Jeff Capel on Tuesday night:

JUST IN: Coach K held a surprise private 30-minute meeting in Cameron with tenters (undergrads sleeping out for the UNC game) this afternoon to apologize for last night’s incident and give more insight into what he thought happened. Story to come.

— Derek Saul (@derek_saul) January 29, 2020

During Duke's 79-67 win, the team's fans playfully chanted, "Jeff Capel, sit with us," per ESPN. Coach K took exception to the chant, animatedly telling the student section to "shut up" while adding that Capel "is one of us."

After Cameron Crazies started yelling "Jeff Capel, sit with us," Coach K could be seen yelling "Shut up" and "He's one of us."

Capel played at Duke and coached there for 7 seasons. pic.twitter.com/OdKeJ62MMv

— ESPN (@espn) January 29, 2020

After the game, he apologized for his response.   

"I don't know if I made a mistake on that, but I've never heard another coach's name yelled out in the middle of the first half when we're in a war with the team," he said. "I don't know if they were saying, 'Come sit with me.' We got a different look at what the hell was going on. I thought it was something personal. ... I apologize to the students for that."

Still, Coach K said he wasn't thrilled about the timing or content of the chant.

"You shouldn't say that. ... In the middle of the first half and an ACC game, this isn't some cutesy little thing," he said. "I'm not going to go say, 'Will you please tell me exactly what you're doing?' So it's a mistake on my part, but I'd rather make the mistake and protect my guy. ... Let's think of a different cheer—like 'Defense!'"

There were mixed responses to Coach K's reaction:

Why I give Coach K a pass... pic.twitter.com/zG7hkODtBK

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) January 29, 2020

Coach K was big mad  pic.twitter.com/16zKgq4TbP

— HIGH NOON (@HIGHNOONonESPN) January 29, 2020

the disapproving dad energy emanating from Coach K last night is tremendous -- these kids are all very grounded pic.twitter.com/4T2U1WRPuO

— Marc Whiteman (@MarcWYFFNews4) January 29, 2020

They wanna tell Coach K “do you know who my dad is?” so bad, by gawd this is great content. https://t.co/tZXt2hfiiy

— Kazeem Famuyide  (@Kazeem) January 29, 2020

Honestly, I just cannot stop laughing at the fact that Coach K went full Dril tonight pic.twitter.com/OzaJmgv3B7

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) January 29, 2020

Capel, however, didn't seem bothered by the student section:

Love you guys back!!! No offense taken from me! Keep SHOWING UP AND CHEERING FOR YOUR TEAM! They DESERVE IT! https://t.co/19BC707KjR

— Jeff Capel (@jeffcapel) January 29, 2020

Pittsburgh hired Capel in 2018 as its head basketball coach. Over two seasons, he's gone 27-27 at the helm, though the Panthers are a solid 13-8 this season. Duke is 17-3 and currently ranked No. 9 in the nation. 

Tuesday night's clash between the two ACC schools is their only regular-season meeting this year.