DURHAM, N.C. -- Mike Krzyzewski stopped at midcourt and stared up into the sea of blue-clad Cameron Crazies, waving his hands in a frantic upward gesture, imploring them to stand, to cheer. This was early February, in the moments after Duke had survived a physically punishing showdown against No. 8 Florida State, and Krzyzewski was disappointed with the response of the Blue Devils fans. He wanted more, and the students complied with a roar, an orchestra fully in step with its conductor.
A year ago, this was the Zion Williamson Show, the biggest star the sport had seen in decades playing alongside three other top-10 recruits. Every corner of Cameron Indoor Stadium was cramped -- filled with noise and drama and energy and spectacle. And each night there was a genuine Hollywood-style show, with rappers, NBA stars and even Barack Obama in the crowd to see monster dunks flickering across the video boards, destined for replay again and again on every highlight show.
Now Krzyzewski is asking the crowd for that same energy, that same enthusiasm, that same adoration for a team he believes might be even more impressive, in part because it lacks anything resembling last season's celebrity crowd.
"We don't just go to the supermarket and buy these things," Krzyzewski said after the Florida State victory."[The fans] have to be even more hungry, even more appreciative."
It's not that the fans hadn't been into the game. How could they not be? Duke took punch after punch but survived, a 70-65 win that came just 48 hours after one of the most dramatic victories of Krzyzewski's legendary career, an emotional overtime comeback against rival North Carolina. So yeah, the fans were excited, but perhaps they didn't understand this was far from guaranteed, that there's no Superman in a Blue Devils jersey ready to step in and save this team. They were excited, but they should've been downright astonished.
"We've been spoiled to watch Zion and Tatum and Bagley," Krzyzewski says, referring to Williamson, Jayson Tatum and Marvin Bagley III, über-recruits who made a pit stop in Durham before launching into NBA stardom. "That's not who we have. We have an old-fashioned team that needs for everybody to be hungry. Our fans are accustomed to outstanding, and this team is trying to be. But don't get on the ride at the end. Be on the ride the whole time."
Now, here's the part where you might reasonably ask, is this news? Krzyzewski's heart-on-his-sleeve admiration for "my guys" is eternal, from Jay Bilas to Joey Baker. But listen for the subtext this time around, listen to what Krzyzewski is really saying. Yes, he always loves his guys, but these guys are different, a throwback to another time before the coach had to go all-in on one-and-dones, before players arrived on campus as superstars and departed, months later, as lottery picks, back when the game was about the work as much as the skill. That's what this team is, and man, Krzyzewski loves that. He wants you to love it too.
After the FSU win, Duke was riding high, 21-3 on the season, an oddly under-the-radar title contender in a season in which any one of maybe two dozen teams seems like a potential tournament darling if the pieces fall just right. Usually Duke's lineups are big, talented, awe-inspiring machines.
In the two weeks after Coach K's speech, however, the subtext of Krzyzewski's commentary become painfully obvious. First, a 22-point loss at NC State. Two games later, dismal Wake Forest put up 113 points in a double-overtime win that felt like a monumental upset even in a season of logic-defying outcomes in the sport. Then a trip to Virginia ended with a two-point defeat to the defending NCAA tournament champs.
This isn't Duke as you know it, even if its College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is second in the country behind only top-ranked Kansas. Last season, Williamson dared you not to like him. Before that, there was brash Grayson Allen, and before that a litany of other stars who might've been cast as the villain in an '80s movie. And now look at the Blue Devils. This Duke team offers no pretense.
But maybe that's the charm. Maybe that's how this story needs to go. Maybe the ragtag group looks inward, finds its own strength, learns all the right lessons and emerges triumphant in the end. Wouldn't it be something if, after all those years of being the movie villains, these guys turned out to be the heroes?
"I think this is a key period for us to find out who we really are," sophomore Tre Jones said. "This is the most adversity we've been through all year, so we're trying to get through this and find out who we really are, continue to battle, continue to fight."
IN THE AFTERMATH of Duke's opening-round win over North Dakota State in last year's NCAA tournament, hordes of reporters gathered around Williamson's locker, awaiting a grand entrance from the biggest name in the sport, a guy who'd been the focal point of national attention and, just that day, starred in the debut of "Zion Cam," a camera that followed his every move for the TV broadcast. A few of the local reporters, however, eschewed Williamson's locker and convened in front of the stall labeled "Buckmire."
Williamson was never quite comfortable with his celebrity at Duke, and his goal from Day 1 was to deflect as much of the attention as possible. That's when he found former walk-on and current benchwarmer Mike Buckmire, who became Williamson's personal spokesman.
Buckmire played 12 minutes for Duke last season. Not per game. Total. And none after Dec. 18, 2018. He also became a legitimate star off the court, and if there's a shorthand way to describe the surreal atmosphere of the 2018-19 Duke season, it's Buckmire's rise to fame.
Williamson entered the locker room after the North Dakota State game announcing, "Where's Mike Buckmire?" and the herd stampeded across the room, where the star and the walk-on held court. Got a question for Williamson? It goes through the Buckmire first.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Buckmire said. "It was a circus everywhere we went."
Within college basketball, there's a sub-sport called "Hating Duke." No team is razzed on the road like the Blue Devils, regardless of the names on the roster. And yet, here was Buckmire and his teammates going into hostile territory -- road games, five-star hotels -- and there'd be a crowd of people just excited to see the show.
Then there was social media. Williamson arrived with a million Instagram followers, and when he cast some attention over to Buckmire -- well, imagine emerging from a cave and being introduced to a million new friends.
The spotlight washed over everyone, though. Early last season, Krzyzewski was asked about Williamson's celebrity and shrugged it off. Duke had big-name guys before -- Grant Hill and Kyrie Irving and Tatum and Bagley. That's what Duke is all about. But this was different.
"The hype surrounding our team last year was a bit ridiculous, and even a bit historic because of the makeup of that team," senior Javin DeLaurier said. "This year, we don't have the 'Zion Cam' during games, but we're just taking care of business off the radar."
Jones doesn't remember a time when there wasn't a circus. His older brother, Tyus Jones, who won a title with Duke in 2015, was a huge star in high school, the local gyms filled to the brim with gawking fans and college coaches hoping to land a blue-chipper. That was life growing up.
Then Tre came to Duke in 2018, following in his brother's footsteps, and took on the role of ringleader in college basketball's biggest show in recent years. Williamson and fellow freshmen RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish would go on to be selected in the top 10 of the NBA draft.
But Jones came back.
In lieu of a superstar on this season's Duke team, Jones is the beating heart, and his heart pumps out concentration and determination and defense.
Duke battles back in both regulation and overtime, capped off by a Wendell Moore Jr. buzzer-beater to top North Carolina 98-96.
Jones etched his name into the Duke history books a month ago when the Blue Devils played their first game against the Tar Heels this season, erasing a massive deficit, sending the game to OT, winning on a miracle. In the final minute of regulation, Jones had nine points and a crucial rebound of his own miss. He finished the game with 28 points, 5 boards, 6 assists and 3 steals. Krzyzewski called it the best game of Jones' career.
In the locker room afterward, a cadre of Duke players was huddled around one guy's cellphone, rewatching the final moments. Jones sat in a chair in front of his locker, answering questions from media, still dazed. He'd been in big games before, performed in front of huge crowds. But here he was, in fresh waters.
"My brother was in this position a few times," Jones said. "Being in this moment myself, that's what motivates me."
Listening to Jones try to explain the performance against UNC, seeing Krzyzewski's infatuation with his guys after the Florida State win, there's a point when it all seems like such a simple narrative.
You hate Duke because the Blue Devils are always so talented, and in recent years, that talent has felt completely mercenary. And then along comes this group, a group that, in fairness, includes four players ESPN ranked in its top 33, but lacks anything close to a true superstar. Krzyzewski says there's no starting lineup, and that's been liberating. These guys play defense. They work for every shot. The heroes change from day to day and include guys like Alex O'Connell and Jordan Goldwire and Jack White and ... wait, who?
Jeff Capel, the former Duke assistant (2011-18) and now the head coach at Pitt, praised this Blue Devils team as "efficient."
Tre Jones' 3-point heave for No. 7 Duke doesn't go in as Virginia pulls off the upset 52-50.
In NC State's upset win, Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said he was hoping Duke would continue to feed talented forward Vernon Carey Jr. in the post. He didn't think that was a winning game plan for the Blue Devils, even if his team had no real answer for the big man. Imagine saying that about Williamson.
In the aftermath of a two-point win, Virginia's Tony Bennett said he had visions of Tyus Jones each time Tre Jones launched a 3, but he quickly turned the talk to his own defense, which won out in the end.
HERE'S DUKE, a tick behind last season's pace but without the Zion-mania, the Zion injury, the Zion return to offer any real explanation for the ups and downs. Here's Duke, no superstar in sight, trying to create a new narrative.
"I'm disappointed in our group," Krzyzewski said after the Wake Forest loss, a stark contrast from just a few weeks earlier, when he was excoriating the fans for a lack of belief.
DeLaurier has offered what seemed a wise take on this new normal at Duke.
"I'm cool with being low-key," he said. "It was a cool experience [last season], the people we got to meet, but this is low-key and less stressful for sure."
Now there is stress: three losses in four games, questions about whether this Duke team -- a team that lost at home to Stephen F. Austin, lost by double digits to bubble-bound NC State, couldn't contain woeful Wake Forest -- was actually good or just a bunch of solid players with "Duke" written across the front of their jerseys.
Jones offered a prediction. Keep fighting, he said, and it will all work itself out. That's been the narrative at Duke for a long time, but this season, there aren't any superheroes, just a bunch of guys still looking to prove something.
After Duke finally found a remedy at home Monday in its latest matchup against NC State -- a 88-69 win in which Krzyzewski used his 13th different starting lineup of the season -- the coach was less circumspect. He was a bit defiant, a reminder of the Duke swagger that has made the Blue Devils such a captivating villain over the years.
"'We've lost, oh no, the world is gonna end,'" Krzyzewski mocked in a radio interview after a dominant second half against the Wolfpack. "You can question my coaching and what the hell -- and then when you do question it, by the way, just come into Cameron and look up in the ceiling, and then find out if you should question that."