What Ifs: Championships Duke Might Have Won

On Wednesday, in an article about Kobe Bryant, we talked about an idea we’ve mused about for awhile. It’s in the same sort of what-if category as the Kobe article.

Under Mike Krzyzewski, Duke won national titles in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015. There were other opportunities though.

Duke wasn’t too far off from winning in 1986, losing to Louisville 71-69. David Henderson, who was a powerful leader on that team, hit a shooting slump in the postseason that was costly.

In a video we saw not too long ago, Jay Bilas said the key play was giving up a rebound late in the game. It was that close. Coach K also later thought that his own inexperience cost his team.

In 1989, Duke lost to Seton Hall in the semifinals, but Robert Brickey got hurt early and Quin Snyder fouled out with 3:39 left. It was too much to overcome, not least of all Brickey’s injury, since he was a wonderful inside defender. A healthy Duke would have matched up well with Michigan in the championship game.

In 1994, Scotty Thurman got a shot off just over Antonio Lang’s fingertips to break a late tie and put Arkansas up, 73-70. The Razorbacks won 76-72, but obviously it was a winnable game.

In 1999, Duke had an incredibly dominant team but UConn had other plans, upsetting the Blue Devils 77-74. A break or two and it could have easily gone the other way.

In 2004, the teams met again and UConn won again after Shavlik Randolph and Sheldon Williams both got in foul trouble trying to guard Emeka Okafor and the Huskies just ground down Duke for a 79-78 win down the stretch.

UConn took out Georgia Tech in the championship game. Duke and Tech played three times during the season. Duke won in Atlanta, 82-75, lost in Cameron 76-68 and won in the ACC Tournament, 85-71.

Bonus: in the 1966 Final Four, shooting ace Bob Verga was terribly sick and Kentucky knocked the Blue Devils out. That team was called Rupp’s Runts and they would go on to lose to Texas Western (now UTEP). Could the Blue Devils have done better? With a healthy Verga to counter Bobby Joe Hill and a burly Mike Lewis to fight Big Daddy Lattin inside?

It’s possible. Texas Western only won by seven, 72-65.

Duke wouldn’t have won all of those if things had lined up well, but that could have been seven more championships. Just three more would have given Duke eight.

Maybe Jon Scheyer can add a few championships before he’s done.