1999-00

Season Overview

Nobody expected this. After the heartbreak of the 1999 national championship game loss to UConn, Duke suffered the most devastating talent drain in program history. Elton Brand, William Avery, and Corey Maggette became the first Blue Devil underclassmen to leave early for the NBA Draft. Trajan Langdon graduated. Chris Burgess transferred. Only 34.2% of minutes played and 26.0% of scoring returned from the 37-2 juggernaut.

The roster was rebuilt overnight. Seven freshmen arrived — the most on any Duke team in school history — headlined by point guard Jason Williams from Plainfield, New Jersey, power forward Carlos Boozer from Juneau, Alaska, and wing Mike Dunleavy Jr. from Portland, Oregon. They joined returning junior Shane Battier, who moved from defensive specialist to two-way star, and senior Chris Carrawell, the St. Louis kid who'd been waiting four years for his moment.

The season opened with a disaster. Duke dropped back-to-back games at Madison Square Garden in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic — an 80-79 overtime loss to Stanford where the Blue Devils shot a K-era worst 28.2% from the field, followed by a 71-66 loss to defending national champion UConn. Duke fell to 0-2 for the first time since 1958-59. Krzyzewski joked about hoping his athletic director wasn't a fair-weather fan.

Then the Blue Devils caught fire. They rattled off 18 consecutive victories, a streak that revealed the character of the team. Carrawell was magnificent, posting 13 20-point games and becoming the ninth Duke player to win ACC Player of the Year. Battier earned his second consecutive National Defensive Player of the Year award (shared with Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin), averaging 17.4 points while leading the team with 70 blocks and 20 charges taken. He became Duke's first men's basketball Academic All-American since Quin Snyder in 1989.

The freshmen were extraordinary. Williams led the team in assists at 5.4 per game, scoring 14.5 points while starting every game. Boozer powered his way to 13.0 points and 6.3 rebounds, earning ACC All-Freshman honors. Dunleavy averaged 10.1 off the bench. As a class, the freshmen accounted for 46% of Duke's scoring, 44% of the rebounding, and 56% of the assists. Duke led the nation in scoring at 88.0 points per game for the second consecutive season.

All five starters averaged double figures — a hallmark of K's best teams and something no previous Coach K team had achieved. A sixth player, Dunleavy, came off the bench averaging double digits too. Nate James, the junior tri-captain, doubled his scoring from the prior year to 11.0 points per game and anchored the lineup late in the season.

Duke rolled to its fourth consecutive outright ACC regular season championship at 15-1, its second consecutive ACC Tournament title with Jason Williams earning tournament MVP as a freshman, and the #1 ranking in the final AP poll. In the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils survived a brutal second-round test against Kansas — Battier blocked eight shots (a career-high and Kansas opponent record), Boozer grabbed 13 rebounds, and Carrawell's clutch free throws sealed a 69-64 win despite Duke shooting 2-of-17 from three. But the run ended in the Sweet Sixteen at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, where fifth-seeded Florida overwhelmed Duke 87-78. Duke committed 22 turnovers, Williams went 6-of-20, and Boozer fouled out with 11 points. Florida would go on to reach the national championship game.

The loss was a bitter end to Carrawell's career — 116 victories, the second-most by any player in ACC history. He became just the second Duke player (after Grant Hill) to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 300 assists. But the season had accomplished something remarkable: it proved Duke could lose four starters to the NBA and still finish #1 in America. The freshmen who arrived in 1999 — Williams, Boozer, Dunleavy, Casey Sanders — would be the foundation of the 2001 national championship team. The exodus didn't break Duke. It rebuilt it.

It was supposed to be the year Duke exorcised its tournament demons — the year the #1-ranked Blue Devils, who'd lost the national title game to UConn just twelve months earlier, would complete the journey. Instead, it ended in Syracuse against a Florida team nobody outside Gainesville believed in.

The Gators, seeded fifth in the East, were led by Teddy Dupay, Donnell Harvey, Udonis Haslem, and Brett Nelson — a roster built on depth and athleticism rather than star power. They'd already upset fourth-seeded Illinois 93-76 in the previous round, and they came to the Carrier Dome ready to run.

Duke fell behind 40-33 at halftime, struggling with turnovers and cold shooting. Williams, the brilliant freshman point guard, went 6-of-20 from the field and 1-of-9 from three-point range while committing five turnovers. Boozer fouled out with just 11 points. Florida had 21 assists to Duke's 12, moving the ball with a purpose that exposed Duke's youth.

Battier was magnificent in defeat — 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks — and Carrawell contributed 16 points and 3 steals in his final college game. But the turnovers were lethal: 22 for the game, leading to easy Florida baskets in transition. Brett Nelson scored 15 points with three triples, and the Gators shot 46.9% from the floor.

The 87-78 final ended Chris Carrawell's Duke career at 116 victories — tied for third-most in ACC history at the time — and snapped Duke's 26-game NCAA Tournament East Region winning streak. Florida would go on to beat Oklahoma State and North Carolina before falling to Michigan State in the national championship game.

For Duke, the loss stung. But the freshmen who struggled that night in Syracuse — Williams, Boozer, Dunleavy, Sanders — would return the next season and, led by senior Battier, would win the 2001 national championship. The Florida loss wasn't the end. It was the last lesson before the coronation.