2016-17

The Unluckiest Season in Duke History. Preseason #1. Jayson Tatum arrives as the Gatorade National Player of the Year. Harry Giles — the consensus #1 recruit — arrives on two surgically repaired knees and is never himself. Marques Bolden breaks his foot before the season starts. K has back surgery in January and misses a month. Grayson Allen trips another player and is stripped of his captaincy. Amile Jefferson — the fifth-year senior who’d waited his entire career for this — gets hurt just as the team is peaking. And yet. Four wins in four days in Brooklyn: Clemson, Louisville, UNC, Notre Dame. The 20th ACC Tournament championship. The first team in conference history to do it in four days. They’ll always have Brooklyn. Then South Carolina shoots 70% in the second half of the Round of 32 and it’s over 88-81. The most talent-rich roster K had ever assembled, undone by injuries, bad luck, and one opponent who couldn’t miss. UNC wins the national championship. Tatum goes #3. The what-ifs pile up.