2021-22

Season Overview

On June 2, 2021, Duke University announced that Mike Krzyzewski would retire following the 2021-22 season. After 42 years, five national championships, 13 Final Fours, 1,196 victories, 101 NBA Draft picks, and a transformation of Duke from a good program into arguably the greatest dynasty in college basketball history, Coach K would coach his final game. Associate head coach Jon Scheyer was named head coach in waiting.

The farewell season became the most emotionally charged year in Duke basketball history. Every road game was a goodbye. Every opponent wanted to be the team that beat K one last time. The pressure on a roster built around freshmen — as Duke rosters had been for a decade — was immense. And the freshman who shouldered more of that weight than anyone was Paolo Napoleon Banchero.

Banchero arrived from O'Dea High School in Seattle as the #2 recruit in the country — a 6-10, 250-pound forward whose combination of perimeter skill, post footwork, and passing vision drew comparisons to a young Carmelo Anthony. He was joined by AJ Griffin (#7 nationally, a 6-6 wing from Ossining, New York whose father Adrian had played in the NBA), Trevor Keels (#22 nationally, a physical guard from the Bronx via Paul VI Catholic in Virginia), and Jaylen Blakes. The returning core included junior Wendell Moore Jr. (now the team's emotional leader and best all-around player), sophomore Mark Williams (the 7-1 rim protector who'd emerged late the previous season), sophomore Jeremy Roach, and senior Joey Baker. Graduate transfer Theo John (a center from Marquette) added physicality. Senior walk-on Michael Savarino, K's grandson, was also on the roster.

Duke opened the season at the Champions Classic and immediately announced this team was different from the 13-11 disaster that preceded it. Banchero scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting in an eight-point win over Kentucky. Two weeks later, Duke beat #1 Gonzaga 84-81 behind Banchero's 21 points and three three-pointers — a victory over Chet Holmgren, the only player ranked higher than Paolo in his class. The Blue Devils climbed to #1 in the AP poll.

A loss at Ohio State in late November dropped them from the top spot, but Duke regrouped and won its next eight. By February, the team had found its identity: Banchero's scoring and playmaking, Williams' rim protection (he would average 2.2 blocks per game and shoot 72.7% from the field), Moore's all-around contributions (he led the team in assists with 4.4 per game), and Roach's steady floor generalship. Griffin provided instant offense off the bench (or in the starting lineup), shooting 44.7% from three on the season.

Duke won the ACC regular season championship outright — the program's first since 2006, ending a 16-year drought. But late-season turbulence foreshadowed what was to come. A home loss to Virginia on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Reece Beekman ended a 10-game winning streak. And then came March 5, 2022.

Coach K's final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

More than 90 former Blue Devils players returned for the pregame ceremony. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sat courtside. Jerry Seinfeld was in attendance. Tickets reached five-figure prices. The Cameron Crazies were operating at a decibel level that threatened to lift the roof. K fought back tears during the national anthem. Jon Scheyer patted his mentor's shin before the opening tip.

None of it mattered. North Carolina — unranked, a month removed from a 20-point loss to Duke in Chapel Hill — walked into Cameron and played fearlessly. UNC shot 59% after halftime. Armando Bacot scored 23. R.J. Davis added 21. Brady Manek hit 20. Caleb Love overcame an 0-for-8 start to score 15 of his 22 after halftime. It was the first time in UNC program history that four players scored 20 or more in the same game. By the final minutes, UNC had stretched the lead to 13 and the Cameron Crazies sat in stunned silence.

Final: North Carolina 94, Duke 81.

K grabbed the microphone for the postgame ceremony. 'I'm sorry about this afternoon,' he began, waving off the crowd's cheers. 'Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable. And the season isn't over.'

He was right. Duke entered the ACC Tournament as the #1 seed, beat Syracuse and Miami before losing to Virginia Tech 82-67 in the championship game. Then came the NCAA Tournament.

As a #2 seed in the West Region, Duke dispatched Cal State Fullerton 78-61 (Banchero: 17/10 in his tournament debut) and then survived Michigan State 85-76 in a game that was tighter than the final score suggested. In the Sweet 16, Banchero put up 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting against the nation's #1 defense (Texas Tech) as Duke advanced 78-73. In the Elite Eight, Duke handled Arkansas 78-69 behind a balanced effort — six players scored at least nine points. K was going to his 13th Final Four, breaking his tie with John Wooden for the most in men's college basketball history. He was the first coach to reach a Final Four in five different decades.

And waiting in New Orleans was North Carolina.

The rivals had played 257 times in 102 years. They had never met in the NCAA Tournament. The brackets, the rivalry, and K's retirement had conspired to produce the most anticipated college basketball game in modern history. Duke-Carolina in the Final Four, with K's career on the line.

The game lived up to every impossible expectation. The first half was a slugfest — Duke led 37-34 at the break, with both teams playing with a desperation and intensity that transcended a normal basketball game. In the second half, the teams traded three-pointers and leads. Duke led by as many as five. UNC answered every run.

With 1:47 left, Duke trailed 75-74. Roach drove and scored to put Duke up 76-75. Then Caleb Love — the same guard who'd torched Duke in Cameron — pulled up from 30 feet and buried a three-pointer that pushed UNC ahead 78-76. The Superdome erupted. Duke couldn't answer. Love scored 28 points for the game. Bacot had 11 points and 21 rebounds. Banchero finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds in his final college game.

Final: North Carolina 81, Duke 77.

In the locker room afterward, K's players wept. 'I had a locker room full of guys crying,' K said. 'It's not about me, especially right now. As a coach, I'm just concerned about these guys.'

Banchero, fighting tears: 'He was so committed to us, never made it about him. He made me a better player and a better man.'

Mike Krzyzewski walked off the floor of the Caesars Superdome for the last time with a career record of 1,202-361 — the most victories in men's Division I basketball history. Five national championships. Thirteen Final Fours. Ninety-seven NCAA Tournament victories. Three Olympic gold medals. A legacy that will never be replicated.

The 2022 NBA Draft was historic for Duke. Five Blue Devils were selected — a program record: Banchero went #1 overall to the Orlando Magic (the fifth Duke player taken first, after Brand, Irving, Williamson, and no one else had that distinction with four), Mark Williams went #15 to the Charlotte Hornets, AJ Griffin went #16 to the Atlanta Hawks, Wendell Moore Jr. went #26 to the Dallas Mavericks (traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves), and Trevor Keels went #42 to the New York Knicks.

The season ended with heartbreak, but it was the only ending that could have matched the magnitude of the story. Duke and North Carolina, in the Final Four, for the first time ever, with the greatest coach in college basketball history walking off the court for the last time. K had said all year that he didn't want the farewell to be about him. In the end, it was about exactly what it should have been about — the rivalry, the players, and the game itself.

North Carolina went on to lose to Kansas in the national championship game, 72-69. Duke fans were left with a question that will echo through decades: What if Love's three had been an inch to the left? What if Roach's drive had put Duke up three instead of one? What if the greatest coach had gotten the Hollywood ending?

But March doesn't deal in Hollywood endings. It deals in reality. And the reality is that K's final season gave us the greatest Duke-Carolina game ever played — not at Cameron, not at the Dean Dome, but on the biggest stage in the sport, with everything at stake. That it ended in heartbreak doesn't diminish it. It elevates it to mythology.

Coach K's final record: 1,202-361. Five titles. Thirteen Final Fours. Forty-two years at Duke. The Brotherhood he built will outlast him. It already has.

Two hundred and fifty-seven previous meetings across 102 years, and never once in the NCAA Tournament. Until now. The Final Four. K's farewell. The Superdome in New Orleans. The game of all games. Duke led 37-34 at halftime behind Banchero's 12 first-half points and Williams' paint dominance. The second half was a war — traded threes, traded leads, a combined 81 second-half points between the two teams. With 1:47 left, Roach drove past his defender and scored to put Duke ahead 76-75. The Superdome tilted toward Durham. Then Caleb Love — the same junior guard who'd torched Duke in Cameron a month earlier — took a dribble past half-court, rose from 30 feet, and buried the three-pointer that ended an era. UNC 78, Duke 76. The building erupted. Duke never led again. Love hit 28 points. Bacot had 11 points and 21 rebounds. Banchero finished with 20 and 10 in his final college game. After the buzzer, K walked off the floor of the Superdome. In the locker room, his players wept. 'I had a locker room full of guys crying,' K said. 'It's not about me, especially right now. As a coach, I'm just concerned about these guys.' Banchero, fighting tears: 'He was so committed to us, never made it about him. He made me a better player and a better man.' K's final record: 1,202-361. Five national championships. Thirteen Final Fours. The most victories in men's Division I history. Forty-two years at Duke. The greatest college basketball coaching career ever.