Duke basketball had the typical up-and-down sports season, featuring numerous blows below the belt and improbable recoveries that lead to an eventual national championship. But the truth is, this season was simply destiny. It all started when best friends and high school phenoms, Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones, mutually committed to Duke in November of 2013 because they were a package deal like James Franco and Seth Rogen. Where one went, so did the other. Add in the eventual commitment of 5-star wing prospect Justise Winslow plus the most-awkward-athlete you’ll ever meet in Grayson Allen, and the Duke recruiting group was something to admire. The class was Duke’s best in 35 years, and was the consensus number one across all major recruiting companies. Throw in the veteran leadership from senior guard Quinn Cook (who seemingly matured from a pouting crybaby into a wise sage over the summer) and junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon (who apparently hadn’t broken his pouting habits) and Duke’s roster was bred for title contention.

Still, there were doubts about the Blue Devils’ prospects for success at the highest level. Duke had been bounced from the tournament at remarkably early stages by 14 and 15 seeds in consecutive years. Plus, freshmen can’t win national championships. Look at Michigan’s Fab Five, or Kentucky’s blunder of a freshmen roster from 2012-2013...well that’s what they all said anyways. Mike Krzyzewski has been winning national championships one of every five years for two decades now, and he was long overdue coming into the season. 

To start off the season, Duke pounded their warm up opponents like Presbyterian. Jahlil Okafor jumped out to an early lead in Naismith voting, college basketball’s best player, by dominating physically and ability-inferior big men who simply quaked in their shoes at Okafor’s 6’11”, 270 pound Hulk frame. The Duke players did what they were supposed to do: Okafor cradled and scored in the paint like he was playing with a Nerf ball, the guards and wings hit forty percent of their threes, the whole roster created transition buckets so easy that Clyde “The Glide” Drexler would be jealous, and everyone (save Winslow and Matt Jones) played unexceptional and uninspired defense, if not to call it downright mediocre. Typical Duke basketball. The same basketball that had done them in the previous two years early on in the playoffs.

But this year was different. Wisconsin away was the first real test for Duke and they aced it. They appeared outmatched by the size and athleticism of Wisconsin, and Okafor wasn’t able win the game for them one-on-five, similar to how Patrick Jane always seems to carry the weight for the other CBI agents in “The Mentalist.” But Duke came out on top 80-70 after shooting an astounding 65%...seriously, 65%. The seemingly undersized, unathletic Tyus Jones showed why he was exactly the opposite of that, twisting and contorting his body drive after drive to make ridiculous shots only the boys from Dude Perfect seem to be able to hit. Three bounces off the rim, a shot off the glass and then the rim and then the glass again. These shots had no business going in, and really took a level of luck and Father Fate to find twine. It was a game that represented the Gold Standard of college basketball: make your threes, shoot over 50% from the field, hold your opponent under 50% from the field, and don’t get killed on the boards. Duke accomplished all of that. Duke entered conference play as the number two team in the country, and it was easy to see the NCAA Championship on the horizon.

But as we see all the time in college hoops and sports in general, things can change in an instant. That change was named Justise Winslow. The southpaw wing was the sparkplug behind Duke’s thriving offense. He was the most versatile of any of the Dukies, able to both drive and hit a stepback three. Winslow is what the Tazmanian Devil would be if he ever laced up the high top sneakers. Winslow’s mean, competitive nature provided a dynamic to Duke that had been missing since the Kyle Singler days. That dynamic was lost when Winslow suffered an injury that led him to score only 22 total points on 30 shots in a five game span. Things seemed to be taking a downwards turn for Coach K and the Blue Devils.

A loss on the road at NC State began the Blue Devils’ slide. Despite Okafor’s stellar 23 points and 12 boards, the Blue Devils lost to an inferior Wolfpack team. The backcourt for Duke was unable to get anything going, and simply got outplayed by Trevor Lacey and Cat Barber. The next game out, Miami marched into Cameron Indoor Stadium and pounded Duke. A sixteen point pounding. A historic, record setting pounding. Duke wreaked of defeat more than the Bad News Bears did before adding the likes of Kelly Leak and Amanda Whurlitzer to the squad. The weaknesses (lack of defense, reliance on the three) finally became exploited, and Duke looked like they were about to let their season slip away.

Duke shaped up slightly, doing their best to cover up the glaring holes. A quick win at offensively challenged, number six Louisville indicated that Duke was still capable of beating teams with the offensive prowess of a slightly above average JV hoops team. Steve Urkel could have competed for Louisville’s starting spot at point guard, but that’s not saying much. Another win at Madison Square Garden versus a fiery St. John’s team got Coach K his one-thousandth win. Duke struggled for much of the game and had to thwart numerous comebacks. Though the game wasn’t quite a memorable Coach K masterpiece, it did prove that Duke had some scrappiness left and a will to win. That feeling seemed to stick with Duke for the rest of the season.

Duke proceeded to lose a hard fought battle in South Bend to Notre Dame, 77-73. Duke blew a ten point lead to Jerian Grant and his sidekick Jerian Grant, with a little dash of Jerian Grant. Although Winslow reemerged as a healthy, viable option in the offense, Duke’s collapse displayed Jahlil Okafor’s issues on the free throw line and the backcourt’s inability to guard off the dribble against explosive, athletic combo guards like Demetrius Jackson and Grant.

The game was the least of Duke’s worries. In a season filled with historic moments for Duke, Rasheed Sulaimon’s release from the program made the most headlines. Sulaimon’s dismissal was the first for a Duke player in Coach K’s tenure. Though rumors swirled about Sulaimon’s reason for dismissal, uncertainty about the future of Duke hung in the balance. Duke was now down to only eight eligible scholarship players, four of which were freshmen. Eight. And although Sulaimon regressed from freshman year to his junior year and didn’t contribute quite as much as he was capable of, he still held a great value to the team. Duke once again seemed destined to self-implode. Nothing was on their side, and in the words of Drake, no one was shooting with them in the gym.

But that’s the thing about destiny: it can be very deceitful. As Duke’s season slipped away, defensive stalwart Virginia looked like the next team in line to rough Duke up and take their lunch money. Duke cycled through through their lineup in the first half, but only managed 26 points. The guards started the game 0-9 from beyond the arc and Okafor was incapable of getting post position deep inside the paint. Duke seemed destined to fall to their fourth loss in seven games as the size and athleticism of Virginia allowed them to contest every shot and clog all passing lanes. To make matters worse for the Dukies, Virginia came out gunning in the second half, and spread their lead to nine with under five minutes to play.

That’s when Duke showed that they may have had a little man guiding shots from above. In a finish full of magic and grace, Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones displayed the ice in their veins. Duke finished with a flurry, shooting 5-6 from three in the final 4:41. Cook made three consecutive threes, and a Jones dagger with ten seconds to go from eight feet beyond the arc put Virginia back on the shelf. Something switched on out of nowhere in the final five minutes.

Seven nights later, Duke squished Notre Dame like Will Smith did those cockroaches in “Men In Black” in front of a packed Cameron Indoor. Duke mercilessly slit Notre Dame’s throat 50-24 after just the first half, shooting a remarkable and unrepeatable 81%. Winslow and Okafor finished the games with a combined 39 points and 21 rebounds. Even better for the Blue Devils, their defense showed up just as much as their offense. Jerian Grant, who had torched the Blue Devils two weeks earlier for 23 points, was held to just 3 of 10 shooting and a mere 7 points. After losing to the same team a few weeks prior, it was clear that something had changed with the Blue Devils.

Duke finished out the ACC regular season with two thrillers against Tobacco Road rival North Carolina. In both games, Duke looked ready to relinquish leads to the Tar Heels deep into the second half, but the backcourt of Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones scored in bunches in crunch time. In both games, the tandem delivered combined 44-point performances. Jones drove the lane over and over, unable to be stopped. With 1:23 remaining in the first game, Jones crashed the lane, went airborne, and met Kennedy Meeks in midair. Jones muscled the shot off the glass over Meeks and his eight inch size advantage for a clutch two points. Forty seconds later, Jones darted into the lane and was once again met in midair, this time by Joel Berry. Jones finished the and-one basket to bring Duke within two. Neither shot should have gone in, both shots did. And even with the disappearance of Jahlil Okafor from the stat sheet, Duke prevailed. Duke found ways to win. The odds were certainly not in their favor, but fate was.

After an all-around domination of NC State in the first round of the ACC tournament, Duke was once again matched up with Notre Dame. After splitting the season series, Duke turned in a remarkably uninspired performance, especially given the magnitude of the game. Okafor turned in a 28 point night on 13-18 shooting, and yet Duke still was smothered. 3-17 from behind the arc and four total bench points led the way for failure offensively. Nothing clicked, and whatever had been magically willing balls into the basket took a day off. The defense was out of phase as Bonzie Colson, a 6’6” overachieving power forward, torched Duke from the inside out. The lack of depth punched the starters in the gut as fatigue wore on. All things pointed to another early exit for the Blue Devils come March.

The Blue Devils were given a number one seed and a pretty draw by the selection committee. After lighting up 16 seed Robert Morris, Duke faced its first test of March, the defensive-minded San Diego State Aztecs. Duke showed that an early exit was not part of this year’s plan. Duke fired on all cylinders, as Okafor spun and jumphooked his way to a 26 point night. Winslow added a 13 point, 12 rebound night as Duke pounded San Diego State by 19. The defense, for the first time all season, was stifling.

Okafor looked so dominant versus San Diego that it made me question how he could ever be stopped. He had the rehearsed array of post moves to outduel anyone. He could spin and twirl, shoot and drive, reverse and finger-roll. He could kiss off the glass and float over the rim. If he was unstoppable, so was Duke.

As had become common for Duke that season, things changed in an instant. Just as Okafor looked like he had regained his early season form after a lackluster second half to his freshman season, Jakob Poeltl held him six points. The only constant between the Utah and San Diego State games was the lively, committed defense of Duke. No one could drive, all loose balls belonged to the Blue Devils, and everyone picked each other up. Justise Winslow became the new hero for Duke versus Utah. Creating a 21 point, 10 rebound performance, Justise Winslow showed why his strong play was the x-factor for the Blue Devils all season. Winslow set the tone. Two minutes into the game, Winslow drove the paint and threw up a tough shot of the glass. The shot fell off the rim and into the hands of a Utah Ute who outletted the ball to Delon Wright. Wright appeared to have a clear layup attempt when out of nowhere, Winslow charged down the court and crushed the ball out of Wright’s hands for one of the most vicious blocks I’ve ever seen. Winslow played like a man possessed the entire game, and was as unstoppable as Okafor had been versus San Diego State.

Against Gonzaga, a new, unsuspecting star shined bright. Matt Jones tallied 16 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-7 shooting from three. But it wasn’t just the points that mattered, it was the timeliness of them. Jones’ buckets all capped off a run or immediately followed a bucket by Gonzaga, having a big affect on the momentum of the game. Each Jones shot seemed to be controlled by an outside force, so perfectly nestled inside the basket that there was no way he could have missed. Plus, Jones played suffocating defense on the perimeter to lock down Gary Bell Jr. But it wasn’t just Jones’ defense that was airtight. Duke caused 13 turnovers and logged eight steals. Once again their perimeter defense was elite, only allowing Gonzaga to shoot 20% from three. The Blue Devils were so intense on defense that it seemed Tom Thibodeau had been flown into Durham the night before March Madness.

Things didn’t stop there for Duke. Duke made Michigan State look like Florida Atlantic. Duke dominated from start to finish, including a 29-9 first half run. The win was truly a team effort as Winslow, Okafor, and Cook went off for 19, 18, and 17 apiece. Everything went in. And I mean everything. Shots just continued to fall at an unnatural clip. Duke also maintained the defensive intensity. Michigan State turned the ball over 14 times as Duke gathered nine steals. Duke looked primed and ready to play in the championship game, as the team was playing the best basketball of the season at the right time.

Duke was matched up again against Wisconsin, who was fresh off their win over previously undefeated Kentucky. The stage was set for an intense rematch. Duke entered the game having played fantastic team basketball, led by Winslow, but Wisconsin was also flying high. Despite the win earlier in the season for Duke, Wisconsin was also the slight favorite. Plus, the Duke haters came out of the woodwork. It was trendy to like Wisconsin and their awkward big man Frank Kaminsky. Duke was like Justin Bieber, the few that loved them loved them, and then most of the rest of the world just hated them. Wisconsin, on the other hand, was like Coldplay: a group of white guys that are pretty good all together, but nothing special. People think they are pretty cool, and when compared to Justin Bieber instantly get a boatload of respect for being “true musicians,” because, well, look who they are being compared to.

Duke received an opponent they had already beaten earlier in the season. They were playing in Indianapolis, a location where they had won two of their four prior national championships. Everyone was healthy for Duke and they were playing their best team basketball of the season. Plus, they were underdogs, relieving some of the pressure. Duke seemed poised to take a run at towards the ship.

Things also started nicely for Duke, as they jumped out to a quick 21-16 lead. However, Wisconsin tied it up at 31 right before half and held the momentum leading into the second. They didn’t stop there either. Wisconsin quickly darted out to a 48-39 lead in the second half and Duke seemed to have their backs up against the wall. And then it became the Grayson Allen show.

Grayson Allen is a mythical being, like a unicorn. Graced with one of the purest strokes ever, he looks like a pure stretch shooter who can’t quite do anything else well. He’s like that kid that is the seventh man off the bench but always flies out of his seat and starts snapping a towel against the floor while or doing the Cabbage Patch whenever his teammate makes a big three or crushes a monstrous dunk. He just has that aura about him. And then, when you see him play athletic, agile defense, strip the ball, and sprint full court to finish by springing 40 inches off the floor for a windmill dunk, you erase everything you thought you knew about him. It’s okay, you surely weren’t alone in your preconceived notions.

Grayson Allen was the beneficiary of Rasheed Sulaimon’s dismissal from the roster. He was the fourth man off the bench and struggled to find playing time in a crowded backcourt prior to Sulaimon’s absence. During the regular season, Allen averaged 4.1 points per game. In the five March Madness games, Allen scored a combined 18 points in 50 minutes. That’s why, when Allen scored eight consecutive points for the Blue Devils in a minute and ten seconds, no one saw it coming...yet it all made too much sense. All year, the Blue Devils had received help from players who had randomly gotten hot and carried the team through rough patches. Allen played like a man guided by fate.

Allen brought the Dukies back within striking distance, 51-47. An and-one for Tyus Jones made it 51-50 with ten minutes remaining. Both teams traded buckets until a nine-oh run from Duke’s freshmen squarely put Duke ahead 66-58. There was no turning back for the Blue Devils, and they were able to ice the game on a pair of free throws from Tyus Jones, giving them a 68-63 in Indianapolis. The freshmen for the Blue Devils accounted for 60 of the team’s 68 points in the championship. They conquered the league and completed their goal.

Every time Duke seemed out of a game, ready to let a lead collapse or shrink away due to a ten point deficit, someone stepped up and nearly single-handedly won the game for Duke. Shots seemed to go in that shouldn’t have. Balls found their ways into Duke players’ hands. Opportunities presented themselves to give Duke that second chance, to win the game. It was like magic...it was destiny.