Duke basketball: 2019-20 season review and 2020-2021 first-look preview

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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 22: Cassius Stanley #2 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the first half of their game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 22, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Year in Review

There isn’t a ton of concrete answers to gather from this Duke season, which is to be expected when it finishes without any real resolution. The problem, however, is that the year as a whole was such a mixed bag.

There were clearly huge highs, like the wins over Kansas and North Carolina, but there were also massive lows like losses to unranked teams such as Stephen F. Austin (at home no less), Wake Forest, NC State, and Clemson. That kind of inconsistency is almost unheard of from Duke, which is usually a model of excellence in comparison to the rest of the ACC.

There is no doubt that the lack of a Zion Williamson-type player curtailed Duke’s upside, but the freshman class had more than enough talent to keep the Blue Devils near the top of the ACC. Mike Krzyzewski did get a lot out of guys like Vernon Carey and Cassius Stanley while also helping Tre Jones get even better as a sophomore.

In the end, though, it certainly felt like this Duke team was on track for an underwhelming performance in the NCAA Tournament. Poor execution on the defensive end and suspect depth limited the upside that Duke had to make a deep run in March.

Coach K is one of the best coaches of all time and did the best he could with this group, but it was clearly a flawed unit. There is plenty of room for growth with Duke next season.