There are some great what-ifs in Duke Basketball history. What if Bob Verga hadn’t gotten sick just before the 1966 Final Four? What if Duke had played Texas Western instead of Kentucky? Could Mike Lewis
have dealt with Big Daddy Lattin?
We’ll never know.
What if Bob Bender hadn’t had appendicitis during the 1980 NCAA tournament? Again, we’ll never know.
Here’s one of the best: would Duke have gone undefeated and won back-to-back championships if Kyrie Irving hadn’t gotten hurt in his one-and-done year?
Duke was loaded. Irving was in the backcourt with Nolan Smith and Seth Curry along with Irving. Up front they had Mason and Miles Plumlee, Kyle Singler and an emerging Ryan Kelly.
But Irving was amazing. He was limited to seven games after his foot injury but we got a hint of things to come with his performance against Michigan State.
Irving shredded Michigan State. At one point, the Spartans triple-teamed him and he just destroyed that attempt. You began to get the idea at that point that this guy was…different.
Take a step into the way-back machine and enjoy Irving’s brief Duke brilliance. Truly an amazing player.
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