Top Duke Basketball Moments of the Decade: No's 1 and 2

A pair of NCAA titles top the list from the 2010s

The top two Duke basketball moments of the 2010s should come as no surprise. Coach Mike Krzyzewski led a pair of Blue Devil teams to NCAA titles in the decade, one stocked with veteran players, the other centered around one-and-dones.

2. The 2010 title:

The Blue Devils opened the 2009-10 season in the shadow of North Carolina, who had won the previous season’s NCAA title and had won a pair of championships under Roy Williams since Duke’s last Final Four.

Duke was ranked as low as 10 in the AP poll during the early part of the season and gradually worked its way into the top five. When the Blue Devils shared the ACC regular season title and won the ACC Tournament, they earned a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Led by senior Jon Scheyer and juniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, Duke beat Arkansas Pine Bluff, Cal, Purdue and Baylor on its way to the Final Four.

Duke blew out West Virginia in Indianapolis, then fought Cinderella team Butler in a wild national championship game. When Gordon Heyward’s potential game-winning half-court three-pointer bounced off the rim, Duke had taken home Coach K’s fourth national title.

1. The 2015 title:

Following the 2010 title, Duke moved away from the traditional four-year approach to team building and embraced one-and-dones, who stopped off in college for a year on its way to the NBA. Teams built around Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers and Jabari Parker fell short of the Final Four, with Duke losing in embarrassing first-round upsets two out of three years.

In 2015, Coach K brought in a freshman class of big man Jahlil Okafor, forward Justise Winslow and point guard Tyus Jones, along with reserve Grayson Allen. The group joined a veteran core that included guard Quinn Cook and forward Amile Jefferson.

The team blended well, although two players fell by the wayside. In December, seldom used swing man Semi Ojeleye chose to transfer to SMU. In late January, veteran guard Rasheed Sulaimon was dismissed from the team.

The remaining players finished the regular season 28-3 and lost their second game in the ACC Tournament. Duke earned a one seed in the NCAAs and beat Robert Morris, San Diego State, Utah and Gonzaga to advance to the Final Four, again held in Indianapolis.

Duke blew out Michigan State while unbeaten Kentucky got upset by Wisconsin in the semifinals. Duke then had a second-half comeback, spurred by Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen, to pull out the win and earn a title for Coach K in the one-and-done era.