"I told our kids afterwards, the last game, you always have to look at the full body of work," Krzyzewski said. "And this team was a lot of fun and great to work with, a young group. A little bit undersized -- sorry, I know we look bigger than we actually are -- but we had a great year. I'm proud of our guys."

Even granting the coach that, however, there is little argument that the Blue Devils are no longer the juggernaut that plowed through the 1990s, winning three national titles from 1991 through 2001 and getting into the NCAA's Final Four on three other occasions, including an appearance in 1990.

Since their last national title, however, the Blue Devils have made it back to the Final Four once, in 2004, and that was the only time they have made it past the regional semifinals. Last year's team lost in the first round.

This season's club looked very much like it would reverse that trend. When they won at North Carolina, the Blue Devils led the ACC and were a basket away from being 23-0, the lone loss a one-point setback to Pittsburgh.

Then the troubles started with a double-digit defeat at Wake Forest. They ended up going 6-5 over the last month of the season and finished second in the league to the Tar Heels.

A team that relied very much on keeping the tempo up and peppering opponents from the perimeter, Duke learned -- as most teams do -- that that is a very risky way to go.

When they were hitting the three, which they did most of the time (37.7 percent for the season), the Blue Devils were very potent offensively. But when they were off, as they were in their final three games and in earlier losses to Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, they proved very vulnerable.

And so a "great year" -- Krzyzewski's words -- came up short, very short, of expectations.