To my Duke brothers and sisters: this wonderful victory was as much about character, teamwork, and selflessness as it was about basketball talent and athleticism.
@AltoLime: Unfortunately, I am not (although there were some brief, but nice, videos of the Main Quad Bonfire and of Cameron as we won down the stretch). But, having been a loyal and participative Dukie for many years, I strangely have the feeling that a little bit of campus is with me. When the National Champions return to West at 1700 today, for all the fortunate who are there to celebrate Duke in person, there will be 25x (or more) who will be privately – but with each passion – celebrating around the world. Thanks for your post!
I’d like to share a thought. The Duke Men’s Basketball program won its first National Championship in 1991, not quite twenty-five years ago. That’s one National Title every (approximately) five years. Given the difficulties and the turbulence of the contemporary Division I men’s basketball environment (ones-and-dones, among other factors), especially when compared to an earlier era, one-year-in-five performance seems remarkable to me. To illustrate, some years ago Arkansas defeated Duke in the National Championship game, but have they been more-or-less constantly highly competitive during the last decades (this is NOT a shot at Arkansas, rather kudos for Duke)?