NEW YORK -- Duke's season was never going to be defined by an ACC title.
The Blue Devils weren't good enough to win the ACC regular-season championship and they weren't consistent enough to win three games in three days against elite competition at the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn either.
As it's been since November, as it will continue to be for March -- and April, if this team's lucky -- this ultra-talented Duke squad is going to remembered or memorialized dependent upon whether or not it can make a Final Four run.
And if it can become the first team in history to win the national championship with four freshman in its starting lineup.
In the aftermath of its second loss to North Carolina this season, that proposition remains uncertain even with a roster bulked up on NBA Draft picks and the arguably greatest coach in college basketball history.
"You can't underestimate anybody," Duke freshman Wendell Carter said. "It's real. You have to come out and play for a whole 40 minutes in order to win. That's what we're going to be preaching 'til the next game. Every day, every meeting. ... As soon as we can gel together for 40 minutes and not one half, I think we can be unstoppable."
No. 5 Duke (26-7) has been stopped seven times so far this season, including a few losses to teams that won't even make the NIT. The Blue Devils fell 74-69 to UNC on Friday night in the ACC semifinals after starting sluggish. After another second-half double-digit deficit and another comeback attempt it got close: Duke pulled off a 13-0 run to get the game within three in the final minute.
This wasn't a classic or anything, but it's probably a game both Hall of Fame coaches won't ever forget. (In small part, I suppose, because Grayson Allen'sbutt was trending before halftime.)
"It was some of the weirdest stuff I've ever seen," UNC's Roy Williams said.
At Mike Krzyzewski's press conference, unprompted, he had the same thought.
"It was kind of a weird game tonight," he said.
No. 12 UNC (25-9) mostly had is way with Duke's zone, which is a siren. The Tar Heels had 24 assists on their 28 field goals. They'll play No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Virginia on Saturday night for an ACC Tournament title. Virginia's already got the No. 1 overall seed locked up. It's only playing for hardware and a two-loss season, which would be the best in school history.
UNC's probably put itself in a great spot to land a No. 2 seed. Some believe a No. 1 should be on the table with a win over UVA. We'll save that chat for Saturday night -- if it wins -- though.
For now, let's focus on Duke, which will not win back-to-back ACC titles but still is the team some consider the best in the conference. It will almost certainly rank in the top four for odds-on favorites to win the NCAA Tournament. Yet given the way this program has fluctuated with one-and-done recruits over the past half-decade, ACC Tournament performance has annually sparked Duke-is-back discussion and left analysts clawing deeper for analysis and evaluation on how Duke's end-of-season presentation fares as a barometer for the NCAA Tournament.
Yet I'm left feeling like Duke as a No. 1 vs. Duke as a No. 2 is immaterial to any inspection. And that's not an opinion I normally carry. I happen to think seed lines matter, because seed lines correlate, historically, with path of difficulty in advancing in the bracket.
But that probably won't apply to Duke. It's a fabulously flawed team, and if it's going to get to San Antonio it won't matter a damn where it's placed in the bracket and with what number attached to its name.
"We don't care about that at all," freshman Gary Trent Jr. told CBS Sports. "We don't care about the seeding. We feel like the players in this locker room, the coaching staff we have, we'll be successful no matter what seed we are. Go out there, play hard, don't take plays off, or it's going to be one and done."
There's no doubt about that. Trent tapped into the danger that awaits. Krzyzewski's teams have lost in the first weekend -- each time as a No. 2 seed -- three of the past six years. Guess where Duke's gonna land come Selection Sunday? Yep. It's likely gonna be a 2.
"We're not worried about it," Bagley said when I asked him about the lost opportunity of getting a No. 1 seed. "Obviously it would've been good to have that No. 1 seed, but at the end of the day, we're going to have to play anyway. Seeds don't really matter when we get on the court."
What will we see next Thursday or Friday? What kind of team?
"We're not worried about it. Obviously it would've been good to have that No. 1 seed, but at the end of the day, we're going to have to play anyway. Seeds don't really matter when we get on the court." Duke forward Marvin Bagley
"A tougher team, a more mentally tougher team," Bagley promised. "Lock in. Playing with a chip on our shoulders for sure."
Duke didn't have that chip on Friday night. Its bugaboo since November has been a propensity to fall behind and then play catchup. That's a wicked game for Duke to play, and probably the habit that's going to end its season. The question is, can Krzyzewski truly get this team of freshmen to play for a full 40 and build itself into College Basketball Voltron?
"We have what it takes to be the best team," Bagley said. "We just gotta use it and learn how to do it for the whole game. Throughout the year we've shown it in spurts."
The NCAA Tournament is where spurts go to die. The Blue Devils are a captivating bunch with a ceiling higher than probably anyone else in the field. Because of that, the seed just won't matter. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said on Thursday, after his team was bodied to the floor by Duke, that the Blue Devils are the most overpowering rebounding team above the rim he's ever seen.
That's proven by the numbers. Duke's offensive rebound percentage is 39.1, the highest in college basketball this season -- but oddly the lowest rate for any No. 1-ranked team in offensive bounding in KenPom.com's database, which goes back to 2001-02.
Fortunately for Duke, it will have its full roster available for the start of the Big Dance. Krzyzewski said at his presser than Trevon Duval's foot/ankle injury came back negative on X-ray.
"I think we're much better prepared for the NCAA Tournament than we were a month ago, and these two games will help us, even though we lost tonight and could have played better," Krzyzewski said.
There's a lot of could-have and should-have with this team. As it readies for the NCAA Tournament with a roster full of players who've never experienced anything like what that event brings, it's worth keeping in the front of your mind that this team is capable of just about anything.
This doesn't look like the best team in college basketball. Is it?
"Yes, for sure," Carter said. "With how talented we are around all positions. When we're able to do that for 40 minutes, 40 whole minutes, we're talking, we're flying on defense and using our athleticism. Honestly, I don't think there's anybody in the country that can beat us. As hard as we can, we know we can, we can definitely be unstoppable."
Duke has only had a few 40-minute examples of execution and efforts, though. Carter said as much. This won't be just flipping a switch: it will be a rewiring. For a group this young, it's fair to question if that kind of tech fix is possible. But if any team is going to win a national title based on pure, raw talent, I don't think I've seen a more dangerous group than this one.
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