The 2014–15 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team played its home games in Durham, North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium, celebrating the arena's 75th anniversary. Mike Krzyzewski led the team as head coach in his 35th season with the Blue Devils. During the season, Krzyzewski became the first head coach in Division I men's basketball history to win 1,000 games. On the court, the team featured All-ACC players Jahlil Okafor, Quinn Cook, and Tyus Jones, with Okafor being named ACC Player of the Year and National Freshman of the Year.
Duke began the season by winning its first 14 games, the seventh such start in school history. During this stretch, Duke won the 2014 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, defeating Stanford in the championship game. In ACC play, the Blue Devils finished in 2nd place with a 15–3 conference record. They were ranked in the top 5 of the AP poll for the entire season.
The team reached the semifinals of the 2015 ACC tournament before losing to eventual champion Notre Dame. In the NCAA tournament, Duke earned the number 1 seed in the south region, playing its first two games in Charlotte, North Carolina before advancing to the regionals at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. By beating Gonzaga 66–52 in the regional final, Duke advanced to the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The win marked the 16th Final Four appearance in school history. In the National Championship game, the Blue Devils beat the Wisconsin Badgers 68–63, winning a fifth national championship for both Duke and Krzyzewski. Tyus Jones was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Off season
Departures
After the 2013–14 season, Duke lost 4 seniors and 2 underclassmen from the squad. The six players leaving the team accounted for over half of the team's scoring and nearly half of the rebounding during the previous year. Among the senior departures were Tyler Thornton, who started 25 games in his senior season, and Andre Dawkins, who was the last remaining member from the 2010 NCAA Championship team. The two underclassmen, Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood, declared for the 2014 NBA draft on consecutive days and were both selected in the 1st round. Parker led the team in points, rebounds, and blocks, with Hood being the second leading scorer on the team.
In addition to the player departures, Duke also lost a member of the coaching staff. Associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski left the program to become the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles. To replace him, assistant coach Jeff Capel was promoted to associate head coach, and special assistant Jon Scheyer was promoted to assistant coach.
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Andre Dawkins 34 SG 6'5" 215 Senior (Redshirt) Chesapeake, Virginia Graduated Todd Zafirovski 52 C 6'9" 245 Senior (Redshirt) Lake Forest, Illinois Graduated Josh Hairston 15 PF 6'8" 235 Senior Fredericksburg, Virginia Graduated Tyler Thornton 3 PG 6'2" 190 Senior Washington, D.C. Graduated Rodney Hood 5 SF 6'8" 215 Sophomore (Redshirt) Meridian, Mississippi Declared for 2014 NBA draft Jabari Parker 1 F 6'8" 235 Freshman Chicago, Illinois Declared for the 2014 NBA draft Semi Ojeleye# 34 SF 6'8" 230 Sophomore Ottawa, Kansas Transferred to SMU Rasheed Sulaimon# 14 SG 6'5" 195 Junior Houston, Texas Dismissed from team # – Denotes departure that occurred during 2014–15 season
Class of 2014 signees
Duke brought in a recruiting class of four players to join the 2014–15 roster. Guard Grayson Allen was the first to commit, doing so soon after his junior season at Providence School. Throughout the summer of 2013, much of Duke's recruiting efforts were focused on point guard Tyus Jones and Center Jahlil Okafor. Both were consensus top 10 recruits in the class of 2014, with Okafor being named the number one prospect by many major recruiting services. The pair had long been rumored to be planning on committing to the same college in spite of living hundreds of miles apart and the rarity of package deals coming to fruition. That November, the rumors were confirmed when the pair announced their decision during concurrent press conferences. Only a week later, 5-star small forward Justise Winslow announced that he would join the Blue Devils as well. Winslow's commitment gave Duke the number 1 recruiting class of 2014 according to the major recruiting services, the first school other than Kentucky to be ranked #1 in six years. In the spring, all four players were named to the McDonald's All-America team with Allen winning the dunk contest, Jones capturing the skills competition and Okafor earning co-MVP honors for the game. Over the summer of 2014, Duke also added Sean Obi, a transfer from Rice, though he would redshirt during the 2014–15 season due to NCAA rules.
Preseason
Expectations Duke entered the 2014–15 season with high expectations. The combination of freshman talent and veteran leadership led many to put the Blue Devils on the early short list of Final Four contenders. Duke was named the favorite to win the ACC by the media at Operation Basketball, the league's annual media event. Nationally, Duke was ranked #4 and #3 in the preseason polls by the Associated Press and coaches respectively, earning 2 first-place votes in the coaches poll.
Expectations were just as high inside the program. After a disappointing early exit in the 2014 NCAA tournament, incoming freshman Tyus Jones sent a text message to Coach Krzyzewski saying "this won’t happen next year" in reference to the defeat. Senior guard Quinn Cook was preparing to cede his starting point guard role to Jones and transition to shooting guard, a position he had not played regularly in the past. Cook was quick to dismiss any speculation that Jones was coming in to replace him in the lineup, stating that his willingness to change positions was driven by his desire to win. Hanging a banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium, something that requires winning an ACC championship or reaching the Final Four, was a major goal for the team. Cook told the media that "I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything," referencing the fact that his previous teams had not raised any banners. Cook proved his work ethic over the summer, remaining in Durham the entire summer to work out. That hard work helped him earn the title of captain prior to the season along with junior Amile Jefferson. Jefferson had his own high expectations for the team, stating that "our guys have been preparing this summer to do something special."
Awards and watchlists Aside from the team expectations, many individuals on the roster were highly praised during the preseason, none more so than freshman center Jahlil Okafor. In preseason interviews, teammates and coaches described Okafor's game as "dominant". The national media agreed with that assessment, with CBSSports.com and NBCSports.com naming him preseason player of the year. Additionally, he was named to the preseason All-American team by most major media outlets, including the AP, USBWA and Sporting News. Within the ACC, he was named preseason freshman of the year and was voted on to the preseason All-ACC team at Operation Basketball. Okafor was not the only player to receive high praise heading into the season. Fellow freshman Tyus Jones was named to preseason All-American second team by USA Today and third team by CBSSports.com.
Additionally, Okafor and Jones, along with senior Quinn Cook and Freshman Justise Winslow were named to several watch lists for prestigious postseason awards. Duke's three star freshmen were named to the watch list for the Naismith Award, with Okafor and Jones tabbed to the Wooden Award watch list, while Okafor and Winslow were named to the Robertson Trophy watch list. All three freshman made the Tisdale Award watch list, given to the national freshman of the year. Cook and Jones were tabbed for the Cousy Award watch list for best point guard in the nation.
Roster
Semi Ojeleye transfer
On December 14, Duke announced that sophomore forward Semi Ojeleye would leave the program, granting him his full release. Coach Krzyzewski called him "an excellent student and a great representative of our school and basketball program." After a successful high school career, in which he was named the 2013 Parade National Player of the Year, he struggled to find playing time as a freshman, logging only 80 minutes. While he did see the court more as a sophomore, playing 63 minutes through Duke's first 8 games of the year, the vast majority of that playing time came during blowouts at home. He only logged 6 combined minutes in Duke's four games away from Cameron, sitting out games against Stanford and Wisconsin entirely.
After announcing his transfer, he immediately drew interest from several high major programs. He did not spend much time in choosing a program, however, deciding to join SMU and head coach Larry Brown less than two weeks after the initial announcement. His quick decision allowed him to enroll at SMU for the spring semester to begin his NCAA-mandated year in residence before becoming eligible for the spring semester in 2016.
Rasheed Sulaimon dismissal
On January 29, Duke announced that Rasheed Sulaimon had been dismissed from the program. The announcement came as a surprise as there were few warning signs that his status with the team was in question. During his sophomore season, the coaching staff took issue with the way Sulaimon had handled adversity, going as far as benching him for an entire game against Michigan in late 2013. In his junior year, however, there were no outward signs that this was still the case, and he had not been the subject of any publicly disclosed discipline since that game. The only official explanation of the dismissal was a quote from Coach Krzyzewski in the press release stating that Sulaimon had failed to "consistently live up to the standards required to be a member of our program". Sulaimon was the first person to be dismissed from the team by Krzyzewski as head coach of Duke. It was also announced that while Sulaimon had been dismissed from the team, he remained a student at the university and was in good academic standing.
A month later, on March 2, the dismissal came under new scrutiny as Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle, published accusations that two women had separately claimed that Sulaimon had sexually assaulted them. While the two alleged victims did not come forward directly, multiple participants in the retreats told The Chronicle that accusations were made at the retreats. Further accusations were made in the article claiming that the coaching staff, athletics department, and university administration knew of the allegations for a year prior to Sulaimon's dismissal, and had failed to act. The next day, athletic director Kevin White stated that all accusations of misconduct within the department are referred to the Office of Student Conduct, and that the entire coaching staff has fulfilled their responsibilities. White, and all other Duke faculty and staff declined to address Sulaimon specifically, however, citing FERPA. On March 5, it was revealed by Sulaimon's lawyer that he was not under investigation at the time, but an investigation by the Office of Student Conduct had taken place and been completed in 2014.