Hats off...

This Tuesday night, March 5, 2013, four seniors, four National Champion seniors, will take the floor for the last time in Cameron Indoor Stadium: Todd Zafirovski, Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. 

Todd.  TdotZaf.  From walk-on to National Champion to favorite of the Cameron Crazies: “We Want Todd!” breaks out at nearly every game in Durham (and for good reason).  While it may not show up in every stat sheet, your value to the team is not without notice.  You have recorded rebounds, assists, points and blocks for one of the premiere college programs in history - I don’t know too many people who can say that.  You’ve also been on the ACC Academic Honor Roll.  You’ve done the dirty work - showing up for every practice, guarding the likes of Brian Zoubek and Mason Plumlee, and giving everything that you have on the floor of Cameron Indoor Stadium when the seats are completely empty.  They say a champion is someone who trains when no one else is watching…  Well, there’s a reason chants of “We Want Todd!” break out in Cameron… it’s because you are an example of what can be accomplished should you choose to accomplish your goals.  Thank you, Todd.  You have been an inspiration. 

Seth, thank you for stepping up on February 9, 2011, and jolting UNC for 22 points (on 8 for 12 shooting) when the game seemed all but lost.  Thank you for hanging 20 points and pulling down 7 rebounds during the greatest sporting event I have ever witnessed: 903.  Thank you for bringing yet another accolade to DUKE on February 10, 2013, when you became one-half of the highest scoring brother duo in the history of college basketball.  Thank you for automatic free throws (nearly 82% over three years at DUKE).  Thank you for three pointers (41% over three years at DUKE); for ball-handling; for steals, for leadership (Keep Calm and Curry On), for playing through injuries, for your mouthpiece.  And let the world forever know what every Blue Devil has always known: there would be one less banner in Durham were it not for you - Ring or no Ring.  Thank you, Seth Curry.  Watching you has truly been astonishing.

Mason, Mason, Mason.  The second of three Plumlees to put on a DUKE uniform.  National Champion Mason Plumlee.  We have been so fortunate to have had you for four years and we’ve loved you from day one.  That said; you have exceeded everyone’s expectations.  You have become our rock; our option one; our National Player of the Year candidate; the guy who turns in double-doubles night-after-night; the guy who improved his one weakness so greatly that he stepped right up in the heat of a game against Boston College on February 10, 2013, and sank the free throw to win the game. You then turned around and buried two crucial free throws against Miami on March 2, 2013.  I don’t think I have ever seen you take a play off.  You battled play-after-play against Michigan State’s Draymond Green on November 15, 2012; and without it, we wouldn’t have watched history that night.  Your athleticism is off the charts and your dunks are all to be praised - from the first one to the record breaker and then some.  You chose to come back for your senior year and for that, plus the three years that preceded it, thank you, Mason.  Having you as our guy has been a blessing.

Ryan, had I written this three days ago, I would have talked about how you too were a part of our 2010 National Championship team.  I probably would have mentioned how in your senior season, you are averaging a field-goal rate of nearly 50%.  I would have certainly highlighted your 56% three-point field-goal shooting.  I would have talked about your leadership, your calmness under pressure, your participation in the aforementioned 903 game.  (And Ryan, you didn’t just participate in the game, you played perfectly… literally.)  You went 3 for 3 from the field, including 2 for 2 from three; 6 for 6 from the free throw line, finishing you off with 14 points.  You also blocked a shot, dished an assist, grabbed a theft and pulled down 4 rebounds.  So, yeah, thanks for making history.  

But, back to my point: I didn’t write this three days ago; I’m writing it today - two days after you did what you did (and you know what you did).  From January 8, 2013 to March 2, 2013, 52 days came and went without you on the floor.  Four losses also came as a result.  As March loomed closer and closer, panic intensified for DUKE fans everywhere, myself certainly included.  But then, in late February, a glimmer of hope.  If turned to when, and when became March 2, 2013.  An agonizing 52 days had passed and in 32 minutes, you erased every single doubt that had built in those 52 days.  You hit from the side, from straight on, in the paint, with a runner and from the free throw line. You put on the ultimate clinic in a building where clinics have become commonplace.  You may not go on to win National Player of the Year Awards but there is no doubting who is the most valuable player of the year.  Thank you, Ryan Kelly.  What you have brought to DUKE has been nothing short of sensational.

Another year, another senior night.  They never get easier.  Each year, one night in March, a bittersweet feeling of “I cannot imagine our team without these guys” comes over me.  This year is no different.  Thankfully, just like every year past, we will somehow get through it.  We move on but we never forget.  We’ll never stop remembering the chants of “We Want Todd!”  We don’t forget memories like comebacks over UNC.  We won’t forget a four-year stud who has sent shockwaves through the building with his thunderous dunks all while also bailing us out on the free throw line (of all places).  We can’t forget a thirty-six point performance over a top-5 team after not playing for nearly two months.  These are memories that will stay with us forever.  We keep moving because DUKE Basketball Never Stops, but we never, ever forget.  So, seniors, hats off to you.  It has been an honor.