DURHAM, N.C. - Duke and Kentucky are viewed as the masters of the one-and-done era in men's college basketball, having won championships with extraordinarily young rosters.
Both programs have a chance to do it again.
After several potential one-and-done phenoms were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the opening weekend, the Blue Devils and Wildcats are the teams still playing that have rosters stacked with high-profile freshmen. Duke (28-7), the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, starts four freshmen - led by Wooden Award finalist Marvin Bagley III - while Kentucky (26-10), the South's No. 5 seed, features Kevin Knox as its centerpiece.
Duke's Marvin Bagley III (35) is defended by Rhode Island's E.C. Matthews during the second half of an NCAA men's college basketball tournament second-round game, in Pittsburgh, Saturday, March 17, 2018. Duke won 87-62. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)The Wildcats, arguably the biggest beneficiary of a run of upsets in the South, face ninth-seeded Kansas State tonight in Atlanta. On Friday night, Duke takes on a fellow Atlantic Coast Conference program, 11th-seeded Syracuse, in a Midwest semifinal in Omaha, Neb.
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke's Hall of Fame coach, said his freshmen are "not afraid of the moment. It's how much preparation do they have for the moment? We're trying to condense about four years into eight months. I don't know how it's going to turn out. You just kind of live it."
Among the star freshmen who didn't make it to the tournament's second weekend: Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Trae Young (Oklahoma), Michael Porter Jr. (Missouri), Jaren Jackson (Michigan State), Collin Sexton (Alabama) and Mohamed Bamba (Texas). Ayton, Bamba and Young have already declared for the NBA draft.
Both the Blue Devils and Wildcats have previously had predominantly young teams cut down the nets at past Final Fours. Kentucky and coach John Calipari won a national title in 2012 behind top-two draft picks Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, while Duke's most recent national title came in 2015 behind three one-and-done freshmen - Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow.
This Duke team has looked capable of joining that squad, with four freshmen averaging double figures in their two NCAA tournament games, led by Bagley's scoring average of 22 points per game. Another of those freshmen, forward Wendell Carter Jr., believes the Blue Devils are "reaching our peak at the right time" and have "developed into a team that can crush another team, our opponent.
"I try not to look ahead about this being my last year or anything," Carter said. "I'm just living in the moment."
Kentucky forward Kevin Knox, center, gets around Buffalo forward Nick Perkins, right, for a shot during the second half of a second-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament Saturday, March 17, 2018, in Boise, Idaho. Kentucky won 95-75. (AP Photo/Otto Kitsinger)The Blue Devils have three players - Bagley, Carter and point guard Trevon Duval - among the top seven members of the 2017 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com. The fourth freshman, Gary Trent Jr., was rated No. 17 by the service.
The highest-rated members of Kentucky's class are Hamidou Diallo, Knox and Jarred Vanderbilt - who were ranked 10th to 12th by 247Sports - as well as Nick Richards, who's No. 18. (Point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came from Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy as a relatively unheralded recruit but has had an outstanding postseason.) No other top-20 ranked players are still playing in the NCAA tournament.
"No one really cares what the (NBA) is telling you to do, you've just got to come out and do what you do best," Knox said. "And that's why (coach John Calipari) has sat down with each and every one of us and told us what we need to do for the team, and that's what we've been able to do."
Calipari has said his group "needed to fail as a team" to figure out how to win. In January, the Wildcats dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2014; in February, they lost four games in a row, all to teams that made the NCAA tournament this year. But Kentucky enters the Sweet 16 on a five-game winning streak and is the highest remaining seed in the South.
As for Duke, Krzyzewski said he doubts his young group has "ever felt pressure."
It showed last weekend, when the Blue Devils beat both Iona and Rhode Island by at least 20 points to cruise into a Sweet 16 for the 26th time in program history.
"It's not just pressure being off, it's confidence growing," Krzyzewski said. "We know (as coaches), if we lose, that's it. But they don't look at, 'That's it.' No, the reality is, that's it, and that's a different way of looking at it.
"Dealing with reality is good. Being nervous about it is not good."