UNC's king, but tough Duke can still make title run

"After that, there are a lot of really good teams with really good players," he said. "I think a big thing will be how healthy (teams) are, and how they develop their bench."

To that end, Coach K is playing more players than usual -- probably because he has fewer superstars than usual. Once loaded with future lottery picks, Duke has none now. But Duke does go eight-deep quite easily, and has a ninth player -- freshman Elliot Williams, a McDonald's All-American -- who played just three minutes Tuesday but could see a bigger role as he gains experience.

But Purdue will be heard from again as well. The Boilermakers aren't as deep as Duke, but they have a Singler-type talent in Hummel, and they have big, versatile guards in E'Twaun Moore and Keaton Grant, and they have two decent big men in JaJaun Johnson and Nemanja Calasan. Purdue looked bad against Duke, but a lot of teams will look bad against Duke. Still, Purdue is another team that could be in the Final Four. Just like about 50 others. And North Carolina.

Definitely North Carolina.

The gap between North Carolina and the rest of the country is so large, even a known UNC nemesis like Krzyzewski admits as much.

"North Carolina is on a little bit different level," he said

But that gap, as painful as it must be for the head coach at Duke, also gives him hope. Because there are no teams in the void that comes after the Tar Heels. After UNC, it could be Duke. It could be Purdue. It could be your team -- whoever that team is.