The Empire Strikes Back

"You have controlled your fear. Now release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me." — Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back

The Duke Blue Devils knocked off the Butler Bulldogs Saturday for the second time in 2010. But unlike their national final matchup in which Gordon Heyward's half-court near miss threatened the hierarchy of college basketball before bouncing harmlessly away, Saturday's contest was about restoring the natural order. And this time, Cinderella was home and in bed hours before midnight.

In the context of the past two decades, this result was as unexpected as a sunrise. Judging from that distance, Mike Krzyzewski's fourth national title in 20 years and a follow-up routing of a non-conference foe look like just another link in a chain of Blue Devil dominance. But as recently as nine months ago, this was hardly the case. Instead, the twin defeats of the Bulldogs served as an announcement and reiteration: Duke is back.

To be fair, Duke was never really "gone." During the Blue Devils' Final Four absence of 2005 through 2009, Duke still made the NCAA tournament every year seeded sixth or better and won at least one tournament game in all but one of those seasons. There are many programs, perhaps as many as 90 percent of Division 1, that would call that a "golden age." But not in Durham.

Instead, the Duke program was perceived as sliding. The Blue Devils' high-profile losses to more athletic teams such as LSU in 2005 and West Virginia in 2008 fed the convenient narrative that Duke players were harder working, but less talented prospects. And no player exemplified that stereotype quite like J.J. Redick, Duke's catch-and-shoot savant.

Even regionally, the Duke luster had waned. In the five years after that 2004 Final Four appearance, arch-rival North Carolina won two NCAA titles, while the Blue Devils never made it past the Sweet 16. Roy Williams realized his Chapel Hill destiny, and the Tar Heels seemed far more comfortable managing the two-way traffic of recruiting in the one-and-done era.

And then in April, the story flipped. The Blue Devils still lacked surefire lottery picks and the kinds of athletes that scouts wrote sonnets about, and Duke entered the NCAAs with a relative void of pre-tournament buzz. And yet six wins and three weeks later, the Duke mystique was restored, just like that.

At the program's peak, the letters D-U-K-E on the front of jerseys cast a conquering spell over opponents and coaches (and, some would argue, referees and the media). This was due in great part to a string of high-profile recruits. Heck, even Kobe Bryant said that had he slummed for a year or two in college, he would have done it at Duke.

Now Coach K deemphasizes the [John] Caliparian pursuit of one-and-dones, and that makes a return to the era of jock-and-awe unlikely. To that end, Duke still has not raised its profile to pre-2004 levels. However, 2010 has seen the peak of a second bit of Blue Devil witchcraft: Duke hate.

After a few years of hibernation, the cries of preferential treatment and Duke fatigue are creeping back into the zeitgeist. The program that started out as an underdog beloved by media and fans is back, black hat and all.

As sports fans, we often write the eulogies of dynasties far too early, but we gleefully write them as soon as possible for the teams and players we dislike. Duke goes three seasons without earning a No. 1 seed? The reign of terror is over! Someone register FireCoachK.com!

More realistically, Coach K whiffed on a few recruits like Eric Boateng and Shaun Livingston and the Blue Devils lost a few more high-profile games than usual in the middle of the decade. The facilities did not change, the history did not change, and most importantly, the man in charge did not change. On Wall Street, they would call that an opportunity to buy low.

Duke might not lead the country in winning games by simply getting off the bus anymore. But if the country's gag reaction to its return to the college hoops spotlight is any indication, 2010 is just another year in the Blue Devils' reign of disdain.

Corrie Trouw is the founder of Pigskinology.com.