However, in the aforementioned Butler game, Irving suffered a serious injury to his toe — tearing a ligament and putting him on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Yet, with a plethora of dynamic and future NBA players, Duke went on to earn a №1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a date with an inferior Hampton team in the first round.

Then, just one day before the Round of 64, it was revealed that Kyrie was coming back for the Big Dance. The gang would be officially back together with a Final Four spot virtually with their name on it.

In the first two rounds, Irving came off the bench as not to disturb the mojo the current team was playing with. He scored double-figures in both games, notching 14 points versus Hampton in the first round and then 11 points against Michigan in the Round of 32.

(The Blue Devils barely squeezed by Tim Hardaway Jr. and Michigan in the second round, winning 73–71 in a near-home game played in Charlotte.)

At the same time Duke was squeezing by the Wolverines, the №5 seeded Arizona Wildcats were doing the same against Texas — a team led by Kyrie’s future teammate Tristan Thompson.

The Sweet Sixteen stage was now set, a Duke team with tons of NBA players versus an Arizona team that had only one real star, Derrick Williams. Ironically, Williams was also a teammate of Irving’s on the Cavs’ 2016-17 NBA Finals campaign.

Six years later, the events that transpired in this game are hard to believe.

Derrick Williams, the same guy who consistently collected postseason DNP’s for the Cavaliers last year, gave the Blue Devils the business. He dropped 31 points on Irving and the Dukies, pushing them to a 16-point, 93–77 win.

For the record, I remember this game vividly. The Wildcats were (+900) on the money line and I put up $100 to win $900. Me and my homeboys were at a bar in White Plains, sitting next to a guy calling in a $1,000 bet on Duke. I tried talking him out of it but he was a total douche…at least I tried.

It should be noted that Irving also had a very good game. He scored 28 points on 9 of 15 shooting but was not enough to overcome Williams’ outburst and Nolan Smith’s six turnovers.