Without being too presumptuous, the current Duke squad is a legitimate contender to reach the Final Four. But, for all its great promise, the 2018-19 unit will need to improve considerably on its .679 free throw shooting through 12 games to fit statistically with its dozen most illustrious predecessors under Mike Krzyzewski.
The worst a Krzyzewski Final Four squad shot free throws came in 1989, when the Blue Devils made 67.5 percent of 953 attempts. All but three of his dozen Final Four entrants made at least 70.5 percent of their foul shots.
Of course, just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean this year’s squad can’t make it to the final weekend without becoming ace shooters at the line.