Wow. What a dispiriting way for the Blue Devils to end their season, with a 77-54 blowout loss to Villanova that featured their worst shooting performance of the seasoneven worse than the Clemson game.

Veteran Duke-watchers knew the end was inevitablethe team was simply too dependent on its perimeter offense. To wit: Gerald Henderson shot 1-14 and Jon Scheyer mustered 3-18. Kyle Singler was 5-13.

Ryan Campbell emailed me this morning with an interesting point:

I realized earlier that Duke has fallen at least a round short of their seed expectation in each of the last five tournaments. Even when given a 6 seed a few years ago they didnโ€™t even make it to the second round.

Whatโ€™s the outlook for Duke next year? How much does its future depend on Gerald Hendersonโ€™s pro plans? Will they get the big man they so clearly need? Will Plumlee or Zoubek develop, or is there a recruit coming in?

Bio: David Fellerath is INDY Week's culture and sports editor.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/dfellerath