The Duke basketball program suffered a 76-64 loss to ACC rival NC State in the Elite Eight on Sunday, and Jared McCain got emotional when talking about his journey this year.

“It's meant everything to me. To come here, for coach to believe in me,” Jared McCain said, via March Madness. “For my teammates to believe in me. Especially in the beginning of the year when I felt like, you know, I couldn't get things going as a freshman. They instilled confidence in me, especially him [Jon Scheyer] right here.”

It was a disappointing loss for the Duke basketball program, as it came in as favorites against No. 11 seed NC State. The two split their two games this season during ACC play. It was a golden opportunity for Duke to get to the Final Four, as the Blue Devils looked like they were gelling at the right time. Duke upset No. 1 seed Houston to get into the Elite Eight. It was an impressive win, despite the injury to Jamal Shead, which undoubtedly played into that game.

McCain put up a great effort against NC State. He scored 32 points with six rebounds and an assist. He did the majority of the scoring for Duke on a day in which the team as a whole struggled. Star Kyle Filipowski scored just 11 while grabbing nine rebounds.

Duke would have moved on to play Purdue in the semifinal game if it had come away with a win over NC State. Instead, the attention will turn to next year.

An early look at the 2024-2025 Duke team

It is unknown whether or not McCain will be back. However, he is getting some buzz regarding potentially going in the lottery. Given that, it would be a surprise if he did not at least test the waters with the NBA Draft and get feedback. If he does come back, Duke will likely enter next season as the preseason No. 1 team.

Cooper Flagg headlines Duke's 2024 recruiting class. He is the No. 1 player in the class, and will in all likelihood be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He is viewed as a generational prospect and one of the best recruits in a long time. Other highly-touted recruits in Isaiah Evans, Kon Knueppel, Patrick Ngongba, Darren Harris and Khaman Maiuach join Flagg.

However, Duke came into this season as the No. 2 team in the preseason AP Poll. Jon Scheyer has shown some signs of being a good coach in his tenure with Duke, and he is still young and can learn as well. But overall, Duke underperformed expectations that it had coming into this season. There will be no excuses for him going into next season with what will be perceived as his most talented roster yet.