Two lightning strikes of announcements hit Tobacco Road last spring, with the retirement announcements of Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams.

They diverged, obviously, on how their programs would proceed from there.

Williams retired on April 1, and Hubert Davis was hired four days later. News of Krzyzewski’s impending retirement and Jon Scheyer’s appointment as coach-in-waiting came together.

Obviously, that wasn’t an immediate retirement for Krzyzewski. This final season allows him one final trip – in this case, one last trek to Chapel Hill – and one final chase of a national championship.

Williams was finished as UNC’s coach the moment it was confirmed his retirement wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.

The jury will be out on judging Scheyer and Davis for a few years, at least. The whole “you never want to be the guy after *the guy*” saying is overrated, but succeeding those coaches should – operative word there – provide something of grace periods for the two newcomers.

We can compare, however, the succession plans. Because one seems like it was well-planned and the other … well, it feels the other school is learning on the fly.

This season hasn’t gone according to plan or deviated from a plan, in terms of Scheyer’s preparation in taking over, because Krzyzewski didn’t attach expectations to it.

“I didn’t have any preconceived benchmarks for that, I just – I thought it was the right thing to do. Looking back, it was the only thing to do,” Krzyzewski said.

Scheyer’s on-the-job training this season has included filling in for a road win at Wake Forest, the second time he’s taken on that role. His relationship with players was put on display in a hostile environment and he delivered a win.

UNC is 3-6 away from the Smith Center this season, and Davis has struggled with substitution patterns.

Look to the future to see the directions of these programs and determine which one has a brighter future.

Both teams on the court Saturday night seem like they’ll have vastly different rosters next season. Of Duke’s eight-player rotation, it seems like Jeremy Roach and possibly Joey Baker will return. UNC figures to lose its entire frontcourt, and then we’ll see on the guards.

The Blue Devils will reload with the top-ranked class in the country, including 5-stars Kyle Filipowski, Dereck Lively II, Mark Mitchell and Dariq Whitehead.

UNC’s recruiting class is two 4-stars and a 3-star. It’s ranked 18th.

The transfer portal is going to allow for roster makeovers in the span of a month or two – but is that really how UNC wants to operate on a year-to-year basis? Of the last three national championship teams, each had one freshman contributor (Marvin Williams, Ed Davis, Tony Bradley) among a legion of experience.

And then we get to the attendance.

In nearly two full years of dealing with a pandemic, we’ve had so many things taken. In the avalanche of stripped privileges was the ability to attend games on a large scale.

The last crowd at the Smith Center that Roy Williams coached in front of had all of 3,263 people in it – in a building that holds 21,750.

Could you imagine if Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium had the same 15% capacity allowed – which would be 1,397 people?

It’s a farewell tour. So what?

Being able to play every home game in front of a sellout, and coach a team you recruited, while the successor has a one-year grace period to learn and recruit his own team, seems like –

Well, it doesn’t seem like it was the right thing to do. It seems like it was the only thing to do.