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DURHAM (AP) — Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith weren't about to let the loneliness affect them in Duke's backcourt. Not even when one former teammate left early for the NBA, another transferred to Memphis and a third is playing football.

"Nolan and I were ready for it to be just us two," Scheyer said Thursday.

Heading into Mike Krzyzewski's 30th season in Durham, the Blue Devils appear so uncharacteristically thin at guard that the Hall of Fame coach has tinkered with his systems to take advantage of what he calls "our biggest team since I've been here."

Scheyer and Smith are the only two returning guards who came to campus on scholarship, and that has placed the proud program annually dominated by its guards — from Bobby Hurley to J.J. Redick — in an unfamiliar position.

For now, anyway, Krzyzewski says his starting lineup probably would include Scheyer, Smith and 6-foot-8 Kyle Singler on the perimeter with 6-10 brothers Miles and Mason Plumlee in the post and gritty 6-8 forward Lance Thomas as his sixth man.

"I think we can be the best rebounding team I've had here," Krzyzewski said during the team's media day. "The basketball gods during the summer said, when you hear the summer storms and the thunder: 'Rebound, my son. Rebounding -- you haven't done that in 30 years.' Yes, gods, we'll do that. So hopefully, as we get our rebounding the first six games, we'll bring that back."

In finishing 30-7 last season, the Blue Devils overcame some deficiencies in the paint to reach No. 1 in the national rankings, win the ACC tournament and advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament — all for the first time since 2006.

But their guard dependence seemed to catch up with them in an East Regional semifinal loss to Villanova in which Duke hit just 5 of 27 attempts from 3-point range and was outrebounded by 15.

The backcourt thinned in the offseason when high-flying swingman Gerald Henderson entered the NBA draft early and Elliot Williams transferred to Memphis because of an illness in his family. The Blue Devils already knew they'd be without Greg Paulus, the one-time starter at the point who exhausted his basketball eligibility and enrolled at Syracuse to give football a try.

"It's definitely a different dynamic. The guys have to relearn how to play with each other, because we have a lot of new guys ... and there's a lot of big bodies," 7-1 center Brian Zoubek said. "It's going to take a little time, but as soon as we get used to it, it's going to be a hell of a thing."

Some help has arrived from the outside: Freshman Andre Dawkins, one of the nation's top prep shooting guards, skipped a final year of high school eligibility to enter early and could immediately factor in the rotation. And Seth Curry, the baby brother of former Davidson star Stephen Curry, must sit out after transferring from Liberty and instead will spend the year simulating opposing teams' scoring guards during practice.