For Bob Huggins, it has been an 18-year wait to return to the Final Four — nearly two decades filled with job changes, health problems and trouble with both the NCAA and the law.

Only six years — mostly drama free — have passed between trips for Mike Krzyzewski. Yet in many ways, his time away from the top of college basketball has felt longer.

Such is life when you’re the coach at Duke and your program goes that long without making a Final Four.

“People expect us to always be at this stage,” Blue Devils forward Lance Thomas said.

Duke’s opponent in Saturday’s national semifinal is West Virginia (31-6), which is returning to the Final Four for the first time since 1959. It’s Huggins’ first trip since 1992, back at the peak of his long, tumultuous stay at Cincinnati.

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Now that Duke has worked its way back to a Final Four for the first time since 2004, don’t be surprised to see the Blue Devils make a habit of it again.

Going back to 1986, Mike Krzyzewski’s pattern has been one of repetition. His teams got to five straight Final Fours starting in 1988 and then again in 1994, 1999 and 2001.

At 63, Krzyzewski is still relatively young as college coaching careers go these days, and there’s no doubt he’s still as committed to winning as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Nolan Smith scored a career-high 29 points, Jon Scheyer sank five 3-pointers and added 20 and top-seeded Duke restored some order to the topsy-turvy NCAA tournament on Sunday with a 78-71 win over Baylor in the South Regional final.

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