On May 28, senior defenseman Tony McDevitt and his Duke lacrosse teammates walked slowly off the M&T; Bank Stadium field in a daze after losing the national championship game to Johns Hopkins by a goal.

McDevitt, whose Blue Devils also lost the title game by one goal to Hopkins in 2005, had every reason to believe his Duke career was over. He was headed for a job as a bond trader with Merrill Lynch in New York.

But two days later, everything changed - not only for Duke, but also for its rivals in the 2008 season. The NCAA, surprising many in college lacrosse, granted an extra year of eligibility to 33 Duke players whose 2006 season was cut short by the university after now-discredited sexual-assault allegations against three players.

Suddenly, McDevitt was enrolling in graduate school and coming back. So was fellow senior Matt Danowski, the national Player of the Year, as well as defenseman Nick O'Hara, goalkeeper Dan Loftus and midfielder Michael Ward.

The players' return has altered the lacrosse landscape, especially in the Atlantic Coast Conference, making an already formidable Duke team stronger and rattling opposing coaches. Duke opens the season at home Feb. 16, and its schedule includes games against Johns Hopkins, Maryland and Loyola.

"We lost [the championship] on a Monday, and the [NCAA] decision came out on Wednesday," McDevitt said. "I'm not going to lie. We had a sour taste in our mouth, and it was nice that a couple days later we got another opportunity. It did alleviate some of the pain."

The NCAA's decision has placed Duke's opponents in a delicate position. None of them wants to disparage the players, who endured a trying 13 months after an exotic dancer accused three team members of sexually assaulting her at a party. The team's 2006 season was canceled by Duke after eight games while the now-dismissed charges were investigated. The NCAA's ruling, in effect, allows the players to make up for lost time.

Some coaches have openly wondered whether the ruling will tilt the competitive balance in the sport.

"It's difficult to comprehend having to play against five [Duke] classes of players rather than four," Maryland coach Dave Cottle said when the decision was announced.

Said Loyola coach Charley Toomey: "It opens up Pandora's box."

Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose team's two close losses to Duke last season included one in the ACC tournament, has been particularly outspoken.

"They [the Blue Devils] were the class of the field last year with being the most complete team. With what transpired with the NCAA, they have an experience and manpower advantage," Starsia said recently.

NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said the decision was based on hardship the team endured because of the false allegations, and on the endorsement by ACC presidents of an extra year. The NCAA said the "unusual circumstance" of the criminal case justified the equally unusual step of granting such a broad waiver.

"The competitive balance is also a factor that's taken into it, but these were really extenuating circumstances," Williams said.

But Starsia said he's not sure the NCAA was deliberate enough in its ruling, noting the decision took just a few days.

Replied Williams: "In general, we do everything we can to make decisions as quickly as possible. It's not out of the ordinary for reinstatement decisions to be made in a couple days."

Starsia wants it clear that he doesn't fault Duke for seeking the extra year. "I just felt like the NCAA moved so quickly. It just seemed like people acted without the consideration of everything that was at stake," Starsia said.

"It seemed like the NCAA was saying that 'This is only men's lacrosse' and 'Duke is one of our big basketball partners,'" he said.

The decision affects not only this season, but also future years. Players such as Zack Greer, a fourth-year senior, are now eligible to return next season.

Greer led the NCAA last year with 67 goals. Danowski's 96 points - on 44 goals and 52 assists - also led the nation.

Duke coach John Danowski, Matt's father, said it's important to remember the hit Duke took after the rape allegations surfaced. Players and university administrators were targets of campus demonstrators banging pots and pans and demanding "justice" for the accuser. The program was in limbo.

"People forget that our recruiting class that one year was torn in half," the elder Danowski said. Four recruits asked out of their commitments and were released by the university.

One of those recruits was Ken Clausen of Downingtown, Pa., who now plays for Virginia. Virginia also got Peter Lamade of Chevy Chase, who transferred from Duke after last season.

"What coach wouldn't fight for their kids?" John Danowski said of the extra year. "The kids for 2006 did not get to compete in the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament or earn any postseason honors. While, yes, they did compete in eight games, in many ways the season was wiped out from the record books."

The team will continue to divide 12.6 scholarships among 23 or 24 players this season, the coach said. He said the job of allotting scholarships was made easier because graduate programs often charge less tuition than their undergraduate counterparts. His son, Matt, is enrolled in a master's in liberal studies program that he hopes to complete over the summer.

Matt Danowski and McDevitt said it was an easy decision to postpone entering "the real world" and return to Duke.

"No. 1, I'd have an opportunity to get another degree from Duke," McDevitt said. "Going hand in hand was that we only get a finite amount of years to play lacrosse, and one of those years was taken away from us. I wouldn't want years from now to look back and regret that I didn't take advantage of that."

Duke is ranked second in The Sun's preseason poll behind Johns Hopkins.

Matt Danowski said this preseason feels different than last.

"Last year, we were trying to prove everybody wrong [about the accusations]. Now, we're playing and it's just about lacrosse," he said.

jeff.barker@baltsun.com