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Kyrie Irving is the next great NBA point guard.

The above sentence isn’t an opinion, but rather a statement of fact.

Fifty-one games into his professional career, there isn’t much that the 20-year-old Cleveland Cavaliers star can’t do on the basketball court. Irving is a deft passer and ridiculously adept ball-handler, and few players in the league are more efficient in one-on-one situations. Last season, Irving averaged 1.01 points per possession in isolation sets, 10th-best in the NBA per Synergy Sports.

All of which begs the question: How is he already this good?

After only 11 games at Duke, it was fair to wonder how long it would take for Irving to acclimate himself to the NBA game.

The answer? Not long at all.

Irving won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors in January of his first year after averaging 18.1 points per game—on 51.1 percent shooting—during his first 20 NBA contests.

He won the award again in February. And then again in March. And if he didn’t miss most of April with a sprained right shoulder, Irving would have swept the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors for the entire season.

Instead, he had to “settle” for the league-wide Rookie of the Year award as the cap to a wildly successful freshman campaign. The 6’3” point guard actually put up better numbers as an NBA rookie (18.5 PPG, 5.4 APG, 3.7 RPG) than he did during his lone season on the collegiate level (17.5 PPG, 4.3 APG, 3.4 RPG).

“He has surpassed our expectations and probably everybody in the basketball world’s expectations,” said Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott in an interview with HoopsHype earlier this year. “Kyrie is one of those rare guys who comes in this league and takes it by storm.”

Irving—who has already established himself as one of the best playmakers in the NBA—is remarkably quick, but he rarely plays out of control. And unlike other young point guards, he’s extremely careful with the ball: Irving had only 19 games last season in which he had four or more turnovers.

“He’s a great talent,” LeBron James told CBSSports.com during the USA Basketball training camp last July. “I see him in a couple years being one of the best point guards that we have in this league.”

Irving has a similar skill set to that of Chris Paul, and much like theLos Angeles Clippers point guard, the 20-year-old Irving doesn’t suffer from a lack of confidence. At the USA Basketball training camp, the Cleveland star unflinchingly challenged Kobe Bryant to a one-on-one showdown.

Yet as good as Irving is, he isn’t a transcendent type of player that can lead a below-average Cleveland team deep into the playoffs—at least not at this stage of his career.

True success will come if and when the Cavaliers surround him with the right complementary pieces. Tristan Thompson is an emerging young talent at the power forward position, and if rookie shooting guard Dion Waiters can make a successful transition to the NBA, Cleveland could have one of the best young backcourts in the Eastern Conference.

With Irving still several years away from his prime, the mind can only wonder as to how good he can ultimately become. He’s already placing himself among the league’s best, as his 21.49 Player Efficiency Rating last season was better than that of both Deron Williams (20.34) and Steve Nash (20.29).

The post-LeBron era was supposed to be filled with years of figurative pain and sadness for Cleveland fans. However, with Irving at the controls, the future of the Cavaliers—and the NBA in general—appears to be in good hands.

If you are a fan of college basketball, then the following statement is an undeniable truth.

At the end of this calendar year—perhaps even sooner—you will love Austin Rivers.

You will either love the energy and the passion that he brings to the Duke Blue Devils this season, or you will love to hate the swagger that accompanies him each and every time that he steps onto the court.

It’s that simple.

There is no room for debate, no middle ground to stake. It’s either heads or tails, black or white, hot or cold. When it comes to Duke’s latest blue-chip recruit, no one can claim to be as neutral to be Switzerland.

Rivers won’t allow it. He has the bloodlines (Rivers is the son of 14-year NBA veteran Doc Rivers) and the resume (2011 Naismith National High School Player of the Year) that will make you take notice, one way or the other.

On sheer talent alone, it will be hard not to be enamored with Rivers. At 6’4”, he is a well-rounded combo guard with NBA range and a lightning quick first step. Rivers has the mid-range game of a seasoned professional, and he has no qualms about taking the crucial shot in crunch time.

Virtually every scouting service of consequence tagged Rivers as one of the top prospects in the Class of 2011, and in a loaded freshman crop, he was named the ACC Preseason Rookie of the Year.

Of course, there are some (read: fans of other ACC teams, for the most part) who simply won’t be able to root for Rivers.

Why? Because he is J.J. Redick to the extreme. He is this generation’s Bobby Hurley, only with infinitely more talent.

One glance at the ESPNU profile of Austin Rivers will tell you that he is a “cold-blooded assassin.” He’s the type of player that will come into your gym, drop 30 points on your team’s best wing defender, and let everyone in the building know what he just did on the off chance that they were too busy updating their Twitter feeds to pay attention.

Rivers often straddles the razor-thin line between confidence and cockiness, and he sometimes winds up on the wrong side of the ledger. Case in point: he’s already given himself his own nickname.

On Twitter, Rivers dubbed himself “Sub-Zero” earlier this year because of his jersey number (zero) and his self-proclaimed ability to “freeze people” with his moves on the basketball court.

It’s a good thing that he has the talent to back up his words.

A privileged few got an early glimpse of that talent this summer at the Greater NC Pro-Am in Durham, North Carolina. True to form, Rivers showed up for his first day at the McLendon-McDougald Gym wearing the uniform shorts given to him at the McDonald’s All-American game.

It would be naive to think that his choice of outfit that day was a random occurrence. For Rivers, the shorts gave him instant credibility in a league that featured such talents as John Wall, Harrison Barnes, Rasheed Wallace and Kyrie Irving.

Of course, his play would grant him that same credibility soon enough—it wasn’t long before he dazzled the Pro-Am crowd with an array of deep three-pointers and baseline dunks.

That performance showed that Rivers’ game is perfectly suited for a summer league-type of an environment. Simply put, he is an individual in a team game—the anti-thesis of a typical Blue Devils recruit. But by all accounts, he has pretty much conformed to the structure imposed by Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski ever since he arrived in Durham.

Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn recently relayed a story about an October scrimmage in which Rivers didn’t give full effort on defense after a poor offensive possession. Krzyzewski immediately stopped practice and called his freshman star out in front of his teammates. From that point on, Rivers dominated the remainder of the practice session.

“It’s all about becoming a member of a team,” said CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery when asked about Austin Rivers. “That’s part of the process, too.”

The process will begin with a 19-year-old who is used to playing in an offense where he was the first, second and third option. A 19-year-old with questionable shot selection at times, and one who gambles more often than he should on the defensive end of the court.

If Rivers conforms, the process could very well end with Duke capturing its second title in three seasons. If he doesn’t, the Blue Devils could see a repeat of last March 24 when the Arizona Wildcats blew them out of the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness is still four months away, however. Until then, there’s quite a bit of work to do. 

To be clear, Rivers isn’t the most vital player to Duke’s success this year—junior point guard Seth Curry is the Blue Devils’ top returning scorer and provides invaluable veteran leadership. Rivers may not even be Duke’s best recruit in recent memory—Kyrie Irving was a more polished prospect when he arrived in Durham last summer.

Even so, Austin Rivers is one of the most exciting talents to come onto the college basketball scene in quite some time. But if you just can’t allow yourself to enjoy what he brings to the table—especially those of you who have Carolina blue running through your veins—feel free to express your disdain.

Go ahead. He’s used to it.

“I was probably hated before I ever even stepped on the court,” said Rivers, referring back to his time in high school and on the AAU circuit. “The funny thing is, a lot of those same guys who yell things at you from the stands come down after the game and shake your hand and want to get their picture taken with you.”

If you are a fan of college basketball, then the following few statements are undeniable truths:

At some point this season, Austin Rivers is going to lead Duke on an impressive run during a game. After the opposing team takes a timeout out to quell the rally, Rivers will implore the crowd—and those watching at home—for a reaction.

Wherever you may be when this happens, you can choose to join in the adulation, or you can engage in your finest version of a Bronx cheer.

The choice is yours. But you will make a choice. Rivers is simply too good to ignore.