Sorry, America. They’re good again. They really are just that good again.
It’s news half the country is going to hate hearing. But it’s true. Duke is off to the Final Four for the 18th time in school history and they might just have a team capable of winning it all. Again.
Faced with the challenge of an Alabama team that shot the 3-ball better in one game than any team in March Madness history, the Blue Devils never trailed in an 85-65 win to book their trip to San Antonio.
But plaudits for the night rest not on the shoulders of talented freshman Cooper Flagg, who received plenty of attention from the Crimson Tide defense.
While he managed 16 points, fellow freshman Kon Knueppel had 21 points. Meanwhile, Mark Sears – Alabama’s hero from two nights ago – looked a shell of himself amid a stifling wall of Duke defenders.
So now, Duke’s off for the Texas sun. But the heat of the desert won’t be the only thing awaiting them as the pressure of winning a potential sixth title basks upon them.
Duke is going back to the Final Four off the backs of freshmen, like Tyrese Proctor (5) and Cooper Flagg (2)
Duke freshman guard Kon Knueppel led the way with 21 points on the evening
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer is off to his first ever Final Four in charge of the program
Sure, they were favored, but Duke’s primary objective going into the night was slowing down the quickest offense in the country.
Alabama plays at a pace like none other in the nation. It’s a pace so quick and so overwhelming they can typically let the defense fall by the wayside. This year, they had a top-30 defense to match their top-five offense.
Just one problem: the Duke team they played is the best offense in the nation that also happens to have a top-five defense.
So yes, this Alabama team did just set the NCAA Tournament record for most attempted 3-pointers and most made 3-pointers in a single game in their dismantling of BYU on Thursday.
But right after that game ended, Duke hit the floor and dropped 100 points of their own in a matchup against a mis-matched Arizona team.
The Blue Devils came out of the gates doing exactly what they needed to: playing intense on-ball defense with switches that killed any momentum the Tide would have pushing up the floor. On the opposite end, they led by as much as 13 in the first half.
Sears, the Alabama hero from Thursday night, was slow from the jump and ended up getting plenty of first-half bench minutes as he failed to find his shooting form from knocking down ten 3-pointers just two days ago.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats calls out a play against Duke in the Elite Eight
Alabama was hoping for a strong game from Thursday’s hero, senior guard Mark Sears
Duke’s main goal going into the night was slowing down an incredibly quick ‘Bama offense
Alabama’s 3-point offense buoyed them the game prior. In the first half of Saturday night’s game, it was sinking them at a 5-for-19 clip. At the end of the game, it was a horrid 8-for-32.
As the game approached the halfway point of the second half Alabama kept poking around – trying to find an opening, a run, something, anything to keep their March dreams alive.
They had help from the fact that Flagg was struggling to begin the second frame. He was sat after going 0-for-5 from the field.
But up stepped the supporting cast of fellow freshmen: guard Knueppel and big man Khaman Maluach. While Knueppel was able to scythe through the defense with lay-ins and Maluach was open in the paint for lobs and hauling in boards.
Alabama was in need of a resurgence from their best player, but Sears wasn’t delivering. By the 8:00 mark, the man who hit ten 3-pointers on Thursday was on a paltry 2-of-9 shooting line. He finished the night shooting a shocking 2-for-12.
Even Sears’ defense wasn’t working. Guarding Flagg around the 7:30 mark, he harassed the New England native so much that he lost his dribble… only for Flagg to find it again and put up a heave of a shot that he laced.
Alabama’s Mark Sears struggled mightily from the floor – shooting a poor 2-of-12
Duke 7-foot freshman center Khaman Maluach dunks the ball against Alabama
Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor lines up a shot in the Elite Eight against Alabama
Duke freshman guard Kon Knueppel tries to save an errant pass during the first half
None of the freshmen looked inexperienced. By night’s end, Knueppel had 21, Maluach dropped 14 points and nine rebounds, and junior guard Tyrese Proctor managed a tidy stat line of 17 points, five rebounds, two assists.
And of course, there was Flagg. Only three players since 2000 have won Freshman of the Year and led their teams to national titles: Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse in 2003, Anthony Davis at Kentucky in 2012, and most recently, Jahlil Okafor in 2015 with – who else – Duke.
Flagg’s positioned to join them now. Sure, tonight wasn’t his best night. He shot the ball poorly and Alabama’s Grant Nelson had his number for a majority of the proceedings.
But with attention placed on him, the rest of the team was able to thrive. Alabama over-helped on defense plenty of times and allowed space for other Blue Devils all over the floor.
The Tide were chasing ghosts. Soon, the spirits overwhelmed them and they couldn’t keep up. The promise the team held in returning Sears and Nelson from last year’s Final Four team faded to a whisper as the majority Duke crowd gave voice to their delight in the Prudential Center.
But fear not Alabama fans. As one crimson-clad patron behind the media bench proclaimed, ‘Football season starts soon’.
That’s of no solace to coach Nate Oats. Nor is it reprieve for Sears and Nelson, who walk off a college floor for the final time.
Coach Jon Scheyer fields a team of three freshman starters. Tonight, they played five freshmen overall. Playing basketball at Duke carries with it some of the most intense pressure in collegiate athletics. Title expectations come each year.
Flagg’s success led to over-defending from Alabama, opening the floor for his teammates
It’s a night which will give Alabama basketball fans – like this youngin’ – agony for the moment
This team may have already won an ACC crown. But the Final Four delivers a level of intensity that none of these players have ever experienced before.
Scheyer’s not worried. ‘I think if you were around them every day, you wouldn’t have doubt yourself,’ he said in response to a question asked by DailyMail.com.
‘I’m not saying you do, by the way. I’m just saying for me, they’re mature. Age is just a number. And obviously it’s different to have three freshmen starting. What, tonight we played five freshmen on a team that’s going to a Final Four. I think for our program, we’ve always thought about doing things differently.’
Different can be good sometimes. This is a sport that heralds its innovators, the outside-the-box thinkers.
Of course, it’s hard to frame the head coach of one of the biggest programs in the nation as one of those.
But in a perfect marriage of talent that want to be coached – and coach who wants to mold his young players – Duke is a mystical and effective concoction capable of reaching the heights of the sport. Maybe this coach, off to his first Final Four, was finally able to find the right combination of scheming and talent to silence doubters and match the lofty expectations of his positions.
Or, maybe this was expected. They are Duke, after all.