DEVILS CONQUER ACC
COACH K’S CREW RALLIES PAST FIGHTING IRISH
Duke opened the season as the top-ranked team in the nation. Four months later, it finally is playing the part.
The Blue Devils came to Brooklyn with three losses in their previous four games, nearly out of time to avoid becoming one of the most disappointing teams in Mike Krzyzewski’s nearly four-decade tenure.
Four days later, Duke accomplished the unprecedented. Finally, Duke was No. 1.
With a 75-69 win over thirdseeded Notre Dame Saturday night at Barclays Center, the fifth-seeded Blue Devils completed their third straight second-half comeback to become the first team in ACC Tournament history to win four games in four days, claiming their first conference championship in six years and a record-extending 20th all-time title.
Krzyzewski, who now holds a record 14 ACC Tournament championships — passing Dean Smith — now also has an experience he didn’t envision.
“I can see why no one’s done it before,” Krztzewski said. “I didn’t think we were going to do it as that game evolved in the second half. … It’s a journey that’s kind of hard to describe. I told the kids in the locker room, ‘We’ve won a lot of these, but this one is so different. It’s not like anything. It’s not like a Final Four or the NCAA Tournament because you don’t play four teams in a row like this.’
“How cool is it for these kids to take me on a journey at 70 that I’ve never been on before? This is so cool.”
To clinch this latest championship, Duke (27-8) needed to shoot over 60 percent from the field. The Blue Devils needed to beat an Irish (25-9) team that had knocked them out of the previous two conference tournaments and overcome Bonzie Colson’s 29 points and nine rebounds.
They needed to come back from a 56-48 deficit with 11:35 remaining and mirror the double-digit deficits they erased against Louisville and top- seeded North Carolina the previous two days.
“No one was ever rattled,” Amile Jefferson said. “Sometimes you see teams do that, but we didn’t splinter.”
Even after Colson tied the game at 65 with a 3-pointer with 2:26 left, soon-to-be lottery pick Jayson Tatum (19 points, eight rebounds) made it impossible for him to top what likely will be his only ACC Tournament.
After giving Duke the lead with a free throw, the star freshman blocked Steve Vasturia and went coast to coast to build a three-point lead. Then, when Notre Dame trimmed the lead to two — following a huge 3-pointer by Duke’s Matt Jones — Tatum converted a gamesealing 3-point play with 25.4 seconds remaining.
“I think there should’ve been co-MVPs,” said Krzyzewski, unofficially honoring Tatum alongside Tournament MVP Luke Kennard. “When he went the full court, I thought, ‘ What are you doing?’ Then, yes! And, ‘How the hell did you do that?’ It was so darn good.”
Duke, the ACC’s fifth-place team in the regular season, likely now will be a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In a season unlike any other — filled with injuries and inconsistency, the controversy surrounding Grayson Allen and the absence of Krzyzewski following back surgery — the Blue Devils are back to where they were expected to be, favorites heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Four months late and right on time.
“We haven’t paid any attention to standings or seeds for this tournament or rankings. … So much has happened, we said let’s talk about us and let’s get better,” Krzyzewski said. “Maybe if it [all] didn’t happen, maybe we wouldn’t have been as together … maybe we do have dissension then.
“Hopefully we can take that same attitude into the next tournament. It’s been a different year for me than any I’ve coached, a remarkable year.”