Credit to Notre Dame; they’re really good.
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Remember when Big East blue bloods Syracuse and Louisville were supposed to give the ACC a different look when they joined the conference? Duke was one game from 2nd in the standings, and were the only one of the top five teams to play the bottom five teams (who will not be in consideration for an at-large bid) only once each in the regular season. Jones ran along the baseline, as was his right.
“I thought he did”.
“We knew it was going to come down to game situations”, Colson said. Duke has an all-time ACC Tournament record of 99-44, a mark that includes the most wins of any team. What happens in the NCAA Tournament remains to be seen, but the Blue Devils just three Final Four contenders in a row, after beating Clemson, to claim the ACC championship to emphatically re-announce themselves as legitimate contenders. Duke is not a team that you can help get its offense rolling.
Junior guard Grayson Allen, sophomore guard Luke Kennard and freshman guard Frank Jackson all buried threes in the comeback effort for Krzyzewski’s squad.
Duke and Notre Dame await seeding announcements for the NCAA tournament today at 6 p.m. They have two top-50 wins.
Duke had to overcome a whale of a game by Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson.
If all goes according to seed, Duke would get another shot at Villanova, the No. 1 seed in the East and the 2016 national champion, in the Final Eight in NY.
At the Westgate, North Carolina is right behind Duke at 6-1, followed by Kansas, Kentucky and Villanova, which are each listed at 8-1.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski tied the legendary Dean Smith for most wins in ACC Tournament history with 58. But Notre Dame has a clear idea of what it can’t do and what it can, and it plays closer to its capacity than any team in the land.
Freshman Jayson Tatum scored 19 points and tournament MVP Luke Kennard added 16, while Matt Jones’ only basket of the game was the biggest of them all as Duke found a way to win despite its own exhausted legs and a remarkable 29-point, nine-rebound performance from the Irish’s Bonzie Colson.
Now, however, Duke has made a statement. “As a group, we’ve faced so much adversity this season”.
“They’ve made really big shots to win the thing”, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
UNC has controlled the action at the rim: 20 points in the paint.
Two free throws by Matt Farrell with 1:15 to go cut the Duke lead to 68-67.
By the time there was just over five minutes remaining in the game, Duke managed to regain the lead at 61-60 on a layup by Jackson. Tatum, a freshman, slammed it home and was fouled.
“If he’s not the No. 1 pick (in the National Basketball Association draft), I’ve got to see the guy who’s the No. 1 pick”, Brey said.
The basket was Jones’ first since Wednesday’s opening round.
Tatum was tremendous all tournament.
Down 61-49 in the second half against the Cardinals, Duke went on a 32-16 run over the final 13 minutes. The length of Duke, especially when Jayson Tatum and Amile Jefferson can be on the floor at the same time, can cause Notre Dame problems tonight. He did this while playing 38 minutes, the last few after turning his ankle.
“That was one of the great performances in championship game history”, Brey said. Carolina can win it all. However, they weren’t able to make the final push, eventually falling 77-73. “What he did, willing us and keeping us in it and making big plays and chasing down loose balls, it’s a great performance”. Syracuse sat out of the 2015 tournament in Greensboro as part of a self-imposed postseason ban for an academic scandal. Nobody ever has. Nobody ever will.
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The fifth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) will play fourth-seeded and No. 8 Louisville on Thursday at Barclays Center.
