Blue Devils win West Region championship
The Duke Blue Devils defeated Arkansas on Saturday to win the West Region championship to advance to the Final Four.
By: Matt Burr & Kelan Thomas
Special to Bull City Hoops
SAN FRANCISCO — The Blue Devils are returning to the Final Four, defeating Arkansas 78-69 in San Francisco with elements both familiar and unfamiliar.
Once again they had a balanced scoring attack, with four players in double figures and two more scoring nine points. On the other hand, the team went back to the zone defense extensively in the second half, switching it up with 13 minutes to go in the game after Arkansas had clawed back to a 53-48 deficit after trailing at halftime 45-33.
Coach K cited Mark Williams as the difference maker in the middle, specifically highlighting his defensive rebounding and shot blocking. Jeremy Roach also sung the praises of Williams, saying "I give all the credit to Big Fella, we wouldn't be here without him."
Paolo Banchero, named the West Region's most outstanding player, continued his strong all-around play, scoring 16 points, making 7-of-8 free throws, as well as grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out three assists. Williams spoke of Banchero's ability, saying "we all know what he can do. Playing with a guy like that, it always makes it a little more fun."
Duke would also not have won this game without the play of AJ Griffin, as the team's long range sharpshooter converted 2-of-3 from beyond the arc but also showed off a range of two point shots, making 5-of-6 from there for a game high 18 points.
AJ spoke after the game that "we never doubted, as a team. We knew what we were capable of, and we just wanted to show the world."
That said, even though the team will get to hang another banner, they know there is more to play for. Captain Wendell Moore, who had to wait until his third season just to play in the NCAA tournament at all, said that "the job isn't finished. It's the second banner we've hung, but we want to hang another one. We're going to enjoy this, then take this five hour trip back to Durham and when we get back to practice it's time to move on."
Coach K, who broke a tie with John Wooden in making his 13th Final Four, spoke of the particular difficulty in winning the regional championship — “It's the biggest game a college coach has to coach, because it gets you to the promised land. That's how you put banners up, by beating somebodies, not just somebody."
Asked about comparing this team to his other great teams, he demured, saying that while he could put this team up against the best teams he's ever coached, the others would get mad at him, and he doesn't rate them, like he doesn't rate his daughters and his grandchildren. However, they are one of 13.
Asked about the prospect of playing the team from eight miles down the road, Coach K deflected, saying, "it's going to be an honor to go against whoever is the regional champion of that region. We're honored to be a part of the Final Four."
Finally, Coach K spoke about the character of his players, and how you can only train so much until you find out what they're made of in difficult situations, such as when they were down late to Michigan State in the second round.
Speaking on the team's performance in the tournament so far, he said, "I loved them before, but I respect them so much. A long time ago, when I was a player, I didn't do what they just did. Our staff, they did it more as seniors and juniors. Our staff are so proud of them because these guys are so young. They led one another."
As Coach K put it after the Sweet 16 win over Texas Tech, he so wanted this team to make the Final Four, to cross that bridge to the college basketball Mecca that it represents. In a city known partially for its famous bridges, they have done it.
Speaking about himself, Coach K didn't want to hear anymore about the team "doing it for the old man here. We're not going to do it unless we all own it, and we all own it together. That's what we're playing for."
And as he described the team's response to the Arkansas run, after which Duke went on a 10-0 run of their own coming out of a timeout, Krzyzewski said, "for this group to do that in a half, the last twelve minutes ... they didn't get knocked out, they played beautiful basketball. Let's go to New Orleans!"
For this reporter, signing off from San Francisco, I say laissez les bons temps rouler!