Record: 35-4, 15-3 (2nd place)
ACC Tournament: Lost in semifinal
NCAA Tournament: Won
Final AP Ranking: 4
All-ACC Players: Jahlil Okafor (ACC POY), Quinn Cook (2nd), Tyus Jones (3rd)
All-Americans: Jahlil Okafor (1st)
Of all the ACC national championship teams, this is the one that I remember the least. I guess that’s because three of their starters were guys who played only one year – Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, and Tyus Jones. And is it wrong that I still get confused between Tyus Jones and Tre Jones?
But my memory aside, this was a really complete team. Senior Quinn Cook and juniors Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson provided some experience to go along with all that youth. Okafor was unstoppable inside. They were a great three-point shooting team with four guys (Cook, Winslow, Tyus Jones, and Matt Jones) who shot 37%+ while averaging at least one made three per game. They were a great rebounding team behind Okafor, Winslow, and Jefferson. They didn’t foul. They took care of the ball. They were outstanding at defending the three.
They raced out to a 14-0 start including a decisive road win over #2 Wisconsin. They stumbled at NC State (a game that I attended, by the way) and at home against Miami. From that point on, they lost two more games, both to a Notre Dame team that was one of the best teams in the country in its own right. With wins away from home against Michigan State, Wisconsin, Louisville, Virginia, and North Carolina, they were an easy choice for a #1 seed in the South region.
They weren’t challenged until the regional final against second-seeded Gonzaga. The Zags were down two with five minutes left, but Duke outscored them 13-1 the rest of the way. Both of Duke’s Final Four games were rematches against Big Ten teams the Blue Devils had beaten in the regular season. Duke dominated Michigan State, just as they had in the regular season. That set the stage for a rematch with #3 Wisconsin led by national player of the year Frank Kaminsky. The Badgers were riding high after taking out 38-0 Kentucky in their semifinal. An interesting aside about this Wisconsin team is that they are the best offensive team in the history of kenpom, with an Adjusted Offensive Efficiency of 129 (129 points per 100 possessions, adjusted for strength of schedule).
It was a back-and-forth battle between two great teams. The Badgers took a nine-point lead early in the second half. And then Grayson Allen took over the game. An Allen three, an Allen steal, and an Allen and-one later, and the Blue Devils were within three. It was back-and-forth for the next several minutes, with Allen and Tyus Jones carrying the load for the Blue Devils. At 59-58, Duke got a break when the officials failed to spot Winslow stepping out of bounds, and he dished to Okafor for the lay-in. After another controversial call when the ball was awarded to Duke after appearing to go off Winslow’s finger, Jones sealed it with a three, and Coach K had his fifth national title.
Allen’s heroics in the championship game were quite unexpected. He had not been a regular part of the rotation. Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook were the starting guards, and Matt Jones was the third guard. But Allen started to get a little more time in February after Sulaimon was kicked off the team. He had a mini-breakout on February 21 against Clemson with 10 points in 18 minutes and a much bigger breakout on March 4 against Wake Forest with a game-high 27 points, but both of those were mop-up duty situations where Allen piled up his points mostly after the game was decided. He still wasn’t playing in key moments against good teams, and that continued through the regionals. He played three minutes and scored zero points in the regional final against Gonzaga.
But Coach K decided that Allen’s time had come in the Final Four, and he made the most of it. In the semifinal against Michigan State, Duke played a smaller lineup for much of the game against the undersized Spartans, which meant more Allen and less Amile Jefferson. Allen responded with nine points in 17 minutes. In the final, it was more a case of Matt Jones being ineffective, so K went with Allen down the stretch. It would be interesting to look at the history of unexpected individual performances in an NCAA championship game. I would have to think that Allen’s is right up there.
Of the four freshmen, only Allen returned. Jones, Winslow, and Okafor were all first-round draft picks in the NBA, where Jones is having a good career, Okafor was a surprising bust, and Winslow couldn’t stay healthy and is currently out of the league.