Duke Tops Wisconsin

Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his fifth national title with the Duke Blue Devils last night, beating Frank Kaminsky led Wisconsin 68-63. The game was one for the ages, featuring star freshman and star seniors. The game was back in forth the entire time, and ended with Duke overcoming a nine point deficit to knock off the Badgers. The story lines coming from this game are endless, but what are the three biggest ones?
Aside from the obvious fact that Duke won, the biggest storyline was the emergence of the two freshman on Duke’s team that aren’t considered top five picks in the draft. The main focus coming into the game was how Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow would perform against their counterparts, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. Okafor had a subpar performance, and Winslow played well, but the two players that put Duke over the top were their other two freshman, Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen.
Allen scored 16 points off the bench, his third highest scoring total this year. When Duke looked to be in trouble, Allen is the guy who kept them in the game with his stellar play. He gave the team a huge spark with his ability to get to the free throw line and his overall effort.
Jones, on the other hand, is the one who put the game away late with an insanely clutch three-pointer. He was given the ball late in the game and was told to go and win it, and win it he did. To top off his performance, he hit two free throws in the final minute to put the game out of reach. His 23-point performance won him the Final-Four Most Outstanding Player.
The next biggest storyline has to be Bo Ryan’s post-game comments. In his post-game presser, he essentially took a shot at both the referees and the “one-and-done” system.
Ryan made a comment about “the body contact” and “the hand checking”, saying he felt sorry for his players that all of the sudden a game was played like that, when they hadn’t played a game that was called like that all season.
Even though the officiating was bad, and yes, Duke got a couple of calls that should’ve went the other way, Bo Ryan has no room to complain about the refs. His team was given every call down the stretch against Kentucky, and there were two or three calls that subsequently gave Wisconsin points in that game. So yes, the officiating was bad, but those same bad calls helped you in the previous game.
When it comes to the “rent-a-player” line, there isn’t anything wrong with that. One side of the argument could say, “He’s just mad that he can’t get these one-and-done players. He knows he would take a one-and-done player if that player wanted to play at Wisconsin”, and the other side could say,”Thats just how Bo likes to run things. He likes to recruit system guys that he can develop into good players over four years.” Neither argument is wrong, and neither argument is right.
Could Bo have worded his answers better? Yes. Could he have come off as a little less of a “sore loser”, as some are calling him? Yes. But whats done is done, and Bo Ryan will continue to be one of the better coaches in college basketball.
Lastly, how will last nights game affect the draft stock of Jahlil Okafor, Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky? Thats the question that many are asking today, and rightfully so. Jahlil did not play his best game last night, and frankly (pun intended), Frank Kaminsky worked him last night. Frank’s basketball IQ, fundamentals, and post moves reigned superior over Okafor’s size and athleticism last night. The only time Okafor got the best of Kaminsky was late in the second half, when Kaminsky had played nearly the entire game and Okafor had been on the bench with foul trouble.
Now don’t get me wrong, just because Frank got the better of Okafor doesn’t mean he will get drafted higher. Okafor is still a superior draft prospect and has a higher ceiling than Kaminsky, and therefore will still get drafted in the top three or four while Kaminsky will get drafted in the mid to late lottery.
A player who’s draft stock was hurt last night was Sam Dekker. Dekker had been on fire during the tournament, specifically from three point land. He had not shot spectacular from three during the season, so many were wondering whether or not it was a fluke or if that shot was here to stay. Well, it looked last night like his previous tournament performances from three were a fluke, making zero of his six three-point attempts. Sure, everyone has off nights, but Dekker’s performance last night will definitely have some front office executives questioning how high he should go.
Regardless of how bad the refs were, who came to play and who didn’t, and how the game was won, Duke is your national champion. They won the hardest national championship there is to win in sports, and they did it in thrilling fashion. Coach K established himself once again as a top three coach of all time, and he has even more freshman coming in next year to try and do it all over again.