The legend just keeps growing and growing. Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen enhanced Coach K’s legacy even more. With Duke down nine in the second half, Allen took his team completely on his shoulders and got them back in the game, and Jones finished it off as the Blue Devils won an extremely hard fought and spectacular contest with a national title winning 68-63 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. Allen finished with 16 and was 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Jones finished with 23 and was 7-of-7 from the line. Both are freshmen. Allen was the lowest rated of Duke’s number one recruiting class in the country last year, but he was a 96, four star by 247 sports. Jones was a 99, five star, Jahlil Okafor was a 100 and Justise Winslow was a 99. Quite a group to go along with senior point guard Quinn Cook and sophomore Matt Jones. Junior Amile Jefferson did some really good things on defense shutting down Frank Kaminsky, some in the second half, though the big fella got 21 and 12 boards, and played a heckuva game for the most part. A guy that Duke shut down pretty well was the all-world Sam Dekker, who had 12 points, but was 0-of-6 from trifecta. Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan was doing some unfounded whining about the officiating after the game. Kind of ridiculous and showed some pretty poor sportsmanship. Ryan is a serious whiner. Gives Urb and Brian Kelly a run for their money.
Duke was very underrated on defense this year, and they showed last night that they could play Kentucky-like defense when they needed to. And they surely made the clutch shots when they counted, particularly Jones and Allen. That Allen is a dynamic player and such a hustler-spark plug for his basketball team. Tyus Jones was named Final Four MVP, and he was deserving, but Allen sure played a big part as well. He brought them back from what looked like an L early in the second half. Okafor, Winslow, Matt Jones, the senior Cook ( love the senior) and Jefferson all played big roles in the victory.
Will Okafor, Winslow and Tyus Jones return for their sophomore seasons? Probably not. Okafor may be the first player selected in the draft, he is projected to be the number one pick, but it would be cool if he did come back to defend. Winslow and Tyus Jones could be gone, too, but they might want to think about it pretty hard. College basketball is special. It’s like college football or college baseball. You can’t beat it. The grind of the pro game is not nearly as much fun except when the playoffs start. So they ought to think through their decisions, though I’m sure they can get very good contracts if they decide to go out. But that decision will come several days from now. Those young men ought to enjoy the legacy they’ve created for themselves by winning a national championship at a storied program. That’s something they’ll remember the rest of their lives and they can always tell their kids and grandkids. It’s a memory they’ll keep forever.
I picked Duke to win it all and finished in the 95th percentile of my ESPN bracket. That along with my J.B. Holmes pick in the Shell Houston Open made it a very good Easter weekend. I now have two wins on the PGA tour with a Jordan Spieth victory in the Valspar Championship in March, to go along with the Holmes pick. I also have three second place finishes with Dustin Johnson losing in a playoff to James Hahn at the Northern Trust Open in LA, Bubba finishing second to Dustin at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, and Henrik Stenson finishing second to Matt Every at the Arnie. It’s been a good year. Football didn’t finish as strong as I’d have liked, but it was a good year overall with a 71% winning percentage (204-82) and 21-15 in the bowls, while I was 97-70 in the NFL. Had the Seahawks beating the Patriots 31-28 in Super Bowl 49 at Phoenix, and that would have been exactly right if Pete Carroll had not made the most imbecilic play call in Super Bowl history as his team was on the Patriots three yard line with 28 seconds left, a timeout, and the best running back in football in his backfield. Carroll served up the Super Bowl to Belicheat and the Patriots with a Russell Wilson pass over the middle with five Patriot defenders around the ball. The ball was intercepted and the Seahawks lost, 28-24. I picked Oregon over Ohio State in the national championship game. That was a matter of second guessing myself after my Ravens over Patriots and my Cowboys over Packers upset playoff picks didn’t work out. Both teams lost barely, so I thought maybe the Buckeyes were somewhat of a reach, too. Really liked the Buckeyes after they beat the Tide. Should have gone with them.
With that said, it’s on to Augusta National now. Jordan, Tiger, Rory, J.B., Jimmy Walker and the rest of the top players in the world are on the clock, as they say in the NFL draft, as the 79th Masters commences Thursday. Should be spectacularly good. Will have preview and predictions tomorrow.
