With a banner up for grabs, No. 1 Duke ready to seize it
While 80 percent of Duke’s regular starting lineup hasn’t been here, Javin DeLaurier carries pain from this NCAA tournament stop.
One year ago, needing to beat Kansas to reach the Final Four, Duke lost 85-81 in overtime to watch the Jayhawks advance from the Midwest Region in Omaha, Neb.
A sophomore reserve on that team, DeLaurier watched as a Grayson Allen shot at the end of regulation that would have won the game for the Blue Devils bounced out.
“Easily the most painful loss of my basketball career,” DeLaurier said. “Every time I think about it. I would think about it over the summer. Every workout is kind of getting back there and pushing past that point, moving to the Final Four and ultimately winning a national championship.”
Now this year’s Blue Devils are in another regional final, this one in the East Region at the Capital One Arena where they’ll face Michigan State on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.
One more win means the Final Four and a new banner for Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke needs three wins for its ultimate goal of a sixth NCAA championship.
But the first of those three wins would mean something special because it would help purge the pain of that narrow defeat one year ago that left last year’s team with a banner-less campaign.
“This game means a lot personally because we were in an Elite Eight game last year,” DeLaurier said. “We came tantalizingly close to reaching a Final Four. It didn’t work out for us last year so really I’m just trying to make sure for 40 minutes I’m giving everything I have to make sure we can make it to Minneapolis.”
Every Duke team is pieced together with the goal of being the last team standing and celebrating when the tournament is done on the final Monday of the season. This team, in particular, has been targeted as a tournament favorite for months.
When the Blue Devils blew out Kentucky, 118-84, on Nov. 6 to open the season, they zoomed to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.
Duke’s nonconference schedule featured four teams that are among this year’s regional finalists, with Gonzaga, Auburn and Texas Tech joining Kentucky. The Blue Devils showed their ability by losing only to Gonzaga among that group.
Duke also twice beat ACC rival Virginia, which is also among the tournament’s final eight teams and a No. 1 seed.
The Blue Devils’ four freshmen starters include Zion Williamson, the ACC player of the year and the projected No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, plus fellow projected lottery picks RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. Tre Jones is projected to go later in the first round, meaning he’s also likely close to completing his lone season of college basketball.
Together they’ve dealt with the pressure of being the favorite all season.
“I feel lucky to be on it with these kids, because they put you in a position to win,” Krzyzewski said. “And, look, from the start to the end we’ve kind of been ‘the team.’ I’m not saying we’re the best team, but we’re the team that somebody has -- a lot of people have said they need to beat us. That’s a good position, but there’s a lot going on for whoever that team is. And these kids have handled it really well.”
The Blue Devils have already earned two new banners for Cameron Indoor Stadium by winning the ACC championship and finishing the regular season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll.
The NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, the Blue Devils are 40 minutes of strong play way from nabbing that third banner for reaching the Final Four.
Though the freshmen are new to this experience, veterans like juniors DeLaurier, Jack White and Marques Bolden can tell them about last season’s near miss. Duke’s assistant coaches -- Jon Scheyer, Chris Carrawell and Nate James -- all played in a Final Four for the Blue Devils. So did director of basketball operations Nolan Smith.
“I think that’s another great thing about coming to Duke, because all the assistant coaches have went to the championship game,” Williamson said. “And they tell us the stories about how they had to battle. I think each of them probably came in like a No. 1 seed. But it was a battle to get there because, I mean, ‘March Madness’ is probably the perfect name for it. It’s whoever wants it, that’s who is going to get it.”
The Blue Devils believe their season won’t be complete unless they win the national championship. But reaching the Final Four is a significant accomplishment they are ready to achieve.
“It’s crazy to see how time flies,” Bolden said. “I’m back in the Elite 8 already. I remember every vivid detail of last year’s game, so being able to have another crack at it and another opportunity means the world.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 5:32 PM with the headline "With a banner up for grabs, No. 1 Duke ready to seize it."