Duke has gone from one of the nation’s hottest teams to becoming liable for an early tournament exit. An 82-67 loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament Championship further proved the shakiness of the once eminent Duke defense.
ACC opponents have punished Duke defensively. North Carolina’s middle ball screens exposed a glaring weakness in the season’s finale. Syracuse scored 79 points on Duke in the Quarterfinals without their best player Buddy Boeheim. Miami was a few made free throws away from topping the Blue Devils during the Semifinals. Virginia Tech’s Hunter Cattoor was the latest shooter to give coach Mike Krzyzewski more reasons to go back to the drawing board. Cattoor had a career-high 31 points with seven threes and Krzyzewski said he was “Klay Thompson” on Saturday night.
Virginia Tech was 2-7 in conference play in January and any narrative of them excelling in the ACC Tournament was nonexistent. The Hokies made it a reality Saturday and now has the school’s first Men’s ACC Tournament Championship. As a No. 7 seed, the Hokies are the lowest-seeded team to win the tournament. They hadn’t won a conference title since 1979 as a member of the Metro Conference. A title wouldn’t have been possible without a Darius Maddox game-winning buzzer-beater in overtime against Clemson last Wednesday.
Texas has a date with Virginia Tech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin set for Friday at 4:30 p.m. Former coach Seth Greenberg had high praise for the Hokies’ style of play. “When you prepare for Virginia Tech, you don’t have enough time to prepare for Virginia Tech,” Greenberg said. “You can’t simulate what they do in your preparation. Because of their ability to make plays out of their offense—their ability to read and react out of their offense. The number of different sets—the number of different matchups they create.” A 3-5 record in Quad 1 games doesn’t indicate the talent of coach Mike Young’s veteran team.
California State Fullerton will play Duke in Greenville, South Carolina on Friday at 7:10 p.m. CSUF took the Big West Tournament in a 72-71 win over Long Beach State. They weren’t dominant to start the year but finished 21-10. With a Big West schedule, the Titans didn’t get a crack at a Power 5 school. Whoever wins on Friday faces the Michigan State-Davidson winner in the Round of 32.
