Duke is fresh off toppling Wisconsin 68-63 for the national championship. The Blue Devils were down nine early in the second half. A killer 7-0 run during the final segment (after the under-4 media timeout) put the Blue Devils ahead for good. Here are a few of my immediate takeaways from a great championship game to cap a great season.
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Tyus Jones was unstoppable
One of the larger questions going into the night was how Wisconsin would match up with Tyus Jones. The fantastic freshman went for 23 points. Jones scored 19 of those during the second half. Jones scored in a variety of ways: pull up jumpers, three-point shots, and getting to the free throw line. He went 5-9 from the floor, 2-3 from three-point range, and 7-7 at the line during the second half. Wisconsin simply had no answer for the Duke point guard and it cost the Badgers a title.
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Grayson Allen
Another freshman who played a gigantic role in pushing Duke over the top was Grayson Allen. With Duke down nine, it was Allen who dropped a gigantic three-pointer to immediately reduce Wisconsin’s working margin. He immediately got a steal and then converted an ‘and one’ on the other end. After Nigel Hayes canned a three, Allen dropped a pair of free throws. Eight of his 10 second-half points came during that span and absolutely saved Duke’s season. It was a great showing for a player that could be the next face of Duke basketball.
The Officiating
Bo Ryan complained a bit about the officiating while talking to CBS after the game, and it was well deserved. Two gigantic calls went against Wisconsin late and were 100-percent absolute game changers. Both were blown out of bounds calls.
The first was on a basket by Jahlil Okafor. Justise Winslow both walked and was out of bounds before getting the ball to Okafor, who finished with a layup and a foul. It was a hell of a play by Okafor to get the shot up and then get it to fall, but it was a shot that never should have taken place. Wisconsin went from being down one and getting the ball back to being down three.
The next, and arguably biggest, call was with just under two minutes left. The ball was knocked out of bounds after a missed layup. On replay and live, the ball looked like it was off Justise Winslow. There were clear replays that showed the ball bent Winslow’s finger. Yet, the call was upheld. That allowed Duke to keep possession. Tyus Jones went down the floor and drained the game sealing three-pointer. Both were brutal calls that will have Badger fans bitter all summer.
One thing that should also be pointed out is that the officiating was pretty awful on both sides. Wisconsin was getting a slew of first-half calls. Duke got a slew of second-half calls. The officials lacked the consistency that teams, and fans, want to see in the biggest game of the season. It’s a shame that there is a bit of a cloud that hangs over this great game. It deserved much better.
Wisconsin’s Late Game Strategy
Bo Ryan is a great coach. Obviously. His team made some odd choices late in the game, however. The most questionable is that Nigel Hayes fouled Tyus Jones with 35 seconds left. Jones was the best foul shooter in the ACC this season. He had gone 5-5 in the second half. He was clearly the guy Duke wanted Wisconsin to foul. The Badgers complied and paid the price. There was enough time to force one of the other Blue Devils to step to the line — other Duke players had touched the ball on that last-minute possession before the ball was re-routed to Jones.
The very next possession, the Badgers showed some odd decision making once again. For a team that seemed to make the best moves all season long, this was a terrible time for questionable ones to show up. Wisconsin got the ball back with 35 seconds left down by five. A quick shot to extend the game was mandatory. That’s not what happened. Wisconsin brought the ball up and ran the offense rather slowly — so slowly, in fact, that Duke was able to give one of its fouls with 20 seconds remaining. A full 15 seconds ran off the clock in a two-possession game without the Badgers putting up a shot. Bronson Koeing missed a jumper after the inbound. By then, it would have taken a miracle for UW to win.
Sam Dekker Lost the Magic
The story of Wisconsin’s wins against Arizona and Kentucky was the tremendous play of Sam Dekker. Wisconsin had a huge matchup advantage multiple times with Dekker offensively, but he was just gassed. Dekker finished the game 6 of 15, 0-6 from three, for 12 points. He didn’t attempt a free throw. Dekker missed all of his three-point shots, as mentioned, a couple of which were airballs and none particularly close. During the second half, Dekker added 4 points on just 2 of 6 shooting.
That was bad on its own. When you add in Traevon Jackson ending his Wisconsin career with a brutal 1-7 line in just 13 minutes, the Badgers didn’t get enough from the guys who needed to be above average for them to win the national title. It was an incredibly rough way for a great journey to end.
