Duke basketball confronted down the tip of Coach Ok’s profession — and grew up when it mattered

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mike Krzyzewski regarded down the dais on the 5 gamers who’d refused to let his final dance come to an finish, who engineered a frenetic comeback to advance to the Candy 16 with an 85-76 win over Michigan State, and he choked again tears.

For almost a yr, he has recognized the end line was in sight. He selected this path, a farewell tour on which he would possibly relive a few of his traditional moments and, maybe, pen one remaining chapter worthy of his epic 42-year profession. The finality of Krzyzewski’s run has hung like a cloud over every part Duke has achieved this season, every recreation, junior Wendell Moore Jr. stated, one other “final one thing” for Krzyzewski, however at all times with the data that extra “lasts” awaited.

Sunday was completely different although. When Marcus Bingham Jr. drained a pair of free throws to offer Michigan State a five-point lead with 5:10 to play, the tip wasn’t merely a degree on the horizon. It had arrived.

As Bingham lined up for his first free throw, Paolo Banchero was livid. Mark Williams was surprised. Trevor Keels hung his head. Moore clapped his palms, virtually as if he was attempting to wake his workforce from an unfathomable nightmare.

All season, Duke struggled to guard leads. On Sunday, the Blue Devils coughed up a nine-point cushion to Michigan State.

All season, Duke’s gamers have shouldered the duty of scripting a becoming ending to their coach’s legendary profession, and too typically — within the regular-season finale in opposition to North Carolina or the ACC event vs. Virginia Tech — it has appeared too heavy a burden. Now, that weight threatened to crush them completely.

All season, the Blue Devils have labored to carve out their very own area amid the overwhelming narrative of Krzyzewski’s final dance. The NCAA event was imagined to be a contemporary begin, and but the basketball gods conspired to offer another compelling second all about their coach. Krzyzewski vs. Tom Izzo was little doubt the NCAA’s dream matchup when it positioned Duke and Michigan State in the identical area. It was solely becoming, in fact, that these two buddies, who had confronted off 16 instances of their careers, ought to get pleasure from one final showdown, too. Now, Izzo had the higher hand.

In reality, your entire season had constructed to this, and if it had ended there, it’d’ve virtually felt becoming.

However it did not finish there.

Banchero shall be Krzyzewski’s final actually elite prospect, and he regarded the half late, driving to the basket and delivering a layup to cease the bleeding after the Spartans’ 11-2 run.

Keels had struggled, however he buried a Three with 3:24 to play to tie the sport. It allowed a legion of Duke followers to exhale for the primary time in what felt like an eternity.

Williams, who’d been a drive of nature within the paint early on, did not take a shot within the remaining 14 minutes of play, however on protection, he swallowed up the Michigan State offense, enjoying “like a hockey goalie,” Krzyzewski stated.

Jeremy Roach was the forgotten member of Duke’s band of lottery picks, however he drove to the basket repeatedly in these remaining minutes, attacking the basket with such willpower that even Krzyzewski was surprised. These drives, Krzyzewski stated, had been among the greatest he’d seen in his 42 years on the sideline. After which Roach delivered the dagger — a 3-pointer that Krzyzewski insists discovered the basket not by way of accuracy however sheer drive of will.

That is what had Krzyzewski’s eyes watering after the sport. This season has been about him, a celebration of almost a half-century in school basketball, however when the tip lastly arrived, it was these gamers who reached out and pulled him again from the brink.

“I believe they confirmed their truest colours,” Izzo stated. “They misplaced at house to North Carolina. They misplaced to Virginia Tech. Identical sort of video games. We got here again and went up. They [could have] simply drifted into the sundown. And I believed they reached down, in Mike Krzyzewski style, and did an unbelievable job of sort of taking it at us.”

When it was over, Moore was requested whether or not he was enthusiastic about a final stand for Krzyzewski in these excruciating seconds when Bingham stood on the free throw line to pad Michigan State’s lead. No, he stated. He by no means considered shedding. He was enthusiastic about a street journey.

Truly, two street journeys, Moore stated.

Twice in July, Moore, Banchero, Roach, Keels and Williams packed right into a automobile and drove to Atlanta for the annual Peach Jam basketball video games, an opportunity to witness their former grassroots groups face off whereas they watched from the stands.

“Ever since then, we simply referred to as ourselves ‘The Highway Crew,'” Moore stated. “We knew it was going to come back right down to us sooner or later [this season].”

With 5 minutes left in Krzyzewski’s profession, the Highway Crew huddled up.

“We regarded into one another’s eyes,” Moore stated, “and we knew we weren’t going to lose.”

Duke is on to the Candy 16. Krzyzewski survived one other trial by hearth in opposition to a worthy opponent. In a recreation offered as a matchup of legendary coaches, Duke’s gamers scripted their very own mythology.

When Michigan State took the lead within the second half, Krzyzewski stated his workforce regarded younger. It is a chorus he has echoed typically this season, and he puzzled if the invoice had come due for packing a roster with potential lottery picks who hadn’t fairly discovered their sea legs.

“We had been younger for some time there,” he stated, “and I puzzled if we had been going to remain younger.”

As a substitute, this group grew up, and in doing so, the Blue Devils made their 75-year-old coach really feel younger as soon as extra, profitable a recreation that belongs within the pantheon of Krzyzewski’s biggest.

The top will come. It is ready, on the market on the horizon in San Francisco subsequent weekend or in New Orleans on the Ultimate 4.

However each time the music stops, Sunday proved this group of Blue Devils had been worthy of the dance.