NEWARK, N.J. — No. 1 Duke heads into the East region Elite Eight matchup against No. 2 Alabama “an inch away from the promised land, going to a Final Four,” coach Jon Scheyer said on Friday, nearly one year to the day of a stunning 76-64 loss in the regional finals to upstart North Carolina State.
These Blue Devils bear little resemblance to the team that was jettisoned from the NCAA men’s tournament by their in-state and conference rival. A roster defined by phenomenal freshmen and several impactful transfers has just two holdovers from last year’s rotation – guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster.
But the pain of last season’s tournament exit is part of this team’s inheritance.
“You don’t take for granted how hard it is to get to an Elite Eight, first and foremost,” Scheyer said. “So when you’re in this spot, you have another opportunity to be back, you want to seize the moment. Frankly, every decision we’ve made since March 31st of last year was to put ourselves in this same position and have the opportunity to capitalize.”
So Duke is preparing for “a war,” for “a battle” and for “a physical game,” said freshman center Khaman Maluach. “It’s going to be a fight,” said senior guard Sion James. Alabama is “battle tested, so we’ll be ready to go,” freshman guard Kon Knueppel said. “It’s going to be a war. It’s just going to be a war,” said Proctor.
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“Every game could be our last,” said freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who scored a team-high 30 points in Duke’s Sweet 16 win against No. 4 Arizona.
The Blue Devils are preparing for a shootout, too. Both teams eclipsed the century mark in the Sweet 16, with Duke beating the Wildcats 100-93 and the Crimson Tide swamping No. 6 Brigham Young 113-88 behind a tournament-record 25 makes from deep. Two teams hadn’t scored at least 100 points on the same day in the Sweet 16 since Kentucky and Jacksonville State did it in 1970, according to the NCAA.
Opponents have combined for 200 or more points in a game 42 times in tournament history. While there were only five such games from 2000-23, the 200-point mark has been cracked three times in the past two seasons, twice by the Crimson Tide: against BYU and in last year’s 109-96 win against Charleston in the opening round.
“I don’t think a lot of teams play like Alabama does,” Knueppel said.
But there aren’t many teams like Duke, either, which might explain why the Blue Devils were on Alabama coach Nate Oats’ mind even before the opening tip against Arizona.
“We’ve got to be better against Duke,” he said to CBS immediately after Alabama’s win, and then referenced Maluach’s 9-foot-8 standing reach in his ensuing press conference even as the Blue Devils were still going through pregame warmups.
“We know they’ve got a lot of dudes with height,” said Alabama forward Grant Nelson. “We know we’ve got to be patient when we get in the paint and obviously keep that in mind for everything.”
Tempo, pace, perimeter and interior defense, and the singular brilliance of players such as Flagg and Alabama guard Mark Sears: These are the factors that will determine whether the Blue Devils reach the Final Four for the first time under Scheyer or if the Tide can reach the national semifinals for the second year in a row.
The Blue Devils have the nation’s most effective offense, according to KenPom.com, while Alabama, which tops the country at 94.3 points per game, comes in fourth. But the two offenses go about things differently, according to the KenPom.com analysis, with Duke ranking 264th nationally in adjusted tempo — a measurement of possessions per 40 minutes adjusted for opponent — while the Crimson Tide rank first.
“Look, their pace jumps off the chart at you,” said Scheyer.
The Blue Devils are “a little bit more deliberate at times,” Oats said. “They want to make sure that they get in the same actions. We’re a little bit more free-flowing.”
Duke is simply more methodical, but no less deadly. And the Blue Devils’ biggest asset is Flagg, an unguardable, unstoppable and unbelievably talented prospect in the midst of one of the finest freshmen seasons in history. Against the Wildcats, he became the first player with at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks in a tournament game former Marquette guard Dwyane Wade in 2003.
“He doesn’t miss much,” Oats said of Flagg. “He’s got good size, can get downhill, and he’s a super-high IQ guy. He’s very good. There’s a reason he’s going to be a lottery pick this year.”
Flagg’s balanced game helped Duke’s combat Arizona’s second-half comeback efforts on Thursday night. After taking a brief rest seven minutes into the half, Flagg returned and delivered several key plays down the stretch, including three crucial free throws in the final 93 seconds, to secure the seven-point win.
Pushing back against Alabama’s inevitable scoring barrage will require more of the same. BYU hung around for a chunk of the first half before quickly losing the plot and becoming buried by the Tide’s record-setting performance from behind the arc.
“Once you come off the game that we had, the momentum is going to carry over to the next game,” said Sears.
Even for one of college basketball’s most intensely successful programs, Saturday night represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in one key respect: A roster with more star power than a solar flare will be defined by the make-or-break matchup with the Crimson Tide, either marching closer to a place in ACC and program history or ending up relegated to a place among the best non-champions of the 68-team era.
“I think with that at stake, it brings out really high-level basketball, desperation, the competitive level,” Scheyer said. “I’ve been on both sides, and it’s heartbreaking when you lose, and it’s the best feeling when you win. That’s what you work for. That’s why you recruit. That’s why you build a team. All the time, energy and all that goes into those moments.”
(This story was updated to change a photo.)
