Duke’s “Deceitful Destiny”: How the Blue Devils Did It

Storyline: There’s a thing about destiny: it can be very deceitful. Just when things look like they’re ready to fall apart, everything comes together. That’s what happened to Duke basketball. Written by Nathan Cole, Amherst, NY

Duke basketball had the typical up-and-down sports season in ’14-15, featuring numerous blows and improbable recoveries that lead to an eventual national championship.

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But the truth is, this season was simply destiny. It all started when best friends and high school phenoms, Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones, mutually committed to Duke in November 2013. They were a package deal, like James Franco and Seth Rogen: where one went, so did the other. Add in the eventual commitment of 5-star wing prospect, Justise Winslow, plus the most-awkward-athlete you’ll ever meet in Grayson Allen — and the Duke recruiting group was something to admire. The class was Duke’s best in 35 years, and was the consensus #1 across all major recruiting companies.

Throw in the veteran leadership from senior guard Quinn Cook, who seemingly matured from a pouting crybaby into a wise sage over the summer, and (at least for a while) junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon, who apparently hadn’t broken his pouting habits.

Duke’s roster was bred for title contention.

Still, there were doubts about the Blue Devils’ prospects. Duke had been bounced before from the tournament at remarkably early stages–by none other than 14 and 15 seeds–and in consecutive years. Plus, freshmen can’t win national championships, can they? Look at Michigan’s Fab Five or Kentucky’s freshmen roster of 2012-2013.

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But Mike Krzyzewski has been winning national championships once of about every five years for two decades. He was long overdue to win another.

To start off the season, Duke pounded ‘warm up’ opponents, like Presbyterian. Jahlil Okafor jumped out to an early lead in Naismith voting for college basketball’s best player. He dominated inferior big men who couldn’t match up to Okafor’s 6’11”, 270 pound Hulk-like frame.

The Duke players did what they were supposed to do.

Okafor cradled and scored in the paint like he was playing with a Nerf ball.

The guards and wings hit 40% of their threes.

The entire roster created transition buckets so easily that Clyde “The Glide” Drexler would be jealous.

But everyone, save Winslow and Matt Jones, played unexceptional and uninspired defense, if not downright mediocre. It was typical Duke basketball. The kind that had done in the Blue Devils for two years straight in the NCAA Tournament.

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But this year was different.

Wisconsin, away, was the first real test for Duke and the team aced it. They appeared outmatched by the size and athleticism of Wisconsin. Okafor wasn’t able win the game one-on-five, similar to how Patrick Jane always seems to carry the weight for the other CBI agents in The Mentalist. But Duke came out on top, 80-70, after shooting an astounding 65% … seriously, 65%.

The seemingly undersized, unathletic Tyus Jones showed why he was exactly the opposite of that–twisting and contorting his body drive after drive–to make ridiculous shots only the boys from Dude Perfect seem to be able to hit. Three bounces off the rim, a shot off the glass and, then, the rim and then the glass again. These shots had no business going in. It took a level of luck and Father Fate to find twine.

This was a game that represented the Gold Standard of college basketball: make your threes, shoot over 50% from the field, hold your opponent under 50% from the field, and don’t get killed on the boards. Duke accomplished all of that.

Duke entered conference play as the #2 team in the country, and it was easy to see the NCAA Championship on the horizon.

But, as we see all the time in college hoops–and sports in general–things can change in an instant.

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That change was named Justise Winslow. The southpaw wing was the sparkplug behind Duke’s thriving offense. He was the most versatile of any of the Dukies, able to drive and hit a stepback three.

Winslow is what the Tazmanian Devil would be if he ever laced up the high-top sneakers. Winslow’s mean, competitive nature provided a dynamic that Duke had been missing since the Kyle Singler days. But that dynamic was lost when Winslow suffered an injury and scored only 22 total points on 30 shots in a five-game span.

Things seemed to be taking a downwards turn for Coach K and the Blue Devils.

A loss on the road at NC State began the Blue Devils’ slide. Despite Okafor’s stellar 23 points and 12 boards, the Blue Devils lost to an inferior Wolfpack team. The Duke backcourt was unable to get anything going, and simply got outplayed by Trevor Lacey and Cat Barber.

The next game out, Miami marched into Cameron Indoor Stadium and pounded Duke by 16 points–a historic, record-setting pounding. Duke wreaked of defeat more than the Bad News Bears did before adding the likes of Kelly Leak and Amanda Whurlitzer to the squad. The weaknesses (lack of defense, reliance on the three) finally became exploited, and Duke looked like it was about to let the season slip away.

Duke shaped up slightly, doing its best to cover up glaring holes. A quick win at offensively-challenged but #6-ranked Louisville indicated that Duke was still capable of beating ranked teams. Another win at Madison Square Garden versus a fiery St. John’s team got Coach K his 1000th win. Duke struggled for much of the game and had to thwart numerous comebacks. Though the game wasn’t quite a Coach K masterpiece, it did prove that Duke had some scrappiness left … and a will to win. That feeling seemed to stick with Duke for the rest of the season.

Duke proceeded to lose a hard fought battle in South Bend to Notre Dame, 77-73. Duke blew a ten-point lead to Jerian Grant and his sidekick, Jerian Grant, with a little dash of Jerian Grant. Although Winslow re-emerged as a healthy, viable option in the offense, Duke’s collapse displayed Jahlil Okafor’s issues on the free throw line as well as the backcourt’s inability to guard off the dribble against explosive, athletic combo guards, like Grant and Demetrius Jackson.

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The game was the least of Duke’s worries. In a season filled with historic moments, Rasheed Sulaimon’s release from the program made the most headlines. Sulaimon’s dismissal was the first for a Duke player in Coach K’s tenure. Though rumors swirled about Sulaimon’s reason for dismissal, uncertainty about the future of Duke hung in the balance. Duke was now down to only eight eligible scholarship players, four of which were freshmen. Eight. And although Sulaimon regressed from his freshman to junior year he still held a great value to the team.

Duke once again seemed destined to self-implode. Nothing was on their side, and in the words of Drake, no one was shooting with them in the gym.

But that’s the thing about destiny: it can be very deceitful.

As Duke’s season slipped away, defensive stalwart Virginia looked like the next team in line to rough up Duke and take its lunch money. Duke cycled through its lineup in the 1st Half, but only managed 26 points. The guards started the game 0-9 from beyond the arc and Okafor was incapable of getting post position deep inside the paint. Duke seemed destined to fall to their fourth loss in seven games. UVA’s size and athleticism allowed the Cavs to contest every shot and clog passing lanes. To make matters worse, Virginia came out gunning in the 2nd Half. The lead grew to nine with under five minutes to play.

That’s when Duke showed that they may have had a “little man guiding shots from above.” In a finish full of magic and grace, Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones showed they have ice in their veins. Duke finished with a flurry, shooting 5-6 from three in the final 4:41. Cook made three consecutive threes and a Jones dagger with ten seconds to go (from eight feet beyond the arc, no less) put Virginia back on the shelf.

Something switched on from out of nowhere in those final five minutes.

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Seven nights later Duke squished Notre Dame at home like Will Smith did those cockroaches in Men In Black. It was Duke 50-24 after a half–shooting a remarkable and unrepeatable 81%. Winslow and Okafor finished the games with a combined 39 points and 21 rebounds. Even better for the Blue Devils, their defense showed up. Jerian Grant, who had torched the Blue Devils just two weeks earlier for 23 points, was held to only 3 of 10 shooting and a mere 7 points.

It was clear that something had changed with the Blue Devils.

Duke finished out the ACC regular season with two thrillers against Tobacco Road rival, North Carolina. In both games, Duke looked ready to relinquish leads to the Tar Heels, but the backcourt of Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones scored in bunches at Crunch Time. In both games the tandem delivered combined 44-point performances.

Jones drove the lane over and over, unable to be stopped. With 1:23 remaining in the first game, Jones crashed the lane, went airborne, and met Kennedy Meeks in midair. Jones muscled the shot off the glass over Meeks and his 8 inch size advantage for a clutch two points. Forty seconds later Jones darted into the lane and was once again met in midair, this time by Joel Berry. Jones finished the ‘and-one’ basket to bring Duke within two. Neither shot should have gone in, but both shots did. And even with the disappearance of Jahlil Okafor from the stat sheet, Duke prevailed.

Duke found ways to win. The odds were certainly not in their favor, but fate was.

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After an all-around domination of NC State in the 1st Round of the ACC tournament, Duke was once again matched up with Notre Dame. After splitting the season series, Duke turned in a remarkably uninspired performance, especially given the magnitude of the game. Okafor turned in a 28 point night on 13-18 shooting. And, yet, Duke still was smothered: 3-17 from behind the arc coupled with four total bench points led the way for failure offensively.

Nothing clicked. Whatever had been magically willing balls into the basket, took a day off.

The defense was out of phase. Bonzie Colson, a 6’6” overachieving power forward, torched Duke from the inside out. The lack of depth punched the starters in the gut as fatigue wore on. All things pointed to another early exit for the Blue Devils in March.

The Blue Devils were given a #1 Seed and a ‘pretty draw” by the selection committee. After lighting up 16-seed Robert Morris, Duke faced its first test of of the tournament–defensive-minded San Diego State. Duke showed that an early exit was not part of this year’s plan. Duke fired on all cylinders as Okafor spun and jumphooked his way to a 26-point night. Winslow added 13 points and 12 rebounds as Duke pounded the Aztecs by 19. The defense, for the first time all season, was stifling.

Okafor looked so dominant versus San Diego that it made me question how he could ever be stopped. He had the rehearsed array of post moves to outduel anyone. He could spin and twirl, shoot and drive, reverse, and finger-roll. He could kiss off the glass and float over the rim. If he was unstoppable. So was Duke.

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But, as had become common for Duke in ’14-15, things changed in an instant. Just as Okafor looked like he had regained his early season form (following a lackluster second half to his freshman season) Jakob Poeltl held him to 6 points. The only constant between the Utah and San Diego State games was Duke’s lively, committed defense. The Blue Devils stopped drives, got all the loose balls, and everyone picked each other up.

Justise Winslow became the new hero in Duke v. Utah. By creating a 21 point, 10 rebound performance, Winslow showed why his strong play is the X-factor for the Blue Devils. Winslow set the tone. Two minutes into the game, Winslow drove the paint and threw up a tough shot of the glass. The shot fell off the rim and into the hands of a Utah Ute, who outletted the ball to Delon Wright. Wright appeared to have a clear layup attempt when–out of nowhere–Winslow charged down the court and crushed the ball out of Wright’s hands in one of the most vicious blocks I’ve ever witnessed. For the entire game Winslow played like a man possessed; he was as unstoppable against the Utes as Okafor had been v. San Diego State.

Against Gonzaga, a new, unsuspecting star shined bright. Matt Jones tallied 16 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-7 shooting from three. But it wasn’t just the points that mattered, it was the timeliness of them. Jones’ buckets all capped off a run or immediately followed a bucket by Gonzaga, which had a big effect on game momentum. Each Jones shot seemed to be controlled by an outside force, so perfectly nestled inside the basket that there was no way he could have missed. Plus, Jones played suffocating defense on the perimeter to lock down Gary Bell Jr. But it wasn’t just Jones’ defense that was airtight. Duke caused 13 turnovers and logged eight steals. Once again the perimeter defense was elite; Gonzaga shot 20% from three. The Blue Devils were so intense on defense that it seemed Tom Thibodeau had been flown into Durham the night before March Madness.

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Things didn’t stop there for Duke. Duke made Michigan State look like Florida Atlantic, dominating the Spartans from start to finish, including a 29-9 1st Half run. The win was a team effort: Winslow, Okafor, and Cook went off for 19, 18, and 17 apiece. Everything went in … and I mean everything. Shots fell at an unnatural clip. Duke also maintained defensive intensity. Michigan State turned the ball over 14 times as Duke gathered nine steals.

Duke looked primed and ready to play in the championship game. It was playing the best basketball of the season at the right time.

Duke was matched up again against Wisconsin, a team fresh off an unexpected win over previously undefeated Kentucky. The stage was set for an intense rematch. While Duke entered the game having played fantastic team basketball led by Winslow, Wisconsin was also flying high. Despite the win earlier in the season for Duke, Wisconsin was the slight favorite to win.

Plus, the Duke haters came out of the woodwork. It was trendy to like Wisconsin and awkward big man, Frank Kaminsky. Duke was like Justin Bieber: the few that loved, loved, while most of the rest of the world hated.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, was like Coldplay: a group of white guys who are pretty good all together, but nothing special. People think they are pretty cool, though. When compared to Justin Bieber they get a boatload of respect for being “true musicians.” Well, look who they are being compared to?

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Duke got an opponent they had already beaten.

They were playing in Indianapolis, a location where they had won two of their four prior National Championships.

Everyone was healthy for Duke.

The Blue Devils were playing their best team basketball of the season.

And they were underdogs, which relieved some of the pressure.

Duke seemed poised to take a run at towards the ship.

Things also started nicely for Duke: the Devils jumped out to a quick 21-16 lead. However, Wisconsin tied it at 31 right before half and had momentum leading into the second. They didn’t stop there, either. Wisconsin darted out to a 48-39 lead and Duke seemed to have their backs against the wall.

And, then, it became the Grayson Allen show.

Grayson Allen just has that awkward, unathletic look about him. He’s a kid you’d probably pick last in pick-up basketball if you were going solely on looks.

But Allen is a mythical being, like a unicorn. Graced with one of the purest strokes ever, he looks like a pure stretch shooter who can’t quite do anything else well. He’s like that kid who’s the seventh man off the bench, the one who always flies out of his seat and starts snapping a towel against the floor while doing the Cabbage Patch whenever a teammate makes a big three or crushes a monstrous dunk. He just has that aura about him.

And then … you see him Allen play athletic, agile defense–stripping the ball, sprinting full court,  to finish by springing 40 inches off the floor for a windmill dunk. That’s the time you erase everything you thought you knew about him.

Allen was the beneficiary of Rasheed Sulaimon’s dismissal from the roster. Before then, he was the fourth man off the bench, struggling to find playing time in a crowded backcourt prior. During the regular season Allen averaged 4.1 points per game. Then, in the five March Madness games, Allen scored a combined 18 points in 50 minutes.

Nobody saw it coming when Allen scored eight consecutive points for the Blue Devils in a minute and ten seconds ….yet it all made much sense, too. All year, the Blue Devils had received help from players who had randomly gotten hot and carried the team through rough patches. Allen played like a man guided by fate.

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Allen brought the Dukies back within striking distance, 51-47. An ‘and-one’ for Tyus Jones made it 51-50 with ten minutes remaining. Both teams traded buckets until a nine-oh run from Duke’s freshmen squarely put Duke ahead 66-58.

There was no turning back at that point. The Blue Devils were able to ice the game on a pair of free throws from Tyus Jones.

The Duke freshmen accounted for 60 of the team’s 68 points in the championship game. They conquered the league and completed their goal.

So what’s the take away message? Each and every time Duke seemed out of a game, ready to let a lead collapse or shrink away due to a ten point deficit, someone stepped up and nearly single-handedly won the game.

Duke shots seemed to go in that shouldn’t have.

Balls found their ways into Duke players’ hands.

Opportunities gave Duke second chances to win.

It was like magic.

It was destiny.