by John Walters
So close, then fading out to eternity….
Dawkins, Duke, Dynasty, Destiny
On its own merit, Duke 77, UCF 76 was a classic almost as dramatic as the Christian Laettner game from 1992. If the Knights convert that alley oop with 1:56 to play they’re up 6 and the arena in Columbia is going bonkers. Alas, UCF boofed that bunny and the game-ending tip-in and allowed a pair of costly offensive boards in Duke’s final trip on offense, the latter being converted to the game-winning tip-in.
The Blue Devils survived, barely; the empire is safe. And sure, Zion got away with a charge on Duke’s final offensive sequence, but the refs were not about to call two charging violations on the most lauded player in the game in the final four minutes. Wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t happening.
Heeeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!
What added an extra layer to this contest is that the player who missed those two UCF bunnies was Aubrey Dawkins, whose dad is not only the coach at UCF, Johnny Dawkins, but was also Mike Krzyzewski’s first big-time recruit 37 years ago. In 1982, when the ACC had the likes of Ralph Sampson and Michael Jordan, Coach K was just a dude in his mid-thirties struggling to hold onto his job. But that winter he landed his first elite recruiting class: Dawkins, Jay Bilas, Mark Alarie and David Henderson. By the time they were seniors they were playing for the national championship (losing to Louisville and freshman phenom Pervis Ellison).
If Coach K fails to land Dawkins, the class of that class, his ascendance at Duke is at best delayed and at worst never takes place. And here is Dawkins, nearly four decades later, with a chance to bounce his mentor from the tourney, with his son, who would score 32 points in an otherwise outstanding performance, only needing a tip-in at the buzzer to complete the odyssey.
Didn’t happen. But what a dramatic twist. It was Dickensian. It was Dawkinsian.
Elsewhere…
—Tacko Fall won the posterization battle with Zion, who likely had never played against someone 11 inches taller than he. The 7’6″ Senegal native finished with 15 points and six boards and UCF’s program and fans will always wonder what might have been if he hadn’t fouled out on that final Zion drive. If he’d had 3 fouls heading into that play, he likely grabs the missed free throw.
–Teams seeded 1-4 in each region finished a combined 29-2 in the first and second rounds. The lone losses both came out of the Sunflower State: Kansas, a 4, lost in the second round to Auburn and Kansas State, also a 4, to UC-Irvine in the first round.
–The Sweet 16: Five ACC schools, four SEC schools, three Big Ten schools, one Big 12, one Pac 12 and two mid-majors: Gonzaga and Houston, 32-2 and 33-3, respectively. Cinderella got stood up.
–We’re huge fans of North Carolina freshman Nassir Little, whose spirit animal is Dennis Rodman. The 6’6″ frosh is a muscular, athletic dynamo. It doesn’t look as if he could even finish third in a rec league game of (below-the-rim) horse but all he does is make plays and be in the right place at the right time. Little, UNC’s sixth man, has played 37 minutes in the Tar Heels’ two games, and has 49 points. Pretty damn good.
–Yes, in terms of games, the tourney is more than 75% complete. And through 48 games we’ve had just one contest that people will remember a month from now. The upside is that with so much chalk advancing, next weekend should promise some tight match-ups. Our top three:
- Gonzaga-Florida State
- Auburn-North Carolina (the “Inside the NBA” family feud)
- Oregon-Virginia