Duke finished the 2017 ACC Tournament with the program’s first conference championship since 2010-11. Here are some court-side observations in our Day 5 notebook — the final.
- There are still spray bits of confetti falling on the court as play starts at Barclays.
- Incredibly fast six minutes of action. Second clock stoppage, and U-16 timeout, occurs at the 13:43 mark.
- Notre Dame got some good offense running in its spread pick-and-roll action. When Bonzie Colson rolled to the hoops, Duke’s wing defenders dug down to bump him. This freed shooters on the weak side wing for open catch-and-shoots
- Grayson Allen hitting pull-up three-pointers on pick-and-rolls has been a major development for Duke in Brooklyn.
- Matt Ryan attempted a two-point field goal in the first half — a rarity for him. Nearly 87 percent of Ryan’s shots come from beyond the arc.
- Rex Pflueger gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game with 17:12 left in the second half with a three-pointer
- At the under-12 media timeout in the second half, as Mike Krzyzewski has a conversation with the officials, Notre Dame band members ask that he kindly sit back down on the bench.
- Colson took this game over in the first ten minutes of the second half. His rolls to the rim continue to cave Duke’s defense.
- Duke has been forced to react to every screen Colson sets. Blue Devils have to keep track of him
- Matt Jones made two critical plays down the stretch. The first was a pass to a wide-open Jayson Tatum in the middle of Notre Dame’s zone; in addition, was a three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining. The triple gave Duke a 71-67 lead.
- Word travels fast on the Internet — from a minute or two after Duke won:
From Duke Basketball's wiki page — someone is quick with the edits. pic.twitter.com/SRWQFYO7M9
— ACCSports.com (@ACCSports) March 12, 2017
- While cutting down the net after the game, Mike Krzyzewski went last. However, instead of cutting off a snip of the net, Coach K just ripped the remaining net from the spokes of the rim.
- Hello, that’s a big trophy!
