ONE FOR THE THUMB!!!!! Duke 68, Wisconsin 63 Post-Game Thread

[willywoody]

No one will believe me but I was telling my 8 year old at dinner tonight it would be one of the unsung players for Duke that would make the difference and Allen and Jefferson delivered.

[pfrduke]

So did the refs hand us the game by putting Okafor on the bench?

We will never hear the end of this Winslow tipped ball. It was obviously tipped; I'm sure everyone will admit it.

If you saw it that obviously you have better eyes than mine.

[Newton_14]

How bout-em boys!!!!!!

How bout-em!!!!! Huh??????

Grayson freakin allen!!!!!!

[bjornolf]

So did the refs hand us the game by putting Okafor on the bench?

We will never hear the end of this Winslow tipped ball. It was obviously tipped; I'm sure everyone will admit it.

Makeup call for Okafor's 4th.

[Troublemaker]

Fractions

In the past quarter-century, Duke has won one-fifth of the national championships

[davekay1971]

Wow! What a great performance. I'm amazed at this team, particularly coming back when down 9. Grayson Allen and Tyus Jones put the team on their backs...but what about the defense and boards by Jefferson and Winslow? This team got the job done, and they got it done in a huge way.

5 NCs for K, 5 NCs for Duke!

Thanks to the team for a great season!

[Karl Beem]

The difference was #3's 8 straight points. Without them, we're toast.

[Orange&BlackSheep]

So did the refs hand us the game by putting Okafor on the bench?

We will never hear the end of this Winslow tipped ball. It was obviously tipped; I'm sure everyone will admit it.

Well, it wasn't *obviously* tipped else the refs would have reversed. But the slo-mo convinced me.

Tyus friggin' Jones ... unbelievable. What a step up. Grayson too. Plus no one will mention how good a job Matt Jones did on Dekker!

O&B Sheep

[Lulu]

Poor Okafor not getting even a mention from Coach K. I kinda feel bad for him.

[bluenorth]

What a ride this year has been! K has been masterful. And just amazing play from T Jones and Allen. Jefferson deserves special mention for the job he did on Kaminsky. Time to celebrate!

[FerryFor50]

AWESOME win. Just another gutsy performance from a team that has refused to quit all year long.

And Coach K... pulling all the right strings.

Down 9 with 13 minutes left? Okafor with 3 fouls? Insert Grayson Allen, the forgotten freshman. And boy, did he ever deliver.

HUGE defensive performances from Amile and Matt Jones. Unsung. Both playing much bigger guys (Dekker and Kaminsky) and held their own. I think the key to the game was the defense played on Dekker. A large number of his 12 points came off offensive rebounds. 0-6 from 3.

Okafor... I feel bad for him. Officiating took him out of this game and he was missing some easy shots. But he still finished with 10 and had a HUGE defensive stop in the final minutes.

Cook was off. And wasn't his usually steadying presence. Was taking some real bad shots... but was leaving everything on the floor. Great effort.

Winslow was very good defensively and on the boards, despite the foul trouble.

Man of the match, by far, was Tyus Jones. He put his team on his back and beat Wisconsin on his own down the stretch.

Kaminsky really showed why he is POY. Hayes... not sure how he didn't miss from 3 until the final buzzer.

Just so much to love about this team. Great kids. Great season.

Oh, and keep in mind... you WILL hear how Duke gets all the calls. People will ignore the 2 total fouls by Wisconsin in the first half and the 2 fouls each on Okafor/Winslow. They'll ignore how often Kaminsky brought his arms down on drives with no call. They'll just point to how many foul calls Duke got in the 2nd half.

Know what you say? Nothing. Scoreboard.

[#1Duke]

It doesn't matter. Yes, the ball was off Winslow but it doesn't matter. Winslow also stepped out of bounds before Okafor's last dunk. The dunk should not have happened. It doesn't matter. Duke beat Wisconsin and played extremely well at the end of the game.

[crdaul]

Keeping the faith always!!!!

[pfrduke]

We held Wisconsin to 63 points in 60 possessions. By leaps and bounds their worst performance of the tournament and one of their 5 worst of the season (better than what we did in Madison).

[Karl Beem]

So did the refs hand us the game by putting Okafor on the bench?

We will never hear the end of this Winslow tipped ball. It was obviously tipped; I'm sure everyone will admit it.

You couldn't see the ball deflect.

[subzero02]

1 shining moment next!!!!!! WOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOO!!!! Tyus and Grayson, just think how great they'll be next year ;-)

[Lulu]

If you saw it that obviously you have better eyes than mine.

Well I didn't see it live, but his finger buckled under the ball on all those slo-mo replays. I mean, I'm glad the officials didn't have the same angle apparently, but of course won't say it changed the outcome, though you know others will.

What a phenomenal outcome. Still can't wrap my brain around it really. I think I was more pumped after we beat UNC just because this isn't sinking in. Crazy awesome.

[tfk53]

So impressed with Amile's defense on Frank the tank. Absolutely needed that to get #5.
K massaging the foul trouble. Superb.
Duke attacking the basket in 2nd half. Such an energizer.
Grayson. Love this guy!
Such a game. Intense battle. Badgers never backed down.
I can sleep tonight!

[Tjenkins]

Fractions

In the past quarter-century, Duke has won one-fifth of the national championships

And as of tonight, Coach K. has more titles than Rupp.

[#1Duke]

I was concerned about our defense against Wisconsin. Like I said, Coach K did one heck of a job and our players played extremely hard.