March Madness Final: Duke Learns How to Chew Their Food

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Tuesday, April 07, 2015

J.R. Taylor, GoLocalPDX Contributor

After last year's first round upset against Mercer, Duke returned with all of their rudimentary eating skills. The Blue Devils sat down at the table prepared for any four course meal the tournament threw at them.

Duke's serving of bread was a whole-grain Robert Morris, their appetizer was the sizzling Aztecs of San Diego State, and the boys finished off their soup and salad with Utah.

The main dish was a challenge for the Blue Devils, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs did not go down easy. Michigan State was a side-dish to say the least, and Duke probably could've dealt with seconds. Finally, Duke had just enough room for desert. Wisconsin was the sweet chocolate lava cake to conclude Krzyzewski's Monday night meal. 

Last night was the epic conclusion to an action-packed tournament. Two unexpected powerhouses faced off for the biggest college basketball game of the year. Wisconsin represented the Big-10, and the Duke was the face of the ACC. A long history of college basketball has Duke as the re-occurring poster child of the NCAA. Last night was Duke's 11th appearance in the championship, compared to Wisconsin who hadn't made a finals appearance since 1941. 

Krzyzewski in a sense, was at home last night in Indiana. His coaching style contains the brains of Greg Popovich, and the passion of Bob Knight. He is easily one of the greatest coaches in NCAA history. The mental toughness he holds could possibly be rooted in his history with the Army. His recruiting class wasn't so lousy either. 

The freshman class is well represented on this Blue Devil team. Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor were just what the doctor ordered following last year's first round collapse. In last night's game alone, Jones had 23 points for Duke, and Okafor added 10 of his own. The boys in blue got a boost from one of their underrated players, Grayson Allen. Allen never has big numbers and rarely plays more than his average amount of minutes, but last night was different. Allen had 16 points last night, and fueled the Blue Devils second half serge. What a big game to have a big game. Justice Winslow had 11 of his own in his 32 minutes of playing time. Overall, Tyus Jones was the big name of this game, and has a promising career ahead of him.

Moreover, Wisconsin fought hard. Early in the second half Wisconsin held a nine point lead, and showed no signs of stopping. Following, Duke called a much needed timeout which began the Grayson Allen and Tyus Jones takeover. Frank Kaminsky had his average performance, and put up great numbers for the Badgers. The rest of the team couldn't add that same presence. Sam Dekker didn't have as big of a game as he had prior, and his offensive absence had a lot of gravity on Wisconsin's success. Wisconsin kept their shooting line-up in far too long, and lost the cadence and control they established early in the game. Any good analyst could tell you that Wisconsin's second half adjustments lost them the game.

They went against one of America's oldest pastimes, "Don't fix what isn't broken". 

Now that the tournament's over, it's time to hop back on the seasonal pro-sport bandwagon. Listen in on all sports conversations you're clearly not included in, and spill your newly acquired sports knowledge verbatim. All of you're friends are sure to deem you a sports genius. Thanks for playing the game, and please come back next year. Til then, cheers. 
 

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