While there’s still hope for the NBA to crown a 2020 champion, the same cannot be said for college basketball. When professional sports organizations put their seasons on hold in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the NCAA canceled all winter tournaments — including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
Since there won’t be any bracket busting or Cinderella stories this year, Nets Wire will try to help fans get their March Madness fix by looking back at performances and runs that featured current Brooklyn Nets players:
March 24, 2011
Kyrie Irving only played in 11 games throughout his one year at Duke before heading to the NBA, but he did enough to convince the Cleveland Cavaliers to take him No. 1 overall in the 2011 draft.
Irving’s college career went from brief to abbreviated because of a toe injury on his right foot. But after missing all of January, February and the first half of March, Irving was back in time to help No. 1 Duke make its March Madness push in the West Region.
After cruising past No. 16 Hampton and defeating No. 8 Michigan 73-71, the Blue Devils ran into No. 5 Arizona.
Duke took a 44-38 lead going into halftime, but the Wildcats came out in full force for the second half, en route to a 93-77 win (full box score).
“After we lost the lead, I think everyone got a little rattled,” Irving said after the loss. “We tried to settle down, but by then it was too late.”
Irving closed out his college career with an efficient 28-point performance off the bench. He went 9-for-15 from the floor (2-for-4 from beyond the arc). He also had a steal and three assists.
“I could definitely see myself wearing a Duke uniform again,” the now-Nets point guard said after what would be his final game in a Duke uniform. “I don’t want to take it off right now.”
Irving averaged 17.5 points per game on 52.9% shooting (46.2% from deep). He was also a 90.1% free-throw shooter and averaged 4.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game for Duke.