Tag: Elite Eight

Former UNC star Armando Bacot says he wanted Duke to beat NC State in the Elite Eight

In a new episode of the Run Your Race podcast, former Tar Heels star Armando Bacot said he wished Duke had beaten NC State in the Elite Eight.

Who would have thought Duke basketball would find an ally with [autotag]Armando Bacot[/autotag]?

The five-year North Carolina starter played against the Blue Devils 11 times, including devastating victories in [autotag]Mike Krzyzewski[/autotag]’s final home and the 2022 Final Four.

However, Bacot revealed on a Tuesday podcast episode that, during Duke’s Elite Eight battle against NC State this year, he was rooting for his bitter rival.

Bacot appeared on the Run Your Race podcast with fellow UNC legend Theo Pinson, and it sounded like both of them disliked the Wolfpack even more than the Blue Devils.

“I wanted Duke to go to the Final Four,” Bacot told Pinson. “They were good enough and like, maybe they beat Purdue, fine, they weren’t beating UConn…It would be remembered at Duke for maybe two-to-three years and after that, like, they didn’t win it all, so be it.”

“But NC State? They never going to let this go.”

Bacot said he blamed the Wolfpack’s Cinderella run on the Blue Devils for losing to NC State in the ACC Tournament.

Bacot also told Pinson in the same episode that he rooted for the Blue Devils growing up, listing Jahlil Okafor and Jabari Parker as his favorite childhood players.

Duke Blue Devils, Jon Scheyer add Tulane Green Wave transfer guard Sion James

Duke adds Tulane transfer Sion James.

The Duke Blue Devils landed their third transfer of the offseason when Tulane transfer Sion James announced his commitment on Friday. On3’s Joe Tipton first reported the decision.

James declared for the NBA Draft while retaining his eligibility earlier this spring. After a pre-draft workout in Memphis last week, James officially visited Duke, and the rest is history.

The newest Blue Devil is listed as a 6-foot-6, 220-pound guard who appeared in 31 games for the Green Wave during the 2023-24 season, leading the team in minutes at nearly 37 per game. He was highly productive, with averages of 14.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest while shooting 51% from the field. He was proficient from deep, too, shooting 38% with an effective field goal percentage of 59 percent, good for the 84th percentile in college basketball last year.

James’ value to Duke is his physicality and slashing ability. One area Duke has lacked in the last couple of seasons was a guard consistently getting downhill to the lane and finishing regularly. James has the size and strength, coupled with an excellent first step, to be a menace to opposing defenses as he attacks the lane. Half of his shot attempts last year were at the rim, where he shot 62%.

He also played point guard for the Green Wave, highlighted by his 13% assist rate. He routinely initiated offenses for Tulane and could create shots for others even when out of sets.

[autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag]’s second season at Duke improved in many areas from year one. However, it was not without turbulence. That’s part of the growth process for a young coach—especially one without any head coaching experience before he took over the job from the legendary Mike Krzyzewski.

After an appearance in the Elite Eight that saw them lose to NC State, it was back to the drawing board for Scheyer and his staff as they look to bring Duke its sixth national championship and first since 2015.

Seven players from the 2023-24 team entered the transfer portal. The type of mass exodus that would have any program scrambling. Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster announced their intentions to return. Duke has six freshmen inbound, led by high school basketball’s best player, Cooper Flagg. The Blue Devils already added Purdue transfer Mason Gillis and Syracuse big man Maliq Brown from the portal.

Duke now has three guards who aren’t freshmen. They can rely on one to bring the ball up. It also gives Duke another wrinkle of versatility, as James can seamlessly guard positions 1-3. Hence, it allows Scheyer to run a full three-guard lineup like this past year or have one of Proctor, Foster, or James come off the bench as a big-time stabilizing force for Duke’s second unit.

This addition also allows Duke not to rely on freshmen Darren Harris, Kon Knueppel, and Isaiah Evans nearly as much and will enable them to ease into the college game.

Duke’s impact transfer portal pursuits are wrapped up. Any other transfers are likely for deep bench depth and are unlikely to be counted on as meaningful contributors nightly.

‘We should have been up more’: Coach K reacts to Elite Eight loss to NC State

“We should be up by double digits,” legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said about the Blue Devils’ six-point halftime lead over NC State last Sunday.

When looking back at Duke’s Elite Eight loss to NC State last Sunday, the easy issues to find came in the second half. When talking about the game on Sirius XM earlier this week, legendary Blue Devils Mike Krzyzewski said the problem came earlier than that.

The five-time national champion said the Blue Devils, who took a 27-21 lead into halftime, should have been up by double-digits at the halfway point.

“I felt we should have been up more,” Krzyzewski said.

Coach K pointed out that, while Duke’s 30.8% shooting percentage in the first half reflected the Wolfpack’s defensive prowess, the Blue Devils were still a perfect nine-for-nine from the free-throw line.

“The thing I worried about was (NC State guard DJ) Horne,” he added. “He’s been a hot player and he didn’t hit anything…But then in the second half, they continued to play really good defense and their offense exploded.”

Sure enough, NC State outscored the Blue Devils 55-37 over the final 20 minutes.

“They outplayed us in the second half,” Coach K said simply.

Duke-NC State was the most-watched Elite Eight games in years

The Blue Devils and Wolfpack drew more than 15 million viewers on Sunday, the most-watched Elite Eight telecast in five years.

Duke and NC State, the third intrastate Elite Eight matchup in NCAA Tournament history, set some viewership records on Sunday.

The Blue Devils and the Wolfpack drew 15.1 million viewers, the most of any Elite Eight game in five years. In fact, it was the most-watched telecast on Easter Sunday in more than a decade.

The Blue Devils are clearly still the biggest draw in the sport because the previous most-watched Easter Sunday game was when Duke played Louisville in 2013.

Sunday’s game drew almost 19 million viewers at its peak.

Duke took a six-point lead into halftime, but the Wolfpack surged back for a dominant second half to make the Final Four for the first time in four decades.

The Duke-NC State game averaged more than five million viewers more than the Purdue-Tennessee precursor, which came in around 10.4 million viewers.

Ryan Ruocco delivered the funniest call of a thrilling Caitlin Clark 3-pointer during LSU vs. Iowa

Ryan Ruocco absolutely nailed this call.

ESPN broadcaster Ryan Ruocco drew arguably the best game of the women’s NCAA tournament so far, as LSU and Iowa finally faced off in the 2024 Elite Eight for a rematch of last year’s national title game.

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark brought her unreal ability to hit 3-pointers from seemingly anywhere on her side of the court with her on Monday night, as she got the third quarter started off right with a stellar 3-point shot from near the logo.

Ruocco had plenty of Clark 3-point shots to call during the game, and he found a hysterical way to ring this one in. Since this game is being played in Albany, New York, Ruocco yelled “From Schenectady!” after Clark banked the 3-pointer.

Ruocco did as well with the broadcast call here as Clark did with the basket, as the viewers at home had to appreciate the creativity from the ESPN broadcaster to make this Clark thrilling 3-pointer take even more life.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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How the NCAA says it fixed the women’s Portland court before UConn-USC Elite Eight game

The NCAA apologized for having unequal 3-point lines and said it was “human error”.

The NCAA’s history of slights and mismanagement during the women’s basketball tournament unfortunately continued in 2024 — with more than one example — but as far as unequal 3-point lines go, it says it fixed the issue.

During the women’s NCAA tournament Elite Eight on Sunday, before NC State and Texas tipped off at the Moda Center in Portland, both teams and officials noticed that the 3-point arcs on opposite sides of the court were different distances. At that point, it was too late to change, and the game carried on with the Wolfpack advancing to the Final Four.

The court that five total women’s games were played on between the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight had one 3-point line that was nine inches shorter at the apex than the other side, the NCAA said in a statement released Monday. That this even happened is an embarrassing and careless oversight, and the NCAA apologized, blaming “human error” and acknowledging it “should have caught the error sooner.”

Part of the NCAA’s statement read:

“The NCAA uses an official supplier, Connor Sports, to produce and install all men’s and women’s basketball predetermined site tournament courts.

For all NCAA courts, a small hole is punched in the floor at each end of the court that indicates ‘center-of-basket’ during the finishing process. A calibrated vinyl-tape device is then placed in the hole, which lays the 2-inch game line to be painted.

After the conclusion of the Elite 8 game and a subsequent team practice, the NCAA worked with a Connor Sports certified technician to inspect the court markings in Portland. Review of the Portland court found the center-hole was punched in the wrong position, which resulted in the incorrect arc measurement for the 3-point line. The center-hole was placed approximately 9 inches from the center of the basket, causing the arc of the 3-point line to be approximately 9 inches short at the apex of the arc. Connor Sports and the NCAA found the inaccurate line was the result of human error by the finisher contracted by Connor Sports. The review also found the sides of the 3-point line were accurately painted, as were all other court markings.”

So how was the court fixed? Per the NCAA’s statement:

“Overnight in Portland, the incorrect 3-point line was painted over with a color that matches as closely as possible with the wood grain of the floor, and the correct 3-point line was painted on in black. This change brings the court into full compliance with NCAA playing rules.”

The unequal 3-point distances was noticeable — and painfully obvious once you saw it — but the lines appear to be the same distance now. The court before Monday:

And the court after the adjustments:

The NCAA also determined that other measurements for the tournament were correct and described this as “an isolated incident.”

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The best photos from Sunday’s game against NC State

The best photos from Duke’s game against NC State on Sunday.

Duke let a first-half lead and a chance at the Final Four slip away on Easter Sunday.

After a low-scoring first 20 minutes, the Blue Devils took a 27-21 in the locker room behind 13 points from star freshman Jared McCain. In the second half, however, the control fell apart. NC State stars DJ Burns and DJ Horne combined to shoot 14/18 from the floor in the second half, putting up 49 points between the two of them.

The Blue Devils, on the other hand, managed to make just 11 of their 33 attempts in the second half. McCain finished with 32 points on 8/20 shooting, but his teammates combined to add 32 points on 39 shots.

Here are the best photos from Duke’s season-ending loss.

Potential Thunder draft prospect Jared McCain scores 32 points in Duke’s loss to NC State

Potential Thunder draft prospect Jared McCain scores 32 points in Duke’s loss to NC State.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could have two 2024 first-round picks in the lottery range. They own the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick and the Utah Jazz’s top-10 protected pick. The former looks more likely to convey to OKC than the latter.

With the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament concluded, the top prospects were in the spotlight as they drew national attention for their postseason performances.

Considering the Thunder will likely have at least one lottery pick, plenty of possible additions via the draft give fans a chance to see how they match up in high-stress situations.

One possibility is Duke guard Jared McCain. He finished with 32 points on 8-of-20 shooting, 5-of-11 from 3, 11-of-11 from the free-throw line and six rebounds in 40 minutes in No. 4 Duke’s 76-64 loss to No. 11 NC State in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

McCain will likely be a one-and-done case; the freshman guard has played a vital role in Duke’s success. In 34 games, he averaged 14 points on 46.5% shooting, five rebounds and 1.9 assists. He shot 41.5% from 3 on 5.7 attempts.

The 20-year-old is a crafty scorer who can stretch the floor. Size is an issue  at 6 feet, 3 inches and 197 pounds, but he can grow into a solid frame over time.

On the Thunder, McCain can be a crafty scorer off the bench. He can enrich their deep guard depth and can be another catch-and-shoot option for OKC.

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Potential Thunder draft prospect Kyle Filipowski struggles in Duke’s loss to NC State

Potential Thunder draft prospect Kyle Filipowski struggles in Duke’s loss to NC State.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could have two 2024 first-round picks in the lottery range. They own the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick and the Utah Jazz’s top-10 protected pick. The former looks more likely to convey to OKC than the latter.

With the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament concluded, the top prospects were in the spotlight as they drew national attention for their postseason performances.

Considering the Thunder will likely have at least one lottery pick, plenty of possible additions via the draft give fans a chance to see how they match up in high-stress situations.

One possibility is Duke center Kyle Filipowski. He finished with 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting, 5-of-5 from the free-throw line and nine rebounds in 30 minutes in No. 4 Duke’s 76-64 loss to No. 11 NC State in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

 

Filipowski has been the offensive hub for Duke this season. The 7-foot center can stretch the floor and pass when needed. He has an NBA-ready frame at 248 pounds, which means he should immediately contribute and not be physically overwhelmed.

In his second year at Duke, he’s averaged 17.1 points on 51% shooting, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 blocks. He’s shot 35% from 3 on 3.2 attempts. The 20-year-old has led Duke to a 24-8 record and the No. 4 seed in the South Region.

The Thunder could hope to add Filipowski to add some serious size at their center spot. He could start alongside Holmgren for jumbo lineups. He’s also versatile enough to fit with OKC.

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Potential Thunder draft prospect Dalton Knecht torches Purdue in Tennessee’s loss

Potential Thunder draft prospect Dalton Knecht torches Purdue in Tennessee’s loss.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could have two 2024 first-round picks in the lottery range. They own the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick and the Utah Jazz’s top-10 protected pick. The former looks more likely to come to OKC than the latter.

With the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament concluded, the top prospects were in the spotlight as they drew national attention for their postseason performances.

Considering the Thunder will likely have at least one lottery pick, plenty of possible additions via the draft give fans a chance to see how they match up in high-stress situations.

One possibility is Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht. He finished with 37 points on 14-of-31 shooting, 6-of-12 from 3 and three rebounds in 37 minutes in No. 2 Tennessee’s 72-66 loss to No. 1 Purdue in the Elite Eight on Sunday.

The third-year player has enjoyed a career season at Tennessee after spending the last two years with small-school Northern Colorado. The 22-year-old is one of the older lottery prospects, but the negative connotation surrounding age has slowly faded.

Knecht’s best skill is outside shooting; he has been a high-volume 3-point shooter. He has averaged 21.1 points on 47% shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He’s shot 39.7% from 3 on 6.2 attempts.

The high-volume outside shooter would add another 3-point threat for the Thunder. Sharpshooters are always in demand in the NBA. He can provide OKC with spacing.

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