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The week of, and after, the Final Four is always filled with surprises.
Since only one team can win the NCAA basketball tournament, all the others are sort of the losers. The most pain is being felt by Duke after the prohibitive favorite to strip the nets in San Antonio bombed out.
Even the most partial blogs out there are assigning blame to how exactly the blowout Blue Devils – the most dominating team in college ball this season – could have let that one slip away in the second of three dramatic comeback wins in Texas at one of the best Final Fours ever.
Jon Scheyer still has eight years to win a national title faster than his Hall of Fame predecessor Mike Krzyzewski, who won the first of his five in his 11th season at Duke (1991 after losing at the 1986, ’88, ’89 and ’90 Final Fours).
Even the beat writers who cover the Devils are linking their second half collapse to others they have had. Matt Giles, who covers Duke for Sports Illustrated.com, said they took the pedal off the medal after having double-digit leads in both halves.
Long-time Dukies always hated when Coach K, himself, went to a spread offense to run some clock late in games the Devils were winning. Duke led Louisville late in the 1986 national championship game, lost to Seton Hall in 1989 and to Kentucky in the 1998 Elite Eight, etc.
Of course, Carolina was famous for falling behind early in Final Four losses to Kansas in 1991, Arizona in 1997 and Utah in 1998. Roy Williams got to four championship games in his five Final Fours at UNC, winning three on Monday night.
Why did Scheyer keep 7-2 South Sudanese freshman Khaman Maluach in for 21 minutes against Houston without pulling down a single rebound? Several outlets reported that Maluach was worried he might get deported under the new U.S. immigration policies and miss the championship game.
Then, on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal released valuations of major college basketball programs. According to Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University-Columbus, UNC finished first with an “enterprise value” of $378 million, with total revenue of $38 million and cash flow of $23 million. Duke was second ($370 million), followed by Indiana (Bloomington) at $279m and Ohio State at $262m.
No idea what those numbers really mean, but it was good to see Carolina at the top of some poll after such an average basketball season that ended in the NCAA round of 64. UNC’s value likely edged Duke by selling out one of the biggest college arenas.
Florida’s rallies to beat Auburn and Houston (after the Cougars held Duke to one field goal over the last nine minutes) proved the Gators were as good as any team down the stretch of the season.
One level-headed headline on the Duke demise said simply, “Duke lost but it was still a beautiful team.”
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Featured image via Associated Press/Stephanie Scarbrough
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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