These games were both electric, best Final Four in a very long time.
If you take away the almost killer mistake by the Houston kid reaching across and knocking the ball away on the inbounds play, Duke was not getting clean looks. They scored 1 FG in the last 10+ minutes.
A lot of Jon Scheyer fans have to be asking the question about winning a national title....if Cooper Flagg is really that guy, is Duke going to win a title after this type of meltdown??
Purdue had 2 epic failures in the last 3 to 4 years and rallied to make the final games, but fell short with a rare player like Zach Edey. If you're Duke is there another Cooper Flagg or freshman class like this, capable of getting you this far??
The portal guys for Duke, did enough most of the year, but hurt them in big spots tonight down the stretch.....Sion James can't inbound the ball cleanly a couple of times....Mason Gillis with a flagrant foul. Add in a veteran Duke guard like Proctor, still hovering around 65% from the FT line. Duke guards did not come through in their losses this year.
Tough way to lose, but Houston was resilient enough to hang in there for all 40 minutes.....ton of credit to Kelvin Sampson, for keeping Houston connected AFTER the technical foul and NOT fouling down SIX with under a minute left.....they get the stop, rebound and take their time and get the 3......elite coaching down the stretch to stay that disciplined.
