Julie's Musings

Two adages went through my mind toward the end of the Duke versus UNC game at the Dean Dome last night. The first was that you live or die by the three-point shot. The second was “go for the win on the road and the tie at home.” Both adages held true last night.

Normally, a basketball team will start running its last play with around eight seconds left on the clock to leave sufficient time for a rebound if the shot is missed. Last night, Austin Rivers took the last shot, a three pointer, with a little more than one second left to play. He did not seem to seriously consider that he could drive to the basket and tie the game with one of his patented drives. He did not consider shooting the ball with more time left on the clock to allow Mason Plumlee or Ryan Kelly to gather a rebound and putback or tip the ball in to send the game into overtime. Austin Rivers seemed to consider one thing; he was taking the last shot and it was going to be a three. Duke was either going to win or lose. Duke won when Rivers’ high-arcing shot sailed through the air—almost in slow motion—and swished through the net.

Next came the many images: the Duke players celebrating, the Duke coaches jumping and yelling, the devastated UNC players, the stunned, often open-mouthed, UNC fans and cheerleaders.

Perhaps the best image was in my own living room where two teenage boys stared nervously, uncomprehendingly, at the three grown women jumping up and down, screaming at the top of their lungs.

I read once where Coach K said that it was important to find the player who is the heart of the other team, “because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.”  If you cut out the heart, the team dies. Last night, Coach K decided to take out the entire UNC body: the team, the coaches, and the fans.

The end was fitting—for a Duke fan, anyway—to a great game played by two good teams with esteemed basketball traditions, two revered Hall of Fame coaches, and very talented and classy players from both teams.

And to think they play again in three weeks.