Duke Chronicle Postseason Preview 2024

JUST DANCE

graphic by dom fenoglio

By Caleb Dudley Associate Sports Editor

SLeader down low, leader out loud

enior Night was emotional at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In senior center Kennedy Brown, Duke honored its steadying presence in the post, an extension of head coach Kara Lawson, a leader who has quickly developed into a favorite of the staff and fans alike in her two years playing for the Blue Devils.

While she may not have the flashiest stats every night in the box score due to her defensive emphasis, Brown’s presence down low is undeniable. She is an imposing anchor in the post and leads by example for one of the country’s premier defensive units.

In her last year of eligibility, the center was tasked with taking on a new role: becoming a true leader both on and off the court for a rebuilding team after an eventful offseason. If there were any problems adjusting, one would have never been able to tell from the outside looking in. Brown handled a monumental roster change with grace, and now has her squad primed to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.

Growing up

Coming up in Derby, Kan., Brown experimented with all sorts of sports. Following in the footsteps of her parents, who both hooped in college, she finally settled on basketball as she headed into high school. With the pair coaching her as she rose up through the high school ranks, Brown developed into a top national prospect in the nation, earning Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year honors and a spot on the McDonald’s All-American roster. She decided that Oregon State would be the best place to continue her career.

“I credit that to my mom, she always told me defense is going to get you on the court,” Brown told The Chronicle. “I really focused on defense, rebounding and blocking shots, altering shots, whatever I could do just to stay out on the court.”

In Corvallis, Ore., the center was an instant impact player, earning a place as a starter from the opening day of the season and continuing to start every game that she played in. She averaged 6.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest in her rookie season while also climbing her way into fourth on the program’s freshman blocks leaderboard.

However, in February of her rookie season, Brown tore her ACL. She missed the rest of the campaign and eventually all of her sophomore season as well. Back in the game for her third year — as a junior with an extra year of eligibility after receiving a medical redshirt — Brown averaged 7.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21 starts, but decided to enter the transfer portal in search of a new destination to finish out her college career.

After filtering through the options and applying her personal criteria, Brown decided on Durham as her new home.

“[Duke] really respected what I was looking for and was honest with me throughout the whole process,” Brown said. “The vision coach Kara had for me, how she saw me fitting into her system ... was something that I really liked.”

First year

Coming into a new environment, Brown had to start from scratch. Lawson’s system was nowhere near what Brown was used to running with the Beavers, especially on the defensive end. With a team full of excellent defenders headlined by star guard Celeste Taylor, Brown had to get up to speed quickly if she wanted to hold up her end of the bargain.

“It was kind of just breaking habits that I had learned at Oregon State, things that we would do differently there and reverting back to more of a natural defensive system for me,” Brown said.

Off the court, the center also had to build bonds with a whole new group of teammates. With a veteran-laden group like the one the Blue Devils sported last season, it was also a challenge for her to develop leadership skills right away.

“It was definitely a big adjustment for me. Coming in as a new player in this system last year, I wasn’t as vocal because I hadn’t been here,” Brown said. “It’s my first year, it’s like being a freshman, basically, for this team. And so I had a lot to learn in that way.”

Despite the learning curve, Brown had an excellent first year in the ACC, starting all 33 contests for Lawson’s squad and posting a stat line of 6.5 points, 4.8

rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. The latter figure proved to be the center’s most impactful contribution to a team that had plenty of other scoring options. The Blue Devils ended the season as the clear best defensive unit in the conference, allowing a stingy 51 points per game.

This performance led Duke to one of its best seasons in recent memory, finishing 26-7 in the regular season and earning a No. 3-seed in the NCAA tournament before ultimately getting upset in the second round by No. 6-seed Colorado.

The offseason brought a boatload of departures from the program, including a surprise announcement from Taylor when she elected to depart for Ohio State. As a result, Brown and then-sophomore Reigan Richardson became the only healthy returners who had played meaningful minutes, leading to a shift in philosophy for Lawson and Brown alike.

Senior leadership

Rather than a complete overhaul through established players in the transfer portal, Lawson decided to go for a developmental approach to the 2023-24 season. She brought in six underclassmen, leaving Brown as one of the team’s elder statesmen.

Unlike the year prior, there was simply no way for the senior to be able to sit back and let others take the reins in leadership, as

the newbies were now counting on Brown to captain the ship moving forward.

“This year, being one of the only vets, one of the only people who knew the system, what the standards were, what the expectations were — I definitely had to step up a lot to be more of a vocal leader,” Brown said.

Duke added Yale graduate transfer Camilla Emsbo in the portal over the offseason, who has been a perfect counterpart for Brown. Much like the other half of the duo, Emsbo excels at blocking shots, making the pair a combo punch when one needs to go sit on the bench.

While the Blue Devils’ overall record may not be eye-catching, Brown’s impact should not be uncelebrated. Duke is a No. 7-seed in the tournament and pulled off multiple ranked upsets in its regular season. And after two years with the program, Brown’s leadership skills have reached full bloom.

The kicker? Should both the Blue Devils and the region’s No. 2 seed win, Brown and company will face off against Taylor.

“I think leadership is probably the biggest thing I’ve grown into this season,” she said. “As a center in our offense, it’s kind of up to me to make a decision and that’s something Kara has kind of trusted me in doing.”

After the inevitable end of the season, Brown will move on to a career in physical therapy, a path that was inspired by her experience rehabbing from her ACL tear. Duke, on the other hand, will be left with a 6-foot-6 hole.

In the meantime, though, the Blue Devils’ foes have to contend with a 6-foot-6 wall.

Karen Xu | News Photography Editor

Kennedy Brown leaps above a North Carolina defender for a layup during Duke’s regular-season finale in Chapel Hill.

Laura Cai | Staff Photographer

Duke’s senior center celebrates a bucket during her team’s ACC tournament opener against Georgia Tech.

KENNEDY BROWN DUKE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CENTER

The vision coach Kara had for me, how she saw me fitting into her system, or team, was something that I really liked.

Column: Elite defense makes Duke an elite team

Defense wins championships. If that is true, then Duke women’s basketball has the potential to make a run in the NCAA tournament.

Absolute lockdown defense has characterized this group all season long. Their intensity has kept them competitive with highly ranked teams, stifling even some of the country’s strongest offensive efforts. From the beginning of the season, both fans and opponents of the Blue Devils recognized, and admired, this defensive prowess.

“The game went exactly like we thought it would in terms of the difficulty that Duke poses, and they imposed their will defensively,” said Cheryl Reeve, head coach of USA Basketball after the team’s November scrimmage with the Blue Devils.

“I think [Duke was] number two in the country if I’m not mistaken defensively, and that will continue to be a big part of their identity.”

She was not mistaken. Heading into the postseason, Duke ranks 40th in the country for total defense while also playing the nation’s 10th-hardest schedule, holding its opponents to a mere 57.7 points per game. That includes near-upsets against the eventual ACC and SEC champions and stunning wins against all but two foes above them in the ACC table.

A week after the Blue Devils’ matchup against Team USA, they traveled to Palo

Alto, Calif., to take on then-No. 6 Stanford. Despite falling short in a thrilling overtime bout, it was Duke’s second-half defensive heroics that nearly secured a monumental upset. The Blue Devils held the Cardinal to 71 points in regular time, more than six points fewer than Stanford’s average, and showcased their ability to capitalize on stops to keep themselves firmly in contention.

On Dec. 3, Duke hosted undefeated No. 1 South Carolina. As the clock wound down on the third quarter, the Blue Devils found themselves trailing by only three, limiting the Gamecocks to just 55 points. Although South Carolina ultimately secured a 77-61 victory, it was evident that the defensive efforts of the Blue Devils — specifically of freshman Jadyn Donovan — proved crucial in containing a team accustomed to scoring an average of 86.1 points per game. Donovan’s exceptional performance, featuring four blocks, two steals and six rebounds, underscored Duke’s resilience in curtailing its opponent’s offensive firepower.

According to head coach Kara Lawson, her squad’s defensive acumen did not truly become consistent until its dominant performance against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets average 68.3 points per game, but the Blue Devils were able to hold them to a measly 46.

“We talked about pressuring the ball and disrupting their offense. And I thought we did that in particular in that first quarter,” Lawson said after that game. “We’re starting to get better defensively.

The Blue Devils celebrate during their late fourth-quarter comeback against North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. We’ve been inconsistent with it, and it was nice to see them put together a full game.”

Defensive stops lead to buckets. That’s exactly what happened in both the game against Georgia Tech and the subsequent matchup with then-No. 14 Virginia Tech and ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley, who Duke beat 63-46. Through relentless pressure, the Blue Devils amassed an impressive tally of 10 steals and five blocks against the Hokies, setting the stage for a commanding victory in which the Blue Devils claimed a 19-0 fast-break point differential.

The next week was one of the Blue Devils’ best defensive performances of the season. They defeated then-No. 23 Florida State 88-46.

“We emphasized defense throughout our preparation for this game. As we know they are a high scoring team, they’re going to keep coming at us the whole game no matter what the score is,” said sophomore guard Taina Mair. “So we just made sure we were always in our right spots and just continued to communicate with each other and just being in the right spots on defense led to a great defensive game.”

In the first half, Duke restricted the Seminoles to 22 points, marking their lowest scoring half all season. This set the tone for the remainder of the game, containing Florida State

See DEFENSE on Page 10

Anabel Howery | Staff Photographer

Riya Khatod

Made in Massachusetts, starring in Durham

By Mackenzie Sheehy and Garrett Spooner Blue Zone Editor, Associate Sports Editor

It’s 7 a.m., an hour before school starts at Worcester Academy. The varsity boys’ basketball team is in the gym for one of its open early-morning pickup games. Duke commit TJ Power takes the court with his teammates to pick up the extra practice.

In the stands, another future Blue Devil — Oluchi Okananwa — is watching.

“We were always trying to pull Oluchi out of the stands,” Power told The Chronicle. “She was good enough to hold her own and compete with us.”

“I would work out with those guys,” Okananwa added. “They were just all extended brothers to me.”

Now, Okananwa is out of the stands and dominating on the court as she and Power prepare for their first postseason as Duke freshmen. However, amidst the new obstacles and adjustments that come with the transition to Division-I basketball, the friendship that formed in Worcester, Mass., is guiding them through it all.

All roads lead to Worcester

While the private high school is the birthplace of their friendship, neither Power nor Okananwa started out there.

For Power’s part, the transition to playing at Worcester Academy was an inevitable one. His older sister Lauren attended first, which helped the family form a crucial relationship with varsity boys’ basketball coach Jamie Sullivan. The Curry College graduate made his gym available for Power to hone his craft through his middle school years, hoping to eventually woo the growing talent to his team.

“I always kept my eye on him … and I always knew that he would come to Worcester Academy,” Sullivan said. “It just depended on when.”

The “when” turned out to be after Power’s sophomore year concluded at St. John’s High School, where he averaged 18.1 points and led his team to the state Division-I semifinals. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the time came for Power

Despite the fact that Okananwa was often around the team off the court, Power’s respect for her came from her work on it. Both self-described “gym rats,” their closeness came from a mutual commitment to effort and extra reps outside of practice. The friendship even persisted when Okananwa stole Power’s hoop — more than a few times.

“There were a lot of times where … I’d show up to the gym, and she’s already at my hoop,” Power said. “Now I’m getting kicked off my own hoop because she’s working out 30 minutes before me.”

Perhaps Okananwa’s dedication toward her craft wasn’t just a small nuisance to Power, but a driving force in him and his team’s successes. Sullivan recognized that. After all, Worcester Academy’s boys program earned back-to-back NEPSAC Class AA titles in both of Okananwa’s years at the school.

was talking about how her dream was to play at Duke.”

As she went on several college visits, Power kept encouraging Okananwa to be patient and wait for an offer from the Blue Devils, hoping that his high school friend would join him in Durham. He’d consistently text her on her visits and try to see where her head was while subtly trying to keep Duke at the forefront of her thoughts.

“He went on an official visit … and I get a call in the middle of night, and it’s from him,” Okananwa recounted. “I’m like, ‘hello,’ and it’s just him listing a bunch of reasons why I needed to commit to Duke.”

“I might be giving myself too much credit, but I was telling her like listen … just wait till you see Duke,” Power said.

“He always liked to say he recruited me,” Okananwa said.

to take his seemingly rightful place on Sullivan’s squad. Power decided to reclassify and repeat his sophomore year.

After a year to get his feet under him, Power made a splash on the prep school scene as a Hilltopper. In 2022, he won the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year after a monster junior season, averaging 13.1 points and leading his team to a NEPSAC Class AA championship. Worcester Academy fit him like a glove.

Although she began her career at Peabody High School and then New Hampton School, Okananwa cashed her final two years of high school eligibility at Worcester, playing under head coach Sherry Levin. Differing from Power, Okananwa boarded at Worcester Academy, fully immersing herself with the school and Levin’s program.

“When they won their championship … they gave me a championship shirt,” Okananwa said with a chuckle.

Committing to Duke

We were always trying to pull Oluchi out of the stands. She was good enough to hold her own and compete with us.

When the decision to play in college came around, it was Power who first set off down the path toward Duke. While he was recruited by schools such as Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA, the Blue Devils quickly caught his eye. He took a visit shortly after receiving an offer from Duke on July 14, 2022. Clearly something in Durham struck a chord as Power committed less than two months later. However, his high school coach predicted his future much earlier.

“I told the family he was going to be a blue blood,” Sullivan said.

Nonetheless, when head coach Kara Lawson brought Okananwa in on an official visit, Okananwa didn’t need much convincing from her future Blue Devil friend. After forcing herself to take a mere 48 hours to reflect after her trip to Durham, Okananwa’s mind was made: She was going to be a Blue Devil.

“I knew I wanted to play for Lawson, and I knew I wanted to play [at Duke],” Okananwa said. “This is a really special program and a special university, so I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.”

Freshman year

While the stage has gotten bigger and the lights have gotten brighter, Okananwa and Power continue to support each other in college. It’s not unusual to see him cheering her on in the stands at home games or reposting her stats on Instagram. He even streams the games when she’s on the road, making sure his former high school teammates do the same.

“[Levin] is the only reason that I went and I played for Worcester Academy,” Okananwa said. “Coach Sherry pushed me in ways that I’d never been pushed before.”

Named team captain in her senior year, Okananwa earned an All-NEPSAC First Team selection and led Worcester Academy to an 18-7 final record. Okananwa’s time with the Hilltoppers, coupled with an impressive AAU showing with Mass Rivals, earned herself a McDonald’s AllAmerican Game nominee selection as well as a late rise to No. 27 overall in ESPN’s Class of 2023 ranking.

The friendship begins

While the Hilltoppers’ boys and girls varsity basketball teams rarely interacted due to their often-conflicting schedules, Okananwa was different. As Sullivan remembers, the Boston native was always around his program.

“Oluchi lived in my office,” Sullivan said. “[She] was in here all the time hanging around with the guys, and Oluchi and the boys were very close.”

“I would be in his office every single day,” Okananwa joked. “All I was missing was to be a boy.”

Even though Power was the first to sign on to the Blue Devils, it was Okananwa whose dream it was to don Duke blue.

“I remember she made this vision board … in one of her classes at school, and I think it had a Duke logo on it,” Power said. “She

“The first game of the year [against Richmond], she had that huge game,” Power said. “I remember I was sitting in class, banging on my desk every time she scored.”

Off the court, the two are there for each other as well. Living in the same freshman residence hall has allowed them to help each

See WORCESTER on Page 10

Alyssa Ting | Photography Editor

TJ Power runs back up the court after sinking a three against Virginia.

Karen Xu | News Photography Editor Oluchi Okananwa backs down her defender on her way to the basket during Duke’s loss at North Carolina.

TJ POWER DUKE FRESHMAN FORWARD

Blue Devils stunned by Wolfpack in ACC quarterfinal

By Andrew Long Sports Editor

WASHINGTON— Rudyard Kipling famously wrote that “the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

Duke had two wolves. N.C. State had a whole pack.

Despite entering the game as 11.5-point favorites, the second-seeded Blue Devils were forced to play from behind for the vast majority of their ACC tournament quarterfinal against No. 10-seed N.C. State at Capital One Arena last Thursday evening. A colossal game from sophomore center Kyle Filipowski wasn’t enough to overcome his team’s woeful shooting or the Wolfpack’s locktight defense, and the Blue Devils head home early on the back of a heartbreaking 74-69 defeat.

“It’s a disappointing loss for us, we wanted to make a run at this thing,” head coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. “And coming off of Saturday, we’ve been able to spend a lot of time on ourselves for the first time, and that didn’t translate fully. Clearly, N.C. State is playing the best basketball they’ve played probably, and you give them credit, they’re talented. When you’re playing in the postseason, teams don’t want to go away, you have to make them go away.”

Down nine with 14 minutes to play in the second period, shooting barely above 20% from deep and under 40% from the floor and facing early elimination from the ACC tournament, the Blue Devils needed to rally. Sophomore forward Mark Mitchell popped up a line-drive 3-pointer that put some life back into the Duke bench before N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts called a timeout.

Filipowski held the ball high above his head to assess the floor before locking in, spinning and taking it himself for a one-handed hook shot. An inbound pass found his hand for a power dribble and another shallow floater. Tyrese Proctor knifed his way through the defense and kissed the ball in, prompting the bench and crowd to explode as Duke’s deficit dwindled to 50-48.

The Wolfpack responded with a tornado of points of their own and battled to rebuild their lead to multiple possessions, an advantage they had held since just before the halftime break. Casey Morsell, Michael O’Connell, DJ Horne and Mohamed Diarra each contributed to help hold the Blue Devils under their heel and surf their way to an eventual win.

Halfway through the final minute, however, N.C. State’s Ben Middlebrooks got the ball below the basket and went up for the slam. The ball bounced off the back iron as he hung on the rim, the refs called a technical foul and sent Jared McCain to the free-throw line, giving the Blue Devils a shot and a chance. Filipowski fought for a close bucket to cut it to two, but his fifth foul gave N.C. State a couple tries of its own to close the book on a frantic final minute. Horne sank both free throws, keeping his team’s remarkable run to the semifinals intact.

The game’s introductory minutes were a hollow bunch. Mitchell had the chance to open proceedings with a couple tries from the line but the sophomore forward banged both off the rim, contributing to a threeand-a-half-minute 0-0 deadlock. McCain eventually opened Duke’s account from the stripe himself and was quickly followed by some quick buckets by O’Connell, Horne and Filipowski.

“It’s happened three games in a row, and that’s a concern,” Scheyer said of the slow start. “That’s a big concern. I mean, even the start of the second half was the same way. And so as a coach, we have to have to figure out how to get that message across better or differently.”

When you’re playing in the postseason, teams don’t want to go away, you have to make them go away.

JON SCHEYER DUKE HEAD COACH

“It’s all mentality,” Roach said. “At the end of the day we just have to come out and compete.” In an opening reminiscent of the Blue Devils’ regularseason clash with N.C. State just 10 days ago, many — if not most — shots from both teams failed to find their targets. That was especially true for Duke from downtown. The Blue Devils, save some free throws and a few characteristic forays into the post by Filipowski, shot nothing but blanks from 3-point land for nearly 11 minutes. Proctor finally ended the drought from the top of the arc and followed it up with another

three shortly after, keeping Duke within a possession of a Horne-led N.C. State.

The tides turned quickly from there, with a couple quick buckets by Filipowski and a two-handed slam by Mitchell handing the Blue Devils their first lead since McCain’s game-opening free throws. But no advantage seemed to last very long for Duke, which quickly surrendered the lead and failed to recapture it.

Filipowski was without a doubt Duke’s most effective and efficient player. The sophomore center, despite grabbing a couple fouls in the first half (just like he did last time against the Wolfpack) was imposing on both sides of the ball, using his size to make space for himself down low. His defense also took a massive leap forward, holding N.C. State stalwart big man DJ Burns Jr. to an unremarkable 10 points — nearly a perfect inverse of the meeting in Raleigh when Filipowski was the one getting outmuscled.

Horne was perhaps the most notable absentee — at least in spirit — from Duke’s win against the Wolfpack last week, but the graduate transfer came to play this time around. A contested three from the corner and a beat-down and-one were early highlights from the Raleigh native, who found a way through Proctor’s on-ball defense to make an impact. A buzzer-beating midrange jumper extended his team’s halftime lead from one to three and sent the Wolfpack into the locker room on a high before re-emerging with a layup in the second. That bucket capped a quick 6-0 run that forced a timeout from Scheyer.

It’s all mentality. At the end of the day, we just have to come out and compete.

JEREMY ROACH

DUKE SENIOR GUARD

“I think both these guys were bigtime competitors today, they almost willed us to win the game,” Scheyer said of Mitchell and Filipowski. “They’re playing a lot of minutes. Combined, they have 46 [points] and 22 [rebounds]. But I just thought they had the will to win, which is what you need, but we didn’t have that collectively.”

But while N.C. State’s No. 0 was flying, his counterpart wearing white (McCain) was still grounded. That pair of early foul shots and a midrange floater a few minutes later were really all there was to speak of regarding the sparkling freshman guard. The Wolfpack did an excellent job of shutting McCain down in transition and held him mostly to contested attempts from the right corner, inhibiting his ability to affect the offense in a meaningful way. That, on top of four personal fouls, made for an abridged evening for the usually reliable — and dangerous — All-ACC rookie.

“We got the pieces to do what we need to do,” Roach said. “Just got to go out there and make a run.”

Morgan Chu | Sports Photography Editor

Once again, slow start plagues Duke

By Rachael Kaplan Sports Managing Editor

WASHINGTON—No. 2-seed Duke, 11.5-point favorites against No. 10-seed N.C. State in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, never led in the second half of its 74-69 loss.

It didn’t even tie. In 20 minutes of postseason basketball, the Blue Devils trailed for every second.

For the second game in a row.

Duke, while ultimately earning the first two points, was playing from behind from its opening possession, when sophomore Mark Mitchell tried to pass the ball inside

Jto classmate Kyle Filipowski. But 6-foot9, 275-pound Wolfpack center DJ Burns Jr. was standing in between them. Burns picked it off with ease. By the time the Blue Devils made their first field goal, a Filipowski layup off a Tyrese Proctor lob inside, more than four-and-a-half minutes had bled off the clock. Granted, the Wolfpack had only scored five at that point, but that number didn’t matter. It was greater than the tally next to “Duke” on the jumbotron. The Blue Devils were playing catch up.

Thursday evening’s game came on the heels of yet another Duke-North Carolina showdown in Cameron Indoor Stadium —

one where, in case you hadn’t heard, the Blue Devils never led.

“I just thought they came out and hit us first,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said after the loss to the Tar Heels.

“It’s happened three games in a row,” he echoed after the ACC tournament exit. The three in question are the Blue Devils’ regular-season win against the Wolfpack in Raleigh, that home loss to North Carolina and Thursday’s upset.

It hasn’t just been those three, however. Slow starts and early stumbles have been a landmark of Duke’s season. It was down eight against then-No. 12 Arizona. It faced a four-point halftime deficit against Southern Indiana Nov. 24. Georgia Tech jumped out to an 11-point lead in Atlanta. Against Hofstra, as 15.5-point favorites on their home court, the Blue Devils found themselves down by five with less than four minutes remaining in the first frame after going toe-to-toe with the Pride for 11 minutes. And those were all in 2023.

In nearly all of those games, though, there was a second-half push. Duke came out of the locker room after halftime and hit the ground running. Once conference play ramped up, that trend started to sizzle out.

On Thursday evening in Capital One Arena, the Blue Devils hit halftime down three after a DJ Horne buzzer-beating two-point jumper. Duke had just clawed its way back within striking distance, even taking the lead/breaking even for 1:06. Horne’s shot took the wind out of the

Blue Devils’ sails, but they had a chance to regroup. Scheyer had the opportunity to collect his crew, figure out the fixes and get it right.

N.C. State scored six straight out of the break, and when Scheyer called a timeout less than three minutes into the half, his team’s deficit had grown to nine points.

The Wolfpack had an answer for everything. A Proctor layup was followed by a Casey Morsell drive — except he was fouled, and made his free throw for the three-point play. Filipowski’s secondchance points off his own blocked shot were followed by a Morsell dunk after his own 3-point attempt was too hot. Ben Middlebrooks tipped it to the top of the key and Morsell grabbed the rock and took it to the house. Even a singledigit deficit felt insurmountable for Duke — when it could get its shots to fall, its defensive efforts proved fruitless. N.C. State had seven second-half offensive boards, resulting in 13 second-chance points over the final 20 minutes.

Although the two games were just 10 days apart, this was a different Wolfpack opponent. They leveled up for the postseason. The Blue Devils didn’t.

“You can’t do the same thing,” Scheyer said. “You have to keep raising your level. That’s the thing we didn’t do tonight.”

Duke had the luxury of leaving Washington knowing its season wasn’t over. The last time it lost its conference

Column: Duke is on a skid. That’s not a death sentence

eremy Roach put his hood up, draped a white Gatorade towel over his head and snapped black Beats headphones over his ears. He hung his head and scrolled through his phone silently.

Andrew Long

Mark Mitchell fielded questions curtly and under soft breath, slumped forward in a foldup metal chair. Kyle Filipowski lounged back into his locker, his hair ruffled from sweat and a clear plastic bag full of ice coiled around his ankle. Jared McCain — for all his usual exuberance — looked sapped, black stitches traversing his right eyebrow from a pregame head bump with Jaylen Blakes. The locker room was, to drastically undersell it, somber.

A fellow reporter described it to me as a morgue. That’s not far off.

On the back of Duke’s regular-season finale defeat to the Tar Heels and abridged ACC tournament run, the narrative surrounding head coach Jon Scheyer and his Blue Devils grew moldy — fast. Not just about the way Duke plays — which has been an issue the last two games — but in how the players carry themselves and have seemingly made a habit of digging holes early in games before scrambling to climb out of them.

All of this seems like a pretty yucky cocktail heading into the Big Dance. If a team enters March Madness with a (seemingly) poor attitude and a penchant for falling

behind, how could anyone put any faith in it to make a run?

I’d say two things.

One: What I know as well as anyone who has watched even an ounce of March Madness is that this sport can turn itself upside down in an instant. Duke’s issues are real, but not substantially worse than those of the 67 other teams who could end this tournament with a loss.

Two: After Sunday’s bracket reveal, how many teams can you honestly say are peaking themselves? How many instilled confidence coming out of their conference tournaments? For my money, only three — UConn, Iowa State and Auburn. Should the Blue Devils defy odds and take a stab at the national title game, they’ll play — maximum — one of those teams.

Look on Duke’s side of the bracket and you get a Houston team that suffered the worst upset as national No. 1 since the 1980s, a Kentucky squad that routinely concedes points in the triple digits and a Marquette group missing its All-American point guard that just got thumped in the Big East final. Wisconsin is streaky, Texas Tech struggled for rhythm in a stacked Big 12 and one of Florida’s only two centers just broke his leg.

Look at potential Final Four matchups and you get Purdue, Tennessee, Creighton, Kansas and Gonzaga, none of whom won their conference tournament. The Volunteers lost their NCAA No. 1 seed after falling to conference tournament No. 9-seed Mississippi State

by almost 20 in the SEC quarterfinals. The Jayhawks and Bluejays both caved before their respective semifinals, while Purdue conceded two buckets inside the final five seconds of regulation and overtime, respectively, to lose to the Badgers. Gonzaga was on the bubble for most of the season.

The actual crop of teams playing A-1 basketball right now is thin, especially within the tournament’s top 16 seeds

— the teams Duke would have to hypothetically play and beat on its road to Phoenix.

Yes, the Blue Devils’ two-game skid is concerning. Nobody wants to enter March looking to rebound. But it’s important to consider the bigger picture: Of the eight games the Blue Devils have lost, seven were by five points or fewer. Even when

Morgan Chu | Sports Photography Editor

The Blue Devils huddle up during their ACC quarterfinal loss to N.C. State.

Morgan Chu | Sports Photography Editor Jared McCain tries to maintain possession under pressure from N.C. State’s Michael O’Connell in the ACC tournament.

to a point total well below its average of 78.2. And the Blue Devils only allowed four points from their opponent in the final period.

“I was really pleased with our group in the fourth quarter,” Lawson said. “I think almost everybody played in that fourth quarter, and the group came in defensively and did a great job of executing what we wanted.”

But the Blue Devils reached their peak performance as the regular season drew to a close.

The Blue Devils held the then-17th ranked Orange to 45 points on the road, disappointing for a team that averages 74.4. This defensive masterclass was followed by another remarkable performance in which Duke limited the thensixth-ranked Wolfpack to just 58 points. And finally, just four days later, the Blue Devils annihilated Virginia, holding the Cavaliers, who average 63.6 points per game, to just 54.

“I think we are in the midst of our best stretch,” Lawson said after Duke’s win against Virginia.

In focusing on defensive strategy and execution, Duke has not only disrupted the offensive flow of its opponents but also taken advantage of defensive stops to generate scoring opportunities all season. And as the Blue Devils enter the NCAA tournament, that exact defensive intensity positions them as contenders.

“Kara [Lawson] has done a great job of getting them to buy in defensively, and they make it really hard for you to operate on offense,” Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore said. “They’re great defensively, they’re great on the boards. And when you do those things well, you got a really good chance of winning.”

WORCESTER

FROM PAGE 6

other through the highs and lows of the first year of college.

“We had someone to talk to about this whole transition and … struggles that we’ve gone through, the highs and lows,” Power said. “And we had each other’s backs … if one of us is struggling, we’re gonna check on each other.”

“I remember in the summer, we would check in with each other to make sure we’re doing good,” Okananwa said.

There is an undeniable bond between the two programs’ freshman classes. Nicknamed the “Crazy Eight” for their eight total members, Okananwa and Power, joined by their freshman teammates on both rosters, enjoy a special friendship.

“The relationship between the guys and girls’ team is truly one that I cherish,” Okananwa said. “It’s basically one big friend group, and we all care for each other.”

Power and Okananwa now face the next challenge in their collegiate careers — March Madness. He will head north to Brooklyn, N.Y., while she will journey west to Columbus, Ohio, for their debuts at the national tournament. Power assumes a greater offensive burden in the absence of fellow freshman Caleb Foster, while Okananwa has been Lawson’s spark plug since the moment she suited up in blue and white.

Yet even with the miles that will separate them and the vastly different responsibilities they will hold, the friendship that was fostered in the gyms of Worcester Academy and cemented on the hardwood of Cameron Indoor Stadium will carry them through as they cheer each other on from afar.

SLOW STARTS

FROM PAGE 9

tournament opener, it responded in kind with a run to the Elite Eight.

“Obviously [an ACC title] was still a goal, but the national championship’s the main goal,” Filipowski said.

“ACC tournament’s cool to have, but [we] came here for something bigger,” said senior captain Jeremy Roach. His struggles from the North Carolina game persisted as he only tallied five points on 1-of-6 shooting with three turnovers.

The Blue Devils’ last two-game losing streak was the Arkansas-Georgia Tech road pairing from late November and early December. Duke righted that ship with eight straight wins. This task is a bit taller — and it starts the moment the game tips off.

“[We] just gotta come out like our life depends on it … we just got to go out there and do it,” Roach said.

“[We need to] take what we’re getting taught and we’re getting yelled at the minute before and actually embrace it and use it for our motivations for these next games,” said freshman guard Jared McCain.

“I can’t go out like that,” he added.

The path ahead is clear: Physical play in the post, a strong opening, increased intensity. How Scheyer gets his team there, or if he does, is still to be determined. For Filipowski, using these two losses is key.

“I think [after North Carolina], we let the feeling go a little too soon,” he said. “We got to remember this feeling heading into next week. We got to remember the Tennessee feeling from last year. If we do that, I’m very positive and very certain that we can go to Phoenix.”

It is March, after all. Anything can happen.

MADNESS

FROM PAGE 9

Duke plays poorly by its standards, it’s still competitive, and even a cursory glance at each of those games shows multiple points where the Blue Devils led, tied or were within a possession of doing either.

On top of that, Filipowski is playing more physically than he has all year and has three 20-plus-point games in his last four. Tyrese Proctor, even with limited production, has played 40 minutes in three straight games. McCain has been one of the conference’s most dangerous players, shooting just under 40% from deep on the season. Mitchell was perfect from three against the Wolfpack and was Duke’s most important player during an 8-1 record between the two games against the Tar Heels. Two-year captain Roach said after the loss that he would be calling the team together for a players-only meeting before Friday’s NCAA opener. Duke fans will hope that brings some groove to the Big Dance.

If Arizona’s Caleb Love’s miraculous half-court bank rims out, Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson misses even one three or N.C. State’s magical bubble is even slightly more fragile, the attitude around Duke’s chances in the tournament would likely be quite different. I’m not excusing those losses, or the fine margins that decided those contests, or the fact that the Blue Devils have largely floundered with the game on the line or started sluggishly. I’m certainly not dismissing the fact that this team could really use a Dereck Lively II or that the locker room was an inspiring sight to those weighing the Blue Devils’ postseason odds. All that is fair game.

But if that’s fair game, so are Duke’s strengths. So are the follies of its potential foes.

WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM A BLUE DEVIL?

Duke alumni are ready to take students like you to the next level. In celebration of Duke’s Centennial year, 100 fellow Blue Devils are offering their advice. So get inspired and check our website often for new alumni spotlights.

Start your journey at alumni.duke.edu/dearbluedevil