For Duke basketball, ACC championship is just the start. No. 1 Blue Devils aim for more
READ MORE
2025 ACC Men’s Tournament
Follow all the action from the 2025 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, NC, with updated scores, standings, game recaps and analysis from the team of writers from the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and The State.
Expand All
Having collected new hardware, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer reminded the rest of college basketball about his team’s mindset before heading off to cut down nets.
This is just the start.
That was the message he offered as a parting shot before leaving the podium following No. 1-ranked Duke’s 73-62 win over Louisville in the ACC Tournament final at Spectrum Center.
The ACC championship, the second in his three years as coach and the 23rd in program history, is worthy of celebration. The banner to note it will go to Cameron Indoor Stadium’s crowded rafters next season, along one for the ACC regular-season championship.
But those are not the two banners this team has in mind. They come next, when its NCAA Tournament journey begins, almost certainly in Raleigh on Friday.
After running roughshod over the ACC, Duke (31-3) is now on a quest to win the next four games, to reach the Final Four, and then win two more to get the school’s sixth NCAA men’s basketball title.
“Look, that’s obviously the goal,” Scheyer said. “There’s no question about it. I’m not running from that, either. And don’t get me wrong, that’s what we want to do. But just for us, we’ve approached this whole year, finish what’s right in front of you, and that’s the same thing.”
Now it’s in front of them. The main goal. Everything else was preparation for this.
The toughness the Blue Devils showed over the past three days, winning three games without ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg (sprained ankle) and top reserve Maliq Brown (dislocated shoulder) shows that winning the next four is more than just possible, it looks probable. Adding two more looks incredibly doable as well.
Flagg will be back for the NCAA Tournament. Brown may not, but the Blue Devils won’t let that slow them down, for the early rounds at Lenovo Center, at least.
“I think just the trust we have in one another,” Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor said. “I mean, we all play for each other. We’ve got a special group and I think we all understand that, and we all understood that early in the season. I think just the way that we go about things, day to day, is really special.”
Adversity hit Duke at a bad time. First, top assistant Jai Lucas after the regular season to become Miami’s head coach. Then Flagg and Brown were injured within minutes of each other against Georgia Tech.
Rather than fracture, Duke showed that connectedness that portends great accomplishments.
The Blue Devils enter the NCAA Tournament having won 27 of their past 28 games. Their current winning streak of 11 is their second largest of this season after stringing together 16 in a row from late November to early February.
Just as importantly, the Blue Devils learned lessons over the past three days that would have been impossible if everything went smoothly and they rolled through the ACC Tournament with the same series of lopsided wins that marked their superb regular season.
“That’s something we had to go through,” Scheyer said, “to really understand postseason basketball is different.”
Duke showed that spirit against Louisville. The Cardinals forged a 38-33 halftime lead and seemed poised to grab the league championship away from the short-handed Blue Devils.
Scheyer refused to let that happen and the players followed his lead.
The Blue Devils erased that deficit before two minutes of the second half had been played. Over roughly three minutes a bit later in the half, Duke unleashed a 12-0 run that gave it the lead for good.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Duke reserve forward Mason Gillis said. “We’re a tough, connected group. We were able to weather storms and come together. We just knew we had to kind of put our foot down and not let them bully us anymore, get what they wanted. We had to play more physical, play together and communicate.”
Mission accomplished, the first two parts of the mission anyway.
Now comes the most important part. Duke looks more than ready.
This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 6:44 AM with the headline "For Duke basketball, ACC championship is just the start. No. 1 Blue Devils aim for more."
.JPG)
