Virginia victorious over Duke

No. 6 Virginia 72, No. 7 Duke 63

I was at work during the game so did not exactly get to enjoy it, though I did watch a lot of it on ESPN3.com. Here, I will rewatch it and just talk about whatever comes to my mind as I watch the replay.

First half

-Great start for the 'Hoos. Malcolm Brogdon hit his first 3 and Mike Tobey, a guy who has struggled at times, hit two early baskets to set the tone for the Cavaliers. Whenever Tobey is playing well on offense, the Cavs get a boost. The team shows it isn't going to back down and isn't afraid of Duke. Play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman and color commentator Dick Vitale offer very reverent words for Virginia and the way it plays defense. The UVa contingent sounds great and looks pretty big when the camera pans out.

Virginia players celebrate their ACC tournament championship Sunday
in Greensboro, N.C., after defeating Duke, 72-63. USA Today photo

-Duke star Jabari Parker is having a rough go of it early. Akil Mitchell is all over him, stopping his advances toward the rim. And that blocked shot Mitchell had on a Parker jumper in the paint was just another way Virginia set the tone for the afternoon.

-You almost get the sense early with Virginia staking a 13-4 lead, hitting 3s, getting rebounds, and with whistles going their way, they could possibly blow out the Blue Devils. Shouldn't be surprised that Duke
came back, but it was looking like a possibility early.

-I hate Duke, as does much of the college basketball world, but I do enjoy watching Jabari Parker play for the Blue Devils. Extremely hard worker. Kept coming early even though he was getting denied some and bumped with no foul calls.

-Duke makes a 3 finally and Amile Jefferson having a good early game to keep the Blue Devils in it. Still, Parker struggling mightily, 1 for 8 from the field.

-Duke's tied it at 19. As much as it looked like maybe UVa could blow Duke out early, it now looks like the Blue Devils are trying to do what they do to so many teams -- go on a big run and grab a workable lead. It just didn't quite happen in this case.

-Virginia was in the bonus not long after the 10-minute mark of the first half and in the double bonus with between two and three minutes left. No doubt that helped Virginia stay afloat as Duke tried to take the lead late in the first half. The Wahoos didn't make a ton of their free throws, but slowed the game down and they did get a few easy points here and there from the line.

-As soon as I said that, I saw the technical foul assessed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski -- the now infamous dry erase marker throw. I agree with him in that it seems minor in the realm of things a coach can do to get a technical called on him. And he threw the marker to his bench. How referee Jamie Luckie even knew coach K threw it is interesting to think about. However, despite saying all that, coach K is constantly in refs' ears and is said to use tons of curse words. He often does act babyish on the sidelines so in this case, the refs told coach K he can't have a temper tantrum and act like a child. Fair enough. I should also say that I have been an intramural ref, and I was told if a player showed me up, T him up. Coach K did that with Luckie because after they talked, Coach K threw the marker in frustration as a direct action toward what transpired (whatever it was) with Luckie. Perrantes made both free throws, helping Virginia take a 25-19 lead. That ended up being big because on the next possession, Duke made a 3. If it hadn't been for the technical, UVa might not have been leading 28-25 at the half.

Second half

-Parker really getting it going now. Fourteen points with 115 minutes left in the game and he just gave Duke a 34-33 lead, its first since 2-0.

-Anthony Gill has immense potential and has gotten better as the year has gone on. Case in point: He had 12 points and seven rebounds against Duke and didn't even play a great game. He missed two point-blank dunk-layups and missed seven free throws. But he did a terrific job of getting to the free throw line.

-Johnny Dawkins bricked in a 3 with just over 12 minutes left to the tie the game at 38. Down on the other end, the Blue Devils knocked the ball away from Perrantes. Dawkins got a clean look at another 3 on the ensuing fast break and it rattled in and out after being halfway down. If he had made that, the result for the game might have been different.

-Right after the UVa rebound, on it next offensive possession, Harris hit a 3. Boom. Six-point swing from missed Duke 3 to made Virginia 3.

-Ten minutes left. Man, did Parker look great or what going coast-to-coast with the steal and dunk? Terrific. Looks like an NBA player. Virginia still up, though, 43-42.

-Whew it is on now. Two great teams trading blows. Parker just made a 3 to give Duke another one-point lead, its second of the second half. Duke never could get separation, though, and Virginia maintained a lead for most of the second half before finally breaking the game open late.

-Big sequence just under eight minutes left: Rodney Hood took the ball to the rack for Duke and missed, Parker followed but missed, and Harris took it to the other end, got hacked, and made the shot. 49-47 'Hoos instead of 49-47 Devils.

-Another big and-1 a couple minutes later, this one for Gill. Like Harris, though, he missed the free throw. Finally, down the stretch, UVa made some from the charity stripe but it took awhile. The Cavs ended up 25 of 38 from the line (65.8 percent).

-Under four minutes left, Gill is eating up Duke on the glass. Big defensive rebound followed by a big offensive rebound on the other end and a chance for some points at the line. This time he made both.

-Maybe the sequence of the game around the two-minute mark. Mitchell gathers an offensive rebound to put Virginia up four, 61-57. On the other end, Parker goes up but is stripped by Mitchell. Duke's defensive is disorganized on the other end and Harris knocks down a cold-blooded 3-pointer to make it 64-57 Duke. That ended up being the nail in the coffin for the Blue Devils.

What a game. What a defensive effort from UVa (and a sneaky good offensive effort in the second half). The defensive job Mitchell did on Parker down the stretch was incredible. Mitchell had a man's game with 15 rebounds. Brogdon led the team with 23 points and Harris had 15, 13 of which came in the second half. Awesome poise throughout the game from the 'Hoos. Trading blow for blow with Duke like it was a heavyweight fight. There were a couple times -- once when Duke came back in the first half from being down nine and in the second half when it took a lead -- where it looked like the Blue Devils might go on a run and take over the game a little bit, but it never happened. Virginia had an answer every time, whether it be a made shot, a defensive stop, a defensive rebound, an offensive putback, whatever.

On the ESPN3.com replay, the cameras kept rolling even after Shulman and Vitale stopped their broadcast. It was cool to see some of the raw emotions the players got to experience with each other and their coaches and families. The players' heads already seem to be in the right spot, too. Just minutes after being crowned champions, Tobey and Mitchell were yelling, "We got six more games!" For those of you keeping track at home, there are six NCAA tournament games if a teams gets to the finals so you know what they were talking about. And you could hear and see strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis and Mitchell talking about a list they had made at the beginning of the year and how they were checking items off. Virginia has cut down two nets. Here's hoping for one more after the Final Four in Arlington, Texas!