You’re looking for Jahlil Okafor, you get Tyus Jones.
You’re looking for Justise Winslow, you get … Grayson Allen? For real?
If you even knew Allen played for Duke before Monday night, you’re either a recruiting junkie or a Devils fan focused on 2015-16. Allen heroically and instantly pulled the Blue Devils out of a deep second-half deficit with an unexpected and extraordinary infusion of offense that allowed them to survive Okafor’s desperate foul situation, Winslow’s struggle to shake his Wisconsin defenders and the enormous stakes of the NCAA championship game and deliver coach Mike Krzyzewski his fifth national title.
Only John Wooden has won more. No one else has won as many. It would seem only UConn’s Jim Calhoun in 2011 and Kentucky’s John Calipari in 2012 won with such a preponderance of first-year player contributions.
“I’ve won it once with this group, and that’s what it’s all about,” Krzyzewski said on the floor immediately following the game. “It’s about one.”
The Blue Devils outlasted the gifted Badgers 68-63 in a title game at Lucas Oil Stadium that will be remembered for the number of dazzling played made by stars such as All-American Frank Kaminsky, who led Wisconsin with 21 points, and Sam Dekker, who added 12 but struggled to find his shooting touch and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
Mostly, though, the night belonged to Allen and Jones, who combined for 39 points in an unexpected explosion the Badgers (36-4) struggled to contain. Jones was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, the second freshman in four years to win the award. Allen made the All-Tournament team.
“Grayson Allen literally was spectacular,” Krzyzewski said. “Grayson has been coming on the whole year. He put us on his back.
“Those last eight or nine minutes were just spectacular basketball. Such grit. And then we get the ball to Tyus with the ball screens. It was magical … Tyus deserves to be the MVP or MOP, but we’re not there without Grayson Allen.”
The great news for Wisconsin was emerging from halftime in a 31-all tie fully aware — no doubt with a reminder from head coach Bo Ryan — the first 20 minutes had looked only marginally like Badger Ball.
The offense the Badgers ran looked little like their typical attack, which helped explain their 38.7 percent shooting and the need for 11 second-chance points to keep them in the game.
It was different immediately after the teams returned. Point guard Bronson Koenig scored nine fast points for the Badgers, including a 3-pointer on an inside-out feed from Kaminsky and an astonishing pull-up jumper when defended closely by Okafor that put UW in front by seven. When shooting guard Josh Gasser fought for an improbable defensive rebound, the Badgers had a chance to grow that advantage, and he wound up feeding a sweet little inbounds pass to Kaminsky for an easy layup and a 48-39 edge.
This might have been the moment for the Blue Devils (35-4) to remember that almost none of them had ever been anywhere near this game. Only point guard Quinn Cook had been a significant player on an Elite Eight team, and that was two years ago. Wisconsin’s guys had all been in the 2014 Final Four.
Instead, the Duke players remembered they were from Duke.
Allen, a brilliant talent who’d been at the very edge of the rotation throughout the season, scored more points in the next 70 seconds than in all but six entire games. His eight points were most of an 11-3 Duke surge that cut the lead back to a single point.
That was the game we were going to have, to no one’s great surprise. It was about execution for both teams then, the only differences being that Duke had to survive much of the stretch without Okafor after he picked up his fourth personal at the 9:18 mark and Wisconsin had to be aware the Devils were into the double bonus and they still weren’t shooting one-and-ones.
MORE: March Sadness: Teams react to elimination
One of the game’s biggest plays came after Dekker scored after a sweet back-cut and even lovelier feed from Gasser to make it 58-56. Duke ran a high ball screen for guard Tyus Jones, and the screen picked off his defender easily. But Kaminsky remained back in the lane and Jones had an uncontested 3-pointer. He did what he usually does with those, connecting for a 59-58 Devils lead that still was in place out of the final media timeout with 3:22 left.
Kaminsky made another blatant defensive error almost immediately after that timeout occurred, attempting to hack Okafor to the line once he was beaten on a spin move. But his hold didn’t stop Okafor from converting — he did miss the free throw — and Duke was up 61-58.
The Badgers tried to get Kaminsky a shot on their next trip, but he hit the side of the board, retrieved his own rebound and then fumbled a pass after the ball was returned to him. That disastrous trip ended in a shot-clock violation.
Given how well Wisconsin shot the ball from the perimeter early and how fearsome Winslow was close to the basket, it was surprising to see the Badgers pass on the opportunity to take several open 3-pointers in the first dozen minutes in favor of driving it directly at the Duke defense.
Winslow blocked three shots directly at the rim, almost as if he were stretched to Dikembe Mutombo size, and the Badgers missed all but three of their first 11 2-point shots.
If Wisconsin were that interested in getting the ball to the rim, they needed whomever Winslow was guarding to drag him to the outside so he would be well out of swatting range. Instead, he seemed almost to be the target. The only benefit to that was Winslow picking up a second personal foul with 7:14 left in the first half.
There were questions entering the game regarding whether Duke, with its rotation composed of 50 percent freshmen, would find the title game stage a bit intimidating — an understandable question given the reaction of Kentucky’s Julius Randle a year earlier.
Uh, that was not a problem. Duke’s rooks put up 23 of the team’s first 29 points, and perhaps would have done better had they not encountered that foul trouble. Not only was Winslow in a tricky spot, but Okafor had to sit a while after he was called for his second personal.
Kaminsky found himself isolated against Okafor with 4:47 left and a wide open lane to the left; not many 7-footers can drive it from the foul line that comfortably, let alone with the off hand. Kaminsky is in a very exclusive club there. He took off, leaned into toward the goal as Okafor struggled to stay on balance and drew the call as he converted the basket. With the free throw for the three-point play, Wisconsin was in front 24-23.
Duke chose to break out its 2-3 zone to cope with the foul issues of its two freshman stars, and despite an immediate 3-pointer from the right wing courtesy of forward Nigel Hayes, it was an approach that worked extremely well. Hayes’ basket lifted the Badgers to a 31-29 lead with 2:25 left, but Wisconsin did not score for the remainder of the half and went into the break in a tie game.
There hadn’t been one of those in a championship game since 1988, when Oklahoma and Kansas were tied 50-all.
Allen entered the game averaging four points. He DNP’d in four games. When he entered this game in the second half, though, everything changed.
