Duke sat stunned in silence just a few hundred feet from the NC State players busy tearing down nets. It was the end to their season and for many it would be the end of Duke.
It’s a scene that 67 of the 68 teams that receive bids to March Madness will live through. Eventually, the NCAA representative doesn’t bring the giant bracket into your locker room, so cameras can capture your team representative advancing your school to the next round. Eventually, there won’t be another opponent to get ready for in a ridiculously short time frame. Only last-minute plans that will take you back home are left. It is highly likely that this will happen for all teams, so the goal in March should be to postpone the all but inevitable for as long as you can.
The problem is that the closer you get to the team who will beat these odds, the more difficult it is for them to make the final push. Last weekend, the field of 16 teams was reduced to four, and this moment for Duke, UNC, Clemson and other ACC rivals. The round names reflect the emotion surrounding each new elimination. The field progressed from Sweet, Elite and Final.
Duke is a…
