‘Just extra aggressive:’ Jason Tatum’s tournament run delivers title

Three games in three days later – all wins, setting up a trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night at Barclays Center – and that coach likes the growth he’s seen.

Now, Duke has a number of players that can beat opponents. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. on ESPN. “The matchups were good, and our guys have always been very excited to play the Duke program. We probably needed to win eight or 10”, Clemson coach Brad Brownell said about getting into the NCAAs.

“We won four big games and we learned something new about ourselves, something new about our team”, Jackson said. We’ve only been in the league four years. They trailed by one with 5:48 to play.

Brey learned under Krzyzewski for eight years.

“We knew it was going to come down to game situations”, Colson said. Duke beat Notre Dame 75-69, a score that in no way reflects how tight this was. The Irish had made their run; the Blue Devils countered with one of their own.

Duke will be searching for its 20th ACC Tournament title and 14th under coach Mike Krzyzewski. A home loss to North Carolina State seemed like a breaking point and Krzyzewski called a team meeting at his home and stripped the team of wearing their gear on campus and barred them from their locker room.

The teacher, though, wasn’t a fan of his pupil joining the ACC. The Notre Dame bench was sure he exceeded his boundaries, however.

Duke vs Notre Dame basketball game scores and results will be posted here.

The template has lifted Notre Dame into powerhouse status. Down six with nine minutes left, the Blue Devils went on an 11-2 run to take back the lead. The number two seed in the South is Kentucky and the number three is UCLA.

This wasn’t that. Duke already was guaranteed a slot in the Dance, with a comfortable seed, even if they had gone one-and-done. He plays with the poise and pace now of an older player. This game was not close for the vast majority of it.

On the season, Notre Dame basketball is averaging 78.5 points, 34.2 rebounds and 16.3 assists per game.

Battling uphill for most of the first half, the Irish opened the second half by doing what got them to Saturday night.

The ACC has been much more kind.

This hurt. As blue and white confetti rained down from the Barclays Center ceiling, the Irish (25-9) wandered away.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish look for one more victory after beating Florida State on Friday. Notre Dame has also covered the spread in four straight games and is now 8-2 against the number in its last 10. As The Devils were charging, UNC’s fouls mounted, Roy Williams did not use an immediate time out and ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson again tried too hard to shoot his team out of a tough spot.

“It was not like anything I’ve been through, these last few days”, Krzyzewski said. “This had the electricity tonight in the semis tonight”.

But Berry still had a chance to come back in and make those big time plays. And it was electric. “For them to take me through a journey that I’ve never been through before is kind of awesome”. Both arenas are on par.

“I don’t know if we have better individual defenders, so to speak”, Balanis said.

“It’s a blessing”, Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson said of reaching the final.

“A lot of commotion, though, at that time”, Brey said.

But any committee member who is even considering moving them to the top line is just living in the moment.