Notre Dame falls to Duke in ACC championship game

The fifth-seeded Blue Devils (24-8) will play fourth-seeded and No. 8 Louisville on Thursday at Barclays Center.

However, nearly from the start of the season everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

As for the bottom of the bracket, Gavitt said that there 40 teams voted into the tournament as at-large teams, but that 4-6 will win their conference tournaments.

The game turned around on two plays – a driving dunk by Jason Tatum that cut the deficit to 11 and prompted a trademark timeout by Mike Krzyzewski, who uses the ploy after a big play to gather his team for a late push. They are unquestionably a team good enough to win the title.

In Duke’s first game against 12th-seeded Clemson on Wednesday, Tatum scored 20 points and corralled nine rebounds. It was beginning to seem like the Blue Devils would never realize the potential that seemed so boundless at the beginning of the year.

After all, it was Farrell who was inserted into the starting lineup a year at the Barclays Center during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and led the team to the Elite Eight. Duke is peaking at the right time and they look incredibly risky offensively.

Though the hole they dug for themselves wasn’t quite as deep this time, it may have been the most hard to overcome because of the fatigue that had begun to set in.

Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils are trying to become the first ACC team to play four games in four days and win the league tournament.

The Blue Devils won the two teams’ prior matchup January 30 in South Bend, 84-74. He had averaged 17.6 points per game in the last three regular-season games.

Now, Duke has a number of players that can beat opponents.

The second half was, once again, a different story, as the good guys were able to tighten up (at least a bit) defensively.

A three-point jumper by Bonzie Colson with 2:27 to go tied the game at 65.

Giles provided game-altering momentum after teammate Amile Jefferson ended up in foul trouble in the North Carolina game.

Boeheim’s teams have lost their opening game in the second round in both the 2016 and 2017 events. Duke once again fell behind, this time by 13 in the second half.

Despite playing for the third time in three days, Duke was energized by Berry’s departure, shooting 68.8 percent (11-of-16) over the final 15:04. The Wildcats, always a threat with John Calipari coaching them, has the most National Basketball Association talent in the tournament with three players forecasted to go in the first round of the National Basketball Association draft – PG De’Aaron Fox, SG Malik Monk and C Bam Adebayo.

-Duke is 2-9 against the spread in its last 11 conference tournament games.

Angola-Rodas scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half, including a stretch in which he made four straight 3-pointers against the Notre Dame zone.

Tatum, who has rapidly inserted himself into the best-player-in-the-country discussion, led Duke with 19 points and eight rebounds, including some of the most important plays in the Blue Devils’ 75-69 victory over the Irish in the championship game Saturday night in Brooklyn.

While some analysts (looking at you Seth Davis) tried to flex their muscles and campaign for Duke to be on the one line, it didn’t happen.

“Our kids have guts and Grayson is back to being a great player”, Krzyzewski said. Duke’s zone defense will look to keep him off the boards. All of these factors are converging to make the Blue Devils the most risky team in the country.

Depth you ask? Duke only plays seven guys, we get that.