Duke entered this NCAA tournament as the prohibitive favorite, even though the Blue Devils started four freshmen.
Call it the Zion Williamson factor.
But Williamson, a franchise player and LeBron James clone who should be the first pick in the NBA draft, will be consigned to the dust bin of college basketball history after his team lost to Michigan State, 68-67, Sunday in the finals of the NCAA East Region in Washington, D.C.
Williamson finished his college career with 24 points and 14 rebounds but his dreams of winning a national championship were crushed by a Spartans’ team that refused to bow to his will.
Point guard Cassius Winston, the Big Ten Player of the Year, carried the Spartans to their eighth Final Four under Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo with 20 points and 10 assists, stealing the headlines from Williamson and helping State advance to a national semi-final matchup against Texas Tech Saturday in Minneapolis in front of a sellout crowd that included Spartans’ legend Magic Johnson.
Winston, who was named The East Region Most Outstanding Player, made or assisted on 19 of Michigan State’s 30 field goals. “Winston was the difference maker,’’ Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski admitted. “He was either scoring or assisting. He’s the best guard we’ve played against’’
As good as Winston was, the biggest shot of the game came when Michigan State’s oldest player. Kenny Goins, a fifth-year walk on senior who missed his first four 3-point attempts, drained the go ahead shot with 34.3 seconds left to send Michigan State up, 68-66.
“I was out there, great pass, trusted it and let it go and it went down,’’ said Goins, who is the only player back from the Spartans’ 2015 Final Four team. “as soon as I let it go, I knew it was good. I was ready to celebrate, but I knew I had to get back on defense.’’
Duke had a chanced to tie the game, but freshman star RJ Barrett missed the first of two free throws with 5.2 seconds left. Duke was helpless with only four fouls, and Winston was able to get away from the Duke defenders and dribble out the clock.
“There wasn’t enough time, so I tried to miss the second one and it went in,’’ Barrett said.
The Blue Devils had been playing with fire this entire tournament, scrapping by Central Florida by a point in the second round, then beating Virginia Tech, 75-73, in a Sweet 16 game. But this time, they got burned.
“Everybody that beats Duke is ready to put that on the wall because that’s the program that (Mike Krzyzewski) has built,’’ Izzo said. “I do think we beat arguably the best team in the country, but there’s another game coming up.’’
Izzo is attempting to win his second national championship since 2000, when the Spartans defeated Florida in the title game. The other three teams at the party are Texas Tech, Auburn and Virginia, the only top seed remaining.
Williamson is the biggest story this year in college basketball and CBS dedicated a camera to him during the tournament. He said there was a high possibility this was his final game at Duke. “We’ve very upset, but congrats to Michigan State,’’ he said. “Just looking around this locker room and seeing your teammates, your brothers and you just think this group will probably never play again’’
Expect Duke to lose all four of its freshmen—Williamson, Cam Reddish, Barrett and point guard Tre Jones. Williamson, Barrett and Reddish should all be lottery picks. Jones will likely go in the first round.
But they will have to watch the national semi-finals on TV after Izzo beat Coach K for just the second time in six NCAA tournament games. “We’re not done yet, and it feels good,’’ senior guard Matt McQuaid said.Duke fell short in its quest to advance to a 13th Final Four under Krzyzewski. Barrett finished with 21 points, but all fans will remember is the Canadian star’s missed free throw.
“It’s March madness and people are going fight like crazy to win this title,” he said. “They wanted it just a little more than we did,”
