Indiana stuns Duke
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For nearly 40 minutes, Duke had faced the wrath of a hostile crowd and the burden of expectations as it watched its national championship defense begin to slip away with a growing sense of desperation. Then, suddenly and strangely, it was over, in an inelegant, decidedly un-Duke-like scene of frustration and anger.
With Indiana leading Thursday night's NCAA South Regional semifinal at Rupp Arena by one point with three seconds left, Carlos Boozer rebounded a missed Jason Williams free throw, went up for a follow shot against Indiana's Jared Jeffries and missed.
Boozer expected a foul call. Jeffries later admitted he "grabbed" Boozer before getting the rebound. But there was no call, leading an angry Coach Mike Krzyzewski to confront the nearest official, before he was distracted by having to stop reserve center Matt Christensen from physically attacking an official.
EAST REGIONAL
At The Carrier Dome
Syracuse, N.Y.
Semifinals
Friday, March 22
Southern Illinois (28-7) vs. Connecticut (26-6), 76:38 p.m.
Maryland (28-4) vs. Kentucky (22-9), 25 minutes after previous game
Championship
Sunday, March 24
Semifinal winners
SOUTH REGIONAL
At Rupp Arena
Lexington, Ky.
Semifinals
Thursday, March 21
Indiana 74, Duke 73
Kent State 78, Pittsburgh 73, OT
Championship
Saturday, March 23
Indiana (23-11) vs. Kent State (30-5), 6 p.m.
MIDWEST REGIONAL
At The Kohl Center
Madison, Wis.
Semifinals
Friday, March 22
Oregon (25-8) vs. Texas (22-11), 6:55 p.m.
Kansas (31-3) vs. Illinois (26-8), 25 minutes after previous game
Championship
Sunday, March 24
Semifinal winners
WEST REGIONAL
First Round
At The Compaq Center
San Jose, Calif.
Semifinals
Thursday, March 21
Oklahoma 88, Arizona 67
Missouri 82, UCLA 73
Championship
Saturday, March 23
Oklahoma (30-4) vs. Missouri (24-11), 4:30 p.m.
THE FINAL FOUR
Atlanta
National Semifinals
Saturday, March 30
East champion vs. Midwest champion
South champion vs. West champion
NOTE: First game scheduled for 6:07 p.m. with the second game to start 40 minutes after the first
National Championship
Monday, April 1
Semifinal winners, 8:18 p.m.
Boozer, stunned, sat on the bench and held his head. Williams cried.
Indiana celebrated. Its 74-73 stunner thrilled the vast majority of onlookers, who included red-clad Indiana fans, supporters of Pitt and Kent State who wanted a potentially easier matchup and Kentucky fans who boo Duke as a reflex.
"We messed up a lot of brackets," said Coach Mike Davis, who in his second season has led the Hoosiers to their first regional final since 1993. "Throw them away. It's over."
Asked if he were stunned, Krzyzewski laughed and tried to put it in perspective. "No, I'm not stunned. I'm 55 and I need a hip replacement," he said. "And I know we can lose every time we go on the court. The people who watch the game don't understand that."
Still, he admitted the loss stung. Duke (31-4) was the No. 1 seed and heavily favored. It marked the end of the collegiate careers of Boozer and Williams, juniors who will turn pro. The fact that both were central to the final drama only made it more painful.
Duke dominated the first half, leading, 29-12, and 42-29 at halftime thanks largely to 16 turnovers by No. 5 seed Indiana (23-11). But in the second half the Hoosiers played better defense, held onto the ball more surely and dominated smaller Duke on the boards. Duke shot 33 percent in the second half, was outrebounded 28-16 and forced only seven turnovers.
Indiana's relentless comeback culminated with a 10-0 run that made it 74-70 on A.J. Moye's two free throws with 11.1 seconds left. Seven seconds later, Williams made a three-point shot and inexplicably was fouled by Dane Fife. But on his only free throw of the game, the All-America concluded an awful game by missing. He had 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting, including a miss on a breakaway layup try, and made four turnovers.
Fortunately for Duke, the ball rolled into the hands of Boozer, who is listed at 6-foot-9, 280 pounds. Jeffries, who is 6-10 but only 220 pounds, described what happened next: "He put his meat hook of an arm on my shoulder and kind of threw me out of the way, so when he was going up I figured, 'Well, he's going to hit his shot,' so I grabbed him and got a piece of the ball and the ball rolled out and we won."
Krzyzewski later claimed he did not have a good view, and emphatically declined to blame the officials for the loss. "There are no excuses; there are human elements in every game that can go for you or against you," he said. "I did not have the vision to see it, but you know what? That's the way it goes, whether he was fouled or not, that's the way it goes."
Duke's Mike Dunleavy, who shot 5-for-16, said, "The ball didn't bounce our way. Last year, it bounced our way a lot. This time it didn't." Williams took a similar approach, saying "You're going to have games like that."
Jeffries had 24 points and 15 rebounds for Indiana, whose strategy was to exploit mismatches inside with him.
It was a major milestone in Davis' two-year tenure as Bob Knight's successor, and should quiet the critics among Indiana fans who he said never seem satisfied with him. Davis tried to butter up the Kentucky fans Wednesday by telling them how much he loved them, and it paid off with loud, consistent support.