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Duke looks to reverse history with a banner performance in its NCAA Tournament opener at Lenovo Center
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RALEIGH, N.C. – Jon Scheyer is used to looking up at the rafters above the court where his team is playing and seeing Final Four banners.
There are 17 of them at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including 5 for the national championships Duke has won.
But this is different.
When the Blue Devils coach glances upward at Lenovo Center during his team’s opening-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday, he can’t help but notice the Final Four banner hung by the team that ended Duke’s season and prevented it from making the trip to college basketball’s premier event just last year.
NC State upset the Blue Devils in the Elite Eight as part of its miraculous 2024 postseason run, a painful fact Scheyer was reminded of during his media availability before Thursday’s open practice on the Wolfpack’s home court.
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that,” Scheyer said, adding that the banner and what it represents will only add to his motivation when the top-seeded Blue Devils begin their NCAA run against Mount St. Mary’s.
“It’s interesting. When you start (a tournament), there’s always things along the way, at least for me, that help motivate me. So you just gave me one more, which is great.”
Duke is a 32.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook and doesn’t figure to encounter much difficulty in disposing of the 16th-seeded Mountaineers of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Especially now that star Cooper Flagg has recovered from the sprained ankle suffered during last week’s ACC Tournament.
But you never know.
There have been 2 instances in recent years in which 16th seeds have shocked a pre-tournament favorite.
And there is at least 1 bit of ominous history hanging over the Blue Devils’ heads. If not for Friday’s opener, but a potential second-round matchup against either 8-seed Mississippi State or No. 9 Baylor on Sunday.
Dating back to 2010, Scheyer’s senior season as a player, Duke has lost 7 of its last 11 games played in the building now known as Lenovo Center. It’s a run of futility that includes losses to NC State in 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2023, along with a loss to Mercer as a 2-seed in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
One of the most stunning setbacks in Duke’s rich basketball history.
“We didn’t do a good enough job that day and Mercer did,” said Scheyer, who was on the bench as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski for that stunning result.
As for those other defeats, Coach K’s young successor chalked them up to the difficulty of playing a rivalry game on the road. And he isn’t buying into the idea that the building has any kind of bad juju.
“NC State, the teams that they’ve had, I don’t think it’s anything you take from that and say, man, we’ve got to do this because we’re playing in this building,” Scheyer said. “I think it’s all about us and our mentality. It’s not like the rims are a different height or slanted. I think it’s the fact they beat us those days. We have to win (Friday) by playing Duke basketball.”
Playing a familiar style will be a lot easier for the Blue Devils with the return of Flagg.
The national Player of the Year frontrunner sat out the final 2 games in Charlotte last weekend after coming down awkwardly with a rebound and spraining his left ankle in Duke’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal win against Georgia Tech.
Flagg’s teammates rallied to take care of business and defeated North Carolina and Louisville to win their school’s record 23rd conference championship. But to have any realistic shot at cutting down the nets at the Final Four in San Antonio, the Blue Devils are going to need their star back on the court.
Playing at his usual high level.
The 6-9 freshman, who leads Duke in scoring (18.9), rebounding (7.5), assists (4.1) and steals (2.0), returned to full-contact practice on Wednesday and has been given the go-ahead to play. He was moving well, with no hint of a limp during Thursday’s public practice session.
“From the start of the week, it was kind of like a build-up of jumping back into practice, doing some individual things with some of the coaches on the side. Then I was back at full practice,” Flagg said. “So I feel really good, I’m really confident about going 100 percent.”
His teammates are just as confident. And because only one of them – junior guard Tyrese Proctor – has ever played a game at Lenovo Center, there aren’t any bad memories to haunt them as they take the first steps toward ending somebody else’s season and hanging another Final Four banner of their own.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
