No disrespect to Houston, but I'm a firm believer that Houston winning is a huge fluke and robs Duke of truly accomplishing what their capable of. I've spent the last day in pure disbelief and it just doesn't make sense to me. I've spent the entire regular season watching Duke be #1 in KenPom and it's just not fair.

If Duke loses again I will face that Houston deserved the win, but I am just 100% sure it was a fluke and does a big disservice to Duke and the NCAA.

Amazing game. GG Duke. Sweet vindication from 2024. Props to J. Robert’s for working on his free throws. He won the game for us.

;)

2025 champs!!!

12 for the women, 6 for the men. 18-1 in national championship games, all since 1995.

Flagg is going to be great. He had an incredible season and even game. No doubt. But he look shook in that huddle before being about a foot short on that shot with 15 seconds left.

We all saw it unfold, Duke having a 14 point lead with just over 8 minutes to go, and still up 7 with 1:30 left, only to fail to hold on for the win. But HOW did that happen? First some stats over those final 10 minutes of gameplay, compared to the first 30 (stats color coded by team advantage during that period)

Over the first 30 minutes, Duke was far ahead not so much by imposing their will on the game, shooting lights out as they had in prior tourney games, but by not letting Houston fully play their style. Cougars were winning the rebound battle, but not by much, and only 9-12 in offensive rebounds. Duke had a healthy advantage in free throw attempts and makes, but most importantly, were not turning the ball over. Houston is not a great shooting team, but significantly improves their offensive efficiency by getting second chance points and easy baskets in transition off of turnovers; limiting those advantages put Duke decently far ahead.

After halftime, Duke built its lead up from 6 point to 14 points, really taking control of the game, but it came at a cost: Of the Duke starters, only Maluach got any rest in first 11 minutes of the second half. Flagg, Knueppel, Proctor and James all played straight through, with each getting just a minute of clock time off the court between the 9:12 and the media timeout at 7:58. From that point forward, again 4 of the starters never left the floor, with only Maliq Brown coming off the bench for a few minutes for Maluach, while Knueppel played the entire second half). In total, 4 of the 5 Duke starters combined for 77 of 80 possible second half minutes, with only 11 total minutes off the bench after the break.

So should we be surprised that a young, relatively inexperienced in close games, and now TIRED team struggled to close the door on a Houston squad that lives to wear teams down physically and mentally? Nope, and that's exactly what happened. While Houston never quite hit their stride on offense - only 7/20 from field in last 10 minutes - they did get 6 offensive rebounds off the 13 misses to keep scoring. Meanwhile, Duke stopped running offense, letting Flagg or Knueppel take the ball to the basket, and when either failed to convert, didn't get offensive rebounds (as players were not moving and so being boxed out). And as crunch time hit, Houston's defensive pressure got to Duke, as they turned the ball over 5 tines in the final 10 minutes after just 2 in the first 30!

Call it a choke, collapse, or what have you, but in the end, Houston wore Duke down (aided by lack of rest for Duke Starters) pulled them into their style of game, and beat them with their experience