Ncaa – Banchero, it’s done: Duke at the Final Four, a record 13th for coach K

Coach K wins his thirteenth Final Four for Duke. The first for Paolo Banchero, who ennobles the cover season with a goal that the Blue Devils had been missing since 2015. They beat Arkansas 78-69, this time without a heartbeat after those suffered against Michigan State and Texas Tech and earned a place in New Orleans, for the US collegiate semifinal scheduled for April 2. Coach Michael William Krzyzewski overtakes the legendary Wooden and establishes a record that will hardly be matched, right in his last year, before retiring. The Seattle long with an Italian passport scores 16 points and adds 7 rebounds. Among the first 4 prospects of the Nba 2022 Draft is the only one still in the game, Holmgren (Gonzaga), Smith (Auburn) and Ivey (Purdue) are already eliminated.

All star team

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Duke has finally shown all his talents, a fashion show collection of big names: Paolo shot 4/11 this time, but he found important sides. Mark Williams, the center, was sensational in defense, as usual, and in attack he finished 6/6, efficient and valuable, AJ Griffin showed, over 18 points, because the NBA scouts are crazy for him. Third-year Durham veteran Moore, incredibly alone in the first NCAA Tournament, proves that haste is sometimes bad advice: he has grown season after season, rewarded by team results and personal rising odds as a future professional. Now Duke is waiting for (North) Carolina for the most anticipated appointment in Louisiana: if the Tar Heels will be able to extinguish the dream of Cinderella St Peter’s, they will challenge their historical rivals, incredibly never faced in the Tournament. History they can’t wait to tell in America …

The match

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It is the rematch of the 1994 title challenge. Coach K was already on Duke’s bench, with Grant Hill as the iconic player, but then Williamson’s Razorbacks won. It is played at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Warriors home. On the Pacific coast at the Duke Tournament he was 0-5 record, with Coach K on the bench, before 2022. But this time … immediately 22-14 Duke. Banchero starts slowly: he scores the first points from the line with 11’35 ”to play in the first half. The key to the game is the closure of the first fraction: 8-0 partial for Duke, with the triple at the end of Keels for 45-33 in the middle of the race. Banchero with 9 points after 20 ‘of play. The coup de grace to the Razorbacks of the excellent Coach Musselman, who had been able to eliminate Gonzaga in the previous round, doing the “dirty work” for Duke, comes when the Hogs return to -5. Coach K dusts off the zonetta that worked against Tech. Works. Defense struggles, and that’s it and advances with all that offensive talent, when you shoot 55% offensively. Banchero’s Duke, who closes 7/8 from the line, is not the only seed number 2 qualified for the Final Four: Villanova, a historic university in Philadelphia, overtakes Houston 50-44 and will play in the Big Easy against the winner of Kansas-Miami. But now the news in America is the story of Coach K, able to conquer the Final Four in 5 different decades, from the 80s to today. And the last one also has Italian colors, those of a long brilliant called Paolo.