I did pick Duke in last night’s NCAA Championship game, in large part because I felt Wisconsin won a sort of national championship of their own on Saturday night when they beat the 38-0 Kentucky Wildcats.
Duke cruised into the final after a 20-point win over Michigan State, and I thought it really showed last night in final stretch of the game as Duke had a little more in the tank to close it out.
In this interview with Robin Lundberg on ESPN Radio in New York, I talked about the breakout star performance — and a name for the future — with freshmen Grayson Allen coming in and saving the day by igniting the Duke team with his 16 huge points, his heart and hustle when they were down 9 points and Jahlil Okafor and Justice Winslow were on the bench with foul trouble. Allen and Amille Jefferson’s defense on Frank Kaminsky was enough to get them in striking distance, then freshmen point guard Tyus Jones took the game over and put on a show for the ages of some of the most clutch plays you will ever see from a freshmen in the title game.
Last, we spoke about how Bo Ryan handled the Badgers’ defeat, and where this 5th national championship now puts Coach K. (I wrote about it in my column for SheridanHoops back when he went over the 1,000 win mark.)
Enjoy.
Bobby Gonzalez, former head coach at Manhattan and Seton Hall, is a featured columnist for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.
