The five greatest Duke basketball tournament games to rewatch
By Matt Johnson
As the NCAA Tournament chronicle remains on pause until next spring, the Duke basketball rewind button sure comes in handy for entertainment purposes.
If only…those two words have been circling around my head like Dale Earnhardt lately. What could have been and what should have been are two internal tormentors that I have never really given much time or worry. Recent happenings on Planet Earth have forced me to reconsider that position.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sports world as we know it has come to a grinding halt. And while that’s the absolute right and necessary call, it still comes at a horrible time (as if there’s a right time for a virus outbreak) for us Duke basketball diehards.
This has always and will always be my favorite month of the year, and it’s not just because of March Madness. Well, it’s not only because of March Madness; baseball is around the corner, NFL free agency is in full swing, and the warmth of spring has finally blessed us with a kiss.
However, we hoop nuts have come to know that the sun really makes its first appearance of the year for the NCAA Tournament. It calls out of work just like we do on Thursday and Friday, and you can bet it already had a bracket filled out.
To please the sun and to please all the sudden house-hostages (I’ve never seen my wife’s face in March as I thought she took a vacation this month every year), I’m going to help us over this hill. What follows will be my personal “Chef’s Choice” of the five tournament wins that you, a self-respecting Duke basketball fan, should take this opportunity to peruse.
To be clear, these are TOURNAMENT games. I’m not including any from the regular season; that’s another list for another time (might be a foreshadow, I honestly don’t know). Sorry, Tre Jones, Wendell Moore, Austin Rivers, Chris Duhon, and Jeff Capel, while your Carolina daggers bring me pure joy, I’m not including them on this list.
With all this in mind, let’s get to the list by starting with the honorable mentions!