Duke basketball: Fans and players relive 2015 National Championship
CBS Sports Network aired the 2015 National Championship Game between the Duke basketball team and the Wisconsin Badgers as Blue Devil players, coaches, and fans took to social media to relive the game once again.
As the college basketball world tries to cope with the cancelation of the majority of the postseason due to COVID-19, CBS and various other television stations have been playing classic March Madness games.
Wednesday night on the CBS Sports Network was the first time the 2015 National Championship was aired during the stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, and Duke basketball fans, players, and coaches took to Twitter to relive the memorable and tension-filled two hours.
The night all started with a little pregame show of sorts with Duke’s virtual podcast of ‘The Brotherhood Connect’ that started on Instagram last season and has switched to Twitter.
Tre and Tyus Jones joined Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer prior to the 9:00 pm EST airing of Duke’s 68-63 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers.
The Brotherhood Connect- Episode 2 https://t.co/jiBWT66HTD
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) April 2, 2020
The most active players and coaches on Twitter throughout the game were Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook along with Jeff Capel, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith, who was not on the coaching staff yet.
All about will to win at this point! 10 minutes to be the CHAMPS! Who wants it more?!?!
— Tyus Jones (@1Tyus) April 2, 2020
The offensive firepower on ‘15 team was incredible, but to me the difference was the defense in the tourney. Great individual and collective defense. Guards could put great ball pressure and we had rim protection with our bigs.
— Jon Scheyer (@JonScheyer) April 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/NdotSmitty/status/1245545052929175558
https://twitter.com/QCook323/status/1245522691831910400
However, despite the anticipated heartburn of the back-and-forth affair, CBS Sports Network briefly returned late in the second half from a commercial airing the Wisconsin vs. Kentucky Final Four game from that season, a game that aired directly before the Duke win.
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Twitter exploded as fans thought they would be deprived of watching the final minutes of the championship, as was the case on Sunday afternoon when fans missed the final minutes of Duke’s 2010 National Championship win over Butler due to President Donald Trump’s daily press conference regarding an update on the coronavirus.
WHERE’D OUR GAME GO?!?!?! @CBSSportsNet
— Tyus Jones (@1Tyus) April 2, 2020
While many players on the 2015 team were able to tune in and give their real-time reactions with the loyal Blue Devil faithful, one of the game’s biggest stars, Grayson Allen, was unable to watch due to circumstances out of his control.
https://twitter.com/GraysonJAllen/status/1245542020577464320
Allen finished the game with 16 points off the bench and was named to the All-Tournament Team while Tyus Jones was named as the Most Outstanding Player after a team-high 23 points against Wisconsin.
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While all this was going on, current player Joey Baker revealed that watching the 2014-15 Duke basketball team made him realize he wanted to come and play basketball in Durham.
2015 championship team is the reason I wanted to come to Duke. Remember watching it like it was yesterday.
— Joey Baker (@Joey_bvker) April 2, 2020
The 2015 season was truly one to remember, as the Blue Devils won their fifth National Championship and now continue the quest for a sixth banner to hang from the rafters in Cameron Indoor Stadium.