Everyone will be talking about the ending of the Duke vs. UConn game in the Elite Eight for quite some time. It seemed like the Huskies' season was about to come to an end, but instead it is the Blue Devils that are on the plane home, and UConn is heading to the Final Four.
While a poor second half is what led to the loss, all that will be remembered is the final sequence of Duke inbounding the ball, Cayden Boozer turning it over on an errant pass, and Braylon Mullins hitting the game-winning three-pointer.
What makes it all even worse is that head coach Jon Scheyer prepared his team for this very moment in a film session before the game. Scheyer showed his team a replay of an NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns, where the time was running out, and a Bulls player threw the ball high in the air to run the clock out.
Scheyer was preparing his players for a scenario where they were in trouble and time was running out, to just throw the ball in the air. While 10 seconds was too much time to do that right away, Boozer didn't have to have a bullet pass to get out of the situation. Boozer could have thrown the ball high to kill the clock and not give UConn the chance to win it.
Jon Scheyer had prepared Duke for that exact situation last night. If Boozer throws the ball straight up in the air like Tre Jones did here they likely win.. pic.twitter.com/blt1MpCfsb
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) March 30, 2026
While the situation may not have called for exactly what Scheyer showed, it was the fact that he talked to his guys about the exact scenario that they were in days before the game. It makes the loss just that much more devastating for Duke fans.
Now Duke will have an offseason to regroup and figure out how to win in these big games, especially when they have the lead.