In a game that looked like an easy win for the Duke Blue Devils on paper, the Siena Saints nearly pulled off the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history.
Afterwards, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer nearly seemed at a loss for words, taking a moment to catch his breath after the Blue Devils eked out their win over the Saints.
“I’m not sure if it was a nervous laugh, I’m not sure what it was," Scheyer said after seeming to laugh a little before answering postgame questions.
Jon Scheyer and Duke have to take this seriously
At the start of the second half, Scheyer switched his defense from man to zone, and throughout the game, he rotated seven players onto the court, trying to find the ideal lineup. No matter what, Scheyer couldn't get his team to build a lead over Siena.
"I think that’s one of the hardest positions to be in," Scheyer said after the game. "G-mac, he out-coached me."
Scheyer, of course, was referring to Siena's head coach, Gerry McNamara, who didn't even make a substitution until less than a minute remained on the game clock.
Excuse me? The head coach of the Duke Blue Devils was outcoached by the leader of the Siena Saints, who didn't even sub a sixth player in for most of the game. That fact is unacceptable... at best.
The good news from the first-round embarrassment (yes, we're still calling it that even though Duke won) is that Scheyer recognized the fact that he was out-coached and his team was out-played.
Other than the fact that the Duke defense seemed to show up in the second half, and the Saints lost their elite shooting abilities from the first 20 minutes, it was anybody's game until the final few moments, and that's a massive red flag for the Blue Devils moving forward.