Although four No. 1 seeds were in the NCAA Tournament Final Four, the Duke Blue Devils were considered the group's favorite to win a national title. In its Final Four matchup against Houston, they looked to be the better team early, thanks to one of their stud freshmen.
Duke looked to be in complete control against Houston, up by 14 points with under eight minutes to go and nine with under two minutes left. And then the unthinkable occurred, as the team failed to stop the Cougars, giving up an 11-1 run to fall 70-67 to lose in the Final Four.
There are many reasons why that could’ve occurred for Duke. Here’s a look at three potential reasons why they lost.
1. Youth finally catching up to them
One reason this was such a special team for Duke was that they were still “young” compared to the rest of the college basketball rosters. Three of their starters (Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach) are true freshmen, whereas Houston’s lineup features all upperclassmen. The Blue Devils were talented enough to get a big lead but managed to make just one FG in the final 10 minutes. Is it fair to say that the inexperience came back to haunt them against a veteran Cougars roster?
2. Poor guard play
The freshmen forward duo of Knueppel and Flagg carried the Blue Devils throughout the game, combining to score 43 of the team’s 67 points. But no one else was in double figures, as starting guards Tyrese Proctor and Sion James combined for just 14 points on 5/17 FG shooting. Had Duke gotten a little more from its backcourt throughout the 40 minutes, they probably wouldn’t have been in a position not to lose that lead.
3. Rebounding woes proved costly
Thanks to their size and length, Duke has been one of the best rebounding teams in all of college basketball. But so is Houston, who, despite shooting just 13/39 from deep from inside the arc, managed to grab 18 offensive rebounds out of 42, scoring 19 second-chance points. It was a really rough outing for Maluach, who had zero rebounds in 21 minutes. Those extra points the Cougars fought for allowed them to come back and upset Duke in shocking fashion.