ACC Champion Duke Blue Devils Back in the Saddle Again

ATLANTA—It wasn't long ago that the Duke Blue Devils were a fixture in the ACC Tournament title game.

Just three years ago, they had played in nine consecutive ACC Championship games, winning seven. During one stretch (from 1999 to 2003), the Blue Devils won five straight titles.

But since Duke legends J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams graduated in 2006, the Blue Devils had only mustered one win in the ACC Tournament.

That just changed.

Beating the Florida State Seminoles 79-69 on Sunday, Duke won their seventh ACC Tournament title in this decade.

FSU threw everything they had at Duke, including Toney Douglas (who coach Krzyzewski said is his "favorite non-Duke player" in the press conference), who put up 28 points. But it wasn't enough to handle a polished and poised Duke team.

Just how polished did the Blue Devils look?

They only had four turnovers against the best defensive team in the ACC. They outrebounded the biggest team in the conference. They shot 48 percent from the three-point line. In general, they did whatever they had to do to win.

For the majority of this particular Duke team, which is led by juniors Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson, it was their first taste of being the best. That's something that only senior reserves Greg Paulus, Marty Pocius, and David McClure could vaguely remember.

"It's a long time in coming," said Henderson, a starting gaurd for the Devils. "We put a lot of work into building our team into what it is today. Winning this championship is an accomplishment, because we've waited a long time for it. It feels good."

It "feels good?"

That might be the understatement of the season.

This Duke team has come under more public scrutiny for their failures than any team in recent memory.

Last season, after losing to West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, talk that the Duke mystique was gone ran rampant. Even the West Virginia players cracked jokes about how good Duke wasn't in the press conference after the game, taking shots at how unbelievable it was that many of Duke's players were McDonald's All-Americans.

After that game, Henderson and Scheyer left the court with their arms around one another, immediately embracing and shouldering the responsibility of bringing Duke back to championship status.

"I think we'll always remember walking off the court like that," said Scheyer. "We wanted to remember that moment, remember what it felt like. That's something we never wanted to experience again, and I think we did whatever we could to not let that happen."

When the final buzzer sounded earlier today, Henderson and Scheyer hugged each other as if to say "mission accomplished."

Both turned in incredible performances against Florida State.

Henderson had 27 points (his third 25-plus-point game against the Seminoles this season), and Scheyer put up 29 on his way to winning Tournament MVP honors.

Since moving to the point guard spot for the Blue Devils, Scheyer has thrived, scoring more and taking exceptional care of the ball.

"What I'm seeing is magnificent play," said Krzyzewski of Scheyer's performance running the team's offense. "He's such a good player that, placed in that level of responsibility, someone who is really good will show you even better things. We're not going to make highlight tapes of him leading the fast break, but he's done a great, great job."

A "great job?"

Now that might be the understatement of the season.

The Blue Devils entered this tournament being labeled underachievers by the media.

They left with a different label: champions.

"They came into this tournament as winners," said Krzyzewski. "Now, they're champions. That's a cool thing."

A "cool thing?"

One more correction—that is the understatement of the season.