WASHINGTON
--There was almost an NCAA tournament first last night at Verizon Center.No, it wouldn't have been Belmont beating Duke. No. 15 seeds have topped No. 2s before: Richmond over Syracuse in 1991, Santa Clara over Kansas in '93 and Hampton over Iowa State in 2001.
No, someone actually felt sorry for Mike Krzyzewski.
Almost.
"They're expected to win every time out," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said after the Blue Devils' 71-70 narrow first-round escape. "That's when you can't have fun. All you can do is fail. If you win, you're supposed to.
"It seems like the better your program is, the less fun you have. This was probably the most fun game I've ever coached."
Until the final four seconds, anyway. That's when the Blue Devils short-circuited Belmont's inbounds play and Justin Hare's halfcourt prayer went begging, foiling the Bruins' chance for a monumental upset.
"We had the game right there," said Belmont's Alex Renfroe, whose inbounds lob pass was intercepted. "All you have to do is one more thing to get it. Unfortunately, that one thing didn't happen."
And so Duke limps into tomorrow's second round, looking both vulnerable and lucky. For one shining moment, Belmont nearly out-Duked Duke.
The underdog Bruins repeatedly sliced through the Devils' defense and rained 3-pointers over it. Even DeMarcus Nelson, the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year, watched little-known Alex Renfroe drive past him twice for layups.
"We definitely could have played better defense," freshman Kyle Singler said. "We were fortunate we did win."
And Duke will need even more good fortune to avoid a second straight early exit. The Blue Devils aren't particularly big, deep or quick.
They won last night largely because they had by far the best athlete on the floor, Gerald Henderson Jr., who drove through most of the Belmont team for the game-winning layup with 11 seconds remaining.
"They just threw it to him and told everybody else to get out of the way," Byrd said with an envious grin. "That's good coaching."
It might not be enough to carry Duke much further, though. Belmont is extremely well-coached, but it's unlikely that any of the Bruins got so much as a recruiting form letter from Krzyzewski while in high school.
The opponents will get quicker, stronger and meaner in the upcoming rounds.
What the Blue Devils do have in their favor, though, is poise and experience in nail-biters like last night's. They lost a similar game to VCU in last season's first round, and to Clemson in last weekend's ACC tournament, but they've won more than their fair share--even with the world rooting against them, jealous of their chronic success.
"That's why it's so tough," Duke sophomore Jon Scheyer said. "There's so much game pressure. It's hard when 90 percent of the building wants us to lose. That's why I think tonight's game showed such toughness."
It'll take more than grit and athletes for Duke to reach its 11th Final Four in Coach K's 28 seasons at Duke.
The Blue Devils pride themselves on their relentless on-the-ball defense, but Belmont's perimeter sharpshooters started running Princeton-style back-door cuts. They got just as many floor burns and corralled just as many loose balls as Duke did, and they forced more turnovers (15) than they committed.
Few teams win the NCAA title without at least one scare. They can build character or show weakness. The Devils choose to believe the former--and at least one Belmont player agreed.
"I still see them as a championship team," Renfroe said. "Sometimes, it's just how you match up with someone. I'm sure there are higher-ranked teams that they have a better matchup with."
Even if that's true, the Devils must get better in a hurry. They may have already used up their quota of good fortune--and sympathy.
Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443
Email: sdeshazo@freelancestar.com