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Jay Bilas thought Duke’s Final Four collapse against Houston was a product of the Blue Devils’ schedule.
During a Monday night edition of College GameDay ahead of the March Madness national championship, Bilas broke down what went wrong for Duke over the final 3 minutes Saturday night. The Blue Devils had a 9-point lead with 3:03 to play and allowed Houston to close the game on a 15-3 run. Duke didn’t make a single shot from the floor over the final 3 minutes and got outscored by 9 in the final 33 seconds.
It was a historic collapse, and one that has been dissected ad nauseam in the 48-odd hours since.
Bilas argued that a weak ACC let Duke down. Houston knew what to do in a tight game at the end. Duke did not.
“I thought the biggest factor in the game was the fact that Duke was inexperienced in close games, and that’s where I felt the ACC really let them down,” Bilas said Monday night. “Everybody else in this Final Four had played games that came down to the wire day after day and game after game.
“Houston has lived all year long in close games and they have executed in clutch time. They have 4 losses. Three of those losses are overtime. They’ve got a team that is not afraid. They’re fearless of consequences.”
With one of the greatest offenses in modern basketball history, Duke ripped through its regular-season schedule and went 19-1 against the ACC. The Blue Devils won 19 regular-season games by 20 points or more. Just 3 of their 20 ACC games were decided by fewer than 10 points, and the Blue Devils lost 1 of those.
Houston, by comparison, played in 14 games prior to the NCAA tourney that were decided by fewer than 10 points. The Cougars played a double-overtime game on the road against Kansas. They played overtime games against Alabama, San Diego State, and Texas Tech.
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougs went 19-1 in conference play just like Duke, but they did so against a much tougher league.
“I thought that sharpness of being in close games was really the difference in that one,” Bilas said. “Duke hadn’t been there before. Houston had been there multiple times and I think that was the force multiplier for them.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
