Friedlander: A new tournament means a fresh start for Duke ... and the Devils are still dancing

There’s an old baseball adage that momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher.

A version of it also applies to college basketball.

It says that momentum doesn’t carry over from the regular season to the postseason. Or from tournament to tournament.

You have to start over fresh every time. And the only way to build momentum is by winning.

Exhibit A: NC State.

The Wolfpack had the look of a team that couldn’t wait to call it quits while finishing the regular season with 4 start losses. Then they got to Washington for the start of the ACC Tournament and proceeded to win 5 games in as many days to cut down the nets as champions.

Exhibit B: Clemson.

The 6th-seeded Tigers became a chic pick to become a 1st round NCAA upset victim by losing their regular season finale at Wake Forest, then pulling a no-show against Boston College in DC. They were even a 2.5-point underdog to New Mexico, according to ESPN Bet sportsbook, despite being the higher seed.

But a new tournament means a new start. And Clemson has taken advantage of it. Brad Brownell’s team is 1-0 and headed to the Round of 32 after an impressive 77-56 beatdown of the 11th-seeded Lobos.

So it couldn’t come as a surprise that Duke is also still alive and dancing after a similar 2-loss prelude to its NCAA Tournament debut on Saturday.

That Senior Night loss to rival North Carolina at Cameron was bad. The ACC quarterfinal dismissal at the hands of NC State was even worse.

Neither of those defeats had any bearing on the Blue Devils’ opening round performance against Vermont.

There will inevitably be discussion and plenty of hot takes about the aesthetics of their 64-47 NCAA opening round South Region victory in Brooklyn.

That’s how social media works.

And to be fair, there are plenty of nits to pick if you’re so inclined.

Star big man Kyle Filipowski, despite enjoying a huge size advantage inside, attempted only 1 field goal and was limited to 3 points in 37 minutes on the court.

Jeremy Roach’s recent shooting difficulties continued with a 3-of-10 performance from the floor.

Jon Scheyer’s team hurt itself by turning the ball over too much in the 1st half and struggled to put away the unheralded Catamounts from the American East Conference.

But while all that is true, so is this: Style points don’t matter in March.

You win or you go home.

Just ask single-digit seeds Kentucky, Auburn, BYU and South Carolina.

For all its perceived blemishes, there was just as much to be encouraged about from the effort and the result that advances the 4th-seeded Blue Devils into a 2nd-round matchup against No 12 James Madison on Sunday.

“I feel like a lot of people counted us out (because of) the past 2 losses,” said freshman guard Jared McCain, 1 of 4 Duke players scoring in double figures Saturday. “But I feel we were playing our best basketball versus Virginia (on March 2). When we get stops and we play defense, we can win a lot of games.”

The Blue Devils got plenty of those in the 2nd half.

After Vermont’s Aaron Deloney made a circus scoop shot to close out the 1st half and get his team within 5 to trigger the upset alerts, Duke clamped down and held the Catamounts to a UVa-like 18 points over the final 20 minutes.

That was only 1 of the encouraging things that can be taken from the Blue Devils’ performance.

Another is the effort turned in by Filipowski.

Yes, him.

While some might want to point toward his lack of offensive production as a minus, there was plenty to like about everything else he did.

The sophomore center led Duke with 12 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive end. He didn’t try to force things against the constant double-teaming of the smaller Catamounts. Instead, he found open teammates while handing out 4 assists while dominating on the defensive end with 3 blocked shots and 2 steals.

“I thought he affected the game. His passing and rebounding were great,” teammate Mark Mitchell said. “He just did what it took to win.”

That, more than anything, is the most important thing for the Blue Devils. Two weeks after beating NC State in their next-to-last regular season game, they remembered what it’s like to win again.

And there’s something to be said for that. Because pretty or not, winning is the only thing that matters in March.

And the Blue Devils are still dancing.