The confetti is on the floor and it rained down for the Duke Blue Devils. They’re now the 2026 ACC tournament champions here in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’m Chris Lee. That is Pat Walter standing right there next to me and Duke winning versus Virginia 74 to 70. Pat, it didn’t look good at times for Duke because their leaders, Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans had a tough time scoring at first. Cameron Boozer with his lowest point output of the season, 13 points, but Duke coming together at the right time, two men down, still able to get Jon Shire his third ACC championship in 4 years. you know what we might be saying in a few weeks is that these injuries might have ironically been a blessing because they forced this team to adapt, forced this team to face. Adversity and they overcame it here in Charlotte and ultimately that’s the kind of thing that’s going to make you stronger. Now obviously winning the national title. I think a lot of it is dependent upon Patrick Gba coming back and playing like himself because they were exposed a little bit here in Charlotte and in this game because Virginia’s size was a massive factor. Cameron Boozer. Any questions you have about his NBA future, I think were raised in this game because Uganna Onsu truly brought it tournament record 21 blocks, 9 in the game. It was one of those things that was amazing to see, and it felt like at one point in the second half, like there’s no way Duke can win this if Cameron Boozer can’t even get a shot up. Like, he couldn’t even get a clean attempt because it was just getting swatted away. And not only did he get, uh, Cameron Boozer, he got Kayden Boozer as well. Uh, but what can you say about that freshman Caden Boozer having a pretty up and down season, gets a career high yesterday versus Clemson, comes back tonight and matches his career high 16 points to help lead Duke, and he is showing how lethal he is off the bounce, going straight to the paint and creating offense right there for his team. That created some openings. He’s able to also dish out. Folks are able to hit some shots, and he’s now showing that he can. Be a lethal piece for Duke in March. This feels like a Grayson Allen emergence almost, but a little bit earlier than what Grayson Allen did. Grayson Allen did it a little bit later in the NCAA tournament. He’s starting to come on right now in the ACC tournament, and maybe he can do it for 6 more games with Duke. And it comes 2 games after he really struggled here to open things up against Florida State where they kind of surprised Duke with the way they played him, uh, really hanging off him, sacking off of him, daring to shoot. But then in the next game. He’s attacking the rim, gets that career high versus Clemson, and it’s the same approach here to start. And without him in this game, where are they? Because Isaiah Evans, ice cold in the first half, struggling to shoot, struggling to get to the rim. Cameron Boozer, I don’t think he scored his first point until there was like under 5 minutes left in the first half, which is, you know, he’s been quiet in a lot of first halves this season. He lets the game come to him, but yeah, not that quiet. He hasn’t been this quiet in a game all year, um, but just, you know, March is about. Moments it’s about and being ready for them, and I think Duke showed that they have players that are ready to step up when their number is called, taking a page out of the Hubert Davis playbook, but Duke has proven that they are ready and they are guys, sure, a lot of freshmen on this team, they sure as heck don’t play like it. I will say Cameron Boozer with the tournament MVP again, not his best outing, but this entire tournament, this entire season, he’s shown why he’s been. So important. And I would say besides having the bad game tonight, he’s been the best player in the country so far, and it’s going to be hard to really just deny that when you look at how he impacts winning even in this game when he’s not scoring as much, he impacted winning for Duke 100% and that’s got to be scary because you know when you have a guy who’s used to scoring so much and he only comes in with 13 points in this game, he didn’t hang his head, he didn’t get frustrated, he didn’t check out. This game, he stayed locked in. He got swatted so many times from Onyinsu, and yes, we could talk about whatever it could be for the NBA in the future, but right now in college, he’s still impacting winning, and he doesn’t let things that happen bad to him impact him in the game whatsoever. This was probably the type of test that Duke needed going into the NCAA tournament. They have been tested a lot this season. They’ve won ugly many times this season. This may have been one of the ugliest, and when you can win ugly like this in March, you can possibly go far and absolutely get a national championship. And that’s what the team last year didn’t get a chance to do when games got tight late in the, in the game, when you think about the Clemson loss, you think about the, uh, Kentucky loss, and then you think about the Houston loss last year. Things got, things got ugly, and then they, they couldn’t finish this team. Has been able to finish in ugly games the whole first half of the season and now throughout the ACC tournament. This team is absolutely prepared and they are ready to win ugly when it counts the most. And where does it come from? I think it’s the communication, the culture that Jon Shire has established here where every one of his coaches, right down to the player development guys in the GAs have a role here and feel empowered in it. And it goes for the players as well. I mean, John Shire has said recently that in the huddles, the guys. are talking when I say the guys, the players are talking just as much as the coaches at the former Shire joked. I don’t know how much I like that, but the point remains, and I got to witness it just being at court level here tonight, like the leadership from Cameron Boozer first of all, but from the other guys as well, bringing it together. Caden Boozer speaking up, the communication within the group, making sure they know their defensive assignments, making sure they understand the moment. I mean, does anybody call a better timeout in college basketball than John Shire? No, he, he is absolutely the best, and statistics back that up. His ATOs are the best, you know, baseline out of bounds, sideline out of bounds. He’s absolutely the best and he, he adjusts at the right time. And I want to go back to something too that you mentioned earlier and it just popped in my head when Cameron Boozer got his first bucket of the game with less than 5 minutes left in the first half, that came out of a timeout. And then Isaiah Evans got his first bucket coming out of a timeout. John Shire was able to like say, hey, our guys are struggling right now. Let me draw something up so they can get something at the basket, and it got them going, and he knows how to move these chess pieces right now. And it’s, uh, one of those things that’s, it’s remarkable to see that there’s still some things that he can grow to get better at, but he’s arguably the best coach in college basketball, period. In just 4 years, and I’m talking about better than veterans like Calipari and better than other veterans that are out there. Like it’s, it’s so amazing to see what he’s been able to do with this team. And, uh, you know, maybe the best is yet to come. We’ll have to see, but there’s a long journey ahead for Duke, but they’re already rolling and they’re rolling with the punches so much with missing their two players. Imagine what this team can do. If they can get Patrick Gongba back next week, yeah, you, you said you described the game as winning ugly, uh, and I understand what you’re trying to say, but I also think like this was truly a March basketball game. I think it was a well-played game, well-coached game, like a true chess match between Shire and Ryan Odom, who has established himself, I think, as one of the best coaches, not only ACC but in the country, and I think, um, this is not a, it’s. Tony Bennett’s Virginia team, the team that won the national title was pretty athletic and skilled, but this Virginia team is big. They are long. They are really disciplined and really well coached, and I think when you take away Gamba and Foster, the talent levels were close, close, and I thought that was really interesting to see. So this wasn’t necessarily an example to me of like some underdog, and I know that’s not what you’re trying to say, but it wasn’t like it was like some underdog that just mucked up the game. And it shouldn’t have been as close as it was. Like Virginia was truly right there, and that’s what I mean by ugly. It’s just that like it’s gonna be tight. It’s gonna come down to the last minute, which it did. And you know there’s not gonna be a bunch of pretty games. I can’t remember which one it was. Maybe it was, uh, 200. Uh, the 2001 national championship, I believe, for Duke, I believe it, it, I might have this wrong, but I believe they won all six of their games by double digits, right, to get to, that’s almost like UConn a couple, like two years ago, it’s almost unheard of, you know what I’m saying? Like it’s, you have to be a really special team to do that, and I, I think when I’m saying ugly is that last year’s team blew people. Out all the time until the games got tight and then those happen to be the ones that they lost and they weren’t comfortable in it and they weren’t comfortable in those moments. This game can come down to it’s whoever has the last shot and Duke is so comfortable and they’re the ones that made, uh, Virginia kind of tighten up at the very end. Virginia didn’t have Duke on their heels. Duke had them on their heels, and they kind of messed things up towards the end and Duke. Is able to pull away to have that win, but that’s, that’s kind of what I mean by by ugly. It’s not necessarily this pretty Duke went on a 20 to 0 run. They’re going to, you know, cruise to a victory like it was last year versus Louisville. No, this came down to the very end. This was a game you had to play a full 40 minutes, and they got it done. And for like one of the few times I feel like I’ve seen in the last month, there was not the Trademarked 20 to 2 run from Virginia in this game from Duke in this game. Like every time you thought there might be one, and it was like a 7-0 run near the end of the first half, and then Virginia responds right back and it just happened all the way down to the wire in this game. The last four minutes were a little bit inconsequential as far as drama because Duke made their free throws for the most part and Virginia just couldn’t get it within 4, so it wasn’t actually. That dramatic, but it was down to the wire all the way there. And you think about where does confidence come from? Well, some of it’s just an internal belief, but that belief has to come from the fact that you’ve been in a situation and succeeded before. And to your point about last year’s Duke team who had those moments of failure, a lot of them with Cooper Flagg having the ball in his hand in the final moments, and Cameron Boozer right from the Florida game. You know, he’s had these moments where he’s either passed or scored. I mean, I know he had one where he didn’t come through against UNC, but for the most part this guy has come through, um, thrived. I mean, you know, the family, Carlos Boozer living and dying, um, you know, on the baseline was fun to watch, and gosh, him and his and his brother, I think Caden Boozer might be the story of the tournament for me though. Like his evolution in the last two games, his confidence was incredible, and I would say he’s thrust himself truly into the starting point guard role. But Cameron Boozer was bringing up the ball tonight, so we talked about his NBA future. Maybe he was limited a little bit down below, but he was truly playing point guard tonight, which was a sight to be through the legs, like at the perimeter, like, you know, like dribbling guys up, breaking them down. It was, it was pretty cool to see, you know, somebody else who can’t really jump very well? Jokic Jokic, but he, he’s, he’s a, he’s a 7-footer though, so he’s taller than Cam Boozer. And I’m not saying he’s gonna be like him, but that is a blueprint of somebody who doesn’t have the, the best athleticism in the world but can use their, uh, basics and skills to make sure they, they can become a potential All-Star. Cam Boozer is a great comp, by the way. Cam Boozer is a winner. I think the best comp is Kevin Love for sure as far as like play style and also height and size. But it’s, but when you talk about the non-athleticism, don’t let that scare you. Don’t let all these blocks scare you. If Cam Boozer wasn’t on the floor for Duke, they don’t win this game. 100%. So you, you take away him only having 13 points, he still impacted winning in a, in a big way. So, um, I, I wanna give a big shout out though to probably somebody who’s an unsung hero, actually two people. Uh, we talked about Caden Boozer, and he’s the story of the tournament for Duke, uh, Nicholas Jimena. Has really stepped up as well. 14 points in the game versus Clemson, 9 points in this game, which came up huge. He made some big time plays during timely moments of the game. Somebody else who made a big play in timely moments. You look at the box score. He’s not going to get a lot of attention. He’s been riding the bench a lot. Darren Harris, that 3, right? He missed the 3, but he leaked out, got the, uh, the open, um, uh, uh, layup and was fouled and goes to the line and hits the free throw, and that came at a very important time for Duke in the second half where they needed points and they needed some momentum, and I think that helped give them a little bit of a jolt. And look, this guy came in as like this big time scorer in the, in the state of Virginia. He’s had to accept a lesser role the last two years for Duke. Doesn’t play a lot, but when his number is called, he’s diving on the floor. He’s trying to go for rebounds, trying to get some charges. He’s going after loose balls. He’s doing the best he can, and he has come up with some plays here and there that’s really helped elevate Duke, and people are going to overlook his 3 points and his contributions, but that contribution at that point of the game, that was huge for Duke. I mean, to have the confidence to make those plays when you’re a bench guy. I mean, like, you know, I, I played basketball, I’ve been a bench guy on different teams in my life. I’ve been a starter on other teams, and when you’re a bench guy, there’s a little bit of a hesitancy. At least for me, that’s probably why I’m not a college basketball player, but I think it’s human nature. Like, man, am I the guy to take this shot, you know, and like that, that goes back to that point about empowering. Shire has empowered each of these guys to play within themselves. Uh, I was talking to some of the assistant coaches before the game, and I was like, what you guys do is so impressive. Like it, it’s like, it’s like watching football. Like it goes above my head. It seems complicated and actually we just put all of our guys offensively who play to their strengths. It’s not rocket science, so everybody is able to shine here and I’m not to bring up other teams in the triangle. That’s not always the case at other schools that we cover and clearly John Shire and Duke, despite the resources, despite the brand, is getting the most out of these. It’s amazing to see, uh, they’re going to be the number one overall seed for Selection Sunday. Uh, we’re gonna have some content for Selection Sunday as well to keep you updated on everything that’s happening, what the brackets look like, where Duke, North Carolina, maybe NC State ends up in the in the NCAA tournament. I think NC NC State should make it. Yeah, they’re, they’re in there, but there’s a little bit of a first four potential drama there, I think. So we’ll, we’ll have to see what kind of ends up. Happening with them, uh, NC Central, big shout out to them. They almost got into it. They were in the MAC championship game, but they lost to Howard. But congratulations to Howard’s head coach, who’s a former Duke player. So like more Duke happening around, which would be interesting. What if Howard matches up with Duke, uh, in the first round of the NCAA tournament? I mean, it’s a great story. One of Duke’s assistant coaches used to coach at Howard, Thorn, and there was, uh, there was, I believe, didn’t they play? Cameron this year, so yeah, some good ties, and good stories. Can’t wait, man. Can’t wait to continue telling them with you. It’s been a crazy couple of days out here, and we appreciate all you guys watching on YouTube, listening. We’re going to keep doing this, so stick with us and we’re going to drive back to Raleigh and hopefully get a little bit of sleep. So for Chris Lee, I’m Pat Walter. Yeah, we’re signing out. It’s gonna be a long march.
