ACC championship updates: Duke’s defense does the trick, Blue Devils claim ACC crown
Jon Scheyer joins a short list of first-time head coaches who have won an ACC championship.
In leading Duke to a win over Virginia, the 35-year-old Scheyer becomes just the third first-year head coach to accomplish the feat.
Duke produced the first coach to do it when Vic Bubas, in his first season as a head coach following a stint as an assistant coach under Everett Case at N.C. State, coached the Blue Devils to the 1960 ACC tournament championship.
It didn’t happen again until 1998, when Bill Guthridge pulled it off in his first season coaching North Carolina following Dean Smith’s retirement and his promotion from Tar Heels assistant coach to head coach.
Duke named Scheyer, then an assistant coach, as its head coach-in-waiting in June 2021 when Mike Krzyzewski announced he would retire following the 2021-22 season. Scheyer took over last April following Duke’s Final Four run in Krzyzewski’s final NCAA tournament.
Scheyer also became the first to win the ACC tournament as a player and coach — not to mention an Everett Case Award winner as tournament MVP — although four ACC coaches have won the tournament as a player: Hubert Davis, Matt Doherty, Sidney Lowe and Bucky Waters.
Doherty came close as a coach with North Carolina in 2001, as Lowe did with N.C. State in 2007, and Bobby Cremins — a three-time champion as a coach — nearly won it as a player at South Carolina in 1970.
Duke 24, Virginia 17 (half)
It took an Armaan Franklin free throw with 1.8 seconds left in the half for Virginia to avoid the lowest-scoring half in ACC championship history, but when he missed the second, these Cavaliers joined N.C. State in 1970 — which also trailed 24-17, albeit to a school that’s no longer in the league (South Carolina).
Given Virginia’s offensive struggles, fourth-seeded Duke may rue not having a bigger lead at this point given the opportunities the Blue Devils had on offense — and that Duke shot 40.9 percent while the Cavaliers shot 27.3 percent. Each team was only able to connect on one 3-pointer.
Duke’s Kyle Filipowski was the only player on either team in double figures with 11 points. Reese Beekman led Virginia with six.
Stars and stripes
The officiating crew for Saturday’s Duke-Virginia game is Roger Ayers, Bert Smith and Bill Covington. It’s Ayers’ seventh trip to the title game, Smith’s second and Covington’s second. Both Ayers and Smith worked the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans — as did Ron Groover, who worked Friday’s Virginia-Clemson semifinals.
Tuesday’s results
No. 13 Georgia Tech 61, No. 12 Florida State 60
No. 10 Boston College 80, No. 15 Louisville 62
No. 11 Virginia Tech 67, No. 14 Notre Dame 64
An ode to Tuesdays in Greensboro, and the ACC tournament’s weirdest, quirkiest day
Wednesday’s results
No. 9 Wake Forest 77, No. 8 Syracuse 74
No. 5 Pitt 89, No. 13 Georgia Tech 81
No. 7 North Carolina 85, No. 10 Boston College 61
No. 6 NC State 97, No. 11 Virginia Tech 77
UNC basketball downs Boston College in ACC tournament, will face Virginia in quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 Miami 74, No. 9 Wake Forest 72
No. 4 Duke 96, No. 5 Pittsburgh 69
No. 2 Virginia 68, No. 7 North Carolina 59
No. 3 Clemson 80, No. 6 N.C. State 54
ACC tournament’s strangest night comes full circle for many, exactly three years later
Friday’s schedule
No. 4 Duke 85, No. 1 Miami 78
No. 2 Virginia 76, No. 3 Clemson 56
‘Disrespected’ Duke will play in ACC championship, but battle with Miami felt like it
Saturday’s schedule
8:30 p.m. No. 2 Virginia vs. No. 4 Duke (ESPN)
Duke basketball’s ‘revenge tour’ continues, will meet Virginia in ACC championship game
Jim Phillips tie report
The ACC commissioner is famous for his enormous collection of ties in alternating ACC (and neutral) colored and white stripes, a personal fashion trademark.
Tuesday: burnt orange
Wednesday: silver
Thursday: olive green
Friday: scarlet
Saturday: walnut
