Everybody's Taking (Good) Shots at Goliath

By Mike Wise

The Washington Post

March 21, 2008

With less than six minutes left, a good portion of press row began Googling the words 'Belmont University.' They weren't trying to make sure a player's name was spelled right or find a three-point statistic; they wanted to know where this team rattling Mike Krzyzewski's cage was from. When someone inquired whom the Bruins' best player was, the reply came, 'Secretariat?'

Shame on us cynics, no? We had no right to dismiss such a quality team, a program that showed it had just as much right to play in the second round of the NCAA tournament as determined and fortunate Duke.

Krzyzewski said his players paid these 15th-seeded kids from Nashville much more respect on the night they narrowly escaped their second straight first-round knockout at the hands of another college basketball peasant.

He was effusive in his praise of Belmont afterward, saying: 'We played against a team that played an amazing game. They're very good. I mean, they're just -- we were ready to play. You wouldn't hear any of our players say that we overlooked them; there's no way.'

Krzyzewski often goes overboard in congratulating his vanquished foe. But after watching this pulsating 71-70 thriller from courtside, he was very convincing. If not for Gerald Henderson's length-of-the court, streaking layup with 11.9 seconds left and an errant pass underneath Belmont's own basket in the final seconds, the Blue Devils would have become just the fifth No. 2 seed in the history of the tournament to be eliminated in the first round.

The Bruins and Duke played an heirloom in the second half, trading leads and monstrous three-pointers from well beyond the arc. Belmont came back from 10 points down, a feat that had more than 18,000 at Verizon Center standing in awe. More than half of the building wore Duke blue, holding their breath in utter fright of going home early again.

They had never heard of players named Alex Renfroe, Andy Wicke and Justin Hare, just as they had never heard of Virginia Commonwealth's Eric Maynor a year ago before the VCU guard let fly the shot that decked a Philistine from the ACC.

Hare hit two free throws with two minutes left for the sixth lead change of the game, and suddenly everyone grew quiet and began to wonder if Duke actually had the poise and purpose to stave off the upset.

"I've coached in 89 of these games now and I told the guys as far as game pressure goes, this has to rank in the top three or four," Krzyzewski said. "And hopefully the people at Belmont take that as a real compliment because they should be complimented."

Indeed, Duke's players didn't almost go down because they let an inferior team stay with them. If anything, Belmont's ability to stay with one of America's premier programs is another indication of how the gap keeps closing in college basketball, how there are supreme coaches and very talented players at every level of the game -- even at a former NAIA school from Nashville.

'Well, certainly this is a disappointing moment for our team and our program and our young men,' said Rick Byrd, the legendary Bruins coach who, by the way, has won more than 500 games in a very distinguished, if less prominent career, than his Thursday night counterpart.

"To put forth the kind of effort we put forth, to be so close, so very close to getting a huge win for our school and then you have to go in and talk to a bunch of kids who are crying and lost the game."

Fifteenth-seeded programs don't take solace in staying close to an ACC power anymore. Their kids weep in the locker room, knowing they could have been this year's Virginia Commonwealth or George Mason had they just finished off Duke the way VCU did a year ago in Buffalo.

The moment Maynor's jumper dropped in over Copyright © 2008 The Washington Post, All Rights Reserved.