Sportscaster Dan Patrick on Monday talked about the important thing motive Duke misplaced to Houston as Cooper Flagg and his teammates collapsed late in its Remaining 4 defeat on Saturday.
Duke was one minute away from taking part in within the nationwide championship recreation, holding a six-point lead at that time. Nonetheless, the Blue Devils suffered a meltdown with 35 seconds left, as Houston scored 9 factors inside that interval to win 70-67, breaking the Blue Devils’ hearts.
Every part gave the impression to be working in opposition to Jon Scheyer’s group at that time of the sport, as Flagg missed a go-ahead shot, whereas the referee additionally referred to as what some followers deemed a tender foul in opposition to the AP and Naismith participant of the yr.
Nonetheless, Patrick pointed to the group’s inexperience as the main issue for the collapse.
“Freshmen can act like freshmen, I do not care how gifted you might be. And so they acted like freshmen late in that recreation,” the previous ESPN “SportsCenter” host mentioned on “The Dan Patrick Present.”
The Blue Devils had six freshmen: Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Isaiah Evans, Patrick Ngongba, Darren Harris and Khaman Maluach.
Flagg, Knueppel and Maluach all performed vital minutes within the loss to Houston and have been mainstays for extremely ranked Duke this season.
They have been projected by many to grow to be the nationwide champions, mirrored within the Blue Devils incomes the general No. 1 seed for the NCAA Match.
The group received the ACC regular-season and match titles and was seeking to do a clear sweep, with a view of ending this system’s decade-long look forward to a nationwide title.
Dan Patrick believes bluebloods are affecting Cinderella runs
Legendary broadcaster Dan Patrick insists that applications with a protracted historical past of success and nationwide prominence are the explanations fairy-tale runs have grow to be scarce in school basketball.
The massive applications take the most effective gamers from the smaller applications, taking them from the switch portal, handing them an unfair benefit, in keeping with Patrick.
“I believe that blue bloods are stealing the midmajors’ capacity to be a Cinderella. They’re already swooping in and getting these gamers, and so they neatly go after just a few big-time freshmen (in recruiting) and construct their roster from there,” Patrick mentioned on Friday’s episode of “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.”
The switch portal was launched in 2018, permitting gamers to vary applications with out having to overlook a yr after the switch. The 2025 switch portal opened on March 24 and is ready to shut on April 22.
