Hit and Miss for Williams, Duke

It couldn’t have been more fitting.

Jason Williams was at the line, staring down his albatross with a gift of a chance to save Duke from Indiana’s incredible comeback after he was fouled on a made three-pointer with 4.2 seconds left.

Moments later, it couldn’t have been more final.

Williams missed--yet again.

Carlos Boozer got the rebound but couldn’t score and didn’t get a foul call, and defending national champion Duke is done after a 74-73 loss to the Hoosiers in a game the Blue Devils once led by 17 points.

“I mean, we messed up a lot of brackets,” a jubilant Indiana Coach Mike Davis said after the Hoosiers’ NCAA South Regional semifinal victory Thursday in front of 22,338 in Rupp Arena. “A lot of brackets, they’re tearing them up and throwing them away. It’s over.”

Indiana (23-11) will play upstart Kent State on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four.

It was an Indiana victory so improbable that a Duke official upset Davis by asking during a planning meeting what time the Blue Devils would play Saturday.

That wasn’t the only doubter.

“My girlfriend told me, ‘I’ll see you Saturday in Bloomington,’” Indiana guard Dane Fife said.

Instead, it is Duke that is going home after a 31-4 season.

Williams’ career is over--he announced after last season he would turn pro after his junior year--and the unanimous All-American and player-of-the-year candidate ended it in tears.

His 67% free-throw shooting has been his burden. He missed six down the stretch in Duke’s loss to Florida State this season, and a crucial one in a loss to Virginia.

But when Fife was called for a foul, incredibly, just as Williams made a three-pointer to bring Duke back to within one point with four seconds left, Duke’s star was jubilant.

Fife claimed he didn’t foul Williams but admitted he shouldn’t have been close to him.

“I’ve seen some dumb plays, but in the history of Indiana basketball, that was the most idiotic play,” Fife admitted.

Williams stepped to the line.

“I wasn’t scared,” Williams said. “That situation is something I dreamed about. I went to the line and put the shot up and it went halfway down, in and out.

“Carlos got it and had a shot but didn’t make it. That’s about it.”

Indiana’s Jared Jeffries might have been called for a foul on Boozer, but it was the sort of late-game situation in which it’s unlikely a call will be made.

“When he was going up, I figured, well, he’s going to hit a shot so I grabbed him and got a piece of the ball, and the ball rolled off and we won,” Jeffries said.

Williams could only shrug. “Last year the ball bounced our way more than ever,” he said. “This year, it didn’t.”

The Blue Devils had cooled down considerably by the time they talked. But as the game ended, Duke’s Matt Christensen, a reserve senior forward, angrily followed official Bruce Benedict--the former Atlanta Brave catcher--off the court and had to be pulled back, with Coach Mike Krzyzewski going after Christensen to bring him back to the bench area.

The NCAA issued a statement saying the incident is being investigated, but said there was no urgency because Duke has been eliminated.

That the game was even close was little short of amazing.

It was a Duke runaway in the first half after Indiana turned the ball over 11 times by the time it had 12 points. (Indiana finished with 23 turnovers.)

Duke’s big lead was 29-12.

The relentless rebounding of the Hoosiers kept a 13-point halftime lead from becoming a blowout, and Indiana came back. The Hoosiers outrebounded Duke, 47-32--highlighting another of Duke’s season-long struggles--and converted 21 second-chance points.

Jeffries had 24 points and 15 rebounds, doing yeoman’s work in the second half.

Indiana also took advantage of foul trouble that kept Duke’s Mike Dunleavy on the bench for much of the second half, hitting the boards hard.

“It seems like we’d have them blocked out and the ball would get tipped a little to the left or the right and they seemed to come up with it,” Dunleavy said.

Still, Indiana never led until a minute remained, when Tom Coverdale sank a baseline jumper for a 72-70 lead on a play that began after Duke’s Chris Duhon lost the ball in the lane on the other end.

Indiana’s A.J. Moye made two free throws with 11 seconds left, setting up Duke’s final desperate chance.

Duke freshman Daniel Ewing missed a three-point attempt, but the ball caromed to Williams, who made a huge three-pointer just before he missed a bigger free throw. Still, Boozer almost pulled it out.

Krzyzewski didn’t complain, and said his view of the play was blocked.

“But you know what, it’s the way it goes. Whether he was fouled or not, it’s the way it goes,” Krzyzewski said. “Again, there’s human elements in all these things. I would never, ever blame a loss on one play or an official or a player....

“The game’s too great to reduce it to excuses and making bogus statements, ‘If this would have happened or that would have happened.’ Hey, it didn’t happen. Be men, congratulate the winner and go on.”