Duke Is Best of Best

Other teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference had more star power and depth than Duke, which wasn’t supposed to have a championship season.

In the end, however, it was the Blue Devils, again.

Duke held off Georgia Tech, 69-64, in the ACC tournament championship game Sunday at the MCI Center to claim its record-tying 15th tournament title.

And for their efforts, the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (25-5) were rewarded with the No. 1 seeding in the Austin Regional of the NCAA tournament.

Duke and second-ranked North Carolina, the ACC regular-season champion, received two of the top four spots in the NCAA tournament.

“We should be a No. 1 seed,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We’re the champions of the best conference in the country.”

Wake Forest, ranked third, was expected to receive a No. 1. But Duke shook up the bracket with its impressive performance in the ACC tournament.

Not bad for a high-profile team that was overshadowed this season in the nation’s top conference.

Guard J.J. Redick helped make it happen for the Blue Devils. The tournament MVP scored a game-high 26 points after a 35-point performance against North Carolina State in the semifinals.

Center Shelden Williams was a force inside, getting 16 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots. Guard Daniel Ewing had 15 points and four assists.

Guard Jarrett Jack led the Yellow Jackets (19-11) with 19 points.

The title, Duke’s sixth in seven seasons, was especially sweet for the smooth-shooting Redick, who struggled in last season’s title-game loss to Maryland.

“Today was just a great moment for our team,” Redick said. “It was pretty personal, for me, with how stuff happened last year. It meant a lot for me to win this championship with this bunch of guys.”

Ewing’s three-pointer gave the Blue Devils a 50-37 lead with 12:35 remaining in the game, and it became 52-39 on Shavlik Randolph’s layup with 11:14 to play. But that would be Duke’s final field goal until Williams tipped in a missed foul shot only seconds before the final buzzer.

With Redick forced into a primary ballhandling role after Ewing and DeMarcus Nelson fouled out, Duke struggled against the Yellow Jackets’ full-court pressure.

Anthony Morrow’s shot with 25 seconds left cut Duke’s lead to 65-64 at the 25-second mark. But Redick was fouled and made both free throws, Georgia Tech guard Will Bynum misfired on a three-pointer and Williams tipped in the second of David McClure’s two missed free throws to seal the victory.