Charlotte, NC.- Last night (March 14) the #1 Duke Blue Devils secured their second consecutive ACC Tournament Championship after a thrilling 74-70 victory over the #2 Virginia Cavaliers.
Despite the top seeded Blue Devils boasting a double bye during the Conference Tournament, Duke played a hard fought 3 day gauntlet of old school, gritty basketball.
It certainly wasn’t easy for Jon Scheyer’s squad, who were missing two key starters in G Caleb Foster and F Patrick Ngongba, both inactive for this week’s festivities due to ankle injury.
Duke was battle tested from the jump, after a duel with #8 Florida State brought things to the literal final tenth of a second on Thursday night. In the Semifinal on Friday, the fellas from Durham would rout the #5 seed Clemson Tigers after a spectacular performance from the Boozer Twins. Finally, Duke brought home the glory in the aforementioned thriller vs the Cavs’ of UVA.
Now with their automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament punched and the top overall seed seemingly secured, all focus quickly shifts to the biggest stage of the game.
Following their Title, I spoke with 2026 ACC Tournament MVP F Cameron Boozer alongside teammates G Cayden Boozer, G Darren Harris and F Dame Sarr, who had the following reflections after the 3 day gauntlet of high octane basketball the Blue Devils just played:
“Games like this certainly prepare us, obviously being down 2 guys is tough…We played 3 great,physical teams…Those are March Madness games right there, it’s going to be great for us going forward.” – Cameron Boozer
“I was feeling good until I just walked down the hallway, now I’m in a little bit of pain….” Cayden Boozer joked. “Our next game is on Thursday, I’ll be fine….I think just playing as hard as I can for those 40 minutes was really important for our team…It’s a really big moment for us, I’m really proud of our guys!”
“All of us are winners, we have been our whole lives….I think it gives us all the momentum and the confidence in the world headed into the most important time of the year…” G Darren Harris stated. “We were short handed during this Tournament, we can hopefully get some guys back soon, it’ll be a seamless transition…”
“This was one of our goals, we worked so hard for this…3 tough games, the ACC’s really tough….We were 2 man down but we never made any excuses…As long as our will is there, I know we can do it.” G Dame Sarr stated.
Now the Blue Devils control their destiny as the projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, chasing one objective: finally getting over the hump and delivering Jon Scheyer his long-awaited debut in the National Championship game.
