Jon Scheyer Under Fire for Coaching Decision in Duke’s Stunning Final Four Loss to Houston.
March Madness is all about upsets in the world of college basketball, and although a No. 1 seed beating a No. 1 seed in the Final Four is not considered an upset, what happened on Saturday night between the Duke Blue Devils and Houston Cougars certainly qualified as madness.
After Duke led by nine points with 2:15 left in the game, with a trip to the national championship on the line, Houston mounted an 11-1 run to take the lead and win the game, 70-67, after the Blue Devils’ last-second heave went wayward.
After the game, it was Duke head coach Jon Scheyer who was drawing a lot of blame on social media from fans for his management down the stretch.
Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer talks with guard Cooper Flagg (2). Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
It was a pair of inbounds plays down the stretch that ended up costing Duke the most, leading to turnovers and spurring on the Houston comeback. Here’s how fans reacted to Scheyer’s coaching in the end.
Credit to Kelvin Sampson’s team, which went on a 25-8 run in the final eight minutes of the game to steal the victory and advance to the championship game, where they will face the Florida Gators on Monday night.
While the Blue Devils ended up losing, future No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg had a great game, scoring 27 points with seven rebounds and four assists. It was L.J. Cryer who led the way for Houston with 26 points and five rebounds.
Florida is now the favorite to win the championship, listed as 1.5-point favorites over Houston on Monday night.