Top Teams Face Off on the Court Friday… But We Must Wait for Duke and Florida to Meet

On Friday, the two best teams in college basketball shared the same court. They’ll be back at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh for another game on Sunday.

Sadly, Duke and Florida won’t be playing a best-of-3 series. In fact, they didn’t face each other at all.

That matchup will have to wait three more weeks until they meet in San Antonio.

That is, if they both make it that far.

However, judging from their dominant opening victories in the NCAA Tournament, it’s hard to believe they won’t eventually clash in a national championship game.

It wasn’t just that they easily defeated underdog opponents. This is expected from No. 1 regional seeds. What made the biggest impact was how they won.

There were no early setbacks or unnecessary drama. Both teams showed professional-level dominance from start to finish.

Duke, the top seed in the NCAA East Region, eased any concerns about star Cooper Flagg’s health by crushing Mount St. Mary’s 93-49. Florida had a few more slip-ups than Duke but still stayed focused enough to deliver a convincing 95-69 victory over Norfolk State.

Both teams will continue their Tournament runs with second-round games in Raleigh on Sunday. However, if this was just the beginning, they’ve already set a high standard, as high as Florida’s 7-foot-9 redshirt, Olivier Rioux.

“I thought these guys were incredibly mature, even though many of them hadn’t played in the NCAA Tournament except for Tyrese (Proctor) and Mason (Gillis),” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “I’m proud of the performance. We have to move on quickly, but it’s great to get our feet wet and learn what the Tournament is all about.”

“It just feels different. So, to experience that and give a great effort with that killer instinct, I think that’s the biggest takeaway,” Scheyer added.

That might have been Scheyer’s takeaway, but for the rest of us, Duke’s quick 18-4 start and their refusal to ease off the accelerator took a backseat to the performance of the projected national Player of the Year.

Despite all the pregame assurances from Flagg and his coach that he was fully recovered from an ankle injury sustained during the ACC Tournament, doubts lingered until he proved it on the floor.

It didn’t take long for Flagg to show he was healthy. Less than two minutes into the game, he sprinted down the floor on a fastbreak, caught a pass from Proctor, drove to the basket, and scored while being fouled. The most encouraging part? He got up immediately, showing no signs of pain.

“The last time he fell, it wasn’t good news,” teammate Kon Knueppel said. “It was great to see him back on defense.”

Flagg finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks in 22 minutes before passing the baton to the bench. It was part of a solid team performance, with the Blue Devils shooting 50% from the field and posting a program-record 21-to-2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Florida also impressed in the first 15 minutes of their game against Norfolk State. Behind the shooting of Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin, who combined for 6 three-pointers and 27 points, the Gators built a 53-21 lead.

But unlike Duke, the Gators started to show off instead of sticking to the fundamentals.

“We kept looking at the scoreboard,” Martin admitted. “We can’t do that at this level. We can’t give any team hope. We just need to be better going forward.”

The 16-seeded Spartans took advantage of the Gators’ distracted play, scoring the last 11 points of the first half. They even managed to play Florida evenly for a good portion of the second half before the Gators regained their focus and took control.

Despite the lapses, Florida’s lead never dropped below 20, and they were never in danger of losing. Still, the brief letdown could be a warning as they face tougher competition moving forward. Or, as coach Todd Golden suggested, it could also serve as a valuable teaching moment that could help his team in their quest for a national championship.

Especially if they end up facing that other elite team they shared a court with on Friday.