THE DREAM OF FLAGG AND SCHEYER WAS UPENDED BY, OF COURSE, KELVIN SAMPSON
Houston blazed with a classic 9-0 run in the final 1:14 behind the physicality of Sampson, ending the college career of Flagg without a national title and prompting Scheyer to take coaching blame
Another commercial for Cooper Flagg had ended on TV. Now, Jon Scheyer was staring at America’s Next Great Basketball Player and speaking to him with the most serious and grim set of eyeballs. Duke had blown a six-point lead with only 42 seconds left, as Mike Krzyzewski stared at the huddle. Suddenly, Houston led the national semifinal by a point.
What was next? More gleeful history for America’s most loathed college team with 17 seconds left?
The ball was in Flagg’s hands. He dribbled, found a turnaround shot and fired. It went off the front of the rim. Houston made two free throws for a 9-0 run, and with 3.7 seconds remaining, one question filled the Alamodome in San Antonio: Would Flagg become Christian Laettner and bury the court-length pass?
He did not. The ball never found him. Tyrese Proctor winged the ball and it hit only the floor at the buzzer. This was supposed to be the night when Flagg and Scheyer pulled off an amazing story in the mindless swirl of NILs and transfer portals, winning one more game before a championship. They did not, allowing Kelvin Sampson’s defense and strictness to shut down a team that led by 14 points with 8:17 left. The Cougars will play Florida for the title Monday night as the basketball world honors the 69-year-old coach who was fired at Indiana and never gave up in Houston, going old-school all the way.
Until then, we see tears from a coach who seemed perfect in Durham. Maybe Scheyer will go on to his own greatness. But this was devastating for a man who once scored 21 points in 75 seconds at Glenbrook North, down the street from where I lived in suburban Chicago, and became Krzyzewski’s successor three years ago. So far, he is 0 for 3 after a 70-67 loss.
“It’s hard to process still,” said Scheyer, wiping away moisture. “I thought our guys did an incredible job. We had good looks. We didn’t finish. I couldn’t be more proud. We’re not about to hang our heads. You’ve got to handle the wins and have to handle the losses. We thought we were the best team. The best team was Houston today. This is the most heartbreaking loss.”
And where was the blame placed? On Scheyer, by Scheyer. “We believed we everything we had that we would win a championship. I didn’t help them enough. That’s where my mind goes,” he said. “This is part of it, unfortunately.”
Flagg was numb. Losing wasn’t part of the freshman equation. “That’s a shot I’m willing to live with,” he said. “Get it up on the rim, trust the work. Just let it short.”
For days, Scheyer said he hadn’t slept much. He knew about Houston’s physicality and the will of Sampson. “That’s a credit to Houston. We have a great scout team, but you can’t replicate what they do,” he said. Sampson, too, had been nice, saying, “I'll tell you how good Jon Scheyer has been: Nobody talks about him replacing Coach K anymore. I think that speaks volumes for him."
Duke played for 39 minutes. Houston played 40.
“No one ever loses a game as long as you don’t quit,” said Sampson, greeted with roars from fans who drove the freeway. “You quit, you lose. We’ve been here before. It’s not like we were down 20. I felt like if we got it close, something good could happen. Glory goes to God. I’m so glad I get to coach them.”
Any luck? “It’s not lucky that they do what they do. They do their work. They trust teammates,” Sampson said. “I hear what people say. Duke this, Duke that. Duke’s great. Jon Scheyer is awesome. But don’t sleep on Houston. Don’t sleep on Houston. We weren’t 34-4 playing in The Toy Poodle League.”
“We were resilient. We had a game like this early this year,” said L.J. Cryer, who scored 26 points. “It’s never over. You have to keep fighting.”
On the eve of the game, clips of Sampson’s practices were leaked online. Players were diving on the floor and tackling each other for loose balls. Sampson wasn’t upset, saying, “I’m finding out there’s some leaks in the system.” His players weren’t bothered, either.
“It builds our toughness,” Emanuel Sharp said. “That’s the kind of team we are. We wouldn’t want it any other way. To some people it looks crazy, but to us that’s normal.”
“In practice, we don’t call fouls. Shirts get ripped, people have bloody mouths, stuff like that,” Cryer said. “It’s an all-out war in practice, so whenever you get to the game, if the other team’s not playing with that intensity, it’s like you can kind of sense that there’s blood in the water.”
That quickly, Flagg is off to the NBA. He also committed an iffy foul on J’Wan Roberts with 20 seconds remaining and Duke winning by a point. We do understand the phalanx of commercials now, including bingo at the local hall, after an impressive performance. He dribbled to the basket, left defenders in tweeners and rocked the rim with two feet flying. He jammed again and beat his chest with both hands. He intercepted a pass. He hit a three-pointer. He blocked a shot. He used his head and shoulder in a fake and dropped the ball to Kon Knueppel. He twisted his body, switched from one hand to the other, and flipped in another shot.
For reference purposes, he happens to like the sneaker ad. “Obviously, I love New Balance and I’d love to wear their shoe, but we’re in a situation where Duke is with Nike, obviously,” Flagg said last week. “So just respecting the rules that are in place and kind of what we have to follow.”
We also liked his right-side jumper with about three minutes left, when Houston was charging. And his stifling block of Joseph Tugler with his right hand, which all but ended the game. The country has waited for one glimpse of Flagg to see why he’ll rule the NBA party. Ever see an 18-year-old with so many endorsements? The explanation happened with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 3 of 4 from trey land. Why is he the first white American player — since Kent Benson in 1977 — who will be drafted No. 1 in the draft? His stat sheet never stays still.
Scheyer cried when he signed Flagg. He cried more Saturday.
Some won’t believe it, but Florida will create stirs Monday night via Walter Clayton Jr., who quit life as a football star and bulled through Auburn’s defense with 34 points. If he isn’t the next Stephen Curry, he keeps delivering in critical moments and bangs to the basket when he isn’t nailing three-pointers. His chill was the difference in a physical game of lead changes and odd calls by officials.
“One more,” Clayton told his teammates.
“He was the difference. He was just flat out the difference,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We couldn’t contain him down on that end.”
He’s the first player since Larry Bird, in 1979, to score at least 30 points in the Elite Eight and the national semifinals. How will Sampson guard him? “I got a bunch of guys around me that trust me to take those shots,” said Clayton, who made five of eight from beyond the arc. “We're so together as a team. We spend so much time together and just love each other.”
But first, he had to make sure the ball didn’t hit the shorts of teammate Alijah Martin before it went out of bounds. The refs studied the play for minutes. We saw it at home seven times. Martin won because he didn’t have longer shorts. Next possession, Clayton was a defensive back who drove into the paint against several defenders and hit a leaner off the glass. The final: 79-73, on the day former coach Billy Donovan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s a good thing for the Gators that Clayton’s high-school dream was rejected the famed IMG Academy.
“We got there, and they said, ‘We don't have anything for you in basketball, but we'll definitely take you for football,’ ’’ he said. “We basically went down there for nothing. It was so frustrating.”
Not anymore. “I feel like everybody sees it. He’s poised, calm and collected, confident in himself. We have that confidence in him,” teammate Will Richard said. “We see him in practice, see his work ethic. We’re glad everybody else is getting to see him do it.”
“I’m just used to seeing him put the ball in the basket, I guess,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “But he’s done what he’s done all year for us In big moments. He steps up, hits huge shots and settles our team down. He makes the winning plays when we need them the most.”
In the final minutes, Clayton was helped by a steal and a monumental dunk from Martin. “I was just thinking dunk it, honestly,” he said.
“We’ve been waiting for it all year,” Clayton said.
Golden beat his mentor, Pearl, who has made inroads at a traditional football school by demanding a season-ticket holder pay at least $1 million in donations. Imagine telling Bo Jackson, an alum, that you must contribute seven figures to watch roundball. Someone else associated with the university is blown away. “To make Auburn a basketball school,” Charles Barkley said, “is something I never thought it would be.”
At least he’ll shut up and talk about Clayton.
“The fact that he can go out there and score 34 points and get us to a championship is just amazing,” center Micah Handlogten said. “I can't really explain it. He never shows too much emotion. He always just has this little mean mug on and he just hoops.”
So one team will feature the wannabe Curry. The other will feature Kelvin Sampson. Last year, we watched Caitlin Clark.
The men are worth your appointment time.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.