Coach K consoles Duke guard Trevor Keels following Final Four loss

Duke and North Carolina played one of the greatest games in college basketball history on Saturday night in their Final Four classic in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Blue Devils came up a bit short in a classic game and lost, 81-77. Following the game, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski waited to console one of his star players, freshman Trevor Keels. The former Paul VI (Fairfax, Virginia) product poured in 19 points in tonight’s game on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. He was devastated following the loss and was consoled by his head coach. They shared a brief moment and walked into the Duke locker room together.

Check out the tweet from college basketball expert Matt Norlander.

Trevor Keels was waiting for K in the huddle and absolutely sobbing. Couldn’t contain himself. K hugged him, they shared a brief moment before walking into the Duke locker room together. Highly emotional.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 3, 2022

Duke will learn to appreciate their Final Four run in time

The emotions of college basketball are part of the beauty and part of the most painful parts of the sport. While the immediate sting for Duke program will be very painful, they will learn to appreciate the Final Four run in time. It was an incredible season for Duke and they have every reason to hold their heads high, especially after the way they turned things around in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Duke’s roster full of future NBA first round draft picks started playing like it and they really clicked throughout the tournament. Their loss to North Carolina certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort and there were spectacular plays made by both teams throughout the matchup.

It was a wild and chaotic game which saw 18 lead changes. It will undoubtedly go down in college basketball history as one of the greatest games in NCAA Tournament history. Coach K said following the loss in his post game press conference, “They’ve been beautiful young men to coach.” He handled the loss with a great deal of class and grace, which isn’t always easy to do.

Trevor Keels will likely join many of his Duke teammates in the NBA soon. We’ll have to wait and see when he makes the official decision on whether to turn pro or return to the Blue Devils for the 2022-2023 college basketball season.

The Duke men’s basketball program will now turn to a new chapter in their program’s history and look to Jon Scheyer as their head coach for the 2022-2023 college basketball season and beyond.