Coach K reveals worries that Duke is dealing with stomach bug at ACC Tournament

Coach K and Duke basketball — who many experts believe are poised to make a run to the Final Four with a roster loaded with talent — handled their business with an 88-79 victory over Syracuse in the Blue Devils’ first ACC tournament matchup Thursday.

Stil, the Blue Devils front man shared some alarming news after the win.

Coach K says that Duke was been dealing with some food poisoning or a stomach bug of some kind. Him, assistant Chris Carrawell, and A.J. Griffin, he mentioned, were throwing up all day yesterday.

— Brendan Marks (@BrendanRMarks) March 10, 2022

“A.J., we weren’t sure if he was going to play,” Krzyzewski said.

Griffin ultimately played 22 minutes on Thursday, scoring four points on 1-3 shooting.

Top-seeded Duke, which received a double-bye entering the tournament, plays either No. 3 seed Miami or No. 13 Boston College in Friday’s 7 p.m. semifinal.

“We’re hoping it’s not a bug that goes through the team.,” Krzyzewski said. “A few of the kids are not up to par. Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll be in a lot better shape.”

Can Coach K win it all in year where ACC is in decline?

There once was an energy surrounding the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament that made the lineup of four elite-level games unrivaled, but beyond Duke at the top of the league, the conference that has been touted for so long as the best in college hoops is in decline.

Here’s part of On3 national college sportswriter Eric Prisbell’s take on the decline of the ACC. The full piece is available here.

Jay Bilas, the longtime ESPN analyst, hearkens to his playing days at Duke in the mid-1980s, remembering that as one thrilling game neared a climax, players for the next one would be bustling with anticipation in the arena tunnel. From one game to the next, there was no let-up; the electricity was palpable, unrelenting.

“In a way, it is better” than the Final Four appearance he made at Duke in 1986, Bilas said in 2005, reminiscing about the ACC tournament’s elevated level of competition. “That was considered the gospel — winning the ACC tournament. … If nobody came to the games, it would still be the best thing going because of the teams.”

While league-wide success often is cyclical, even the not-so-distant glory days of 2019, when the ACC earned three No. 1 seeds, seem like a bygone relic. Coach K and the Blue Devils clearly are poised to make a serious run for his sixth national title. But who else? At best, the league could have four other teams — North Carolina, Miami, Wake Forest and Notre Dame — make the NCAAs and perhaps only three with the Demon Deacons’ damaging loss to Boston College on Wednesday. It’s possible an ACC team lands in the First Four in Dayton. It’s also likely that no conference team other than Duke is seeded better than eighth or ninth.

How did the ACC get here? Like many conferences, it arguably is too bloated from football-driven expansion now that it stretches from Massachusetts to Miami. It also would be naive to think that the approaching coaching sunsets for several iconic names isn’t playing a role. Roy Williams retired last year. Coach K’s retirement is mere weeks away. Meantime, Jim Boeheim (77), Leonard Hamilton (73) and Jim Larranaga (72) are likely in their final few professional years. While Krzyzewski’s final ACC tournament is a celebration of his remarkable career, it’s also a sobering reminder of how enormous a loss his departure will be for the league.

For now, while the rest of the ACC won’t love it as Duke is often hated by anyone outside of Durham, the best case scenario for the conference in 2022 is for Coach K to win it all and ride off into the sunset.