Raleigh, NC-it should be a familiar feeling for top-free Duke in his NCAA tournament of the second round with Ninth-seeded Baylor on Sunday afternoon.
Blue Devils will meet some old friends and add their experiences just half an hour from campus.
Baylor Guard Jeremy Roach was a Duke Standout in Backcourt and played a key role on the team’s 2022 Final Four team. He chose to play his last college season with the bears.
“I trained him for four years, two as an assistant, two as head coach,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. “He has given Duke everything he has.”
Duke (32-3) and Baylor (20-14) won in extremely different fashion in Friday’s first round in the Eastern Region.
Baylor held on eighth-seeded Mississippi State in the site’s opener 75-72 before Duke blew out no. 16 Seed Mount St. Mary’s 93-49.
The Duke game had no drama when it started and the Star Freshman Cooper Flag was in the starting lineup, back a week after suffering a precipitated ankle that caused him to miss all except a few minutes by Blue Devils’ three-game run through the Atlantic Conference. He got 14 points in more than 22 minutes on the court in the 44-point box.
“I just made sure he didn’t stimulate,” Scheyer said. “Obviously give him a few extra minutes, I’m sure it will be helpful for Sunday.”
So now all focus can look forward to the Baylor game.
Scheyer said there is no point in staying at the Roach angle at this time of the season.
“You play the NCAA tournament,” he said. “This should be about Duke and Baylor.”
While Duke’s starting lineup consists of four newcomers this season, junior guard Tyrese Proctor and Roach former backcourt friends are.
“(Roach is) my boy,” Proctor said. “He is a family and it will be fine.”
The bears will try to use Roach’s presence to their advantage.
“I’m sure we will choose his brain,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew. “At the end of the day, however, I know that he loves Duke and had a fantastic experience. I know from when our former assistants that we train towards, it is bitter cute.”
For Baylor forward Norchad Omier, a former Miami player, it is a matchup against a school he previously met in the ACC competition.
At the same time, there is a reunion among former Montverde Academy teammates Flag and Baylor’s Robert Wright III.
“It’s just a cool experience in this environment and this attitude has played together last year, so it’s just really cool,” Flagg said.
Baylor’s close conversation against the Mississippi state is added to the team’s many close results, so the bears look at it as a good attitude for what comes next.
“I think it definitely gets ready for one (no) 1 seed and can go out there and compete,” Wright said.
Omier reached a final Four with Miami two years ago. He does not expect anything to be easy.
“It’s Mars,” he said. “Everything can happen. We have to be ready for every game to be a close game.”
Duke’s 21 assists and two turnover Friday marked the best relationship between once with help-to-round in program history (10.5).
“Just play our game,” Proctor said. “We have said all year, regardless of who we play, just play our game.”
-Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
