Next Up - Mount St. Mary’s In The 2025 NCAA Tournament
Do the Mountaineers have an upset in them?
Duke will play Mount St. Mary’s Friday in its NCAA opener after the Mountaineers knocked off American 83-72 on Wednesday in the First Four.
We’ve talked about luck in the tournament and Mount St. Mary’s got a break when American’s leading scorer, Matt Rogers, hurt his knee in the first half. Life got a lot easier for the Mountaineers after that.
Not to underestimate them. They are a 16 seed, and only two 16s have ever won an NCAA tournament game. However, they were impressive enough in their opener to lead former NBA big man Roy Hibbert to say this: “It was all about the point guard play and the trust they had in their bigs. They also move the ball to the perimeter. The ball movement was great.”
“If they (Mount St. Mary’s) keep that up, they may have a chance, maybe, to win one more game.”
Against American, Mount St. Mary’s shot 57.7 percent, hit 9-22 three shots and controlled the boards too.
It doesn’t guarantee a win of course, but Duke is on a different level than American.
The Mountaineers start Jedi Cordilia (6-9/210 lb. senior), Dola Adebayo (6-8/210 lb. junior), Javon Ervin (6-3 junior), Dallas Hobbs (6-1 senior) and Xavier Lipscomb (6-2 senior).
That creates obvious problems since Duke is the biggest team in the country. Part of that size advantage is Cooper Flagg though and he was injured during the ACC Tournament. Reportedly his ankle is much better so hopefully he’s good to go.
If he is, the Mountaineers have to deal with 7-2 Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel, Tyrese Proctor and Sion James, all 6-6, and the 6-9 Flagg, who is one of the elite defenders in the country, not to mention Isaiah Evans, Patrick Ngongba, Mason Gillis and Caleb Foster off the bench.
Their best hope is probably three point shooting and transition baskets. If they shoot nearly 50 percent from behind the line again and can turn Duke over, Hibbert’s right. They’ll be in this game.
As for Duke, the Blue Devils learned a lot in Charlotte, playing without Flagg who injured his ankle in the first half of Duke’s first tourney opponent, Georgia Tech.
It would be easy to rely on a talent like Flagg and that Duke won the championship without him speaks volumes about this team.
Kon Knueppel, who Mike Krzyzewski recently said was Duke’s second best player and that it wasn’t particularly close, really stepped up. But everyone did. Duke does have a lot of talent, but losing your best player, especially one who does as much as Flagg does, hurts. It was pretty extraordinary that a team, much less one this young, overcame that.
So what to expect?
Well, it’s tournament play, which means you can’t really know. There’s probably a guy on Mount St. Mary’s who has dreamed of this moment all his life. All of them have of course, but we mean a guy who can actually do something about it. Whoever That Guy turns out to be will probably have a great game. If his teammates step up and they can collectively overcome Duke’s size and talent, well, it could be one of the great win in NCAA history.
And while the Blue Devils have most of the advantages going in, the Mountaineers have one you can’t replicate, fake or even challenge: they are an older, more experienced team. They’ve had to struggle at times. And yet here they are, in the NCAA tournament, with a chance to make history.
In other words, what do they have to lose? There’s a pretty good chance they play out of their minds. It may not be enough to win, but win or lose, they’ll come away with respect.