HB2 could have cost Duke another national championship. Seriously.

Those who remember Black Sunday in 1979, when Carolina and Duke both lost second-round games to Penn and St. John’s in Reynolds Coliseum, might realize how close they came to reliving that in 2017. When the tourney was yanked out of Greensboro and placed in Greenville, South Carolina, it also transformed the crowd.

The Tar Heels were lucky that all of the Duke and South Carolina fans had not arrived in time to jeer them during a shaky second half that almost cost them the game. Conversely, most of the light blue-clad fans stayed around for at least the start of the night cap. Few of them left when the Blue Devils led only by seven at halftime over the Gamecocks, a second half team due to its defense.

All the fans knew Duke was struggling with South Carolina’s relentless “D,” which did not give the free-shooting Devils any room to get into rhythm. Mike Krzyzewski hated how the game was being called four minutes in, taking off his suit jacket and whipping it under the bench. It did no good as the Gamecocks were allowed to defend Duke very physically for the rest of the upset win.

Had that game been in Greensboro, North Carolina would not have had as many fans and while Duke is the villain in most places it would not have seemed like such a road game as it did Greenville. My contention is the Devils would have found a way to win and moved on to the Sweet 16 in the East, which had opened up for them after top-seeded Villanova lost to Wisconsin on Saturday.

If you watch a lot of the Big Dance, you know how the games are officiated so differently from match-up to match-up and venue to venue. South Carolina wins with suffocating defense eventually fueling its offense, and with a tightly called game the ‘Cocks could not be so physical. Duke shooters Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen rarely got the open looks they are used to and missed 13 of their 19 shots. The loss might have also ended a brief Duke era.

Freshman Jayson Tatum is a projected first pick in the NBA draft, and Kennard is a first-rounder if he goes out. Allen might also go or stay and try to rebuild his rep as a senior. Reserve big man Harry Giles could declare, as well, because he is still rated a high pro prospect and the NBA has been his stated goal all along. New talent will be coming, but it means yet another rebuilding job for Coach K.

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