Stanford Squeezes Duncan Cardinal Surprises Demon Deacons, Giving Pac-10 Four Teams In Sweet 16
With his teammates celebrating wildly around him, Brevin Knight took time to find his buddy, Tim Duncan, and give him a hug.
Knight finally got the best of Duncan and Stanford ended the Wake Forest All-American’s quest for a national championship Sunday with a 72-66 victory in the NCAA West Regional. Knight, who roomed with Duncan with the U.S. under-22 team last summer and was beaten soundly in their video games rivalry, displayed the cool collectiveness of an NBA veteran all game long and scored 19 points.
Duncan, meanwhile, had fits of frustration in the second half, when he scored just four points and pulled down only five rebounds.
“I told him I hope I see him at the next level,” said Knight, a second-team All-America point guard. “He said the same thing.”
It was the first time in six games at Tucson that a lower seed won. Stanford (22-7), which had not advanced beyond the second round since winning the NCAA title in 1942, was seeded sixth. Wake Forest (24-7) was third.
The Cardinal advanced to the regional finals at San Jose to play Utah.
“This was a great atmosphere today,” Stanford’s Kris Weems said, “but we’ve never had people rooting for us from everywhere and playing at San Jose and representing the Bay Area.”
Stanford gave the Pac-10 four teams in the final 16 of the tournament.
“It means a lot,” Knight said. “For a long time, a lot of people have been down on the Pac-10 and said we couldn’t win big games. And we’re showing we deserve the number of teams we got in.”
Duncan, who returned to Wake Forest rather than turn pro after his junior season - the 6-foot-10 center is almost certain to be the top pick in the NBA draft clearly was befuddled in the second half. He drew double and even triple coverage and went 11:14 without scoring.
At the end of his magnificent career, Duncan hugged Knight and Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, who coached the under-22 team, as the Stanford players whooped it up around him.