Duke Wins First Ever PK80 Championship Over Texas and #7 Florida in the Motion Bracket
PK80 tournament was put together to celebrate Phil Knights (co-owner/chairman of Nike) 80th birthday that is in February but they wanted to host the tournament early in the year. It took place in Portland, Oregon where Nike was established. There were two brackets in the tournament so in the end there would be two champions in each bracket. It was a three-day tournament.
The Victory Bracket:
Michigan St.
North Carolina
UCONN
Oklahoma
Oregon
DePaul
Portland
Arkansas.
The Motion Bracket
Duke
Texas
Florida
Butler
Ohio St.
Stanford
Gonzaga
Portland St.
While everyone was having a Thanksgiving hangover, Duke advanced in the tournament to play Texas. Texas was looking to get its first- ever victory against a top-ranked team. Texas was in control for most of the game. At halftime, Texas was up a dozen, but Duke would make a run. With two minutes left in the game, Duke comes all the way back and Grayson Allen picks up his 5th foul and fouled out. So, freshman Gary Trent Jr and Marvin Bagley III took over and lead the Blue Devils to an overtime victory 85-78. Marvin Bagley III had a career high 34 points and 15 rebounds, Gary Trent added 17 points. Talented freshman Mohamad Bamaba of the Longhorns finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds but would later foul out. Also, Dylan Osetkowski had 19 points and 7 rebounds. In this game Marvin Bagley tied Dukes freshman scoring record set by JJ Reddick. Duke would advance to take on the number 7 Florida Gators.
Sunday night was championship night in college basketball with two championships on the line. In the earlier game Michigan St. routed the defending champions North Carolina 63-45 to win the Victory Bracket.
Again, the Blue Devils had another tough test going up against a tough team in the Florida Gators that has players that can shoot the lights out at the three-point line. The clear-cut advantage for Duke was their size in the paint with Bagley and Carter. Duke started off slow in the game again like the previous game and it was all Gators for most of the game. But this young Blue Devils team showed heart again, and came back from a 17-point deficit with 10 minutes left to go. Big man Wendell Carter played the majority of the game in foul trouble. But the Gators couldn’t stop Marvin Bagley who finished with 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Gary Trent Jr had a good game with 15 points, and Grayson Allen had a down game for his standards. He only finished with 14 points but tallied 7 assists. Jalen Hudson had a fantastic game for Florida, he finished with a double-double, 24 points and 10 rebounds. Duke would win 87-84. Even though Florida blew the game, they still showed that they are going to be a tough out in the SEC and they have the potential to make it to the Final Four. They are legit and they aren’t going to go away.
Duke proved in this great tournament that they are a young team that is still getting better and better each day. Marvin Bagley III won the deserved MVP of the tournament and he proved that he’s the best player in college basketball. Duke adds its first PK80 Championship and hopes it one step closer to hopefully raising the NCAA Championship in March.
