Sure, Duke basketball's 73-68 comeback win against North Carolina was exciting.
And yes, there have been an incredible number of court-stormings this year. Duke has been witness to two of those this year, when Duke was upset by N.C. State and Miami, while the Blue Devils were No. 1 in both instances.
But contrary to some rumors out there, Coach K did not have to stop the Cameron Crazies from rushing the court after last night's win against the Tar Heels. There wasn't some overwhelming number of students lining up to mob the floor.
But it's the rumor nonetheless, not helped by Dick Vitale mentioning it on the broadcast. Here's the video via Sportsgrid:
In reality, what was happening was, there was confusion as to whether the game was over. After UNC's P.J. Hairston slammed home a meaningless dunk in the game's final second, the buzzer sounded. So, photographers, staffers—and who knows, maybe a few uninvited guests—began to walk/run onto the court to set up for the postgame, take pictures and so forth. Per usual.
But the referees had gone back to the monitors to confirm if there were actually time left on the clock.
Saying Coach K was stopping some sort of impending embarassment by fending off hoards of students eager to go on the floor is just wrong. He just wasn't sure the game was over, nor was anybody on press row.
So, naturally, he was telling the photographers and whoever else stepped foot on Coach K Court to get off before the game was officially over.
Kids these days and their rumors and Twitter and jibber-jabber. Sheesh.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.