Mark Williams leads Duke to ACC tournament quarterfinals | Raleigh News & Observer

Mar. 11—GREENSBORO — Greensboro

At this point, after a season of false dawns, far be it from anyone to claim, presume, surmise or otherwise deduce that Duke has turned some kind of a corner. One can only fall into that trap so many times.

But, just for sake of argument, if Duke were going to pull off the improbable five-in-five at the ACC tournament, or at the least win enough to actually make a legitimate case for the NCAA tournament, the way Duke has played so far in Greensboro is how Duke would have to play to make it happen.

“So far” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, with Florida State looming in Thursday’s quarterfinals, but Tuesday night’s win over Boston College and Wednesday’s 70-56 win over Louisville had a lot in common, starting with the continuing emergence of freshman big man Mark Williams as an unstoppable force and on down the line.

With Matthew Hurt making some unlikely shots from uncertain positions and the freshman backcourt of DJ Steward and Jeremy Roach showing considerable defensive improvement, the things Duke needed to fall into place are falling into place.

There was a lot of back and forth in Wednesday’s first half — a 12-0 Duke run followed by an 16-0 Louisville run followed by a 12-0 Duke run that spilled into the second half — but the Blue Devils took firm control after that. Williams was a huge part of that, dominating the paint and breaking Ralph Sampson’s ACC tournament record for rebounds by a freshman with 19 to go with 23 points.

“He only had one rebound (Tuesday), so he’s averaging 10 a game,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Keep his ego in check.”

Williams didn’t play in the first game at Louisville and had eight points and six rebounds in the home overtime loss to the Cardinals two weeks ago. In a sense, Williams’ progression mirrors Duke’s.

“Today I got to show a little bit of what I could do,” Williams said.

In some ways, so did the Blue Devils. Their defense, at times, was smothering, denying Louisville any penetration and blocking the Cardinals to the perimeter. Roach in particular looks more comfortable on both sides of the ball. And if Williams has made leaps and bounds over the past four weeks, so has Duke in the four days since they were blown off the court at North Carolina.

That wasn’t the first time this season Duke was written off. This isn’t the first time Duke has turned around and raised hopes again.

If that was a team out of mental gas after back-to-back overtime losses, this is a team that seems to be tapping new reserves of confidence. Is it enough to shore up a shaky NCAA tournament resume? Is it enough to put together a historic run in Greensboro, four years after Duke became the first team to win four games in four days in Brooklyn? Only time will tell.

Either or both seemed unlikely a few days ago, and now both suddenly seem somewhere within the realm of possibility. In the absence of any great pronouncements about whether Duke is back or not, that will have to suffice.