ACC notebook: Coach K discusses a bigger dance

GREENSBORO, N.C. — If the NCAA Tournament does expand, what would that mean for conference tournaments?

They would almost certainly lose their significance if the NCAA field swells to 96 like some have suggested.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t want that to happen, because the ACC Tournament has been a great event for everybody involved for so long. The same could be said of the other major conference tourneys.

“If (the NCAA tournament is) expanded too much, you couldn’t have a (conference tournament),” Krzyzewski said. “Although I’m not opposed to expansion, I would like to crawl with it if we’re going to do it, to 68 or 72 (teams), so the integrity of the conference tournaments (remain).”

Dawkins steps up

Duke could have been in trouble in Sunday’s ACC Tournament championship game when junior guard Nolan Smith picked up his second foul with 7:52 left in the first half.

But freshman guard Andre Dawkins stepped in for Smith and played well.

Dawkins, a Chesapeake native, scored seven points in 10 first-half minutes. He scored all his points in succession, connecting on a 3-pointer with 6:38 to go, and he followed that with a jumper and a dunk.

He scored more points Sunday than he did in his previous three games combined. It was his highest point total since he had 10 against Pennsylvania on Dec. 31.

“Andre gave us a huge lift in that first half because Nolan got a second foul early,” Krzyzewski said. “Once (Dawkins) was in there, I kept Nolan out the whole time. I usually bring a kid back. I would bring, not anybody, but I would bring Nolan, Jon (Scheyer) and Kyle (Singler) back and trust them that they wouldn’t commit a third foul, but (I didn’t bring Smith back in because) Andre was doing a good job.”

Keep shooting

Scheyer, a senior guard, had made only one of his eight 3-point attempts in Sunday’s championship game before sinking the game-clinching long-range shot with 18 seconds left.

But he still had the confidence of his teammates and coaches.

“I don’t look at what Jon did ... as lackluster shooting. We’re not going to be good unless he shoots. ... Part of being a good player is (treating) the next shot as your first shot. ... If he misses and we lose, then I’m OK with that too, as long as they take their shots confidently,” Krzyzewski said.

Success at the line

One of the major reasons for Duke’s offensive success this season has been its performance at the free throw line.

Entering the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils led the ACC with a 76.2 percent free throw percentage, and almost 22 percent of their offense came from the line.

Duke was even better during the tournament. Well, only slightly better.

It made 53 of 69 foul shots for the tournament (76.8 percent), and free throws accounted for 26.6 percent of its offense.

Foul shots were a key factor in the Blue Devils’ championship game win over Georgia Tech. They made 24 of 28, including an ACC Tournament championship record 14 by Singler.

“The free throw shooting, I’m knocking on everything (to keep that going),” Krzyzewski said as he banged his fist on a table. “Our free throw shooting in the tournament towards the end was just spectacular, and you can’t practice that.”