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Jay Williams: Duke loss to UConn might 'haunt them for their rest of their life'

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko03/30/26nickkosko59

Duke losing to UConn in the Elite Eight might “haunt them for the rest of their life” as Jon Scheyer and crew were eliminated. A double digit lead did not matter as the Huskies stormed back and won, seemingly miraculously, to advance to the Final Four for the third time in four years.

Scheyer and the Blue Devils held a lead as big as 19 points in the game. It seemed like the No. 1 team in the country was bound for a return trip to the Final Four.

But as ESPN’s Jay Williams put it, this one is going to sting for quite awhile. The conversation will be about Scheyer’s Duke teams not being able to close it out.

“That game (can) haunt you for the rest of your life,” Williams said on Get Up. “I know that Jon Scheyer, 124-27, three straight Elite Eight appearances, back to back 30-plus win seasons, a Final Four appearance last year. You know, three out of four years he’s won the ACC tournament title, sheer dominance over his four years. But what will people be talking about today? Their ability to end games.

“Last year was Cooper Flagg in the Final Four and having a double digit lead. And this year there are three losses. There are three losses. In each of their three losses, they’ve had double digit leads. It’s haunting for a player. This is the good and the bad of how March Madness rolls. And now you have UConn in the Final Four.”

Scheyer chalked it up to pure disappointment. He didn’t go as far to say this’ll haunt Duke and its players for life, but it was a tough pill to swallow.

“I could not be more disappointed and feeling for our guys,” Scheyer said on Sunday night. “At the same time of just trying to process what happened. I don’t have the words. I don’t have the words. I’m incredibly sorry for these guys that they’ve got to go through this. This is on us. We’re going to be in this together. I don’t have words other than just how proud I am of these guys and how disappointed we are.”

Another mind boggling stat that popped up: Duke was first No. 1 seed to lose after leading by 15 or more points at halftime. The hits just keep on coming.