They beat Louisville last night.

They were supposed to face Florida State tonight in the A C C tournament.

They had to forfeit the game, ending their season at 13 11, and Florida State moves on to the A C C semifinals.

And while the country has dealt with the pandemic for exactly a year, we haven't seen many surprises when it comes to crown champs in sports.

The Lakers, the Storm, the Dodgers, the Lightning, Alabama, the Buccaneers all have won titles.

But in college hoops, the story is completely different.

Blue Bloods have struggled to match the expectations, and on the same day the Kentucky season came to an end, Duke had to forfeit their A C C quarterfinal game due to a positive covid test, ending their streak of N C Double A tournament appearances at 24.

Here's Shelley Smith.

The Chronicle.

Duke's most difficult season in decades.

45 minutes on the bus back to Durham.

Turn around and come back here tomorrow night to face Florida State.

Just Wednesday night, Coach K was waxing poetic about still having a chance to play in N.

C double A tournament.

Our sport needs this tournament's really, uh, the best sporting event in the United States.

Four months ago, he had a very different take on the idea of college basketball in a pandemic, questioning whether games should even be played.

I know the NCWO is worried about the endgame.

They're they're not as worried about the game we're playing right now.

Perhaps because those comments came on the heels of Duke losing two of its first four games, including a 15 point loss to Illinois at home, the backlash was swift.

Do you think if Coach K and lost the 29 conference games at home if he'd still be saying that?

Probably not.

Okay, I just wanted you to say it, not me.

Look, I just got my bubbe.

I want so anything I say someone can say, Well, he's saying that because he got his.

But I would just like for just for the safety, the mental health and the physical health of our players and staff.

Yeah, for there to assess where we're at in our country today, there's you have 2000 deaths a day.

The season was tumultuous from the outset.

In early December, the Blue Devils cancelled their nonconference games and played just one game between December 8th and January 6th.

While they played better after that, there was still stress, including this response to a student reporter.

After our loss to Louisville, I could.

I'm just curious as to what the next step forward here is for the team.

As you guys move into another week of basketball, why don't we just evaluate this game?

I'm not into what our next step forward is right now.

What's your heart is?

Class?

Okay, so say you just had the toughest Nikon test in the world.

And when you walked out, somebody asked you, What's your next step?

Uh, you see what I mean?

Then on February 15th, with just seven games left, freshman Jalen Johnson opted out of the rest of the season.

He said to prepare for the NBA draft, he made the best decision for himself.

He's getting a lot of backlash for, but we're supporting them 100% with this.

I'm a coach because of players, and these kids should have the choice to do whatever they want.

The blue Devils lost to North Carolina and stumbled into the tournament but won their first two games, regaining some momentum.

And then this happened.

One of Duke's Tier one personnel tested positive for Covid and do KD Kevin White announced the 2021 season to be over.

It's now official.

The Blue Devils streak of 24 consecutive tournaments is over as well.

For ESPN, I'm Shells, Charlie.

Thank you.

This will be the first time since 1995 that Duke won't be in your N C double A tournament bracket.

That's just weird.

That's just the whole thing.

Kentucky and Duke.

Not on a bracket, right?

That was the third longest streak all time, by the way, for the Dukies.

In addition there nine a C C losses, the most in which kitsch coach K was on the bench for the entire season, going back to the 82 83 season.

And that team featured a young freshman who was smarter than everybody in the locker room.

His name was J billion remains.

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