Battier Buzzer Tip Sends Duke to Final 4, Drops 2023 UConn 83-81

Carlos Boozer's potential game-winner missed but Shane Battier tapped it in for a buzzer beater to send the 2001 Duke team to a 83-81 win over 2023 UConn and trip the All-Time Final 4. Our 351st Value Add Basketball Game left us with five teams still vying for the title of greatest team ever, and the ACC eliminated the Big East in this Elite 8 game.

As the running score below shows, Duke led the whole game until Jordan Hawkins hit a 3-pointer, and then Tristen Newton immediately stole the ball and hit a 3-pointer of his own to give UConn a 76-75 lead with 2:07 to play.

However, UConn had a rare game in which they lost the rebounding battle (39-32) and they had no answer for Battier (24 points, 9 rebounds) and he immediately took it to the hoop to draw Alex Karaban's 5th foul. We decided to put Donovan Clingan back in the game even tired to try to offset Duke's rebounding edge (even tired with his numbers dropping by 1, he was the best rebounder on both sides of the court with a 1-9 offensive rebound range and a 1-8 defensive range). 

Battier hit both free throws to give Duke the lead again at 77-76.

Jay Williams, who as an all-time great point guard prevents anyone on the Duke team from turning it over on an even numbered roll the last 9 possessions of a game, the scored to make it 79-76. Clingan then scored to pull UConn back within 79-78. Mike Dunleavy scored with less than a minute left to make it 81-78, but then one of the non-NBA players Andre Jackson hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 81-81 before Boozer tapped in the game winner at the end. While Hawkins hit four 3-pointers en route to 22 points to keep UConn close, his very low 1-1 rebound range (meaning he fails to secure a 2-6 roll) was part of the rebounding issue as Duke's dominant rebounding line-up won an aspect of the game UConn usually dominates - 39-32. The two teams combined to hit 24 of 26 free throws, but Duke got five more foul calls than UConn, which is normal as four of their five players rarely foul with only a 36 as a foul (the word rating is 33-36 is a foul). A few strategy notes from the game: Sharp-shooter Joey Calcaterra drew a "dunk" roll on a 53 early in the game, which allows an automatic 2-pointer OR a 3-point attempt with the 3-point range tripled. That mean Calcaterra's 1-5 three-point made range was a 1-15 on the 20-sided die, so he turned down the automatic 2-pointer to take the shot but rolled a 20, and anything not in the range on this option results in a 3-pointer missed and defensive rebound. Later Karaban had the option of a dunk, or of the result of the 20-sided result which was drawing a foul. Because he is an 85% foul shooter (1-17) UConn chose to take the foul result to draw a foul on Battier - and he hit both free throws so the strategy worked though Battier never fouled again. With seven possessions left Jackson stole the ball which gave the option of a fast break, which would have lowered the 20-sided result by one to get a better chance at scoring and created an extra possession at the 7-possession left mark, but it would also have given Jackson a 50-50 chance at getting the ball and is the team's weakest scorer. Instead, they ran the set offense and it provided to be the correct move. An 8-sided die roll of 7 would have kept the ball with Jackson on a fast break, but running the set offense that sent the ball to Jordan Hawkins. The defensive roll of 43 would have been a turnover on Jackson's 41-45 range, but for Hawkins 41-41 it was not. And finally the "4" roll on the 20-sided die was a 3-pointer made for Hawkins and thus cut the Duke lead to 71-68. Duke will play either the greatest college player of the century, Anthony Davis and his 2012 Kentucky team, or the tallest team in our game in the final John Wooden UCLA champs of 1975 that have an average starting line-up at 6-foot-9. While the top three ranked teams are from the 1970s, the top 11 spots include teams from the last eight decades going from this UConn team in the 2020s back to Bill Russell's 1956 San Francisco.

Pos	UConn 2023	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Season
1-PG	Tristen Newton	11	1	3	2	2	1	2	0	2	nba,6'5	10.1 Pts, 4.5 Reb
2-SG	Andre Jackson	7	1	2	0	0	3	4	1	1	nba,6'6	6.7 Pts, 6.2 Reb
3-SF	Alex Karaban	2	0	1	0	0	5	0	0	5	nba,6'8	9.3 Pts, 4.5 Reb
4-PF	Jordan Hawkins	22	4	5	0	0	4	0	1	2	nba,6'5	16.2 Pts, 3.8 Reb
5-C	Adama Sanogo	12	0	4	4	4	10	2	3	3	nba,6'9	17.2 Pts, 7.7 Reb
1-PG	Hassan Diarra	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	6'2	2.1 Pts, 1.3 Reb
2-SG	Joey Calcaterra	13	3	1	2	2	2	0	0	1	6'3	5.8 Pts, 1.7 Reb
3-SF	Nahiem Alleyne	6	0	2	2	2	2	1	0	1	6'4	5.2 Pts, 1.2 Reb
4-PF	Samson Johnson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'10	0.9 Pts, 0.8 Reb
5-C	Donovan Clingan	4	0	2	0	0	3	0	3	2	nba,7'2	6.9 Pts, 5.6 Reb
	Turnovers 16	81	9	22	10	10	32	10	8	20
Pos	Duke 2001	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Season
1-PG	Jay Williams	15	2	3	3	4	4	2	0	2	nba,6'2	22Pts,3Reb,6Ast
2-SG	Nate James	2	0	1	0	0	3	2	1	1	6'6	12.3 Pts, 5.2 Reb
3-SF	Shane Battier	24	2	7	4	5	9	2	2	2	nba,6'8	19.9 Pts, 7.3 Reb
4-PF	Mike Dunleavy	15	1	5	2	2	9	1	0	1	nba,6'9	12.6 Pts, 5.7 Reb
5-C	Carlos Boozer	17	0	6	5	5	8	0	1	3	nba,6'9	13.3 Pts, 6.5 Reb
1-PG	Chris Duhon	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	nba,6'1	7.2 Pts, 3.2 Reb
2-SG	Matt Christensen	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'10	1.6 Pts, 2.3 Reb
3-SF	Nick Horvath	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'10	2.8 Pts, 2.3 Reb
4-PF	Casey Sanders	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'11	2.5 Pts, 1.8 Reb
5-C	Andre Sweet	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'6	4.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb
	Turnovers 16	83	5	27	14	16	39	7	4	15

Here is the all-time bracket.

Here is the running scoresheet and final line-up of the game marked with coins after Clingan re-entered the game.