It was like a nightmare! I cried out “What the …” when I watched the basketball get blocked by UConn, and then when the Husky freshman Braylon Mullins nailed the 35-foot 3-pointer, I am sure I blurted out some expletive.

When Silas Demary Jr. stepped to the free throw line with UConn trailing by three points, and 10 seconds left, I had a lot of confidence that the Duke Blue Devils were still going to win. Demary missed the first free throw – and even if he intentionally wanted to miss the second free throw so the Huskies might rebound and possibly chuck up a 3-point shot – the clock and Duke’s rebounding prowess were going to end up in Duke’s favor.

Demary made the second free throw and instead of calling a timeout, Duke played it out, getting the ball inbounds quickly. Cameron Boozer got the inbounds pass, passed it back to the inbounder, Dame Sarr, who fired a pass to Cayden Boozer, who threw the ill-fated pass that resulted in the game-winning shot by Mullins, 73-72, Huskies win.

Duke had a timeout. Duke could have held on to the ball leading by two and hope UConn would foul and Duke players (especially Sarr and Cayden Boozer, who were unguarded) could have dribbled away from the defense to draw a foul.

The final 10 seconds of the game – with a Final Four spot on the line – will be forever analyzed.

For me, a Duke fan for decades, it will haunt me until … Duke wins another championship.

Congratulations to the Huskies who fought and fought from a 19-point deficit to advance to the Final Four.