America wanted the upset, but Duke got every break imaginable to survive Siena

All my homies hate Duke. Every single one of them. Thursday gave every anti-Duke person in America exactly the fuel they needed heading into the rest of this tournament.

Siena nearly did it. A 16 seed playing five guys for essentially the entire game pushed Duke to the absolute limit and had a 13-point lead at one point.

Gerry McNamara’s team was in complete control of the biggest upset in March Madness history and the country was watching. Then the back-to-back missed dunks happened.

The Blue Devils made their run. Gavin Doty limped through the end of the game on one leg and still somehow kept them in it. The refs swallowed their whistle on a blatant walk by Boozer in the paint and Duke escaped.

Siena nearly had five starters go wire-to-wire against Duke

Hats off to Siena — nearly had all five starters go wire-to-wire against Duke 👀

Jones subbed in with 8 seconds left in regulation. pic.twitter.com/J7yPaqZrEm

— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) March 19, 2026

What makes it so much worse is what Maliq Brown said after the game.

"We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game so now we know what it is so we just have to respond back."

Duke's Maliq Brown spoke with @TracyWolfson at halftime. pic.twitter.com/m5L8winCV9

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 19, 2026

“We thought it was going to be a cakewalk going into this game so now we know what it is so we just have to respond back.”

Fucking boo. Like, okay bro… a cakewalk. Whatever you say.

They walked into a game against Siena in the NCAA Tournament and called it a cakewalk. That is exactly the arrogance that makes this fanbase impossible and why everyone hates Duke.

This is the fanbase that will spend this entire weekend pretending their team dominated instead of admitting they needed a limping Doty, two missed dunks, and a no-call to survive a team running on fumes with no bench.

We all know the truth. Duke was on the brink until the final minutes.

pic.twitter.com/95QsFlzTH6

— Drew Smith (@drewmsmith) March 19, 2026

Shoutout Siena. They had seven scholarship players available. The two off the bench were freshmen shooting 35 percent or worse from the field.

McNamara played it right. You do not bench your best players for 90-second breathers in that situation. You ride the adrenaline and you trust the guys who got you there. Those players fought with everything they had against one of the most talented rosters in college basketball and they had that game won. They had it won.

America was robbed of the best story in tournament history. A team with no subs beating Duke in the first round with Gerry McNamara patrolling the sideline would have been the kind of moment people talk about for the rest of their lives. Instead Duke gets to move on and their fanbase gets to pretend it was never close.

It was close. It was closer than close and Duke should be embarrassed it got that way.

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