Duke basketball faced down the end of Coach K's career -- and grew up when it mattered

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The five players who refused to let their last dance go to waste, engineered a frenetic comeback to advance to the Sweet 16 with an 85-76 win over Michigan State, and he looked down at the dais.

He knew the finish line was in sight for a long time. He chose this path, a farewell tour in which he might relive some of his classic moments and write a final chapter that would be worthy of his career. The finality of Krzyzewski's run has hung like a cloud over everything Duke has done this season.

It was different on Sunday. The end wasn't simply a point on the horizon when Marcus Bingham Jr. drained a pair of free throws to give Michigan State a five-point lead with 5:10 to play. It had arrived.

Paolo Banchero was angry when he saw that Bingham was going to make his first free throw. Mark Williams was shocked. He hung his head. Moore clapped his hands, almost as if he was trying to wake his team.

Duke couldn't protect leads. The Blue Devil's lead was cut in half by Michigan State on Sunday.

It has seemed too heavy of a burden for Duke's players to take the responsibility of making a fitting end to their coach's legendary career in the regular-season finale against North Carolina or the conference tournament against Virginia Tech. The weight was threatening to crush them.

The Blue Dukes have worked to carve out their own space in the midst of the narrative of Krzyzewski's last dance. The NCAA tournament was supposed to be a fresh start, but the basketball gods decided to give one more compelling moment to their coach. When the NCAA placed Duke and Michigan State in the same region, it was a dream match up. These two friends, who had faced off 16 times in their careers, should be able to enjoy one last battle. Izzo had the upper hand.

The entire season was built to this, and if it had ended there, it would have felt fitting.

It didn't end there.

After the Spartans went on an 11-2 run, Banchero drove to the basket and delivered a layup to stop the bleeding.

Keels buried a 3 with 3:24 to play to tie the game. It gave Duke fans the chance to exhale for the first time in a long time.

Williams, who had been a force of nature in the paint early on, didn't take a shot in the final 14 minutes of play, but on defense, he swallowed up the Michigan State offense.

The forgotten member of Duke's band of lottery picks, Jeremy Roach, drove to the basket multiple times in the final minutes, attacking the basket with such determination that even Krzyzewski was stunned. Those drives were some of the best he had ever seen, according to Krzyzewski. Roach delivered the dagger, a 3-pointer that Krzyzewski insists found the basket not through accuracy but sheer force of will.

After the game, Krzyzewski had a lot of water in his eyes. This season has been about him, a celebration of nearly a half-century in college basketball, but when the end finally arrived, it was those players who pulled him back from the brink.

Pick the winner of the games in the NCAA tournament from the Sweet 16 to the championship. The tournament challenge had a second chance.

They lost at home to North Carolina. They lost to Virginia Tech. The games are the same. We went up after coming back. They could have been at the sunset. I thought they reached down, in Mike Krzyzewski fashion, and took it at us.

When it was over, Moore was asked if he was thinking about a last stand for Krzyzewski, when the Spartans were up by a point. No, he said. He didn't think about losing. He was thinking about a trip.

Moore said that there were two road trips.

In July, Moore, Banchero, Roach, Keels, and Williams traveled to Atlanta to watch their former teams play in the annual Peach Jam basketball games.

Moore said that they called themselves "The Road Crew" since then.

The Road Crew had five minutes left in Krzyzewski's career.

Moore said that they looked into each other's eyes and knew they weren't going to lose.

Duke is going to the Sweet 16. Krzyzewski survived another trial by fire. Duke's players scripted their own mythology in a game that was sold as a clash of legendary coaches.

The team looked young when Michigan State took the lead. He wondered if the bill had come due for packing a roster with potential lottery picks who hadn't quite found their sea legs.

He wondered if we were going to stay young after a while.

Instead, this group grew up, and in doing so, the Blue Dukes made their 75-year-old coach feel young once more, winning a game that belongs in the pantheon of Krzyzewski's greatest.

The end will come. It is on the horizon in San Francisco next weekend or in New Orleans at the Final Four.

Sunday proved that the group of Blue Devil were worthy of the dance.