OMAHA -- The zone defense floor slap came late in the first half, as a Duke team that had struggled with an 11-seeded Syracuse team looked to be finally going on a run.
"Can you do that in a zone?" former Duke star Grant Hill asked on the television broadcast.
It turns out you can, although it came with no shortage of consternation on social media.
duke just had the nerve to slap the floor playing a damn zone. you gotta be kidding me.
— El Flaco (@bomani_jones) March 24, 2018
Duke, don't u dare disrespect the villains that came before u and slap the floor while playing this wack ass zone defense
— Zodak (@goin_Greene) March 24, 2018
My nephew went to Duke basketball camp. I asked him and YES they teach the kids to slap the floor. God I hate Duke.
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) March 24, 2018
I don't know if it worked. Duke didn't exactly pull away and romp a less talented Syracuse team. Duke's Sweet 16 victory was an ugly affair, ultimately a 69-65 win that will send the Blue Devils to the only all-chalk matchup in this Elite Eight, a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Kansas.
But it seemed to at least get inside the head of Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, who immediately called a timeout.
And it was enough of an odd maneuver – can you really slap the floor in a zone, or will you end up like this guy? – that Duke senior Grayson Allen was asked about it in the postgame press conference.
"I mean, we did it," Allen said. "You can do it. It's about energy and intensity and showing some togetherness on the defensive end and getting a stop … It more symbolizes getting a stop than it does man-to-man defense."
Coach K piped up, pointing out that Hill himself wasn't exactly the king of floor slapping.
"I always thought that [Bobby] Hurley and [Christian] Laettner had to make [Grant] Hill slap the floor," Coach K said. "So he was a reluctant slapper."
I am very much looking forward to the majority-Kansas crowd's reaction should Duke break out the zone defense floor slap in the Elite Eight.
