Duke's Andre Dawkins reacts during the final seconds of play as the Blue Devils fall 75-70 to Lehigh. ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com

Updated 11:17 p.m.

GREENSBORO – Duke’s players were the last to see it coming.

All season long, there was a sense that these Blue Devils could do anything in the postseason, from losing their first game to, if the bracket broke right, getting all the way to the Final Four.

The former of those two options came to pass on Friday night.

With C.J. McCollum leading the way with 30 points, the No. 15 seeded Mountain Hawks knocked second-seeded Duke out of the NCAA tournament with a 75-70 win at the Greensboro Coliseum that wasn’t completely as stunning as the seeds may have indicated.

The Blue Devils repeatedly showed their mortality throughout the season, and its offense unraveled in the last week when Ryan Kelly sprained his right foot before the ACC tournament. The junior forward missed his third straight game on Friday.

Even still, the shock of the abrupt ending hit Duke’s players square in the nose.

“I was prepared to win,” said freshman Austin Rivers. “That’s what Duke’s about. This doesn’t happen. We (expletive) lost to a 15 seed.”

As Rivers alluded to, Duke hardly ever loses its first game in the NCAA tournament. Before Friday night, the Blue Devils had won at least one game in every NCAA tournament since 1997 with the exception of the 2007 season.

“For me, my program, you’re on a continuum,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “There are four years that we ended up with a win in my 37 years. It’s not football where you have a bowl game and 35 people end up with a win out of a hundred.

“So when the loss comes and how it’s inflicted, you just take responsibility for it. I think overall my team did a great job this year. But we did not do a really good job this last week and a half, and so that’s upsetting.”

Mason Plumlee made all nine of his field goal attempts, scoring 19 points to lead Duke. Rivers also had 19 points.

After only making 36.3 percent of their shots in the ACC tournament, the Blue Devils’ offense once again struggled against the Mountain Hawks. Duke missed its first nine 3-pointers and only shot 23.1 percent beyond the arc for the game.

“Our offense, which was a real strength of ours the entire season, the last two weeks has not been very good,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s my responsibility.”

Rivers dismissed Krzyzewski’s suggestion it was his fault.

“I don’t know how you prepare for something like this,” he said. “This is the worst day of my life. I don’t know how you look back like, ‘I would have, could have, should have.’ That (expletive) doesn’t mean anything. We just lost.

“Lehigh’s a great team and I tip my hat off to them, but we should have won. They outfought us. They played harder, they wanted it more, they were into it, their bench was into it, their coaches were into it. The only thing we had was our coaches. That was it.

“No one else showed up.”

Even still, the Blue Devils had a chance in the final minutes until McCollum put some distance between the Mountain Hawks and the Blue Devils.

With Lehigh up 56-54, McCollum hit a key 3-pointer with 2:24 left to put the Mountain Hawks up five before John Adams slammed the ball home to give Lehigh a 61-54 lead with 1:52 remaining.

Krzyzewski called timeout, and Seth Curry got a 3-pointer to fall after the ball hit off the front rim and then bounced off the glass before falling through the hoop with 1:31 left.

With the shot clock winding down on Lehigh’s next possession, Tyler Thornton was called for his fifth foul with 1:06 remaining. McCollum made both free throws, and Rivers tried to get to the basket on the other end. His attempt in the lane missed and Gabe Knutson made both free throws on the other end to give Lehigh a 65-57 edge.

The Blue Devils couldn’t overcome that margin in the final seconds, although there were moments it looked like Duke might stage an incredible comeback. After Andre Dawkins hit a 3-pointer from the wing, Rivers was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 28.6 seconds left. He made two of his three free throws to bring the Blue Devils within three, 67-64.

But a Jordan Hamilton dunk on the other end closed the door on the Blue Devils’ comeback hopes.

"I've been part of some amazing teams, and I had some amazing accomplishments," said Miles Plumlee, who saw his Duke career come to a close. "But people remember how you leave, and this isn't how I wanted to leave."

GREENSBORO – Duke associate coach Chris Collins said Thursday he has not talked to anyone or heard from anyone about the vacant Illinois job.

The Illini fired Bruce Weber last week, and Collins' name has been floated out there as a possible replacement in the week since.

A native of Northbrook, Ill., Collins said he’d be interested if Illinois came calling.

“Of course,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, and it’s home. I love the Midwest. It’s where I grew up. For me, eventually I want to be a head coach, but I want to be somewhere that’s the right fit for me and my family – somewhere I feel I could be successful and really enjoy being at.”

Nevertheless, Collins stressed his focus is completely on this Blue Devils’ team as they prepare to open the NCAA tournament  against Lehigh on Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum (WRAL, 7:15 p.m.).

“This is what you play for,” Collins said. “To be distracted at this moment is not good. It’s not good for me, it’s not good for our team. I’ve tried to push all that stuff aside and really focus on being successful with this team in the NCAA tournament.”

GREENSBORO – Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is hopeful that Ryan Kelly might be healthy enough to play some “situational” minutes against Lehigh on Friday night, but he said Thursday that he won’t be a part of the regular rotation against the Mountain Hawks.

Kelly was receiving treatment and wasn’t available for interviews Thursday, but he hasn’t practiced with the team since spraining his right foot in practice last Tuesday.

“There’s steady progress,” Krzyzewski said, “but not good enough as of this morning where I would have confidence in putting him in a game except maybe to shoot the free throw or handle maybe a possession or two in an end-game situation.”

Without Kelly, Duke’s offense stagnated at the ACC tournament in Atlanta. Duke made 37.1 percent  of its field-goal attempts while averaging only 59.5 points in the two games, well below its season average of 77.5.

DURHAM – Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday that he hopes Ryan Kelly will return to the practice court Thursday, but Duke still isn’t sure how much it will be able to count on the junior forward when it begins the NCAA tournament on Friday against Lehigh.

Kelly suffered a sprained right foot last Tuesday in practice and sat out the ACC tournament.

“He’s doing running in water and trying to get his movements and conditioning going,” Duke’s coach said. “We’re hoping by Thursday to get him on the court. But we’ll see – it’s a day-to-day thing.”

Duke is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face Lehigh in its opening game on Friday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The Mountain Hawks (26-7) won the Patriot League championship over Bucknell. Lehigh lost by nine points at Michigan State earlier this season.

The Blue Devils are in the same region as No. 1 overall seed Kentucky. No. 3 seed Baylor and No. 6 seed UNLV are two potential opponents for the Blue Devils.

Updated 7:48 p.m.

ATLANTA – Austin Rivers rued the fact he didn’t do exactly what he planned when he had the chance to send Duke’s semifinal against Florida State to overtime.

Seth Curry didn’t have time to think through what he wanted to do with his desperation attempt at the buzzer.

Either way, Duke’s top perimeter scorers missed 3-point heaves in the final seconds, allowing Florida State to eke past the Blue Devils for a 62-59 victory. The third-seeded Seminoles (23-9) will face top-seeded North Carolina (29-4) in Sunday’s championship.

The title alone of this new ESPN special should cause some screeching or at least some serious eye-rolling among local Tar Heel fans: "The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky" airs Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. on ESPNU.

The 30-minute program, which is based on a premise set forth in Gene Wojciechowski's book of the same title, features former players, coaches and basketball analysts who argue that the 1992 overtime thriller between Duke and Kentucky was the last great game in men's college basketball.

Duke won the game 104-103 on a last-second shot by Christian Laettner.

There's insight from members of both ’92 teams, including Laettner and Grant Hill, as well as Kentucky’s Jamal Mashburn and John Pelphrey. Then-assistant coaches Mike Brey, Jay Bilas and Billy Donovan add their eyewitness accounts, while basketball analyst Len Elmore, who called the game for CBS, rounds out the discussion of the legendary game that propelled Duke to its 2^nd straight National Championship.

Photo from ESPN

Updated 10:54 p.m.

ATLANTA – As Duke moved the ball around the perimeter in the second half of its 60-56 win over Virginia Tech on Friday night, Tyler Thornton saw that Seth Curry was going to catch it with what looked like enough space to get off an open 3-pointer from the wing.

“Shoot it, Seth,” Thornton yelled.

At the last second, a Virginia Tech defender lunged at Curry, forcing him to pass to a wide-open Thornton in the corner. With the Hokies showing little inclination to close out on him, Thornton squared up and let fly with another 3-pointer.

That attempt splashed through the net.

DURHAM – After former Duke point guard Kyrie Irving said Monday that Mike Krzyzewski would coach the U.S. Olympic team in 2016, the Blue Devils coach said Tuesday that such a decision has not been made.

“While Kyrie and I have discussed his potential role with USA Basketball in the future, my focus right now is on the remainder of our Duke team’s season and the 2012 Olympics,” Krzyzewski said in a release provided by Duke.

“Jerry Colangelo and I have not discussed anything beyond what is ahead of the USA national team this summer as we pursue a gold medal in London.”

DURHAM – Duke forward Ryan Kelly sprained his right foot in practice on Tuesday and will miss the ACC tournament.

The junior will be monitored over the weekend and re-evaluated Monday.

Without Kelly, the Blue Devils will have to take care to avoid wearing the Plumlee brothers out, especially if they get to Sunday’s championship. Beyond Mason and Miles, Duke’s only other frontcourt options are Josh Hairston and Mike Gbinije.