Duke's Nolan Hits Career High 29 in Win over Baylor

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Duke Blue Devils advanced out of the South region to the NCAA tourney Final Four with a sharp, 78-71, win on Sunday. The win enabled Duke's first trip to college hoops Nirvana - the Final Four - since 2004, when the Blue Devils lost to UConn, 79-78 in the semi-final.

Propelling the Blue Devils past Baylor was the exceptional play of junior guard Nolan Smith, who posted a career-high 29 points on a night that Kyle Singler - Duke's scoring leader - was held to an uncharacteristic 5 points. Smith hit shots from everywhere, going 9-for-17, including 4 three-pointers. He was also near-perfect from the foul line, cashing 7 of 8 freebies.

Duke faces West Virginia in a semi-final game on Saturday, April 3 in Indianapolis.

NCAA Conference Scoreboard (through games of March 28)

Conference W-L
ACC (6-5)
Atlantic-10 (2-3)
Big East (8-7)
Big Ten (9-4)
Big 12 (9-5)
Conference-USA (0-2)
Mountain West (2-4)
PAC-10 (3-2)
SEC (6-4)
West Coast (3-2)
Western Athletic (0-2)
Other (11-18)

*Conferences with only one tournament team listed as "Other."