Duke is lucky and the best team, which is a dangerous March Madness combination

Duke held on for a win at the buzzer vs. Virginia Tech to get to the Elite 8, but don’t call Zion Williamson’s team lucky.

Is Duke lucky or good? They can be both.

After Duke survived a buzzer-beater attempt at the rim vs. UCF in the Round of 32, Duke had similar good fortune when they held off a comeback attempt by Virginia Tech.

The Hokies drew up a fantastic play out of a free timeout after a reply review gave them an extra half of a second to give them 1.1 to execute the final shot.

They got the look they wanted, but the shot didn’t fall, as Duke survived another upset attempt and advance to the Elite 8.

It’s easy to say they got lucky. But the referees blew an out of bounds call earlier on the possession that would have given Duke the ball and a chance to ice the game with free throws. Then the officials gave the Hokies extra time to catch and shoot for the final shot.

The only luck is the last step of the execution where the shot didn’t drop.

It was a great effort by the Hokies, but it wasn’t enough. Duke is the most talented team, and when they’re getting these bounces to fall in their favor, it’s even tougher to beat them.

Skeptics will point out these lucky bounces are going to eventually start bouncing the other way, but as long as Williamson and Barrett are healthy and not in foul trouble, will it even matter?

Duke isn’t a lucky team. This is a team of destiny. Sometimes the best team doesn’t always win the national championship. Sometimes it’s the team that hits a lucky buzzer-beater or doesn’t have one fall against them.

The Blue Devils have the look of both those teams.