LIVE BLOG: Duke 79, Florida State 69 (FINAL)

DUKE 79-69, FINAL: And the Blue Devils win their first ACC Tournament, or postseason title of any kind, since 2007. Out to catch a flight back to Durham. More later.

DUKE 65-51, 3:54: Florida State has scored eight straight points, but that matters less when the Blue Devils had already built a 22-point lead.

DUKE 65-43, 6:12: Make room in the Cameron rafters. Duke's just more than six minutes away from winning its first ACC Tournament crown since 2006. The Blue Devils warded off the Seminoles' run, and not surprisingly, Henderson, Singler and Scheyer were in the middle of it all. Duke countered the Seminoles' mini-run with a 23-7 run of its own, with 21 of those 23 coming from Duke's big three. The three notable plays: a Henderson three to give Duke a 53-40 lead, a Henderson dunk through traffic on the next possession to put Duke up 55-40 and a Singler three a few minutes later to give the Blue Devils a 19-point lead. The Singler three was the dagger: Hamilton called timeout, Henderson put his arms out like he was flying and smiled at the Duke supporters behind press row and Singler held the follow-through, pointing to the sky, where Duke's banner is about to hang.

Duke's in open, its four-corners offense now, so expect the Blue Devils to kill plenty of clock. Assuming they hold on, the only question is who the Tournament MVP is. It's between Singler, Scheyer and Henderson, of course, but Singler's been quiet today and Henderson threw in a stinker yesterday. It's got to be Scheyer, who scored 14 Friday, 22 Saturday and has 19 today.

DUKE 45-38, 10:59: There's that Florida State run we alluded to, and suddenly, what was a brewing blowout is now a game. Singleton hit a three to cut Duke's lead to eight, then Douglas left a drop-off pass to Reid, who finished to slice the deficit to six. The Seminole chant erupted throughout the Georgia Dome, and Krzyzewski called timemout, giving him just two left in the game.

Out of the timeout, though, it wasn't Henderson who picked up the slack, but Scheyer. The junior guard took a pass from Smith right in front of the "A" in ACC and buried a big-time 3-pointer that brought the Duke coaching staff to its feet. It gave the Blue Devils a 45-36 lead, and after a Singleton tip, Scheyer was fouled in the corner taking a 3-pointer. He's headed to the line for three shots after this media timeout, trying to improve on his 11 points.

DUKE 42-31, 15:33: Douglas has heated up for Florida State, but Henderson's been just a little bit better for Duke. Henderson realized he had the hot hand early, sinking a short jumper, then a fadeaway turnaround, then a 3-pointer from the top of the key before finally missing another three. Piece of advise to Leonard Hamilton: Get DeMercy off of Henderson.

On the other end, Douglas has put on a show of his own, cutting through the defense for two easy layups and then nailing a 3-pointer from the corner. Deividas Dulkys swished a three from the corner to prompt Krzyzewski to call a full timeout and stem the Seminole run, but the Blue Devils still have a double-digit lead.

DUKE 35-21, HALFTIME: That's about as good of a half as Duke fans could have hoped for. A 14-point lead over one of the hottest teams in the country? Holding one of the best players in the country to 2-of-8 shooting? Getting 29 points from your big three, and solid minutes from Nolan Smith? Headed to the media room for a few minutes, back with halftime stats when I get them. Just know that right now, it looks as if we're 20 game minutes from seeing another banner in Cameron.

DUKE 33-16, 3:21: Nolan Smith doesn't seem to care about shooting. He just wants to tear up the Seminoles' 2-3 zone, and on the last two possessions, he's done just that. First, the sophomore snaked his way through the zone, banked in a jumper and fell to the ground. The next time down the floor, after Singler cleanly stuffed a Jordan DeMercy dunk, Smith cut through the zone, faked a pass to Henderson on the left and elevated for a one-handed slam over DeMercy, bringing the Duke faithful to its feet. Smith ran back with his arms out--reminiscent of Henderson, responding to the Crazies' assertion that "G can fly." That's something you wouldn't see after a 3-pointer, and it's another example of why Duke is better when Smith is at his best. He's a better offensive threat than Williams, and now that Scheyer is the point guard, Smith has less on his plate and can create from his natural position of shooting guard.

DUKE 29-14, 6:36: Duke wins when two things happen: It shoots well, and Henderson, Singler and Scheyer score. And right now, the Blue Devils are 7-of-10 from 3-point land--that's 70 percent, for those scoring at home--and Duke's big three have all 29 of its points. And look at that: the Blue Devils are up 15 on an NCAA Tournament team.

Singler made three threes in a row for Duke, Henderson's started 4-for-4 and 3-for-3 from 3-point land, and Scheyer has two threes of his own. Talking to a few reporters before the game, I said that Singler, Scheyer and Henderson all needed to have big games for the Blue Devils to cut down the nets here in Atlanta. Simply having two of the three probably wouldn't suffice against the Seminoles. I even said they needed to score 60 points for Duke to win. They're almost halfway there, and the Blue Devils are in fine form.

Again, when Duke shoots well, the team is as good as anyone in the country. And the Blue Devils are spot-on today.

DUKE 12-11, 11:37: The Blue Devils aren't shooting well, but neither is Florida State. Duke is just 4-of-13 from the floor, but Henderson is 2-for-2, including a 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Singleton. The Seminoles, on the other hand, are 4-of-9 from the field, but have committed more turnovers than their counterparts in white. Douglas is 2-of-4 from the floor, but he's 2-of-3 from 3-point land. The Blue Devils are doing everything they can to try to slow down the fiery guard. They're switching every screen, as they did yesterday. Williams, who drew the task of guarding Douglas to start, has been replaced in the lineup by Smith.

One  of the more interesting matchups is Henderson-Singleton, both of whom are taking it at each other. Henderson just engaged in some lighthearted banter with one of the referees, asking him to watch for Singleton's elbow when he drives.

FSU 8-7, 15:25: Looks like Florida State wants to make a conscious push to get Solomon Alabi the ball inside, and so far, it's working. Alabi started the game with an easy hook, and he laid in another basket to get four of Florida State's eight points. Likewise on the other end, it doesn't look like the Blue Devils will be able to establish an inside game, but then again, when have they been able to do that this year? Duke's only going to be as good as its shooting in this one. Scheyer has already made a 3-pointer, and it's a good sign that Henderson swished a jumper from the top of the key, a shot he's missed for most of this Tournament. He can't afford to miss it in this one.

PREGAME: For those wondering, the smattering of Tar Heel blue behind the Duke bench has disappeared. Looks like North Carolina fans stood by for the 7:30 a.m. flight out of Atlanta this morning. Speaking of, let's hope I can catch my 4:46 flight back into RDU. But onto basketball. Starting lineups: Kitchen, Douglas, Singleton, Alabi and Echefu for the Seminoles; Singler, Henderson, Williams, Scheyer, Thomas for Duke.

PREGAME: Greetings, again, from the Georgia Dome, where, again, it seems like we were here just... 21 hours ago! Again, we're in the front row for the ACC Tournament final, hoping that a phantom representative from The Sporting News doesn't materialize in the next, oh, 12 minutes until gametime. I'm within an arm's length of Mike Patrick, Dick Vitale and Howie Schwab, again.

One thing's new this time, besides my change in button-down shirt: Duke's playing for a championship, and you know how much value Mike Krzyzewski places in those. No. 3 Duke is no longer playing for a shot to play for the title. This one's actually for a banner, which would be the Blue Devils' first since 2006. That's right: Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, the nucleus of this team, have never hung a banner in Cameron Indoor Stadium, and they're itching for one.

Of course, Toney Douglas wants the same for Florida State. The All-ACC guard, second in Player of the Year voting, dropped 27 when these two teams met 11 days ago, but the X factor on this dreary afternoon could be the Seminoles' 7-foot-1 center Solomon Alabi. Much of the media is raving about this freshman--Bob Ryan called him The Next Big Thing--and if Alabi decides to make the ACC Tournament final his breakout game, the sizeless Blue Devils could be in trouble.