Archbishop Stepinac High School graduates AJ Griffin and RJ Davis have created a buzz on the White Plains campus before stepping on the court in New Orleans for Saturday’s historic matchup that North Carolina residents waited so many years for.
Saturday’s Final Four meeting between Duke and North Carolina is the first ever between the two schools located less than 10 miles apart in an NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:49 p.m. on TBS.
Griffin is a freshman forward at Duke who is a projected lottery pick if he chooses to enter the 2022 NBA Draft, and Davis is a sophomore guard at North Carolina.
“Not many people from Stepinac make it to the Final Four and to say you played against each other is something we’ll always remember,” Griffin said in a press conference Thursday in New Orleans.
The game will follow a semifinal between Villanova and Kansas, which has Stepinac graduate Fred Quartlebaum on its coaching staff.
“The Stepinac community is so excited about the upcoming games,” Stepinac Athletic Director Michael O’Donnell told Catholic Sports Scene. “There is a great positive buzz about these former alumni accomplishments. The Final Four is a great event each year but this one will be a once in a lifetime for many of us here at school. I have seen all three of these young men compete and watched them grow into the stars they are today.
“Hard to believe that they will all be on the court Saturday night on the big stage. I’ll be rooting for each of them.”
Davis and Griffin earned all-tournament honors in leading Stepinac to the 2018 New York State Federation AA championship, and also were members of Stepinac’s archdiocesan championship teams in 2018 and 2020.
Davis scored a career-high 30 points in a 93-86 overtime win over top seed and defending national champ Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tournament, and finished with 12 assists in his team’s 95-63 first-round victory over Marquette.
Davis is averaging 13.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, and has a team-high 136 assists.
Griffin finished with a team-high 18 points, three rebounds, one steal and one block for Duke in its 78-69 victory over Arkansas in the West Region final in San Francisco. The freshman was 7 for 9 from the floor and 2 for 3 from beyond the three-point arc.
Griffin, who was named by conference coaches as one of the top ACC freshman this season, is averaging 10.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in almost 24 minutes per game this season.
“AJ is a phenomenal talent,” Davis said in a press conference earlier this week. “He can shoot the ball really well. He’s a freakish athlete. When he and I played together, it was a great duo. It was like no one could really stop us in New York. I’m super happy for him, super happy for his success with what he’s been doing this year.”
Duke (32-6) and North Carolina (28-9) are meeting for the third time this season with the two teams splitting the first two meetings with wins on the road. Former New York Knicks guard Hubert Davis is in his first season as North Carolina head coach, and Mike Krzyzewski has served as Duke’s head coach since 1980.
“So right now, we’re just enjoying it,” said Davis. “We’re enjoying each other. We have smiles across our face, but also at the same time, it is a business trip. We’re not just going down there to have fun. We’re going down there to take care of business.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUKE UNIVERSITY