By JIMMY DuPREE

jdupree@heraldsun.com; 419-6674

GREENSBORO -- It was one of those days for Kyle Singler -- the kind when none of his shots were falling and he easily could have been remembered for one spectacular crash rather than for leading his team to the ACC Tournament championship.

Yet after the Duke Blue Devils received their trophies for beating Georgia Tech 65-61 in Sunday's tournament final, Singler was accepting the Most Valuable Player award for his three-game run at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"It's pretty cool," Singler said after scoring 20 points against the Yellow Jackets, mostly by way of making 14 of 16 free throws. "I thought I had a good tournament, helped my team win -- it's a great recognition."

For Singler, that boarders on being a braggart.

Mostly, the junior forward is known for hard-nosed play that speaks for itself.

"Nothing surprises me with him," Duke senior Jon Scheyer said of Singler. "He's the toughest player I've ever played with."

And it will be difficult to find a play that exemplifies that toughness more than the one with 1:49 left in the first half.

That's when Singler, hustling to save a loose ball, jumped over a table along the sideline and landed in the lap of ESPN announcer Dan Shulman. Monitors and drinks tumbled and Shulman's chair didn't survive the crash, but there were no serious injuries.

Dick Vitale, seated next to Shulman, mostly avoided the contact.

"I've fallen harder before, so it's nothing really too bad," Singler said. "If anything, it felt good. ... I mean, I played football in high school, so I do like contact. If anything, it kinda got me going.

"I know I kind of, maybe broke some stuff, so I'm sorry."

No doubt "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" can absorb any damage monetarily. Singler said he and Shulman checked on each other at halftime.

"I wish I would have hit no one, but whoever it was kind of gave me a soft landing," Singler said.

More important to Duke, Singler had only five points at halftime on 2-of-9 shooting. He added only one more field goal in the second half but made all 13 of his free throws, setting an ACC Tournament championship game record with 14 total connections.

"I wanted to be more aggressive and attack their press, and then [be more aggressive] on defense," Singler said of his approach to the second half. "It wasn't necessarily that I was worried about that I couldn't shoot.

"It was just [that I needed] to be more aggressive and try to get a rhythm somehow, whether it was getting to the free throw line or making an assist."

Singler said that crashing into the ESPN crew and other hustle plays aren't so much a symbol of the Blue Devils' gameplan as they are the product of teamwork.

"It's not really what Duke's based on but just trying to win the game -- doing whatever to win the game," Singler said. "We're not a good shooting team. That's been kind of the backdrop the whole season.

"We haven't really shot the ball well. We've got good shooters, but the overall impact on our team is our toughness, our rebounding. It kind of just seems like whenever we need to make a play, something happens. It's not really one guy that does it -- just somehow, we get the job done."

The victory over the Yellow Jackets gives Duke 18 ACC Tournament titles, surpassing North Carolina's 17. But that's of little concern to Singler.

"It feels good to bring one back home to Duke," he said. "I'm not really too worried about what Carolina's doing. I'm always focused on Duke and trying to make us win. That's all that matters."

Up next is a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where Duke has had little success in recent years.

"So far, we've done what we wanted to do, and that's win [the ACC regular-season and tournament] championships," Singler said. "I guess it's the sign of a good team. ...

"We have to enjoy it right now, but we have to move on and focus on the NCAA Tournament. We'll enjoy it today, but once we know who we're going to play and where we are, we've got to move on."

But games such as the Blue Devils' victory over Georgia Tech should have them better prepared this time around, according to Singler.

"As long as I can play like I have been playing and our team plays like we've been playing, we'll do some special things toward the end of the year," Singler said.

Just warn anyone along the sidelines that he may join them if the ball heads their way.

You may contact Jimmy DuPree at jdupree@heraldsun.com or 419-6674.