Sunday was a great day for Shelden Williams.  Sure, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs taught Williams and his Celtics teammates a clinic, but I’m sure that could barely overshadow the rest of his day.

Against those Spurs, when he wasn’t watching Manu (Manure?) Ginobili perform magic tricks, Williams scored 11 points in his highest-scoring output of the new year.  But that probably wasn’t even his favorite thing on Sunday.  Before his own game, Williams watched his alma mater, the Duke Blue Devils, advance to the Final Four for the first time since he played for them. (WEEI)

“It’s great,” Williams said, regarding the Dukies’ trip to the Final Four.  “It’s kind of strange that this is the first time that we’ve been back to the Final Four since my team in ‘04. It’s been kind of crazy, but actually this year has been amazing for college basketball fans to watch. This tournament has been unbelievable with underdog teams and powerhouse teams, you never know what to expect. If you had tried to tell me after being in the tournament that a fifth seed, a fifth seed, and only one one-seed would make it, that’s crazy.”

Williams is happy Duke is still alive, but hopes they aren’t done yet.  He sees some signs that could point to bigger and better things to come.

“Everybody on that team is playing their role. Nobody’s getting out of hands with things, nobody’s trying to [do] more than what they can do. I think just everybody is playing their role and playing off of each other well. I think that’s a great thing for them to do. Whether they’re not shooting well, like [Sunday], (Kyle) Singler was 0-for-10, he’s one of the top scorers if not the top scorer on the team, and they still managed to find a way to win. That says a lot.”

Williams hadn’t scored double figures since Dec. 30, then poured in 11 after watching Duke advance to the Final Four.  The same day, J.J. Redick damn near put on his triple-double against Denver, pumping in 23 points, 8 assists, and 7 boards against the Nuggets while filling in for the injured Vince Carter.

Maybe the Celtics should sign Christian Laettner, and see what he could do with all that Duke pride.