INDIANAPOLIS -- It became a routine. Every day, practice would end and, one by one, the Duke Blue Devils would gradually peel off for the showers or the training table or class or dorm rooms. Every day, the sounds of a full practice -- the whistles, the cheers, the symphony of sneakers squeaking on the floor -- would recede. And every day, when everyone else was gone, one ball still bounced, one pair of Nikes still squeaked, the sounds of one player, the same player, pushing himself to do more.

Every day in November, when he was both the No. 21-ranked prospect in America and the rarely mentioned afterthought of Duke's star-studded freshman class. Every day in December, when his minutes, even in blowouts, dipped into the single digits. Every day in January, when he took seven game shots all month, when his coach, Mike Krzyzewski, didn't trust him with even the briefest of runs against Louisville and Notre Dame.

Every day in February, when he started to get more time. Every day in early March, when he finally carved out a role. Every day of Duke's dominant four-game run through the South Regional, when the rotation tightened anew.

Every day before the Final Four -- when all of Grayson Allen's work paid off.

"At the start of the year, he wasn't playing a lot, and literally every day he was the last guy in the gym, putting work in after practice," Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer said. "Then he started playing a little bit, and he was still the last guy in the gym. Then maybe he would have a game where he didn't play. And the one thing that was constant was the work he put in after practice."

On Monday night, the Ringo Starr to Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow and Jahlil Okafor's Beatles, officially unveiled his "Yellow Submarine," and at the most crucial moment of the Blue Devils' 68-63 national championship win over the No. 1-seeded Wisconsin Badgers. The Beatles were still the Beatles: Jones, the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, led with 23 points and made key bucket after key bucket down the stretch. Okafor, saddled with foul trouble, finished with just 10 points but essentially sealed the game with a three-possession sequence in the final three minutes that included a basket (and foul), a huge stop of Wisconsin national player of the year Frank Kaminsky and an offensive rebound and putback. Winslow added 11 points and nine rebounds. Together, Duke's four freshmen combined for 60 points -- and every single one of the Blue Devils' 37 in the second half.

But Allen's 16 shone brightest -- or at least at the most important time.

At the 13:25 mark of the second half, the Badgers' strategy of attacking Okafor, and hoping he succumbed to fouls, had worked. With the likely No. 1 overall pick on the sideline, Bo Ryan's Badgers built a nine-point, second-half lead. At 13:17, Coach K called a timeout. When the Blue Devils returned to the floor, Allen buried a deep 3-pointer from the wing, cutting the lead to six. On the next possession, Amile Jefferson's offensive rebound ended up in Allen's hands, and he used his sneaky -- and often startling -- athleticism to beat Wisconsin guard Sam Dekker to the rim, earning a three-point play in the process. Next time down, after Nigel Hayes buried a 3-pointer, two more free throws kept the lead to just four.

With Okafor out of the game, it could have been -- maybe even should have been -- the stretch in which Wisconsin's historic offense buried Duke for good. Instead, by 10:42, when Jones provided his own well-sold, and-1 finish, a nine-point lead had evaporated to just one.

"I never had a takeover mentality," Grayson said. "I just wanted to stay aggressive. [My teammates] kept telling me, 'Keep going, keep going, keep taking it.'"

Allen kept taking it. With just more than five minutes to play, Allen's coolly taken jumper gave Duke a 56-54 lead -- a lead it would maintain, and extend, until Krzyzewski's freshmen had sealed his fifth national championship once and for all.

"Tyus deserves to be the MOP," the coach said on the Lucas Oil Stadium floor, as his players cut down their share of the nets. "But we're not there without Grayson Allen."

It was a sudden, startling star turn. When Allen arrived at Duke last summer, his talent was vastly outshone, through no real fault of his own, by the three future NBA draft picks who had united in the explicit pursuit of a national title. Jones and Okafor planned to play together from an early age, and they convinced Winslow to come along for the ride. They were the package deal everyone talked about. They were the big names.

Allen wasn't privy to this pact. He grew up a Duke die-hard in Jacksonville, Florida, wanting to play for the Blue Devils if Coach K would have him, uninterested in other offers except as a last resort. He didn't play his AAU ball with his future teammates. In July 2013, he joined Each One Teach One, a loaded powerhouse with D'Angelo Russell and Joel Berry in its backcourt. Allen -- a top-25 ranked, five-star-rated, dunk-contest champion -- happily accepted a role off the bench.

How many elite talents do that? Allen's attitude and work ethic impressed scouts almost as much as his skill, and both would come in handy when he arrived at Duke. Not only was the spotlight decidedly focused elsewhere, but the Blue Devils' backcourt was even more crowded than Each One Teach One. Observers fretted that Jones' arrival would cause an internal clash with senior point guard Quinn Cook -- moving Cook off the ball for the first time in his career. Minutes, and balance, were already at a premium; Coach K didn't need Allen, at least not right away.

Even when Allen did eventually emerge, in the final March weeks of the regular season, his minutes were always subject to change. He scored 27 points in a blowout of Wake Forest; he got just 11 minutes in Duke's next game at North Carolina. At the ACC tournament, he put in a tidy 5-for-10 performance against NC State; he put in an 0-for-3 the next night against Notre Dame.

Against San Diego State, Utah and Gonzaga -- Duke's three single-digit-seed opponents in the NCAA tournament leading up to the Final Four-- Allen played just 21 minutes total, bottoming out with just three in the South Regional final.

And yet, at the Final Four, there he was. After Allen's star turn, when Duke's players and coaches crowded on the stage to watch "One Shining Moment," Allen's massive dunk against Michigan State was on the reel. A few seconds later, the replay of Monday night's 3-point play sent Duke fans screaming once more.

Allen couldn't quite process it all. All of those postgame questions, all of the deflected attention, all those years dreaming of winning a national title for his chosen childhood team.

"I dreamed about it ever since, I think, about eighth grade," he said. "I saw them win 2010, that national championship against Butler. I've dreamed about being in this moment since then.

"Never thought it would actually come true."

All of the practices. All of the extra shots. All of those exhausted breaths, the last shoes echoing off the wall, the last ball bouncing.

Grayson Allen, alone in the gym, working. Every day.

"To see it pay it off like this," Scheyer said. "How cool is that?"