The Duke Blue Devils are champions of college basketball again after a stirring 61-59 win over Butler that was in doubt until Gordon Hayward’s desperation three at the buzzer found only iron.
Hayward and company struggled to score against Duke’s big frontcourt, often going for long periods without a field goal. But their stellar defense and solid free-throw shooting kept them in the game until the very end.
Butler was down one in the final minute when Gordon Hayward drove through the lane and put up a fadeaway baseline 15-footer over Brian Zoubek that would have given the Bulldogs a lead. The shot hit the back of the rim and bounced out, with Zoubek recovering the rebound. A quick foul but Duke’s big man at the line. He hit the first, then intentionally missed the second, but Butler recovered the rebound, giving Hayward time for one last attempt.
As usual, the “big three” of Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils — Singler scored a game-high 19 points, with Scheyer and Smith adding 15 and 13, respectively. Butler’s top scorer – Hayward – scored just 12.
The title is Duke’s fourth — all of them during Mike Krzyzewski’s tenure as head coach. That puts Coach K into a tie with Adolph Rupp for second-place on the all-time list, and the Devils in a dead heat with their biggest rivals, the North Carolina Tar Heels, on the list of championships by school.
Only John Wooden (10) has more titles than Krzyzewski, and only UCLA (11), Kentucky (7) and Indiana (5) have more than Duke.
Near Miss for Butler, Duke Wins Title originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 10:34:45.
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