the Informer

Butler gave it everything they had but Duke overcame a late rally for their fourth championship. (Courtesy of Getty Images)

The 2010 NCAA basketball tournament brought lots of surprises and upsets, but none bigger than Horizon League Champion Butler, making it all the way to the National Championship game.

As a five-seed, Butler was expected to do well, but in no way were they expected to battle Duke, the powerhouse of the ACC, for the National Championship.

Butler had a tough road even making it to the title game, having to upset first-seeded Syracuse and second-seeded Kansas State en route to a Final Four matchup with Michigan State.

After fighting off the Spartans to get the championship, Butler was on to face Duke for the title. Duke on the other hand, had arguably the easiest path to the championship, only facing three real quality teams in Purdue, Baylor and West Virginia.

Duke was able to keep America’s favorite new underdog on a leash, and won an extremely hard-fought game in the final seconds, just how everyone envisions winning a game of this magnitude. Duke had a tough time keeping up with Butler and their strong defense, and made it only the 11th time in history that a National Championship game was decided by two points or less.

The first half was a hard-fought battle, with Duke going into the half holding a 33-32 lead. Duke never led by more than six at any point in the game, but after the 13:03 mark, never fell behind either, but it wasn’t until the final 5:16 of the game that everything was intensified. Down by five, Butler started to fight it’s way back, chipping at the Duke lead, trying to find a way to get back into the game without completely losing control of their solid defensive game plan.

As Butler chipped away, and brought the Blue Devils lead down to one, they allowed their best player, Gordon Hayward, to control for the final shot. Hayward fired up a fade away 15-foot jumper that missed the mark, only to be gathered in by Duke’s Brian Zoubek. Zoubek was fouled immediately, and sank his first free throw.

He intentionally missed the second to let time run off, and as Hayward got the rebound, he quickly launched a desperation heave just off the rim, and Duke had brought home its fourth championship to the Cameron Crazies.

Duke’s “Big Three” won them the game, performing down the stretch and hitting the shots they needed. Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith each dominated the game, with Singler adding 19 points, and Scheyer putting in 15 while Smith dropped 13. The three came up big for Coach K, who won his fourth championship and first since 2001, tying him for second all-time with Adolph Rupp.
With Gordon Hayward coming back next year, Butler has a chance to get back to the National Championship, and with coach Brad Stevens staying put, their chance to get back to the final is as good as it gets.

With Duke hopefully returning two of the big three in Singler and Smith, and a strong recruiting class to go along with the addition of Liberty transfer Seth Curry, Duke will challenge for a repeat just as much as Butler. Next year’s tourney is sure to be good with Duke, Butler, Michigan State and Purdue rounding out the projected 2011 No. 1 seeds, although as always, anything can happen.