NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Names 2010 Champion

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Author: Gil Alcaraz

On April 5, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament finished its 71st year. Every year, the teams that performed well during the regular season are invited to compete in the tournament for their chance to be crowned the Division I NCAA basketball champion. In this year’s championship game, the Duke Blue Devils and the Butler Bulldogs faced off in what would become one of the most electric NCAA men’s basketball finals in history.

Before the April 5 game, the Blue Devils played in nine championships and won three. Butler never got past the Sweet Sixteen and is the smallest school to play in the championship since its format changed in 1985. The fact that Duke is a top-tier basketball program, and Butler has yet to even taste the finals, set up a classic David vs. Goliath match-up.

Throughout the first three rounds of the tournament, Duke had little trouble taking care of their opposition. They won the three games by an average of over 17 points, including a 73-44 pummeling of the Golden Lions of Arkansas Pine-Bluff. After struggling toward a 78-71 win against the Baylor Bears, the team went in to the Final Four with intensity and determination. They conquered the Mountaineers of West Virginia with a 21-point victory and punched their ticket into the finals, also known as “the Big Dance,” with little effort.

The road was a little rougher for the Butler Bulldogs. They only won two games leading up to the championship by more than four points. Except for their first victory against University of Texas-El Paso by a score of 77-59, every one of their games was a nail-biter that usually came down to last second heroics. Their Final Four game against the Michigan State Spartans was the final test.

After a breath-taking final minute, the Bulldogs came away with a win and a ticket to the finals in Indianapolis, which is also their hometown, to face off against one of the biggest powerhouses in NCAA men’s basketball history.

As it usually is going into the Big Dance, most fans around the country who weren’t fans of either Duke or Butler were rooting for the underdog. And sure enough, when the game tipped off and the action began, the Bulldogs gave the fans exactly what they wanted: a great game.

Neither team ever led by more than six points. The game came down to the defense of the Blue Devils, who held the Bulldogs to 34 percent shooting and had a hand in the face of every shot that went up.

Tough and tenacious play gave the Blue Devils the edge that allowed them to break Butler’s 25-game winning streak. The “Big Three” (seniors Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer) picked up the tempo and kept the Bulldogs on their heels defensively, collectively scoring 47 of Duke’s 61 points.

After a hard-fought battle, the two teams came to within one point of each other with only one minute left on the clock. After a few fouls and timeouts, along with two free throws, the Bulldogs were down by two points with just under three seconds remaining in the game.

Butler’s leading scorer of the night Gordon Hayward rebounded the ball, took a few dribbles up the court and launched a prayer from half-court as time expired. As time seemed to slow to a crawl, the shot looked as though it might just go in. The stadium went quiet as all eyes were fixed on the ball soaring through the air. The ball ricocheted off the backboard, then the rim, and down onto the hardwood as the Duke players stormed the court. What could have been one of the most memorable endings in NCAA tournament history fell short and left the Butler Bulldogs one step away from eternal glory.

With this win, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski moved into second place on the all-time list for championships won by a coach, tying him at four with Adolph Rupp. This is also the first championship for Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his Blue Devils since 2001 when they beat the University of Arizona Wildcats.Despite the disappointing ending, the Butler Bulldogs have proven themselves worthy of running with the big dogs and have earned themselves college basketball respect all around the country.

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