For that one fleeting second you thought you were about to witness the improbable. Again.
In this 2010 NCAA tournament, where improbable replaced convention as the norm, Gordon Hayward’s 40-foot heave with time expiring was supposed to go in.
Butler was supposed to complete a thrilling victory, complete its amazing mid-major run to a national title that its kind isn’t supposed to be able to compete for.
The storybook ending was playing our before out eyes. Improbably.
But a funny thing happened just before Hayward’s heave hit the backboard, then the front iron, before falling to the hardwood floor of Lucas Oil Stadium.
Convention finally revealed itself at the 59:59 mark of the national championship game, in the final second of the tournament that was unlike any other. Fittingly, Duke was crowned the 2010 national champion. Underdog Butler’s run had come to a thrilling yet heartbreaking end.
In one of the best national championship games we’ve seen in recent memory, No. 1 Duke survived No. 5 Butler, 61-59, to capture the school’s fourth national championship. In the process, coach Mike Krzyzewski joined the likes of John Wooden and Adolph Rupp as the only coaches in college basketball history to win that many titles.
It ended a long drought for Coach K whose previous Final Four trip was six years ago and last national title came in 2001. Yet again, Duke was the last team left standing on the first Monday in April. Here’s how the Blue Devils did it.
– One of Duke’s best defensive teams in the program’s storied history did a great job against Butler. The Bulldogs incurred another agonizing scoring drought in the game’s waning minutes and finished the evening shooting just 34.5 percent from the field. The Blue Devils forced Butler to take difficult shots all evening long and the Bulldogs missed a number of contested shots right around the bucket. Matt Howard was just 3 of 8 from the field, having layup after layup rim out in the first half while Hayward, Butler’s leading scorer who averaged 15.6 points per game this season, shot a measly 2 of 11 from the field – his worst performance of the season – to finish with just 12 points. Hayward did not hit a shot from beyond the arc and Kyle Singler was a big reason for that. He did a great job defending Hayward, hounding him with his length and forcing him to take tough shots at weird angles. Singler played great help defense, finishing with 2 blocks but he undoubtedly altered more than that. He had plenty of help from Brian Zoubek who was a big presence in the post when he wasn’t on the bench with foul trouble. After the game, Butler coach Brad Stevens spoke of Duke’s adjustment that saw the Blue Devils pack in the middle to cut off the lanes to the basket that Butler was taking advantage early on. The scoring opportunities became scarcer as the game wore on. That scoring drought that we saw from Butler against Michigan State in the national semifinal reared its ugly head again. They were able to overcome it against the Spartans Saturday. Not so Monday against Duke.
– Duke finally took control of the glass in the second half. After being badly out-rebounding in the first half – Butler had a 10-3 advantage on the offensive glass in the first half – the Blue Devils reestablished their presence underneath after halftime. Duke finished with 36-32 rebounding edge and narrowed the offensive rebounding gap to 12-11. The extra opportunities Duke got from the rebounds did two things: It gave them added chances to score, which they capitalized on, and secondly, it allowed them to run a lot of time off the clock, giving Butler significantly fewer possessions in the game’s final five minutes. And when you’re already having trouble putting the ball in the basket, having fewer chances to do it magnifies the problem.
– Butler played its typical excellent defense but the Bulldogs did not hold an opponent to under 60 points for the first time since their regular season finale. Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Singler – Duke’s big three scorers – were not frustrated offensively to the level that many of Butler’s other NCAA tournament opponents were. Scheyer finished with 15 while Smith had 13. Singler, who was named the tournament MOP, had a game-high 19. Butler did not make it easy on Duke, they had a tough time scoring for sure. But Duke made baskets when they needed it in the second half. The majority of their points came from inside the 3-point line Monday, a relative rarity for Duke this season. The Blue Devils made just 5 of 17 from downtown, but still shot 44 percent for the game, making 51 percent of their 2-point attempts.
