In a remarkable game as tight as any one could ask for, Duke outlasts Butler in a scintillating championship game

SCOTT JACOBS

Duke was bigger, tougher, and stronger, but against a gritty, veteran Butler team with nothing to lose, it still was barely enough.  As Gordon Hayward dashed up court, with the seconds ticking away on a fairytale run for the Butler Bulldogs, you couldn’t help think that the way things had gone, why couldn’t he make a half court three to win a national championship.  And then he nearly did.  Hayward heaved the ball as hard as he could and it bounced off the backboard, a paralyzing few split seconds, as Duke ran out to celebrate an unforgettable national championship game.

Duke 61 Butler 59.

And even that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Butler remarkably had held all five of their previous tourney opponents under 60 points.  Tonight they allowed 61.  And lost by a basket.

To quote Gus Johnson, “what… a… game!”

Butler took knocks for getting a lot of breaks along the way to the championship game (Kansas State coming off a 2 OT game, Michigan State being diluded by injuries, etc., etc.), but they played a complete and healthy Duke team and they didn’t blink an eye.

Duke shot 10% better from the field.
They out rebounded Butler by 16.
Duke had as many blocks as Butler had assists.
They had less fouls and more steals.

And yet it still came down to one shot.  And Haywood just missed.

And this improbable, sometimes unexplainable Butler run came just short.

But it had nothing to do with heart.  Butler showed so very much.
Hustle wasn’t an issue either.  The Bulldogs were just as feisty as the mighty Dukies.

How close was this game?  No team led by more than six points, and Duke outscored Butler by a point.  In both halves.

But it was the dreaded field goal drought that really hurt Butler, as they went over 8 minutes in the second half without a field goal.  And yet, that patented Bulldog defense still would not let their dreams die.

Haywood had a chance to insert himself into tournament lore twice.  A tough fadeaway 15 footer was too hard, and the afforementioned just miss from half court were the difference.

“We came up one possession short, in a game of 145 possessions,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens, who instantly jumps into most coveted mid major coach in the country.  At 33, this kid has one heck of a bright future.  And if that future keeps him at Butler, the school that first gave him a shot to become a coach, than the Bulldogs will be a team that will be tough to reckon with in years to come.

So you feel for these kids.  Because quite frankly, the team that seemingly lucked into a Final Four and survived the semifinals, proved tonight that they belonged here all along.  Yeah, Butler.

Forget Horizon League versus ACC, forget David versus Goliath.  What you saw tonight was two evenly matched teams that played tooth and nail to the bitter end.  Put a Kansas jersey on Butler and everyone would say these two teams were the best in the land.

In a season of minimal parity besides the heavyweights at the top, Butler proved to the nation that the Dogs are right there… and then some.

But let’s not leave out Duke, which returned to the top of the college basketball mountain after a near decade, with a fantastic overall team, and a center in Brian Zoubek who just swallowed every rebound whole.  Duke may not have appeared to be the best team early on, but they proved it in the tourney that they deserve to be top Dog.

That’s no knock on Butler.

Tonight, Duke was simply two points better.

Photo: Getty

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