Duke Wins Fourth National Title For Coach K, But Butler Comes Oh So Close

It will go down as one of the greatest national championship games in the history of College Basketball. You had the classic Hoosiers, David v Goliath, whatever you want to call it match up. Unfortunately for Butler, Reality bit them, but barely.

Gordon Hewyard's half-court heave very nearly banked in at the buzzer, but the blue Devils of Duke survived to win Coach K's fourth national title. Coach K is now tied for second all time in number of national championships won along with Adolph Rupp, who won four with Kentucky. By winning his fourth title, Coach K passes his mentor, Bobby Knight, who won three while at Indiana.

Many people hate Duke and wanted nothing more than for them to fall to reality's version of Hoosiers. But as ESPN's Dick Vitale said, Duke does everything right. They play team basketball. They share the basketball. They play great defense, and the players go to class above all else. "I cant understand why so many people hate Duke except for the fact that when your on top of the mountain, they always want to knock you down", Vitale said. He's right. I also wanted Butler to win. As I mentioned in previous articles, Butler represents the underdogs, the Mom & Pop businesses, the average Joes, which includes 95% of America. But if it cant happen, I would rather have Duke win because they represent what college sports is all about: the athletes are students first. They are truly "Student-Athletes" at Duke.

Butler has shown the nation that you can win with defense. They played great team defense through out the whole tournament including Monday night's national title game. The experts at ESPN: Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and others, thought Butler couldn't hold Duke under 70 points and would have to score more. they did hold the Devils under 70 and they controlled the tempo of the game. they played great defense and they shot 13-18 from the charity stripe. That's 75%, which is what you are suppose to shoot. Butler showed the nation that you don;t have to have McDonalds All-Americans or one and done guys to win.

We know that Duke is the champion, but where does Butler go from here. The Bulldogs' coach, Brad Stephens, said it best: "We were one shot away from winning a national championship. I don't know how much more that furthers the program, but not very much", Stephens said. In other words, you cant get any closer to the top than they did. Coach K said that this game was a "bench mark" game. He said people will get to know Butler not just as a basketball program but as a school. They will know Butler in a way they wouldn't have had the team not made it to the title game. He said that was "scary good".

I mentioned earlier that Butler shot 13-18 from the free throw line. It was a good shooting percentage. But for one player from Snellville, Ga in Gwinnett County, two of those 5 misses must be painful. Senior Avery Jukes, the pride of South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, missed two free throws in the second half which proved to be the difference, although three other free throws were missed. However, it can be argued that Butler wouldn't have had the chance in the end had it not been for the play of Jukes in the first half as he scored 10 crucial points to give his team a chance. We of Gwinnett County, Georgia salute you, Avery Jukes. You've done us proud! Interestingly enough, another former Gwinnett basketball star will be trying to win a national championship Tuesday ngiht as UCONN's Maya Moore, the pride of Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, GA in Gwinnett County, will try to lead the Huskies to another title to go 78-0 in two years.

With the exception of Jukes, Butler returns everybody from this year's squad and will certainly be in the pre-season top 5. Now that they have reached the Finals and come so close to winning it all, quality recruits will take notice. Actually, Butler has been a solid program dating back to 2000. In 2003, they beat Mississippi St. and Louisville to reach the Sweet 16. The Hoosiers comparison might ware off in a few years just as it has at Gonzaga. Higher expectations will be in order, but that is what Butler wants. Go Dawgs!