Back on top: Duke wins championship

Singler scores 19 as Blue Devils beat Butler 61-59

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Indianapolis — As the buzzer sounded and confetti fell from the ceiling, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler fell into each other’s arms at mid-court. Seconds later, Jon Scheyer joined them.

The three men embraced in front of 70,930 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Monday night with bedlam surrounding them.

The Big 3 just won Duke the Big One.

All it took was seven ties, 15 lead changes and the most herculean of efforts from the Butler Bulldogs before the Blue Devils could put a thrilling 61-59 victory in the books.

Butler (33-5) has since shaken its prior designation as a Cinderella mid-major. Meanwhile, one of the nation’s elite basketball programs has shaken the cobwebs out of a nine-year NCAA Tournament championship drought.

“I’ve been fortunate to be in eight national championship games and this was a classic,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “This was the toughest and the best one. My congratulations and empathy are with the Butler team who played winning basketball. To me, it was a game that we won, but they didn’t lose.”

Scheyer, Smith and Singler were all named to the All-Tournament Team and Singler was named the Most Outstanding Player after a performance Monday that included 19 points and nine rebounds in a full 40 minutes.

The three combined for 47 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists in the title game and finished the year as the highest-scoring trio on a single NCAA team this season (53.4 points per game).

“I don’t think many people can say they went out and won a national championship,” Scheyer, a senior guard, said. “It means a lot to us. I don’t think any of us could have predicted this with the four years we had here. To finish it here means a lot, especially to go through it with these guys every day.”

The Blue Devils might have been the only team to score more than 59 points against the impenetrable Butler defense in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but it was no small feat.

The Bulldogs went almost eight minutes without a field goal, but with back-to-back lay-ups from center Matt Howard, Butler narrowed Duke’s lead to one with 13.6 seconds left.

Out of a timeout, Butler’s leading scorer in guard-forward Gordon Hayward dribbled to the right side of the key and lofted a fade-away over the outstretched hands of Duke center Brian Zoubek. The shot drew just iron and the Bulldogs were required to foul.

Zoubek hit the first free throw, missed the second and Butler had one last shot — a half-court heave from Hayward that bounced off the backboard, the front of the rim…and out.

“I thought Gordon’s shot had a chance,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought the first one looked good the whole way and that last one had a chance. Any time you have a player of Gordon’s caliber and he lets it fly on the last attempt, you feel like you have a chance to win.”

It was a fitting end to an NCAA Tournament that had a slew of buzzer-beaters and over-achievers. The Bulldogs have shown the college basketball world they’re not to be meddled with and the Dukies have risen back to prominence.

It’s Krzyzewski’s 795th win at the helm at Duke, his fourth national title and his 12th Final Four victory while he improved upon his NCAA Tournament record for winning percentage (77-22, 78 percent). Duke trails UCLA (11), Kentucky (7), Indiana (5) and North Carolina (5) for program national titles.

Should Smith and Singler — both juniors — choose to return to school next season, the Blue Devils likely will be in the discussion for the No. 1 team to start the year. The Bulldogs, who had a 25-game winning streak snapped Monday, retains six of their top eight scorers and should be in the mix, as well.

“Can it get better than these guys?” Stevens asked, motioning to his players next to him. “They came one shot a way from winning a national championship. If it furthers the program, it can’t further it by much.”

Four years ago, this Duke senior class exited the NCAA Tournament in a first-round loss to Virginia Commonwealth. On Monday, they exited the floor at Lucas Oil Stadium with tears of joy in their eyes and championship nets around their necks.

“Not in the national championship game, but they’ve had tough losses,” Krzyzewski said about his players. “They have such good character, our guys. I still can’t believe we won. The game was so good that anybody could have won.

“As good as the Butler story was and will be, theirs is pretty good too.”

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