Duke edged Butler, 61-59, in the Men’s NCAA championship game. Butler had won 25 straight entering the championship game.
Duke finished the year at 35-5 and Butler ended at 33-5. Kyle Singler finished with 19 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils and was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
Gordon Hayward, who was named to the all-tournament team, had two shots rim out that could have won Butler the national championship. Butler had the ball coming out of a timeout trailing 60-59, with 13 seconds left in the game. Hayward drove left, dribbled behind his back to the right and fired a baseline jumper that looked good but rimmed out. Duke’s Brian Zoubek grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
Zoubek made the first and missed the second, with Hayward rebounding. The 6-9 Hayward dribbled to half court and fired what would have been the greatest shot in college basketball history, but it hit the backboard and rimmed out.
“I thought Gordon’s shot had a chance,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens. “Anytime you have a player of Gordon’s caliber and he’s got the ball in his hands and he lets it fly on the last attempt, you feel like you have a chance to win.”
Coach K insisted that the NCAA drought hasn’t bothered him.
“It’s not about the moments that I’ve been in, it’s the moments that your players put you in right now,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m really happy for this group. … It’s as close a team as I’ve had. You want great things to happen for people who are great with us.”
Coach K made his first Final Four with Duke in 1986.
Todd Zafirovski, a 6-8 freshman, (Lake Forest Academy) was a reserve center on the team.
Photo courtesy of goDuke