in a very long time. 2 very evenly matched teams, playing extremely hard for 40 minutes. I thought Butler was done several times and they kept hanging in there and they had the game to win with 13 secs to play. Too bad they couldn't get a better shot than the one they ended up with. I don't know why but I've developed a dislike for Kyle Singler, obviously an excellent player...I think he reminds me too much of Danny Aigne
Fantastic game to watch, close game all around with numerous lead changes. I agree it was definitely one of the better final games for all the marbles. Not a Duke fan, but they made the shots when they had to hold off Butler down the stretch.
AM sports guys were critical of Coach K having Zubeck deliberately miss the last free throw. Said it was a terrible coaching decision, said it gave Butler the chance to win on the last shot, where as if he makes it the best they can do is tie with the 3 pointer and go to OT. Said if Butler had made that 3 pt shot at the buzzer to win it would have gone down as the biggest final 4 coaching gaff in history. Funny thing is I didn't even think that Zubeck missed that last FT on purpose...never crossed my mind. Of course if Duke gets the rebound then game over.
The easiest, most brainless thing in the world is criticizing after the fact. It makes the speaker feel like he is an expert. Like you said, Terry, for every what-if on one side, there is a counter what-if on the other side. In a two-point game, you could choose any one of a dozen significant plays or calls which influenced the outcome. The fact is, it was a hard played game by both teams and Duke prevailed. End of story.
What.... <r>I loved about the game besides the Devils winning another title was shutting up the hacks that said Duke was not athletic enough <E>:?</E> didn't deserve a @1 seed <E>:?</E> and Duke envy. <br/> Butler deserved to be there and played great because they have the right coach as does Duke they play great defense as does Duke and run a legit offense as does Duke versus this street ball garbage you see so much of.<br/> Terry... Kyle Singler from what I read is an even better young man than the top player he is. He is a quiet kid for the most part from Oregon and a typical Duke type kid they get all the time. Oh by the way they have five studs signed and two juniors already committed so the rich get richer.<br/> I thought it was a great game to end the year between to programs that earned the spots to play it out and did.<br/> Now on to baseball !!</r>
So what does the Butler coach do now? He's young, it's his 3rd year and he's made the tournament each year as a HC. Buttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt... he's making 350K right now, and even though no doubt Butler will give him a big raise, how big might that be compared to what a school like Oregon might offer him? Does he do like Mark Few and stay with Butler as Few has done with Gonzaga, or does he take the money and move to a Major conference team? Has to be a tough decision. He could find that he's in a place that suits him perfectly, one where he will continue to have success, and that moving to a bigger stage might result in him not being as successful and eventually getting fired and maybe never getting back to where he has Butler right now. The other question to ask, is Butler like Gonzaga and Xavier teams that do well in their mid major conference year in and year out and make good runs in the NCAA tourney. For Xavier it almost seems like it doesn't matter who the coach is they do well in basketball. Of course Thad Matta once coached at Butler, maybe that is Brad Stevens future....or maybe Todd Lickliter is the model...the move to Iowa didn't work out for him.
All good questions, Terry. One thing is certain. Butler's BB program and Coach Brad Stevens have become well known around the country and will be immensely more visible in the future than in the past. Whatever he decides to do, he can't lose. He has all but one starter (Veasley) and one reserve player (Jukes) returning, so Butler likely will be ranked quite high in the preseason. I read an article that talked about a Butler recruit from Florida. Earlier, his friends could not understand why he would go to a small school in Indiana vs. a well-known program somewhere in Florida. Now they all are congratulating him on his choice.
Sid.... <t>As an ACC guy I always find myself really pulling for Duke to beat everyone they play each year but this year I enjoyed watching this young coach and the way they play and last night I was happy Duke was playing Butler versus Michigan State as I really like the Butler program. I know the Duke program has great respect for the club the beat last night. To bad it is not like that each year.<br/> Just imagine the future Stevens has ahead of him.</t>
I was curious about how Derek Smith, Nolan Smith's father had died at the age of 34. I attended the 1980 NCAA championship game in Indy, where Smith's Louisville team beat a UCLA team coached by Larry Brown. For those who also might be curious, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
I wondered about that also Sid, I have to admit that I assumed that he died as a result of some drug problem since he was so young and drug use was a big problem in the NBA back then. Thanks for posting. Was he a teammate of Never Nervous Purvis Ellison?