2010 NCAA Tournament Championship Preview: Butler Bulldogs vs. Duke Blue Devils

The 2010 NCAA Tournament Championship Game will be held at 9:21 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The powerhouse, Duke Blue Devils return to the NCAA championship for the first time since 2001 while the Cinderella underdogs Butler will be making their first appearance in the NCAA finals. Although Butler has been labeled an underdog, they were in many preseason college basketball top 10 or top 20 rankings heading into the 2009-10 NCAA season...in some preseason rankings they were ahead of the Duke Blue Devils...and they have won 25 straight games. Regardless, it should be a fun game to watch with neither team being widely predicted to make the finals of this year's NCAA tournament by bracketologists to include President Obama.

2010 NCAA Tournament Championship Preview - Duke Blue Devils When Duke has lost this year, they have been sloppy on offense. If they can repeat their six turnover performance from the Final Four against West Virginia, the game won't be close. The top three scorers for the Blue Devils all season have been Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith. The three by themselves outscored the Mountaineers. The play of 7 foot center, Brian Zoubek, will also be a key to the Blue Devils winning or losing the championship game. He will have a height advantage, but Coach K will need another solid performance out of the big man similar to his play against West Virginia (10 rebounds) for the Blue Devils to win the game. The Blue Devils started clicking as a team towards the end of the ACC regular season, and have just gotten better throughout the 2010 ACC tournament and the NCAA Tourney. Keys to their success against Butler will be offensive execution and minimizing turnovers. Not many predicted the Blue Devils to make it this far at the start of the tournament, but they are just one win away from giving Coach K his 4^th NCAA tournament victory.

2010 NCAA Tournament Championship Preview - Butler Bulldogs Many refer to Butler as a Cinderella even though they've been ranked high this season and have pulled off some impressive wins in this NCAA tournament. Butler has relied on their defense to hold opponents to less than 60 points a game throughout the tourney. A key to the Bulldogs offensive success is the performance of Gordon Hayward. Butler will need Hayward to excel on both ends of the court as they try to contain the Duke three point attack as well as the defensive boards. Butler will also be playing close to home before what is expected to be a very favorable crowd for the Bulldogs for the championship game, although much has been said about the close proximity to home also being a major distraction for the team.

NCAA Championship Prediction: Duke 66 Butler 58

Refs:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sports/2010-NCAA-mens-basketball-championship-game-preview-89893877.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/10209/a-viewers-guide-to-the-title-game

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/edge/finalfour/DUKE/BUT?tag=coverlist_active;coverlist_footer

http://www.ncaatournamentbracket.org/2010/03/2010-march-madness-bracket-and-seeding/

http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/2010/03/2010-ncaa-tournament-preview-duke-blue-devils/

http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/2010/03/2010-ncaa-basketball-tournament-preview-butler-bulldogs/