Second half, 0:03, Duke 60-59: That was a very difficult shot by Hayward from just outside halfcourt. But at least Butler’s best player took the shot.
Second half, 13 seconds, Duke 60-59: Timeout called by Butler. It has the ball, down one, with the shot clock turned off. Wow, what an ending. It has been Duke, not Butler, that is unable to score late.
Second half, 30 seconds, Duke 60-59: Butler ball. The Bulldogs have the ball with 30 seconds to play, down one.
Second half, 49 seconds, Duke 60-59: Butler is alive! Shelvin Mack missed a wide-open 3 in transition, but Matt Howard collected the rebound and later scored. That’s two straight baskets for Butler.
Second half, 1:28, Duke 60-57: Great drive and dish by Hayward.
Second half, 2:04, Duke 60-55: Butler took a lot of time off the clock without getting any points that possession.
Second half, 3:05, Duke 60-55: Duke is now the first team to score 60 points against Butler in the NCAA Tournament.
Second half, 3:16, Duke 58-55: Nolan Smith gets bailed out by a foul call. It was a good call, but why was Smith going one-on-one when he has had such a poor game offensively? Why not give it to Singler or Scheyer?
Second half, 4:13, Duke 58-55: Kyle Singler had 21 points in Duke’s first Final Four game and has 19 in this one. He is stepping up.
Second half, 5:02, Duke 56-55: Butler has been making a living at the line lately. Gordon Hayward is now 8-for-8 from the line tonight.
Second half, 5:07, Duke 56-53: That foul by Lance Thomas had the look of an intentional, but it was not. Thomas was clearly making a play on the ball.
Second half, 5:34, Duke 56-53: Brad Stevens has been trying to sub Matt Howard only on offense and it is paying off. Howard has Butler’s last four points.
Second half, 5:42, Duke 56-51: Unlike Michigan State, Duke is going to continue to score, so Butler needs someone to step up.
Second half, 7:10, Duke 56-51: Jon Scheyer is certainly not flashy, but he is solid. Scheyer has 15 now.
Second half, 7:58, Duke 54-49: Matt Howard and Brian Zoubek are both on the floor with four fouls. Hey, it’s the national championship.
Second half, 7:58, Duke 53-49: Willie Veasley is having a tough night shooting the rock. He is 1-for-9 from the floor, including missing all four 3-point attempts. He has had good looks, though.
Second half, 8:07, Duke 51-49: This game is getting faster, but not much in the way of scoring. Both teams are doing a good job of getting back on defense.
Second half, 9:54, Duke 51-47: Duke has converted on three in-bounds plays in the second half. That is huge in a four-point game.
Second half, 10:49, Duke 49-45: Lance Thomas with a baby hook. I didn’t even know he had that shot.
Second half, 11:21, Duke 47-43: What does Butler need to do to win this game? For starters, it needs to do a better job on the defensive glass, like it did in the first half. The Bulldogs also need to knock down some 3’s to compensate for their poor shooting.
Second half, 11:30, Duke 47-43: Duke’s Jon Scheyer got away with another one. He should have been called for a block on Hayward’s shot.
Second half, 12:28, Duke 45-43: Avery Jukes has had a very good game for Butler. He has 10 points off the bench to lead all Butler players, but he just missed two straight free throws.
Second half, 13:02, Duke 45-43: Duke has looked better offensively this half. It already has several offensive rebounds and is getting good (not great) looks.
Second half, 13:22, Butler 43-42: Butler continues to rebound with a pack mentality.
Second half, 14:09, Duke 42-40: That’s four fouls on Matt Howard, who will have to sit for a while. On the other end, Scheyer’s tip-in was definitely goaltending.
Second half, 15:14, 40-40: I must say that I am very impressed at how Butler has forced its style onto Duke. That is difficult to do. If it didn’t before, Butler has to believe now.
Second half, 15:58, Butler 40-38: Butler is switching almost every pick on the perimeter. Not too many teams are capable of doing that.
Second half, 17:30, 36-36: Shot clock violation against Duke. Butler just locks people up.
Second half, 18:13, Duke 36-34: Willie Veasley cannot get his shot to fall. He is 1-for-8 from the floor, with his only bucket coming on a tip-in.
Second half, 19:02, Duke 36-34: Kyle Singler is having a great Final Four. He has 12 so far tonight.
Second half, 19:53, Duke 33-32: The second half is underway. Less than an hour from now we will know who the college basketball national champion is. Can Butler pull off the miracle upset in its home town?
End of first half, Duke 33-32: A great first half of basketball for Butler. The Bulldogs had more total rebounds, more offensive rebounds and more field goal attempts than Duke.
Everyone said that Butler had to shoot well to win this game. Well, 20 minutes in, the Bulldogs are shooting only 35 percent from the floor, but they trail Duke by only one.
Duke has played pretty well, but it certainly has not shot the ball like it did against Michigan State. The one glaring stat is offensive rebounds, where Duke has only three.
Butler just knows how to impose its will and its style on others.
End of first half, Duke 33-32: One half is in the books and Butler has proven that it will not be dominated by anyone.
First half, 1:08, Duke 30-29: What a great no-look pass by Butler’s Zach Hahn.
First half, 1:52, Duke 30-27: Duke was supposed to have a huge advantage on the glass, but Butler has outrebounded the Blue Devils 17-16. The Bulldogs also have eight offensive boards. This Butler team really works hard.
First half, 2:40, Duke 28-27: Butler is doing a terrific job on the defensive glass. Duke has missed 12 shots, but only has two offensive rebounds.
First half, 3:38, Butler 27-26: Going on a run after a timeout is the sign of a good coach. Butler is on a 7-0 run after Brad Stevens took a timeout.
First half, 5:08, Duke 26-20: Butler calls a timeout as Duke is on an 8-0 run. Duke’s Big Three are tough to stop. So far, it’s Kyle Singler leading the way for the Blue Devils with nine points and five rebounds.
First half, 6:06, Duke 21-20: There has been some suspect free-throw shooting early one. The two teams are a combined 5-for-12 from the free throw line.
First half, 7:02, Butler 20-18: So far, Butler has outshot Duke 24 to 16.
First half, 7:54, Butler 20-18: Twelve minutes into the game, Butler is ahead by two. Do you believe? Look, Butler does not need to score 80 points to win. It just needs to play tough defense and hit open shots.
First half, 8:44, Butler 20-18: Shelvin Mack definitely has the small dog syndrome.
First half, 10:02, Duke 18-16: I love to watch Butler hit the defensive glass. All five players are involved in getting loose balls.
First half, 11:05, Duke 16-14: Butler has held every one of its opponents under 60 points during the Tournament for a reason. Duke is not going to get a lot of easy looks or transition baskets. The Blue Devils will need to work for their points.
First half, 11:48, Butler 14-13: You see what Butler can do. It will slow the game down and force you to take your time on offense. If Butler can hit a few shots, it can hang with Duke.
First half, 13:01, Duke 10-9: What a putback by Gordon Hayward. He showed his athleticism on that board, getting a rebound out of his zone.
First half, 14:10, Duke 8-7: I told you that Mack can score. He has six quick points for Butler.
First half, 14:40, Duke 8-4: Butler and Duke both have a lot of movement in their offense, but Butler is having trouble converting.
First half, 15:47, Duke 6-4: Butler has began this game very cold. It is only 1-for-7 from the field. The Bulldogs are getting decent looks, but they must hit shots. Duke is a much better offensive team than Michigan State.
First half, 15:53, Duke 6-4: Great hustle to Jon Scheyer to block a breakaway from behind.
First half, 16:16, Duke 6-4: Shelvin Mack bangs a 3. He must have a big game for Butler to have a chance. Mack can be an electric player.
First half, 17:36, Duke 6-1: Butler misses its first wide open 3-pointer and Brian Zoubek has a put-back for Duke. Those are bad signs for Butler
First half, 19:44, Butler 1-0: Look for Butler to really slow down the pace of this game. That is one way it keeps scores low.
First half, 19:56, 0-0: Duke and Butler are underway in the NCAA Tournament championship game. Whenever you hear stories about lower seeds winning the NCAA Tournament, it is never recent. You always hear about either No. 6 seed NC State or No. 8 seed Villanova. But those teams won in 1983 and 1985 respectively. In sports, 25 years is a very long time. If Butler were to win it all, the Bulldogs would be the new face of underdog-made-good in college basketball. They would be the Villanova of this generation.
9:12 p.m.: Duke and Butler are a few minutes away from tipoff. For Butler, center Matt Howard will play. That is great news for the Bulldogs, and for the championship game as a whole.
7:39 a.m.: The phrase David versus Goliath gets thrown around quite a bit in sports and is often unwarranted. This is not ones of those times. Butler versus Duke is the definition of an underdog story.
This really is the perfect ending to an NCAA Tournament that has been filled with upsets. But can Butler really win? If you’re still asking that question, you have to be kidding, right?
I have heard several so-called experts say that Butler must score a lot of points to beat Duke. That is opinion, not fact. Here are facts:
- Syracuse averaged 81.5 points per game. Butler held the Orange to 59.
- Kansas State averaged 79.6 points per game. Butler held the Wildcats to 56.
- Michigan State averaged 72.6 points per game. Butler held the Spartans to 50.
- UTEP averaged 75.8 points per game. Butler held the Miners to 59.
- Murray State averaged 77.5 points per game. Butler held the Racers to 52.
Notice a trend?
Duke has a very good offense, averaging 78.4 points per game during the regular season. I doubt very much that the Blue Devils will score above their average on Monday night.
There is one dimension that could change the dynamic of this game entirely, and that is the health of Butler center Matt Howard. According to Butler trainer Ryan Galloy, Howard suffered the “mildest of mild concussions” during Butler’s Final Four victory over Michigan State on Saturday. His status for Monday’s championship game is still uncertain.
Now, I am not a doctor, but playing a contact sport just two days after suffering any sort of concussion sounds like a risky proposition.
With that said, my guess is that Howard plays and Butler holds Duke to fewer than 70 points — but Duke still wins.
