2010 NCAA College Basketball National Championship Game

Duke Blue Devils vs. Butler Bulldogs

While Duke is where they are supposed to be, Butler has amazed everyone with their Cinderella story. Will the Cinderella story end here miserably or will Butler shock whole basketball fans with another shocking victory? The run of the Bulldogs has been fantastic, but it would stop just shy of Champion. History and statistics seem to be on Duke’s side in this game with their amazing Big 3, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith.

After many upsets and expected victories, two finest teams are up in the championship game. Here it is, the 2010 NCAA College Basketball National Championship Game between no.1 seed Duke Blue Devils and no.5 seed Butler Bulldogs at the Lucas Oil Stadium which is 20 minutes away from campus of Butler. Duke doesn’t care about disadvantage because its Final Four opponent, Baylor, had home-court advantage too. Duke seeks for its fourth national championship in history while Butler is looking for its very first title.

Probable starters of Duke are Lance Thomas, Kyle Singer, Brian Zoubek, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer. Matt Howard, Gordon Hayward, Willie Veasley, Shelvin Mack, Ronald Nored are expected to start for Butler.

Duke

The Big 3 of Duke, Singler, Smith, Scheyer each averages 17.6, 17.5 and 18.3 points per game. They scored 63 points out of 78 points that Duke scored against West Virginia. If one of the Big 3 has trouble making shots, other two will score to win. Kyle Singler struggled to make his jump shots against Baylor but Scheyer and Smith led the Duke to the victory. Not only does Duke has three great player, but also they have Brian Zoubek(7-1) who averages 7.7 rebounds per game. Singer, Smith, Scheyer are all good three-points shooters and they made 12 three-pointers in their previous game. Good offensive rebounder, Brian Zoubek will rebound most of missed three-pointers and that is why Duke has many second-chance points. Guards don’t make a lot of turnovers and forwards get a lot of rebounds, there is nothing better than these.

Butler

Butler has amazing run in the tournament and 4 players who average more than 10 points per game lead the team; Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Matt Howard, Willie Veasley. Gordon Hayward is a good rebounder and averages 8.3 rebounds per game. However, Butler is not a good perimeter shooting team and they are not good at free throws. Mack is a good three-point shooter but he struggled in a game against Syracuse. Butler is likely to struggle against Coach K’s zone defense and they will need to find an option to break the zone defense. Important games such as the National Championship will be a battle of free throws and the game marin would be less than 10 points. Free throws would do harm to Butler and it might cause a game. If they don’t get tired easily and control the tempo, they might have a chance to win this game. Significant difference in bench members is what Duke has advantage of. Duke can put any player on the floor while Butler has only 7 players in their roster. Butler needs to get their starters’ legs fresh but Duke can manage that much better than Butler can.

Duke will dominate the game and Butler’s Cinderella story will end here with sad ending. At the end of the night, Duke will celebrate its fourth NCAA title.

Photos via ESPN