JamesShort wrote:
Anyway, this was an unlikely team to win it all. I was in Redick/William's class and we would have expected to get an NC during those 4 years....didn't quite work out. This year? I had zero hope/thought of an NC...just proves that good coaching and a team who plays well together and knows the spectrum of their strengths/weaknesses can go far.
Ah, but the league was so down in general that this was the year *anyone* could have won it. Even the top 3-4 teams had proven before the tournament that they could be beaten by mediocre teams, so it was no shock to me that Kansas, UK, and Syracuse weren't around (especially with UK's youth). Duke was the perfect sort of team to end up there...lots of experience and lots of balance (you can say they were inbalanced in that they get so much of their scoring from the same three guys, but that's typical of K's teams anyway, so it's not abnormal for THEM...but they had everything else they needed as far as great rebounding and defense from everyone else).
I felt like Duke had a great shot once the brackets were announced, though even I thought they'd have to beat ONE of the other top four teams to do it. Turns out it wasn't even that hard. But they had to play a great game to beat Butler, so my hat's off to them for doing it.
But I'm with Marcus, it's pretty maddening to just take a few plays to watch Duke's offense AWAY from the ball. Hip check city.
--Donnie