Nolan Smith isn’t Greg Paulus.
Jon Scheyer isn’t J.J. Redick.
Kyle Singler isn’t Christian Laettner.
Brian Zoubek isn’t Carlos Boozer.
And I like them all for that.
I spent the better part of my adolescence rooting against Coach K and the evil Blue Devils, but I couldn’t root against this team.
When Butler’s sophomore sensation Gordon Hayward narrowly missed a half-court winner, I actually felt happy for the Duke players.
They earned it.
The 2009-10 Blue Devils aren’t a collection of unlikable NBA talent, they’re a likable group of overachievers.
Duke won a hard-fought game 61-59 on the defensive end, where Butler shot 34 percent. It was a throwback game in every aspect — few flashy plays and little self-promotion.
This game perfectly capped the season. In a year when everyone expected the NCAA Tournament field to be wide open, it’s amazing how many people still were shocked that little Butler reached the championship game.
The truth of the matter is: Butler is far from little.
The Bulldogs have been in the Sweet 16 three out of the last eight seasons and won 25 straight games before finally falling to Duke. The thing that shocked me is that Butler was able to keep it close against Duke with center Matt Howard playing somewhere between “I could do that” and “How long can they keep him out there?” all night.
Even Hayward, who willed himself to 12 points and eight rebounds, struggled mightily during a 2-for-11 shooting performance. The game was back and forth, with Duke representing the old major conference powers and Butler representing a new wave of “mid-major” teams that are more major than mid. Programs like Gonzaga, Xavier and Butler are here to stay regardless of Monday night’s result. Butler was the underdog, but it wasn’t George Mason.
The Bulldogs will be back next year with a great chance of winning a title.
Fifteen or 20 years ago, schools from smaller conferences were capable of making a run or two behind the right player who inexplicably slipped through the cracks, but the Butler team that held mighty Duke to 61 points and 5-of-17 shooting from three-point range was a product of sustained success. Yet, as in any sport, it’s important that a team knows how to win when it comes time for the biggest moments.
And no team or coach knows how to win more than the Blue Devils and Coach K.
Duke ran through maybe the most diverse assortment of opponents’ playing styles in the Tournament, defeating slower-tempo teams like Purdue, West Virginia and Butler, and faster, more high-scoring teams like Baylor and California.
Singler, Scheyer and Zoubek were the poster boys for a Duke team that was never quite as good as the teams that came before it, but through all those previous early Tournament losses, they learned how to win.
Perhaps that’s why I can’t bring myself to hate them.
