If Duke continues to shoot lights out, it will destroy Butler
INDIANAPOLIS -- Bob Huggins sat on the little NCAA-provided stool, watched the sequence unfold, witnessed a Duke player make another jumper, then spun around and stared at his staff in disbelief. This happened many times Saturday night, too many times to count. It's a shame the stool didn't have a swivel, a killer that West Virginia never found an answer.
The Mountaineers tried the 1-3-1 zone.
They played man-to-man.
They switched everything but nothing changed.
Simply put, Duke could not miss.
So the Blue Devils cruised to a 78-57 victory over West Virginia in the second national semifinal here at Lucas Oil Stadium and advanced to Monday's title game, where they will destroy Butler if they shoot the way they shot against West Virginia. That's not a prediction, by the way. Butler has a unique ability to make teams play worse than they usually play. It wouldn't and shouldn't surprise anybody if Brad Stevens continues his trend of devising plans to frustrate opponents and devises a plan to frustrate the Blue Devils just as he's frustrated UTEP, Murray State, Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State in this NCAA tournament. That said, Duke will destroy Butler if -- and it's a big if, I know -- Duke shoots the way it shot against West Virginia, because the way Duke shot against West Virginia was so incredible it had the Mountaineers' heads spinning just like their coach.
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Recap: Duke 78, West Virginia 57 Butler hurts knee in second half | Video Blog: Huggy Bear makes an appearance National Championship Edge: Duke-Butler Community: Talk Blue Devils-Mountaineers |
Mike Freeman
"All three of our perimeter guys had outstanding shooting games," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "I thought we were difficult to guard as a result of that."
Yeah, I thought so, too.
It was actually fun to watch unless you were a West Virginia fan, a Duke hater, or a gambler with the Mountaineers and 2.5 points. The Blue Devils ran their offense with great precision, set tough screens, made hard cuts and, more times than not, freed somebody for a good look, most of which resulted in made shots. That's not hyperbole, either. Duke missed four of its first five 3-point attempts but rarely missed after that. Kyle Singler buried one with 11:08 left in the first half, then Jon Scheyer got one a little more than a minute later. Singler then sank another. Then Nolan Smith made three in a span of 75 seconds -- pop, pop, pop -- and Duke suddenly had a 37-24 lead that was cut but still comfortable when the halftime horn sounded and sent both teams to the locker rooms.
West Virginia went in with a hope of regrouping, down only 39-31. But Duke came out and kept doing what it was doing.
"I watched a lot of tape," Huggins said. "I haven't seen them play that well."
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| Nolan Smith sinks four of Duke's 13 3-pointers in the win over West Virginia. (US Presswire) |
West Virginia -- which lost Da'Sean Butler to a sprained knee in the second half -- finished with 57 points and 11 assists as a team.
"What's really hard is if you try to do too many things to keep the ball out of those three guys' [hands] -- and those three perimeter guys are terrific -- you turn the other two guys lose at the rim to rebound the ball, and I don't think you can let them offensive rebound the ball," Huggins said. "They don't force things. They throw it back out. They get step-in 3s. Mike has done a great job with them. He's done an unbelievable job with them."
And now he's one win away from his fourth national title.
With a team that was never ranked No. 1 nationally this season.
With a team that almost nobody thought would ever be in this position.
"It's a really good team and it can do something great Monday night," Krzyzewski said. "That's what we're going to try to do."
