On Monday night, the Duke Blue Devils laid claim to the NCAA championship with an 82-72 win over Arizona.
The game that was close throughout featured scoring runs by both teams and many highlights. These included an incredible block by Duke Senior Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy Jr’s three 3-pointers in 44 seconds.
In the end, the difference between the two teams seem to be the leadership of Battier which seemed to inspire smart play by the rest of the Blue Devils.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of this national championship game was the two coaches it brought together.
On one side was Krzyzewski, who had been through some hard times at the start of his career, built an incredible program that won two national titles, suffered through a season when he was sidelined, and came up just short of winning the title two years ago after going 32-1 in the regular season.
On the other side was Lute Olson, who lost his wife during the season. Olson, often thought of as the nice guy of college coaching, then managed to focus all the emotions that the team went through into winning basketball games.
In the end one had to lose. For Krzyzewski the win elevates him into the ranks of the legends of college basketball coaching.
