61, 
59INDIANAPOLIS- What a game. In a fitting conclusion to an outstanding tournament, the championship came down to the last shot. Down 2 with only seconds to play, Butler's Gordon Hayward's dribbled to half-court before he had to hoist his potential championship winning shot. When it bounced off the backboard and rimmed out, Duke had won its 4th national championship. The final margin, 2 points, was the closest national championship game since 1989. For Cinderella Butler, playing just 5.6 miles from its campus, it seemed even closer. "We just came up a bounce short," Butler coach Brad Stevens said.
The largely-pro Butler capacity crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium watched its hometown heroes battle Duke in typical Butler fashion, with great defense, and good offensive execution. After cutting a five-point lead down to one, the Bulldogs had a chance to win the game, but Gordon Hayward's contested fall-away jump shot with 3.6 seconds left was long, forcing Butler to foul Duke's Brian Zoubek. After making the first, Zoubek intentionally missed the second (as Butler was out of timeouts), resulting in Hayward's dramatics.But, in the end, it just wasn't meant to be.
Kyle Singler, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, led Duke with 19 points and 9 rebounds, Jon Scheyer added 15 for the Blue Devils, which cut down the nets for the first time since 2001.
"First of all, it was a great basketball game. I want to congratulate an amazing Butler team and their fans," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "Fabulous year. We played a great game, they played a great game. It's hard for me to say it, to imagine that we're the national champions."
The largely-pro Butler capacity crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium watched its hometown heroes battle Duke in typical Butler fashion, with great defense, and good offensive execution. After cutting a five-point lead down to one, the Bulldogs had a chance to win the game, but Gordon Hayward's contested fall-away jump shot with 3.6 seconds left was long, forcing Butler to foul Duke's Brian Zoubek. After making the first, Zoubek intentionally missed the second (as Butler was out of timeouts), resulting in Hayward's dramatics.But, in the end, it just wasn't meant to be.
Kyle Singler, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, led Duke with 19 points and 9 rebounds, Jon Scheyer added 15 for the Blue Devils, which cut down the nets for the first time since 2001.
"First of all, it was a great basketball game. I want to congratulate an amazing Butler team and their fans," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "Fabulous year. We played a great game, they played a great game. It's hard for me to say it, to imagine that we're the national champions."
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