INDIANAPOLIS ?– During the 2010 Final Four, banners reading The Road Ends HereT decorated Lucas Oil Stadium.
On a memorable Monday night in downtown Indianapolis, two teams came to the end of that road. Only one reached it happily, and that wasn’t the team from six miles away, the team that played amid the embrace and emotions of hometown fans.
Rather, the happy ending came for the school located 655 miles away.
Duke beat Butler 61-59 for its fourth national championship — all of which have come under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The title wasn’t for the host city of Indianapolis that watched its local school lose in its first Final Four appearance.
It was for the Blue Devils.
It was for senior guard Jon Scheyer, who went 22-11 as a freshman and ended his collegiate career as a national champion.
It was for junior guard Nolan Smith, who added to the family legacy that began when his father, Derek Smith, won his own national championship with Louisville 30 years ago.
And it was for a coach who overtook his mentor and added to his already-legendary collection.
Duke is now sixth in total national championships and only one behind its rival, North Carolina, and Indiana. Krzyzewski is No. 1 in tournament victories, though, with 77 total.
This game marked a homecoming. Not in the way the Bulldogs competed only six miles away from their campus, but in the sense that it brought Duke basketball back to where it now has been four times in 20 years — the top of college basketball.
In the award presentation immediately following the game, Krzyzewski was hoarse. When asked if this was the best championship game he had ever been a part of, he said yes.
“We’ve been fortunate to be in eight, and this was the best one,” he said.
As far as the outcome in that best one, it was largely due to a trio of Blue Devils.
The group of Kyle Singler, Scheyer and Smith — the same three that stepped up Saturday in a national semifinal victory over West Virginia — led their again team Monday. Singler and Smith both played all 40 minutes, while Scheyer was in for 37.
Singler was named most outstanding player of the Final Four.
They combined for 47 points on 17-of-40 shooting for 42.5 percent. The points represented 77 percent of Duke’s scoring in the title game.
“I don’t think any one of us could have predicted the four years we had here,” Scheyer said.
Krzyzewski also credited defense and rebounding.
Butler outrebounded Duke by seven in the first half, but the Blue Devils came back in the second to win the rebounding edge by two (37-35).
“We were able to win because of our defense and rebounding in the second half,” Krzyzewski said. “We brought our defense back.”
Until the buzzer sounded, it was a cat-and-mouse (or Devil-and-Bulldog) game, with the teams trading baskets. Duke got a five-point lead with 3:16 left on Smith’s two made free throws, but the Bulldogs fought their way back to within one point with 54 seconds to go.
Butler fouled Duke’s Brian Zoubek, and the center made one of two free throws.
“He really elevated our team to the last few weeks,” Krzyzewski said of Zoubek.
“All the players on the team had to elevate their games to win,” Zoubek said in response to his coach.
Gordon Hayward missed Butler’s last chance for a win.
And as the red lights on the glass lit up the Blue Devils were able to relax and celebrate.
A team of Indiana University journalists is reporting for the Final Four Student News Bureau, a project between IU’s National Sports Journalism Center and the NCAA at the men’s tournament in Indianapolis.
