Duke’s 61-59 win over Butler gave the Blue Devils their fourth national title.
The college basketball season ended in thrilling fashion as the Duke Blue Devils defeated the Butler Bulldogs, 61-59. Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his fourth national title, but failed to ‘cover’ the seven-point closing spread. The score went ‘under’ the 128 ½-point total.
It was a great season for Butler despite Cinderella leaving the ball without a glass slipper or national title. Every mid-major in the land has added confidence heading into next season.
The future odds will be out shortly, and odds will fluctuate based mostly on player movement. Fans will need to wait until mid-October for Midnight Madness to kick things off again.
Preseason look-back
A look back at the AP top-10 preseason poll shows that ranking teams is an inexact science. It’s interesting to note that Duke was No. 9 and Butler No. 11. The Butler ranking shows it was not quite the underdog portrayed during March Madness.
The biggest miss was Texas. The Longhorns certainly had the talent, but underachieved big-time after getting into Big 12 play.
North Carolina never recovered from losing four starters from its national title team. Power forward Ed Davis had a season-ending wrist injury in February, but the team was in freefall mode before then.
AP Preseason top-10
No. 1 Kansas
No. 2 Michigan State
No. 3 Texas
No. 4 Kentucky
No. 5 Villanova
No. 6 North Carolina
No. 7 Purdue
No. 8 West Virginia
No. 9 Duke
No. 10 Tennessee
NBA early entries
NBA early entries have until April 25th to declare with big names like Cole Aldrich (Kansas) and Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) already declaring.
Guaranteed DonBest.com Picks
The top-5 draft prospects in order according to ESPN are John Wall, Evan Turner (Ohio State), Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech), DeMarcus Cousins and Wesley Johnson (Syracuse). All five are underclassmen and will almost certainly come out.
Wall and Cousins are from Kentucky, and forward Patrick Patterson and guard Eric Bledsoe could join them in the pros. Freshman big man Daniel Orton has already put his name in despite a lack of playing time. Coach John Calipari is used to rebuilding on the fly, but the Wildcats could be badly decimated.
Diaper dandies
As the yearly exodus to the NBA begins, a fresh group of talented players is ready to step up and become the new phenoms.
Memphis, Ohio State, North Carolina, Syracuse and Michigan State have the five top recruiting classes according to ESPN. None are expected to have the same impact as Kentucky’s group this year.
2010-2011 first look
Duke could be the top team next year even after losing Jon Scheyer along with big men Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek. The Blue Devils added one of the top recruits in the country in point guard Kyrie Irving. Guard Nolan Smith should come back for his senior season, with junior Kyle Singler’s return the key.
Michigan State is a team to watch after two consecutive Final Four appearances. All the key players should be back except for senior Raymar Morgan. Point guard Kalin Lucas (Achilles) and forward Delvon Roe (knee) need to recover from injuries, but the Spartans should be very good next year.
Injuries are also a big factor for another Big Ten school, Purdue. Forward Robbie Hummel is recovering from a torn ACL and is expected to return along with big man JaJuan Johnson and guard E'Twaun Moore. They would form a very impressive senior trio.
An in-depth look at the favorites will be done when the future odds are released.