Last One Standing, Duke Storms West Virginia

INDIANAPOLIS – And then there was one. The one.

Considered the weakest No. 1 seed when the NCAA tournament began, Duke instead was the only top seed to advance to the Final Four. Now the Blue Devils are one of only two teams remaining after defeating West Virginia 78-57 in Saturday's semifinals.

Using a 3-point shooting barrage and a combined 63 points from the Big Three of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, the Blue Devils buried the Mountaineers. Scheyer (23 points, six assists), Singler (21 points, nine rebounds, five assists) and Smith (19 points, six points) combined for six more points than the entire Mountaineer team.

Duke (34-5) advanced to its 11th final, where the Blue Devils will face Butler, which will be making its first final appearance, on Monday night. The Blue Devils haven't been to the final since 2001 when they defeated Arizona.

The Mountaineers' loss was doubly painful after star forward Da'Sean Butler crumbled to the floor with an apparent torn ACL with 8:59 remaining. Butler was in intense pain, squirming on the floor. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins walked onto the floor and shouted at referee John Higgins.

"They don't foul, right John?" Huggins yelled. "They don't foul? All-American laying here and they don't foul?"

Huggins then bent down on the court and nearly laid down on Butler, comforting him and hugging him -- making it look like he almost was giving him CPR.

Even Duke's student section started chanting Butler's name out of respect for the second-team All-American, who hit six game-winning shots this season. Butler (10 points, three rebounds, two assists) then received a standing ovation from the Mountaineers as he was helped off the floor.

It was the last thing West Virginia fans had to cheer inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Mountaineers trailed 63-48 at that point and that killed any comeback hopes for the Big East Conference tournament champions.

Duke's 78 points were the most allowed by West Virginia in 14 games, since a 98-95 triple overtime loss to Pittsburgh.

The Blue Devils shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 52 percent from 3-point range (13 of 25).

The ACC regular season and tournament champions were in control nearly the entire game despite the fact Duke did not attempt its first free throws until 12:32 remaining in the second half.

In the first half, Duke gradually built its lead to 37-24 on -- what else? -- a 3-pointer by Nolan Smith with 4:33 remaining. The Mountaineers, on the verge of getting blown out, closed the half on a 7-2 run and only trailed 39-31 at halftime.

In the first half, Duke hit 7 of 14 3-pointers. Kyle Singler, who was 0 for 10 from the field against Baylor in the Elite Eight, hit 6 of 12 field goals, including two treys. He had 14 of Duke's 39 first-half points.

Smith (three 3-pointers) had 11 points in the opening half and Scheyer (two 3-pointers) had eight points.

Wellington Smith led West Virginia (31-7) with 12 points and Devin Ebanks added 11 points, but only two in the second half.

The game matched Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Huggins and their 1,536 career victories -- the most combined wins by two coaches in an NCAA tournament game.

Contact FanHouse senior writer Brett McMurphy at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com or on Twitter @BrettmcmurphY