Duke Puts It All Together Against West Virginia, Bring on Butler

INDIANAPOLIS -- Duke forward senior Lance Thomas said he's grown accustomed to how the Blue Devils are despised by the media.

"I'm used to it," Thomas said. "I've been here four years. I know we never get much media love. But that doesn't change the recipe for what we do."

On Saturday night, the Blue Devils' recipe was simple. Jon Scheyer plus Kyle Singler plus Nolan Smith minus Da'Sean Butler equaled a 78-57 victory against West Virginia in the national semifinals.

Scheyer (23 points, six assists), Singler (21 points, nine rebounds, five assists) and Smith (19 points) combined for 63 points as the Blue Devils advanced to their first final since defeating Arizona for the 2001 championship.

The Blue Devils, in their 11th final in school history, are now 40 minutes from their fourth national title in 19 years.

"We're one game away because we believe in ourselves," Thomas said. "People on the outside we could really care less what they think."

That's probably a good thing because the Blue Devils face the hometown heroes from Butler, the quintessential underdogs, on Monday night in Lucas Oil Stadium. Unless you bleed blue and white, you're probably pulling for Butler.

"It's beyond me. ... I have no idea why it's like that," Thomas said. "We're used to not having people root for us. We're not looking for extra fans right now. We have to stick together, we're all we got. We have to rely on each other, our coaching staff and just play as hard as we can."

That's exactly what they did against the Mountaineers (31-7).



Share Duke led by as many as 13 in the first half and nine by halftime. In the second half, West Virginia never came closer than five points and Duke's lead never dipped below double digits in the final 10 minutes.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," Duke center Brian Zoubek said. "You saw us really come together tonight. A lot of games, we've done well on defense or done well on rebounding or had a great offensive night. Rarely have we had it all together.

"We did a great job on every aspect tonight. It really felt good. Everyone was playing as one unit. It's really a great feeling when you're on the court."

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said he didn't recognize the Duke team that shot 52 percent from 3-point range, dished out 20 assists and committed only six turnovers.

"They played really, really well," Huggins said. "And I've watched a lot of tape. I haven't seen them play that well. And we didn't play very well. And, you know, that happens."

The Mountaineers' loss was doubly painful after Butler, the team's star forward, crumbled to the floor with a left knee injury with 8:59 remaining. Butler was in intense pain, squirming on the floor. Coach Huggins walked onto the floor, 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.

"It was very frustrating for us, seeing the best player go down, especially when you're trying to make a run," West Virginia's Devin Ebanks said.

Team doctors told Butler after the game it was only a sprained knee and not a torn ACL as feared. That was the only good news of the night for the Mountaineers, who were making their first Final Four appearance since 1959 with Jerry West.

West Virginia ultimately had no answer for Duke's accuracy from the outside as the Blue Devils rolled up the most points against the Mountaineers in 11 games.

"They got us out of character," Ebanks said. "We usually are not like that on defense. We allowed a lot of penetration to the middle. They were able to convert and hit open jump shots."

Huggins said he took responsibility for the Mountaineers' defensive lapses.

"We went to the 1-3-1 [zone], we just don't do things very well on the fly and it's my fault," Huggins said. "I think a couple of the assistants thought we should give it a look in the first half to see how they attacked it.

"I should have done it after a dead ball and I didn't do it."

Duke now turns its attention to tiny Butler, winners of 25 consecutive games and playing only 5.9 miles from its campus.

"We're used to hostile environments. Why not another one for the final?"
-- Brian Zoubek "You know, it's definitely going to be a big story," Duke guard Nolan Smith said. "People calling Butler the Cinderella and, of course, Duke the big-time program. But it's going to be a fight."

Zoubek said what impresses him most about the Bulldogs is their intensity.

"They play very hard," Zoubek said. "They outplay people. I was watching a couple of their games earlier in the tournament. They [didn't] have more talent than the other teams they played earlier, like a Syracuse or a Kansas State, but they don't care about that.

"That's going to be key. We just have to bring it."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn't buy all the Butler as a Cinderella talk.

"I think they're one of the best teams in the country," Krzyzewski said. "I think Cinderella would be if somebody had eight, nine losses and pulled some upsets, stuff like that.

"They've won 25 in a row. Yeah, they've beaten Syracuse and Kansas State and Michigan State tonight. I don't really consider them Cinderella."

The Bulldogs should have a decided crowd advantage. Saturday's semifinals drew 71,298 fans, the second largest crowd in NCAA tournament history.

"We played our game in Houston against Baylor," Zoubek said. "It was pretty much a hometown crowd for them. We're used to hostile environments. Why not another one for the final?"

Why not? It's only the national championship.

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