MINNEAPOLIS — The national champion was crowned Monday night, and you-know-who ended up taking home the prize. As the old-timers in Durham like to say, "Duke, sho' 'nuff."
Yeah, I know. Borrrrrring. Haven't those guys ever heard of suspense? Surprise?
Didn't they watch Hoosiers?
I haven't been this surprised since George Dukakis failed to win the presidency.
Face it, yelling for Duke doesn't take much imagination. You might as well yell for Microsoft. Or Donald Trump. Or McDonald's. You knew Duke was going to win. Duke has to win. Otherwise, it wouldn't be Duke. It would be, well, Maryland.
Duke always gets to win. This show has been running longer than Sixty Minutes. What!? Duke is the winner? Next thing you're gonna tell me is utility rates are going up.
Actually, I'm exaggerating. Duke doesn't win every time. Monday's 82-72 win over Arizona was the Blue Devils' third national championship. That's only two more than Holy Cross, one more than San Francisco. At the same time, only three other schools have won more championships. The Blue Devils aren't strangers to the Final Four or the championship game. They've been in the title game six times under coach Mike Krzyzewski alone. They get there so often, my TV has a permanent bluish tint.
This is how you wear people out. You win more games in history than all but three other schools. You win a higher percentage of NCAA Tournament games than any team ever. You show up for 95 (95!) NCAA games. You produce six national collegiate players of the year and 26 All-Americans. You win the last five ACC regular season titles — which is almost a guaranteed ticket to the Final Four in itself. You lead the nation in scoring the past two seasons. You average almost 33 wins over the past four seasons.
You appear in 13 Final Fours, third-highest total in history. You appear in nine Final Fours since 1986, most of any team in the country in that span.
You collect pictures of Ronald Reagan with a satin Duke jacket and the team with George Bush and Bill Clinton at the White House. You put 37 players in the NBA, including 11 on opening-day rosters this year.
You play your entire history without ever having more than two consecutive losing seasons. You build Cameron Indoor Stadium in 1940 with 5,000 seats, which was thought at the time to be extravagant.
How were they to know the Cameron Crazies would be coming?
Heaven knows, Arizona had good reason to think it could win. It had momentum, including the longest current winning streak in the nation. It was the sentimental favorite, and the majority of the crowd at the Metrodome Monday night was pulling for Arizona to win one for Coach Lute Olson, who lost his wife to cancer in January. There was lusty booing when the Blue Devils took the court for warmups.
But Duke had Duke going for it.
This is how it went: After a close first half, Duke sprang to an 11-point lead. The Wildcats fought back within three, but Duke's Mike Dunleavy nailed two threes to stretch the lead again. Shane Battier, everybody's All-American, made a twisting, back-to-the-basket tip-in with 3:31 to go that put a dagger in the Wildcats' hearts.
"I'm a firm believer in guardian angels," said Battier, who, not coincidentally is a religion major. "And on a couple of plays down the stretch, I believe those guys were helping me."
Never mind the fact that the Wildcats felt they had one guarding them, too.
"He had an out-of-body experience," added Krzyzewski. "I don't see how he could make that play."
He gets to make that play because, as Arizona's Richard Jefferson said on Sunday, "He's Player of the Year, Defender of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, Man of the Year, Academic of the Year — he's all-everything. Shane's All-World."
He gets to make it because he plays for Duke.
"I love the fact that these kids won," said Krzyzewski.
Good for them. And good for Coach K.
General Patton said, "Americans love a winner!"
But who ever said it can't be a surprise?
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com