Why Duke was more lucky than good

Devil in a Blue Dress?

One of the weaker of the 4 Duke teams to claim the National Title, the Blue Devils relied on help from the NCAA Committee and a little luck (Courtesy CoachK.com)

Finally. The NCAA Mens Basketball season is over. After a crazy NCAA Tournament, the Duke Blue Devils came out of the rubble victorious and National Champs. But did Duke really deserve to win? Did they play the best out of every single team in the tournament? The answer to those are yes they deserved to win but no they did not play the best out of everyone. Before all the Duke fans chastise me let's look at the facts.

1. Duke won the ACC regular season and tournament title so the #1 seed was deserving. BUT putting them in the easiest bracket? I think someone on the committee wanted Duke to have the easy path so they could potentially play Kentucky, one of the best rivalries in the history of college basketball. Too bad that blew up in their faces when Kentucky lost to West Virginia.
   
2. Duke's road went through Arkansas Pine-Bluff, California, Purdue, Baylor, West Virginia and Butler. Not the most difficult road with the only bumps being Baylor and Butler. Meanwhile, Butler went through UTEP, Murray State, Syracuse, Kansas State, Michigan State and then Duke. That's the toughest road to the Final Four since George Mason had to go through Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, UConn and Florida.
   
3. Duke was not the strongest team in the tournament. As far as ranking the #1 seeds, they were the fourth #1 seed out of the four.
   
4. Let's face it, without Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas State and Syracuse, Duke had it pretty easy getting to the Final Four.
   

Now I am not diminishing the 4th National Title in any way. The winner of that game deserved the title for the way they played. But all this "Coach K is the greatest of all time" talk is a bunch of bologna. Sure, he has 4 National Titles, but is he really the BEST all time? Wooden has 10 National Titles. Adolph Rupp has four National Titles. Roy Williams has two National Titles. All those coaches are great coaches but to say Coach K is the G.O.A.T. is ridiculous. I'd say Top 5 coach of all time but not the best that's for sure since he teaches the "School of Flop."

So who will be the top dog next season? It certaintly will not be Duke.