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Apr 2, 2010

Duke as National Champ?

Of the teams in a pretty wide-open Final Four, Duke has the best chance to win the national championship. Duke is healthy (Michigan State and West Virginia have significant injuries); Duke can consistently make shots from multiple positions (Michigan State and Butler can, too); Duke has size and offensive rebounding strength (West Virginia does, too); Duke has the best scoring defense (West Virginia and Butler are excellent, too); and Duke has a coach who has won a championship before (Michigan State does, too).

Duke has made some really interesting adjustments this season, and Mike Krzyzewski has shaped this team into one of his most effective defensive teams while playing differently. Duke is more of a containment team on defense, and is doing a better job of limiting teams to one shot and preventing penetration. Krzyzewski has had better and more powerful defensive teams that created turnovers and forced teams further out on the floor to take them out of what they want to run. Yet this Duke team limits opponents to fewer points than any team he has ever had. That is what coaching is about. Instead of trying to play a certain way, the best coaches choose to play the best way for his team to win.

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