Blue Devils triumph in tight Duke vs. Wisconsin finals game for NCAA championship

Duke beat out Wisconsin to claim the first place title with a score of 68 to 63 at the NCAA championship game tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

At halftime, the game stood still at a nail-biting 31 to 31.

“Last year, I had picked Duke to win it all, but then they were awful,” Raghav Jain (11) said. “This year, I decided to give it another shot and had them in the finals. I wanted Duke to win throughout the game, and it was pretty nerve wracking when they were down for a bit in the second half. I was happy with how it ended, and Duke balled out.”

Wisconsin’s offense took a lead at the start of the second half, but Duke surpassed this setback to come out on top in the end.

“I was cheering for Wisconsin,” Dhanush Madabusi (11) said. “I picked them to win the championship in my bracket. I really love their team in general. They have the number one offense in NCAA. Frank Kaminsky is the Naismith player of the year. He’s a beast. He’s like the next Dirk Nowitzki.”

Frank Kamisky led the Wisconsin team with 21 points scored.

With around four minutes left in the game, Duke began to take their lead back from Wisconsin, running up a 10 point lead.

Niki Iyer (10) commented that she felt “there were so many surprises” in the tournament as a whole.

“Overall, I was pretty happy that Duke won, even though my team, North Dakota, didn’t win,” Niki Iyer (10) said. “I didn’t think that North Dakota would lose to Kentucky, nor did I think Duke would get the win over Wisconsin. I think the best part of the tournament is seeing people come up with the craziest brackets possible, and then their brackets being correct.”

The final round kept spectators on the edge of their seats, regardless of what team they were cheering for.

“It was one of the most exciting NCAA finals I’ve ever seen,” Corey Gonzales (12) said. “It was weird seeing two teams that weren’t Kentucky in finals. For pretty much the entire season it looked like all the other teams were playing so that they could lose to Kentucky in the final. Kentucky looked pretty much unstoppable.”

Duke beat out Wisconsin to claim the first place title with a score of 68 to 63 at the NCAA championship game tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Students and faculty filled out brackets in early march predicting the result of the Division I college basketball tournament
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Duke beat out Wisconsin to claim the first place title with a score of 68 to 63 at the NCAA championship game tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Students and faculty filled out brackets in early March predicting the result of the Division I college basketball tournament.

Many students were disappointed that the Kentucky Wildcats were defeated in the final four, as the team had been a standout in earlier rounds. Until their loss to Wisconsin, Kentucky had maintained an undefeated season.

“I had picked Kentucky to win the entire tournament,” Natasha Mayor (11) said. “After Duke busted my bracket last year, I was definitely not going to root for them in the championships, so I cheered for Wisconsin in the final game. The championship game was intense and exciting, and there was no clear winner until the very end when Duke pulled ahead by executing a couple smart plays.”

Duke University’s Tyus Jones was the lead scorer throughout the entire game with 23 points.