The recent NCAA Tournament was one of the most exciting of its kind in recent memory. As always, the first weekend provided most of the thrills because of the upsets and heart-stopping finishes. You saw programs such as Ohio U., Murray State and Old Dominion step to the forefront for a day while the likes of Kansas, Georgetown and Vanderbilt were bitten by the upset bug. Hard.

 At the end of the first weekend, programs such as Butler, Xavier, St. Mary’s, Cornell and Nothern Iowa had joined the party alongside the big-name programs of the power conferences. Butler and Xavier are no strangers to playing into the second weekend of the tournament, but they had plenty of company from fellow non-BCS conference schools.

  At the end of the day, we witnessed a championship game that featured the bluest of blue blood programs in Duke against one of those upstart, but emerging powers in Butler; and right in the heartland of the Hoosier state, which is basketball country.

  Duke won its fourth national title by squeaking by Butler 61-59 in a game that will be talked about for many years. The outcome was in doubt until the final seconds when Butler standout Gordon Hayward’s half-court heave bounced off the backboard and came oh-so-close to becoming the greatest shot in the history of basketball.

  It was a tough, defensive struggle in whch neither team would concede anything. Points were hard to come by as the margin never exceeded six points either way, which made every possession of the game so precious. Toughness was on full display on this night.

  Many people were calling this the greatest NCAA Championship game ever played. On ESPN’s post-game coverage, analysts Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas were going on and on about the greatness of this game and how no other game stacked up.

  Forgive me folks, but I am not part of the group that thought this game was the best national title game ever. I agree that it was truly a compeling game with a compeling story that everyone in the nation could follow. It was an updated version of the famous basketball movie “Hoosiers” brought to real life in the 21^st century in front of 71,000 fans live and millions more watching on television.

  It was the hated Duke Blue Devils against the real-life Hoosiers from Butler in their own back yard in Indianapolis.

  Who could not get amped up by that kind of a story?

  I was for sure. But all of this hype and made-for-Hollywood drama surrounding the game actually did was to elevate the status of what was actually a pretty ugly game from an artistic standpoint. Offensive skill and execution took a back seat to backyard brawling tactics.

  The Duke-Butler game was basically a 40-minute streetfight where the two teams basically beat the hell out of each other. The physical play was at a maximum while the shooting from both team was a well below par, save for Duke’s junior Kyle Singler, who was brilliant.

  If this game was played on December 18, nobody would be calling this game a classic. But the big stage of the Final Four made this perhaps the greatest title game ever. No. Had West Virginia and Michigan State played this same game in the finals in a classic Big East-Big Ten slugfest, would people be hailing it as the best game they’ve ever seen? No.

  Did people forget that Kansas State-Xavier regional semifinal game that quickly. That 101-96 double-overtime masterpiece was basketball at its finest. Players on both teams were trading 25-foot bombs in clutch situations. One after another. It was great. That game could have been played in a summer league and people would have been talking about it as one of the greatest games they’ve ever seen.

  I heard one talking head say at the end of the Duke-Butler game, “these two teams played the game that way it was meant to be played.” Football, yes. Rugby, maybe. But, basketball. No sale.

  Were these people watching the same game that I was? What I saw for much of the night was two teams pounding each other like two heavyweight boxers in a 15-round fight. The game reminded me of those NBA Eastern Conference playoff brawls in the 90’s between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks that usually ended up in a 78-77 conclusion with both teams having to ice themselves down after 48-minutes of hand-to-hand combat.

  Because of the physical nature, the shooting was dreadful. Butler went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal in the second half. In the first half, their junior center Matt Howard could have had a field day, but he missed three early layups and missed three of his first four free throws.

  Senior guard Willie Veasley was one of nine from the field, including all five of his 3-pointers where he was wide, wide open. Hayward was two for 11 from the field while Shelvin Mack was five for 14. In all, the Bulldogs shot 34 percent from the field. However, it was an improvement from their semifinal victory over Michigan State where they shot 30 percent from the field.

  Duke was not much better. After scorching the nets in the semifinals against West Virginia, the Blue Devils’ top shooters wilted under the pressure of Butler’s strong-arm defense. Guards John Scheyer and Nolan Smith were a combined two for 10 from beyond the 3-point line and 10 for 27 overall. On Duke’s last three offensive possessions of the game, Kyle Singler was called for traveling after falling down on the dribble, Smith missed a one-foot layup on a drive, then Singler short-armed a wide open 15 footer and nearly shot an airball, giving Butler a chance to win the game.

  I really enjoyed the drama that the 2010 NCAA national title game gave us and the near miracle finish. But, let’s not get carried away by calling it the greatest game ever. That’s stretching it a little bit.