In one of the most unpredictable NCAA tournaments, the Duke Blue Devils and the Butler Bulldogs disposed of their Final Four opponents on Saturday night to earn trips to the 2010 NCAA Championship Game.

The Bulldogs were victorious over an overachieving Michigan State team which has been missing its star player Kalin Lucas since the second round.  Tonight, Butler showed its usual strong team defense to win 52-50, and defeat Tom Izzo’s banged-up Spartans in a tough, physical contest. 

The Blue Devils cruised to 78-57 victory after pulling away late in the second half to top the West Virginia Mountaineers.  While Duke is a #1 seed in this tournament, they were easily the least impressive of the four during the season.  But unlike Syracuse, Kentucky and Kansas, they were able to fend off the upset bug game after game.  And now, they’ve ended up in the title game.

These two will pair up in what will be a well-coached, physical, defensive battle.  The teams will give us a matchup that was not anticipated, but one that will be very entertaining for basketball purists.  There’ll be little one-on-one play, lots of floor burn, and perhaps a few charges taken, but in the final game of the NCAA season, would we expect it to be any other way?