March Madness Nat’l Championship – (1) Wisconsin vs. (1) Duke

(1) Wisconsin Badgers (-1, 139 o/u) vs. (1) Duke Blue Devils

The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers did the seemingly impossible on Saturday and eliminated the previously undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, 71-64. Now Bo Ryan an company are one step away from the school’s first NCAA title since 1941; standing in their way, however, is one of the most storied schools in college basketball history, the Duke Blue Devils, and legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Badgers and Blue Devils will battle for national supremacy tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (9:18 PM Eastern).

On Saturday, senior forward and Wooden Award candidate Frank Kaminsky put up 20 points and 11 rebounds for Wisconsin to help hand Kentucky its first loss of the season. The victory was sweet, sweet vengeance for the Badgers, who were bounced from the Final Four by the Wildcats last year.

Forward Sam Dekker had another big game for the team, as well, pouring in 16 points on 6/9 shooting after dropping 27 on the Arizona Wildcats in the Elite Eight.

“I think you guys have seen that all year,” said the junior Dekker. “Whether we’re down six or up 20, we’re going to be us, and we’re going to play our game.”

Tonight, Kaminsky will be going up against his main rival for Player of the Year honors in Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor. Okafor and fellow freshman sensation Justise Winslow helped the Blue Devils to an impressive 81-61 win over the Michigan Stage Spartans on Saturday.

Winslow scored 19 points and ten boards, while Okafor added 18 and six; coach Krzyzewski also got key contributions from his lone starting senior, Quinn Cook, who put in 17 points during the rout.

While the Badgers will be looking for their first title since WWII, Duke will be aiming for a fifth championship under Krzyzewski. But the coach isn’t any less excited than his first spin around the championship sun.

“It’s an amazing thing, I mean, just to be in the Final Four, but to play on Monday night is the ultimate honor,” Krzyzewski said. “I hope our guys get their rest and we can get the same type of effort we got tonight. … Now they’ve got a chance to play for a national championship, and damn, damn how great is that?”

Tonight’s game will actually be a repeat of a meeting earlier in the season when the Blue Devils bounced the Badgers in Wisconsin 80-70 in early December. Leading the way that night was Duke’s third freshman phenom, point guard Tyus Jones, who lit up the Kohl Center for 22 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Despite Duke’s early season success against this same Wisconsin squad, the Badgers are currently one-point favorites in the spread (with the over/under falling from 140.5 to 139).

In the trends, the Blue Devils are 5-0 against the spread in the 2015 tournament while the Badgers are 3-2 ATS. Given Duke’s earlier road win over Wisconsin, their slightly higher skill level, and Krzyzewski’s Final Four pedigree, taking Duke and the point looks like the better option, but anything could happen under the spotlight of the title game.

(Photo credit: Luis Blanco (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)