INDIANAPOLIS -- As they walked onto the championship podium Monday night, it didn't take long for Duke's players to hold up their index fingers in celebration.
After beating Butler 61-59 at Lucas Oil Stadium - they are number one. But five months ago, who would have thought it?
Whereas North Carolina's title last year was expected from the outset of the season - and, to an extent, Kansas' the year before, and Florida's the year before that - the Blue Devils had to plow their way through the parity of college basketball to earn a top seed, then prove they were the best.
"It's hard to imagine that we're the national champions," an emotional Mike Krzyzewski said moments before his team cut down the nets.
Although the ACC media predicted Duke to tie with North Carolina for first place in the league during the preseason, few would have imagined the Blue Devils would finish with their fourth national title, too.
They returned some great scorers in the form of Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith - and with the addition of Mason Plumlee to older brother Miles, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas, had the best frontcourt depth than in recent memory.
But there were questions about how Singler would adapt over switching to the wing from the post; whether there was enough depth in the backcourt, even with the late addition of Andre Dawkins; and whether the Blue Devils truly had a go-to guy.
They answered all those questions - for good - against a feisty Bulldogs team.
Not only did Singler, a junior, finish as the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, he accounted for 19 of the "Big Three's" 47 points - proving (if anyone hadn't figured it out by now) that the position move worked out just fine, thank-you-very-much.
The trio of Singler, Scheyer and Smith played 117 of a possible 120 combined minutes in the title game, proving that depth wasn't really an issue, either.
And when it came to crunch time - when Butler was trailing by one point and star Gordon Hayward was attempting a go-ahead jumper with 7 seconds left - Singler and Zoubek became the go-to guys on defense. Singler guarded Hayward, while the 7-foot-1 Zoubek shifted over to help and made the Bulldog arc his shot higher - and clang out of the rim.
"We don't have as many All-Americans as some teams, or this and that," said Smith, who finished with 13 points. "But we have Lance and Zoubs, who do all the little things; and with our perimeter, we worked so well together. And this team just did whatever it had to do to get wins."
Duke, the only No. 1 seed to make the Final Four, was hardly the underdog in the game, especially considering Butler was a No. 5 seed.
Yet with so many doubters, despite their history and talent, holding up those index fingers at the end did mean something extra special to the Blue Devils.
"People have been down on us for a while, and it was just a lot of motivation for us, as a team, to keep working - and we just kept playing better and better together as a team as the year went on," forward Miles Plumlee said. "And it just culminated at the right time."
