The nature of college sports dictates that there's seldom a true "rematch" of a national championship game.
Seniors graduate, and when underclassmen move on to the pros and freshmen cycle into a program, rosters change significantly from season to season.
This is the case as No. 1-ranked Duke prepares to meet Butler at 3:15 p.m. today in East Rutherford, N.J. (ESPN). It's one of the more intriguing nonconference meetings of the season because Duke edged Butler 61-59 on April 5 in one of the tightest NCAA title games ever.
Jay Bilas, the ESPN analyst and former Duke player, said Butler forward Gordon Hayward's half-court heave that barely missed the mark at the buzzer might prove to be one of the most memorable missed shots of all time.
Had Hayward's shot caromed a bit more softly off the backboard and the front of the rim, heavy underdog and Indianapolis hometown favorite Butler would have defeated one of college basketball's powers on the game's biggest stage.
"It was so close, and ... I think the media was thirsty for that story, sort of the Hoosiers/Indiana dynamic," Bilas said. "It would have been a great story."
Today's game will generate interest because it has some of the same storylines. This is an even more formidable Duke team, ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 7-0 record that includes wins over top-10 opponents Kansas State and Michigan State.
Butler (4-2) still is the plucky opponent from the lightly regarded Horizon League that has tournament-tested veterans in Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard. But to say this is a rematch or compare it to the game from April that had so much riding on it would be a mistake.
For starters, Hayward, who launched the shot that had talk radio hosts buzzing for days, is plying his trade in the NBA now as a rookie with the Utah Jazz. Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas, senior starters on last season's Duke team, are gone.
"It's a totally different venue," said Duke senior Kyle Singler, who was named the Final Four's most outstanding player. "We're not playing for the national championship."
The Blue Devils are performing like they will be contenders for another national championship, but they have an entirely different makeup. Freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 31 points against No. 6 Michigan State on Wednesday, is tied with senior guard Nolan Smith for the scoring lead at 16.9 points per game on a team whose pace and defensive pressure have accelerated since last season.
Butler, meanwhile, hasn't been able to build on the momentum it created last season. The Bulldogs fell at Louisville in their road opener and dropped a home game to Evansville in overtime.
Smith acknowledges that this is a different Butler team but said he expects to get the Bulldogs' best shot.
"You can definitely count on them being 100 percent ready," he said. "It's going to be a championship atmosphere up in New Jersey, and we have to be ready."
Even if the game isn't a true rematch, it does provide an opportunity to look back and reminisce. Duke guard Andre Dawkins talked Wednesday night of watching from the bench as Hayward's shot sailed toward the basket.
"I really didn't want to look at it as the ball was in the air," Dawkins said. "It had a good trajectory, and it was on line."
"It hit off the backboard and the front of the rim, and it very well could have gone in," Smith added. "We were lucky. They could have been the champs, and we could have been playing them as the runner-up."
It was that close. That's why today's game will generate a lot of attention, even though the teams and the setting are different.
