The 2015 men’s college basketball season comes to an end tonight when Duke and Wisconsin battle for One Shining Moment in Indianapolis.
Duke enters Lucas Oil Stadium after blasting through Michigan State with a 20 point win.
Wisconsin had arguably the toughest road to the Final. The Badgers have beaten four-seed North Carolina, two-seed Arizona, and the number one overall one-seed Kentucky.
“We both have earned it,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Their road and our road has been a difficult one… it doesn’t surprise me that Wisconsin is in it. Coming into the year, I thought they would be the best team in the country.”
Many college basketball fans and analysts were quick to congratulate the Badgers after ending Kentucky’s historic season. But Wisconsin has had its sights on making the national title game since getting eliminated in the Final Four last season.
“I’m never really concerned if there are people that perceive us a certain way because we are who we are, we play the way we play, and we’re sure happy with it,” said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan.
Both teams played each other back in December with Duke taking away the win. But Wisconsin feels it has improved offensively since that game.
“I think what obviously helps us to be a good offensive team is when we run a lot of things through (Kaminsky) and I just like being another option for him and for our team,” said Sam Dekker. “I can go inside and out so I think that helps our whole with spacing and getting open looks and just drawing defenders.”
Duke is playing very well as a team but guard Tyus Jones says the Blue Devils are following the lead of one particular player, Quin Cook.
“Since the first day we got there on campus, he’s just really took the leadership as something that was important to him,” said Jones. “He wanted to lead this group and be the leader of this group and so we’ve just followed him ever since.”
The national title game is tonight just after 9 pm.
To listen to the audio from the story, click below:
Coach K says Wisconsin has been on his radar since the start of the season
Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan says he doesn’t worry about the outsiders
Wisconsin forward Sam Dekker knows he and Kaminsky present match-up problems
Duke guard Tyus Jones says the team is following the lead of Quin Cook