Duke Blue Devils Silence Critics With Manhandling Of West Virginia

Remember when West Virginia's players took shots at Duke after beating them in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2008.

No?

In the post-game press conference, Mountaineer Joe Alexander was told that Duke had eight McDonald's All-Americans.  Alexander responded with "Who?" in an obviously sarcastic tone.  He later stated that they "manhandled" the Blue Devils.

It didn't end there.  Several West Virginia players joined in with the Duke bashing, singling out specific Duke players and talking about how weak they knew the Blue Devils were coming into the game.

By the way, they won by six.

This season, on a much bigger stage with an appearance in the NCAA championship game at stake, Duke redefined the term "manhandle" for West Virginia (and Alexander if he was watching).

The Blue Devils won by 21 in a game that wasn't close for the final 30 minutes.  

And there aren't even any viable conspiracy theories for those who choose to believe Duke's success has nothing to do with the great play of its players and everything to do with biased referees.  The Blue Devils were called for four more fouls than the Mountaineers, and they shot 10 fewer free throws.

Duke won this one leaving nothing to criticize, but don't think that will silence the critics.

The Blue Devils have been everyone's favorite team to pick to lose in this tournament.  There has been a lot of talk about Duke having an easy bracket and being the worst of the No. 1 seeds.  Ironically, there was a lot of outcry that West Virginia deserved the No. 1 seed over Duke.

With all of the talk about Duke having yet to face a tough opponent in the tournament (somehow a win against Baylor just a few miles away from the Bears' campus in the Elite Eight wasn't tough), West Virginia seemed like the favorite even though Duke was the higher seed.

But the Blue Devils made a statement on Saturday night.  Make no mistake—they are now the heavy favorite to win the national title.

They aren't the favorite because of their hype coming into the tournament; they are the favorite because they have been the best team in the tournament.

Butler will certainly be a challenge.  They haven't won 20-something games in a row by luck.

But the Bulldogs are about to take on a Duke team with a big chip on its shoulder and a lot to prove.  After all, if Duke were to lose to Butler, it was just give all their doubters a final I-told-you-so.

If their "manhandling" (my apologies to Alexander for borrowing his phrase) of West Virginia was any indication of where this Blue Devils team stands going into the championship game, it might be safe to say that the days of doubting Duke are coming to an end.

At least until next season.