Final Four 2015 Scores: Updated Results and National Championship Breakdown

After six months, 66 other teams being eliminated and nearly 40 games each, the Duke Blue Devils and Wisconsin Badgers will lock horns to determine the 2015 men's college basketball national champion. The Blue Devils got here thanks to a dominant 81-61 win over the Michigan State Spartans. The Badgers ended the undefeated dream for the Kentucky Wildcats, 71-64.

It's a strange dynamic for the national championship game. Duke is the known power that everyone hates, but Wisconsin has all the pressure on its shoulders. The Badgers proved Kentucky was not invincible in the Final Four, yet that win means nothing without another one Monday.

While not as culturally significant, Wisconsin is in the same position as the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team was. The Americans knocked off Russia in a legendary game but had to defeat Finland two days later to secure a gold medal.

So what's in store for Duke and Wisconsin on Monday night?

National Championship Game Analysis

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One thing that coaches always talk about is evolution. Most great teams are going to change drastically over the course of a season, because players get comfortable with one another and learn rhythms.

Duke fits that point to the letter. The Blue Devils started the season getting by largely on raw talent, which caught up to them in games against North Carolina State and Miami, when it was obvious they didn't care about defense.

The Wolfpack and Hurricanes combined to score 177 points in consecutive games against head coach Mike Krzyzewski's team. Since January 17, Duke has allowed 70 or more points a grand total of seven times in 22 games, including zero in the NCAA tournament.

It should come as no surprise that Krzyzewski feels as well as he has in years—by his own admission to Luke DeCock of The Charlotte Observer:

“I was worried: ‘I hope I have the gas, the energy,’” Krzyzewski said. “But it hasn’t been a stretch at all. In fact, I think I’m as energized now as I’ve ever been at the end of the year.”

Krzyzewski's team has certainly responded to any challenges he's put in front of them. No one reflects this growth more than Justise Winslow, who has become as important to Duke's success as Jahlil Okafor. 

As Andrew Sharp of Grantland wrote prior to the Final Four, Winslow is the kind of aggressive, relentless talent the Blue Devils haven't had in the tournament for a long time:

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He overpowers big men for rebounds. His blocks demoralize people on defense. He careens through the lane in transition. The whole thing just looks exhausting for anyone stuck defending him. It’s like teams spend entire games guarding everyone else on the floor, and then look up and say, “We have to deal with THIS?”

"

Duke has found great shooters this season. Okafor is a monster in the middle few teams are capable of defending, but Winslow's development to go along with Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook has carried the Blue Devils this far.

This isn't a deep Duke team, so if those four players are having off nights shooting, it will be hard to secure a national title. Yet if this team is playing defense, which has been the case for most of the last three months, it's difficult to beat.

Per Dana O'Neil of ESPN, the Blue Devils have won five tournament games by an average of 17.6 points. Keep in mind that three of those games saw their offense fail to break the 70-point barrier. This team is doing all the little things well right now.

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Wisconsin may not have the basketball pedigree Duke does, as few programs do, but there's little doubt this has become one of the pre-eminent teams in the country. Head coach Bo Ryan goes about his business in a different way than Krzyzewski does, as noted by ESPN's Mike Wise:

This isn't to say that one style works better than another. After all, Duke with its All-Americans has a chance to win a title that will mean just as much as Wisconsin's would.

All that Ryan has proved is that great coaching can develop less-heralded talent, something that Krzyzewski has done throughout his career at Duke.

One of those unheralded Wisconsin players was just named the Associated Press Player of the Year. Frank Kaminsky is a testament to player development, as Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.com notes:

Yet the reason Wisconsin has made it to this point is because Kaminsky has found someone to join his Batman act, with Sam Dekker as the new Robin. Per ESPN Stats & Info, Dekker has been incredible from three-point range in the tournament:

Wisconsin and Duke are built in similar ways. Neither has a great deal of depth, but tremendous shooters and strong defenses make for one of the closest matchups in recent memory. 

Ultimately, the Badgers have passed every major test put in front of them. Their path through Arizona and Kentucky in consecutive games has been more difficult than Duke's run so far. Beating an undefeated Kentucky team doesn't mean anything without a title to go with it. 

Kaminsky, Dekker and Ryan are firing on all cylinders. As great as Okafor, Winslow and Krzyzewski are, the Badgers are ready for their moment in the spotlight.