Butler lost against Duke in the 2010 NCAA Finals.

Butler's 2010 season did not have a Hollywood ending in the NCAA Finals against Duke (katchop)

Kyle Singler scored 19 points and Brian Zoubek rebounded Gordon Hayward’s half-court miss with 3.6 seconds left Monday night to help Duke beat Butler 61-59, ending the tiny underdog’s try for a “Hoosiers” sequel one win short of the Hollywood ending.

The Blue Devils (35-5) snapped Butler’s 25-game winning streak and brought the long-awaited fourth national title back home to Carolina and the Cameron Crazies.

The “Big Three” — Singler, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith — won the Big One for coach Mike Krzyzewski, his first championship since 2001 and the fourth overall, tying Coach K with Adolph Rupp for second place on the all-time list.

Original Photos yahoo, themoviedb.org

Michigan State is taking their loss to Butler hard, but they are already looking forward to next year.

To their credit, the Michigan State Spartans are not satisfied just to have made the 2010 Final Four, and are planning to use their loss to Butler as motivation in 2011 (katchop)

It leaves us to work harder,” sophomore Draymond Green said. “We have to go back and take a look in the mirror, realize who we are, how to do the things right that you need to do to win a championship. I mean, I just take this as a learning experience. It’s going to make us work that much harder to get here and finish the deal.”

They might have finished it this year with a full deck.

Point guard Kalin Lucas ruptured the Achilles’ tendon in his left foot in the second round of the NCAA tournament and missed the rest of the run to the Final Four. He was the Big Ten’s player of the year in 2009, when he led the Spartans to the national championship game.

Original Photo Yahoo

Northern Iowa  shocked the world by defeating Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

Marcus Morris of Kansas was sad that his team lost in an upset to Northern Iowa, but he was devastated that it also meant that the hours he spent on his NCAA bracket sheet were now a waste (katchop)

The biggest upset in a tournament full of them was done. Northern Iowa had taken down mighty Kansas.

Playing with poise down the stretch and getting another big 3-pointer from Farokhmanesh, Northern Iowa pulled off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas from the bracket with a program-defining 69-67 win on Saturday.

“If anybody’s going to shoot that shot, I want it to be Ali,” UNI’s Jake Koch said.

This year’s NCAA tournament has been defined by its upsets. Eight double-digit seeds got through the first round. No. 10 Saint Mary’s beat Villanova on Saturday and No. 11 Washington shoved aside New Mexico.

This was the biggest shocker of all.

Original Photo DailyNews