BRING ON WISCONSIN: Duke basketball faces Badgers in rematch for 2015 national title

INDIANAPOLIS—With one game remaining in the college basketball season and four Blue Devils likely on their way out of Durham regardless of the outcome, a night on college basketball's biggest stage represents much more than a battle for the national title.

Rather, it is an opportunity to become permanently etched into the history of one of the game's most storied programs. Top-seeded Duke will take on top-seeded Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium Monday at 9:18 p.m., and with one game remaining in his Duke career, the moment is not lost on the Blue Devils' lone senior.

"We want to be one of those teams that coach is bragging about five or seven years later," senior captain Quinn Cook said. "It's motivation for us to be special. Our chemistry has been great all year. It's just been better. So to be up here with these guys right now is a true blessing."

Both squads are currently playing their best basketball of the season—in Saturday's national semifinals, the Badgers (36-3) knocked off previously-undefeated Kentucky 71-64 and the Blue Devils (34-4) trounced Michigan State by 20 to secure their spot in the title bout.

The national title game, like Duke's Final Four victory against Michigan State, will be a rematch from the 2014-15 regular season. Although the Blue Devils are adamant that their 80-70 road win at then-No. 2 Wisconsin Dec. 3 will have no effect on Monday's title game, Duke's first encounter with the Badgers went a long way in shaping the toughness that has carried the team through the postseason.

The game, played in front of a hostile Wisconsin crowd that went as far to call out freshman Tyus Jones' girlfriend, was the first true road environment for the four Duke rookies. But the freshmen's play would not reflect their age. Led by Jones' 22 points, the Blue Devil youngsters—minus Grayson Allen, who did not play—combined for 40 points and led Duke to an upset victory at the Kohl Center.

"It did a lot for our confidence, especially for our young guys, it being their first true road game," Cook said. "The way they responded and played against a veteran team, a confident team just coming off the Final Four. It was shocking to me how we performed."

Since the December win, Duke has dropped just four games—all in ACC play—and secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament after closing the regular season with 12 straight wins and advancing to the semifinals in the ACC tournament.

With a short-handed roster of eight scholarship players finally healthy, the Blue Devils' journey to Monday's title contest has been one of dominance, with the latest onslaught coming in the semifinals.

After falling behind 14-6 in the opening four minutes, the Blue Devils cruised to an 81-61 victory against No. 7 seed Michigan State Saturday. Duke outmatched the Spartans on both ends of the floor, as freshman forward Justise Winslow dropped a team-high 19 points—nine coming from the free throw line—and center Jahlil Okafor poured in 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added six rebounds.

Wisconsin's path to the championship game has been widely considered the toughest in the Big Dance. After an opening-round win against Coastal Carolina, the Badgers had to defeat Oregon, North Carolina, Arizona and a previously-undefeated Kentucky squad to reach Monday's title game. Wisconsin's last four games were each played against the highest possible seed—No. 8, 4, 2 and 1, respectively—and each decided by exactly seven points.

"['Holy crap'] was all of our reactions," said, Wisconsin guard Bronson Koenig as he recalled the team first learning its tournament path. "We finally worked hard enough, got the No. 1 seed and then we're put in the toughest region with the toughest path to get to the Final Four, national championship.... To be the best, you've got to beat the best, and that's what we've done."

Although the Blue Devils have been in plenty of close games this season—their Sweet Sixteen win against Utah was a six-point victory—Duke has largely cruised in this tournament. The Blue Devils have won their five games by an average margin of victory of 17.6 points.

Part of the reason the Blue Devils have been able to dominate the way they have stems from their defense, which reached another level when the calendar flipped to March.

The improvement of the Duke defense has been well-documented throughout its run—the Blue Devils entered the NCAA tournament with the 57th-ranked defense in statistician Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings and now sit at No. 12. They have made the jump by holding their tournament opponents to 55.0 points per game and 37.6 percent from the field.

But if the Blue Devils want to leave Indianapolis with a fifth national championship, they will have to do so by stopping Wisconsin's offense, which is the top-ranked squad in Pomeroy's adjusted offensive efficiency and has also upped its play during the Big Dance.

The Badgers boast a bevy of scorers, with five players averaging at least 8.5 points per game. Against the Wildcats, four of Wisconsin's starters scored in double digits, with AP Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky leading the way with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

"They can score from every position," Krzyzewski said. "Usually an efficient offense means that you can't help off of everybody. It gives room for each of the really good players to have more room to operate. They don't turn it over, and they hit free throws at a high percentage.... They're just a very difficult team to defend."

The Wisconsin offense runs through Kaminsky, and, as was the case leading up to the December clash in Madison, much has been made of the matchup between the Badger big man and Okafor, who are two of the nation's top frontcourt players.

Okafor enters the game averaging 17.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest and Kaminsky comes in at 18.2 points and 8.0 rebounds, and both are coming off 7-of-11 shooting performances in the Final Four. Although both teams are quick to point out that it will be a team-wide effort that will take the title, the battle of the bigs will have the focus of the nation in tomorrow's game.

“He’s a very good player. We knew that going into [the first] game," Kaminsky said. "We knew he wasn’t going to be easy to stop. I don’t even know if you can stop him, but hope you can contain him a little bit.”

If the Blue Devils can complete the season sweep of the Badgers, they will take home the program's fifth national championship and second in five years.