Butler’s Matt Howard in foul trouble, Duke leads by 2 behind Kyle Singler

Butler’s Matt Howard in foul trouble, Duke leads

Matt Howard is another guy with a propensity for getting into foul trouble, and the Butler big guy just picked up his second and checked out with about 8½ minutes left in the first half.

The Bulldogs are really getting after Duke in the halfcourt, forcing four turnovers already. Coach K said before the game that the Bulldogs’ defense was his biggest concern, especially how active they are with their hands.

The crowd is rocking Lucas Oil Stadium at the media timeout with the mid-major darlings on top of Duke, 20-18. Shelvin Mack has led the way with eight points for Butler.

Kyle Singler has seven for Duke.

Duke center Brian Zoubek was treated by a trainer during a timeout, with a piece of gauze held over what appeared to be a small cut on his forehead.

Zoubek is back on the court and logging some heavy minutes early.

The big man has gotten into foul trouble before, but he’s playing a smart first half, which should allow him to play more aggressively over the final 20 minutes.

Matt Howard’s head might be OK, but his free throw stroke sure isn’t.

The Butler big guy has missed three of his first four attempts, and if the Bulldogs want to stick with the Blue Devils, they’d better make good on their freebies.

Or keep hitting those 3-pointers.

Shelvin Mack is 2 for 2 from beyond the arc and Zach Hahn came off the bench to knock one down, helping the Bulldogs edge ahead 12-11. The Blue Devils answered behind Kyle Singler, though, and lead 16-14 with 11:05 left in the first half.

One of the big problems already for Butler is rebounding. The Blue Devils’ significant size advantage has already allowed them to get a couple of second chances, and they have a 10-5 edge on the glass midway through the first half.

Nolan Smith has already hit his first couple of baskets for Duke, although the Bulldogs responded with a pair of hoops of their own to make it 6-4 at the first media timeout.

Smith might be having the most charmed three weeks of his entire career. He scored 19 in a semifinal victory over West Virginia and had 29 points in a victory over Baylor in the round of eight. Those two masterful performances came after a 15-point outing against Purdue and 20 against California.

The athletic guard has the hot hand from the outside, but 7-foot-1 center Brian Zoubek is already asserting himself inside. He has a couple of rebounds and has kept a couple of other missed shots alive, and Duke seems to be intent on running its offense through him.

So much for everything running smoothly before the championship game.

Butler guard Ronald Nored was the last guy to take the floor because NCAA officials had to stick the championship game patch on his jersey.

The Bulldogs’ Matt Howard sure looks OK to start. He got the ball in his hands on their first possession and got to the free throw line, where he made one of two to strike the first blow for Butler.

Blue II is worked up for the game, too.

The Butler mascot barked throughout introductions and had to be restrained by his handler, which was also the case before the Bulldogs’ semifinal victory over Michigan State.

Maybe it’s a good omen.

The bulldog has been making the media rounds all weekend and continues to tweet about his experiences at twitter.com/ButlerBlue2. He posted a picture of himself at Lucas Oil Stadium about 15 minutes ago.

Speaking of Coach K …

There have been some rumors and anonymous sources saying that incoming Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, would offer Krzyzewski $12 million to $15 million per season to take over the beleaguered NBA franchise.

Krzyzewski said through a spokesman that he hasn’t been contacted by the Nets and “wouldn’t have any interest in the job.” The Duke coach had a brief flirtation with the Los Angeles Lakers job a few years ago, but has generally rejected NBA overtures.

Speaking after a victory against Maryland on Feb. 13, Krzyzewski joked that “no one’s contacted me, and if they do, I think ‘nyet’ would be easy for me to say.”

Butler guard Shelvin Mack said moments ago that he is “100 percent” after a bout with the stomach flu, which few people even realized he had because of the much more public injury to Matt Howard.

Mack is the team’s second-leading scorer, one of Butler’s top 3-point shooters and can handle the ball if the Blue Devils slap on a press. His play will be critical for the Bulldogs.

Howard also said he’ll be ready to go after sustaining what is thought to have been a mild concussion against Michigan State on Saturday night. Howard is the Bulldogs’ third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, and the only guy who can bang with Duke’s inside guys.

The Blue Devils should have a reason to be wary of a young upstart like Butler, especially if it begins to look through the history section of its own media guide.

Back in 1990 and 1991, when the Duke dynasty was still taking shape, Coach K faced Jerry Tarkanian and UNLV twice in the Final Four. That was when the Rebels really were Rebels and Duke came off as the good guy.

Led by Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon, UNLV ran Duke out of the arena, 103-73, in the 1990 final. But the next year, behind Christian Laettner and Grant Hill, Duke won in the semis on the way to the first of two straight national titles. The Blue Devils added another in 2001 and, as the years have passed, the perception has flipped.

Now, the Blue Devils are the team that is being hunted. Krzyzewksi can win his fourth title, matching Adolph Rupp and putting him behind only John Wooden on the career list.

“You try not to go through too much,” Coach K said moments ago, when asked what he told his team. “Just let them be themselves, not try to be somebody else tonight.”

Good advice, because being Duke is usually good enough.

The popular thing to do before a big game is to compare the matchups.

They go overwhelmingly in favor of the Blue Devils.

The front line of 7-foot-1 Brian Zoubek and three 6-foot-10 guys dwarfs anything that Butler can put on the floor. That includes 6-8 forward Matt Howard, who has been dealing with the effects of the “mildest of mild concussions,” a team official said.

Duke guards Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith shoot the ball better than Butler point guard Ronald Nored — who generally doesn’t shoot. At all. And the inside-outside play of Kyle Singler creates matchup problems for everyone wearing Bulldogs blue.

Just about the only place where Butler matches up is with Gordon Hayward, who has become a star during this magical March run. He has decent size, can shoot it from outside and has the ability to drive if Zoubek or the other Duke bigs extend to the perimeter.

Then there are the coaches. Brad Stevens is a former marketing official who decided to follow his passion by becoming a basketball coach. He’s only 33 years old, or, the same age that Mike Krzyzewski was when he took over the Blue Devils 30 years ago.

Will experience factor into the outcome? Will the size, athleticism and talent of the Blue Devils win the day? Will the edge in the individual matchups really matter?

Because quite frankly, very little has gone according to script during this tournament.

There are certainly plenty of distractions that come with playing for a national title about 10 minutes from campus.

Class is apparently one of them.

Less than 12 hours before playing in the most important game of their lives, several Butler players were sitting in classrooms. After their morning classes, they headed over to the arena for a shootaround, then stuck around downtown until the tip, which is scheduled for 9:21 p.m.

Star forward Gordon Hayward — the only big NBA prospect of the bunch — said he had four classes scheduled for Monday and was happy to “try to keep things normal.”

The Bulldogs won’t have that problem on Tuesday. University president Bobby Fong, who crowd-surfed after one of the victories in the NCAA tournament, announced at a downtown pep rally earlier in the day that all classes would be canceled.

“We’re not crazy,” Fong told the crowd.

The big story line the past couple of days has been whether Butler big man Matt Howard will be able to play against the Blue Devils, after he banged his head on the floor during the Bulldogs’ semifinal victory over Michigan State.

Howard has shown lingering effects from a concussion and he’s been listed as probable for the game. He’s expected to play if he remains symptom-free.

Howard joined his teammates in a shootaround about an hour before the game, and team spokesman Jim McGrath said Howard participated in an early afternoon shootaround at Lucas Oil Stadium, then returned for the late session.

The underdog Bulldogs need the 6-foot-8 Howard to help contend with Duke inside. The Blue Devils have 7-1 center Brian Zoubek and three 6-10 players, including the Plumlee brothers.

The national championship game is minutes from tipping off, and not many folks predicted this matchup when they were filling out their brackets a few weeks ago.

The cute, “Hoosiers”-like story of the hometown Butler Bulldogs — who play home games in Hinkle Fieldhouse, where parts of the move were filmed — against the big, bad Blue Devils of Duke, with their storied tradition, Cameron Crazies and intimidating front line.

It’s a school that has watched quite a few national championship games on television against a school that has won three of them in the past two decades. A school that claims cerebral former students like Kurt Vonnegut against one that could field an all-star team of former players that would include Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Jay Williams, Bobby Hurley and on and on.

Oddsmakers have the Blue Devils favored by 7½ points, but what have the Bulldogs cared about who is favored so far? They certainly didn’t when they beat big-name programs such as Michigan State, Kansas State and Syracuse on their march through March Madness.

The programs aren’t that different, though. Both pride themselves on rosters full of brain matter, both are entirely devoid of one-and-done stars, both go about things the right way, rather than hiring mercenary coaches or cutting corners.

Perhaps that is what makes the matchup all the more intriguing.

So make sure that recliner is in the upright and locked position one more time, the pizza, wings and beverages are close at hand, and the remote control is firmly hidden from the wife (or husband) begging to watch “Dancing With the Stars.”

It’s time for some hoops.