It was Duke vs. Belmont in the first round of the West Region NCAA  Basketball Tournament and Duke almost made history for itself. That would have been unprecedented for them. Duke came close to losing the first round two years straight, but the Blue Devils won 71-70.  The Belmont Bruins held a one point lead with less than two minutes to go, but failed to become the fifth #15 seed to advance. In 2001 Hampton stunned Iowa State and that was the last time it happened.

The Belmont Bruins definitly had some scrappy play. Duke Coach K stated, "Watching them on tape they looked really good. Watching them in person they're even better." After their nail-biting, narrow win, K said' "I've coached 89 of these games now and I told the guys as far as game pressure goes, this has to rank in the top three or four...and hopefully the people at Belmont take that as a real compliment because they should be complimented."

This was the 3rd consecutive that Belmont earned a 15 seed in the NCAA tournanment.  The Bruins were easily defeated by UCLA in 2006 and fell to the Georgetown Hoyas by 25 last year. Bruins' coach Rick Byrd had his team set for one of the biggest upsets last night and Bruins fans were singing the upset tune until the last seconds.

A disappointing loss for the Bruins...so close.. but not in the cards for this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament.