For those of you who were devastated that Gordon Hayward's desperation half-court heave rattled off the rim at the end of Monday night's NCAA title game and gave Duke a national championship, this picture of Matt Howard flattening Kyle Singler on the game's final play may help heal the wound.

Hayward's shot was made possible by Howard's screen, which was like a clothesline, if clotheslines had wispy mustaches and were in constant foul trouble.

Twitpic courtesy JoeSportsFan

In recent weeks, Serena Williams has taken to wearing a single, black, lace glove on her left hand. She has been spotted wearing it while cheering on sister Venus at a tennis tournament and while frolicking on a Miami beach.

If it's a Michael Jackson tribute, it's about 10 months too late. If it's a nod to Madonna, try 25 years ago. And if it's an attempt to start a new fashion trend, I have some leisure suits to show her.

The Williams sisters like to be fashion trendsetters as evidenced by Serena's catsuit, Venus' can-can dress and, uh, this. Serena fancies herself as an aspiring fashion designer and it's thought that she might pursue something in that field once she retired from tennis.

The black glove probably should go in the "MISS" pile. Gloves and heat don't mix. Nor do gloves and water/sand, for that matter. I mean, unless you're a lobster fisherman, there seems to be no reason, practical or fashionable, to every wear a glove on a beach. Plus, the sound of Serena's clapping has

The most thrilling NCAA tournament of all time ended fittingly on Monday night with one of the most exciting finishes in championship game history. Duke won its fourth national title in Indianapolis after a half-court shot by Butler's Gordon Hayward narrowly missed at the buzzer, preserving a 61-59 Blue Devils victory.

For Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, the win solidifies his status as the greatest coach in college basketball history. John Wooden has more, but he did it in a different era. And he always won when his team was the favorite. This season, Duke was anything but that. Before the tournament it was all "Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse." Duke was the forgotten No. 1 seed, one that might benefit from a so-called "easy draw" but could never cut down the nets. After all, this was a fairly pedestrian team by Duke standards.

In his 30 seasons at the North Carolina university, Krzyzewski has coached far better teams than the one that cut down the nets Monday night. That's not an insult

It's a little Tiger Woods, a little Sandra Bullock, a little "Days of Our Lives" mixed together with a lot of international intrigue.

Last month, former Pakistani cricket captain Shaoib Malik and Indian tennis player Sania Mirza made headlines when they announced plans to marry on April 15. The news made huge waves in the neighboring countries, which have been involved in constant conflict since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Now, a few days before the planned nuptials, Malik is back in the news after getting questioned by police in regards to a previous alleged marriage. Another woman, Ayesha Siddique, made a complaint on Sunday that says the cricketer married her in June of 2002 and later subjected her to cruelty and harassment and denied that the wedding had ever taken place. The tale involves Internet fraud, online dating and mistaken identity.

Suddenly, the whole issue of being at the center of an international conflict probably seems quaint to Malik.

He was

Despite a 25-game win streak and wins over some of the nation's elite teams, the Butler Bulldogs are a prohibitive underdog to Duke in tonight's NCAA men's national title game. But how much of one? If Butler pulls the upset, where would it rank on the list of all-time Final Four stunners?

Not too highly, we say. True upsets need two things: a larger-than-life opponent and a team nobody expects to win. Duke-Butler is neither of those. The Blue Devils were one of the most disrespected No. 1 seeds in recent memory. At times during this tournament they were expected to lose to Cal, Purdue, Baylor and West Virginia. For a top seed, Duke was picked by very few analysts to cut down the nets. If Mike Krzyzewski's team was expected to lose 17 days ago, why should it be so heavily favored tonight?

As for Butler, those 25 wins are all the indication you need to smash the talk of a glass slipper. Syracuse was a better team all season than Duke and Butler already dispatched with the Orange. Why

The Duke Blue Devils hadn't even walked off the court in the second national semifinal before they were installed by oddsmakers as a 6.5 point favorite over Butler in Monday's national championship.

A combination of Duke's blowout of West Virginia and Butler's ugly victory over Michigan State doubtlessly contributed to the higher-than-expected line. It had been thought before Saturday's action that a Duke-Butler matchup might bring about a five point spread, but the early lines from various oddsmakers gave the Devils a bit more credit.

Though Butler is far from a Cinderella (25 straight wins tends to outgrow a team's need for a glass slipper), compared to a basketball powerhouse like Duke it will be hard not to play the Indianapolis school as David to Duke's Goliath. A sizable spread will likely only further the impression of the wide gulf between the teams.

The NCAA championship game tips off Monday at 9:21 p.m. EDT from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Given all that's happened over the past 16 days, the fact that Butler will be playing in Monday's national championship game isn't much of a surprise. The Bulldogs knocked off top-seeded Syracuse in the Sweet 16, outlasted another favorite in Kansas State to reach the Final Four and was actually favored to beat Michigan State in this national semifinal which, was played 15 minutes away from the school's campus. Heck, Butler had won 20 straight games prior to the NCAA tournament and was ranked No. 11 in the final Associated Press poll of the season. They're no Cinderella.

But step back from a second, take a deep breath and say this to yourself: "Butler is in the national championship game."

Butler -- a school most famous for playing in the same gym where "Hoosiers" was filmed -- plays in a league 95 percent of people still can't name, has a coach who looks like he could have played on those Indiana high school basketball teams and has its roster filled with players that could have

Game Point is Busted Racquet's roundup of facts, figures and links about the tennis world.

Love -- Kim Clijsters opened her 2010 season with a win in Brisbane. Then she lost 6-1, 6-0 in the Australian Open to Nadia Petrova and flamed out of Indian Wells after just one win. Was she in a slump? Had motherhood finally taken its toll? Apparently not.

The Belgian star defeated Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open Saturday in Key Biscayne. The score wasn't indicative of how much of a blowout Saturday's match was. If anything, it was much, much worse. The whole affair took 58 minutes, ending before some traffic-plagued fans even arrived at the stadium.

15 -- Clijsters went on a run of 17 straight points in the second set and closed out the match by winning eight of nine. Over half of the 55 points Clijsters won during the match were from Williams' unforced errors.

30 -- In Williams' defense, both her thighs were heavily taped (recently she's just had one bandaged