Bodog Beat

Joe Mazzulla puts up two of his 13 points in front of Kyle Singler of Duke. (AP Images)

This year was supposed to be the one Duke reasserted itself in the NCAA Tournament. After getting upset by Virginia Commonwealth in the first round last year, the Blue Devils promised a better showing and were expected to go deep.

Instead, the No. 2 seed in the West Region barely escaped its opening-round game with a one-point win over No. 15 Belmont then bowed out Saturday to No. 7 West Virginia in the second round.

The Mountaineers clinched the first Sweet 16 spot in the 2008 March Madness field with a come-from-behind 73-67 victory over Mike Krzyzewski’s team in the nation’s capital.

Joe Alexander had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead West Virginia, and Joe Mazzulla scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. The Mountaineers trailed by five at the half before pouring it on after intermission. The undersized Blue Devils couldn’t find an answer for West Virginia’s creative offense.

The underdog Mountaineers beat the point spread, which favored Duke by 4.5.

Duke won the preseason Maui Invitational, usually a harbinger of good things to come. The last three winners of that tournament went on to the Final Four, but the Blue Devils wilted down the stretch, finishing 6-4 prior to the Big Dance.

"Going into the tournament this year, I think we're a lot deeper. Everyone is confident of their abilities and how they can contribute to help the team," guard DeMarcus Nelson told reporters on Wednesday. "It's a night-and-day difference, how we feel physically and emotionally going into the tournament this year and last. … By the time we stepped into the tournament, we pretty much were dead."

Now, they are.

Here are the complete NCAA men’s tournament first round results and NCAA men’s basketball tournament second round results. You can find March Madness odds and NCAA basketball lines in the Bodog Sportsbook.