Duke Blue Devils (1) coach Mike Krzyzewski may have been among the few people outside the state of Wisconsin to call the Badgers (1) the best team in college basketball, but now he only appears to be ahead of the curve.

Like the vast majority of college basketball teams this season, Duke and Wisconsin have been overshadowed in one way or another by Kentucky's pursuit of a perfect season. Now the last two teams standing, Krzyzewski and Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan are curious how that could have come to be.

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"Coming into the year, I thought they'd be the best team in the country, and they have been," Krzyzewski said in a pregame press conference, according to the Associated Press. "It's just that Kentucky's undefeated performance has overshadowed just how good Wisconsin has been, until (Saturday) night. There aren't any shadows anymore."

Said Ryan in his pregame remarks, "I don't think basketball fans that I know would ever say that Duke didn't have a good team... A lot of people thought they had a pretty good team because they spanked our team at our place in December.

Duke beat Wisconsin 80-70 all the way back on Dec. 3, holding the Badgers to a 40 percent field goal completion rate, while shooting 65 percent themselves. Though Wisconsin is a one-point favorite Monday night, those are the closest odds in in the NCAA men's basketball National Championship Game in the past 20 years, ESPN reported.

Four moths ago, Duke forward Justise Winslow and Wisconsin forward Sam Dekker registered five points apiece. Coming into Monday night's title game, they are the two hottest players in the tournament, creating arguably the most intriguing matchup of the game.

Both teams will also have to figure out how to defend their opponents' centers, the focal point of both offenses. While Duke's freshman sensation Jahlil Okafor has been a traditional low post big man, shooting at a high percentage from the low post, consensus Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky is a lethal shooter.

Wisconsin is trying to win their first National Title since 1941 whereas Krzyzewski could win his fifth overall and first since 2010.

"That's what we want to get," Okafor said in his pregame press conference. "We've always talked about us having an opportunity to have a national championship ring."