While the surprises have been uncharacteristically few, this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament is nonetheless set for an exciting conclusion. With record-breaking viewership and close finishes, this year’s edition of March Madness has been everything viewers expect, and the upcoming Final Four games promise to keep delivering.

For the first time since 2008, the four remaining teams are the exact top four teams in the country: the Big 12 Conference champion in the University of Houston Cougars, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion in the University of Duke Blue Devils, the Southeastern Conference champion in the University of Florida Gators, and the University of Auburn Tigers, who were top of the standings of the Southeastern Conference at the end of the regular season.

Though playoff Cinderella runs are one of the most popular attractions for college basketball, it has been refreshing to see this season’s four best teams play the tournament like the four best teams. In contrast to the ever-expanding postseasons and the diminishing importance of regular seasons within both collegiate and professional sports, this year’s Final Four has shown that the regular season still matters as much as it ever has. It has also shown that the 68-team postseason tournament is just right for providing some underdogs, upsets, and craziness while still separating the best from the rest with finality.

The Southeastern Conference will send its finest to the championship game one way or another — either Auburn avenges their regular season loss to Florida or the Gators roll forward into the championship. The other side of the bracket provides the more intriguing matchup, as Duke and Houston meet for the right to play the Southeast’s champion. 

Duke enters the matchup having trounced the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, the country’s preeminent offense in the Elite Eight round. Houston likewise enters having thrashed the University of Tennessee Volunteers in an Elite Eight contest which saw the nation’s best and second-best defenses pitted against one another. The San Antonio hardwood will feature a better-than-best offense meet a peerless defense. To simplify, Saturday’s nightcap will finally give an answer to what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

And in this Final Four, Duke is the clear team to beat. The combination of stellar offense and resilient defense is enough to best Houston, and likewise the SEC’s national championship representative — be it Florida or Auburn. The Blue Devils have uniquely shown why the regular season and postseason alike are spectacular in college basketball.

Duke entered the year having signed top high school recruit Cooper Flagg and with sky-high expectations, only to lose 3 of their first 7 games to subpar opponents. Salvaging their terrible opening, they entered conference play with something to prove — a position unfamiliar to a college basketball blue blood program like Duke. An extremely weak ACC provided little challenge — the Blue Devils rebounded from the early-season adversity and cruised through regular season and conference tournament play.

But an awkward landing on March 13 put their hopes of an ACC championship on life support, as the spectacular Cooper Flagg was unable to walk himself off of the court. The Blue Devils rallied, eking out quarterfinal and semifinal victories against the Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets and arch-rival University of North Carolina Tar Heels, respectively. The University of Louisville proved no match for the inspired Blue Devils in the conference championship, and just like that, Duke rolled into March looking better than ever.

Still, questions swirled: if this Duke team could barely escape the ACC without Cooper Flagg, could they be trusted against SEC and Big XII opponents with him? As if to answer that question outright, Flagg returned to full health in time to continue the postseason march, sweeping the East en route to San Antonio. 

This Duke squad has every storyline: the young coach, the early-season slump, the freshman phenom, the disparaged conference, the postseason drama, and the one that remains, namely, a date with destiny. They’re ready to make the most of it. This moment belongs to none other than the Duke Blue Devils.