Duke wins the NCAA lacrosse title, irreplaceable football players and Bill Martin makes an adjustment

Posted on Tue, Jun 1, 2010 : 6:25 a.m.

Duke wins the NCAA lacrosse title, irreplaceable football players and Bill Martin makes an adjustment

By Michael Rothstein

Duke beat Notre Dame, 6-5, in overtime on Monday to win its first ever men's lacrosse championship (AP Photo)

Four years ago, Duke lacrosse wasn't playing, its team shrouded in scandal and the future of the program very much in doubt.

On Monday, the Blue Devils erased all of those memories during a 6-5 overtime win over Notre Dame that clinched the school's first lacrosse national championship. Duke's win also made history as it is the first time in almost 20 years a team other than Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton or Virginia won the title.

And as ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil writes, it brought in a new era of Duke lacrosse.

Inside Lacrosse - the pre-eminent lacrosse site in the United States - breaks down why Duke beat Notre Dame.

In the loss, Notre Dame goalie Scott Rodgers was remarkable, earning Most Outstanding Player honors for a losing team.

To reach the final, Duke knocked off Virginia, which had about as rough a month as a team of any sort could have.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

ESPN.com: The most irreplaceable players of 2010

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Instead of going to Pitt, Barry Alvarez rebuilt Wisconsin

Knoxville News-Sentinel: For SEC expansion, the league must get Texas

COLLEGE BASKETBALL:

AL.com: Demetrius Jemison is transferring from Alabama

AP: Tim Floyd, now at UTEP, isn't concerned about what comes out at USC

OTHER COLLEGE SPORTS: