Good genes will do it every time. Not Eu-genes now; Eugene Edgerson -- even with all his lookalikes running around in their wigged-out Retro-'Fro's -- didn't even scratch for Arizona on Monday night in the Metrodome. Real genes, the kind fathers pass on to sons and sons carry into national championship games. Going in, Bill Walton's boy, Luke, got most of the attention relative to relatives. But Walton, too, barely caused a ripple on the proceedings.

What everybody seemed to forget was that when it comes to sons of the fathers, Duke wrote the thesis on Filius paterfamilias. The son of Dan Quayle used to play lacrosse at Duke. The son of Stan Smith is a nationally ranked tennis player at Duke. Why the old tobacco baron, Washington Duke hisownself, may have founded the place, but it was Wash's son, James Buchanan Duke, who established the Duke endowment that eventually would lead to that son of West Point, Mike Krzyzewski, arriving and recruiting all those other sons:

· Grant Hill, Duke's famous poster-child son of famous ex-Cowboy Calvin, a father who with Grant's mom was ensconced in their regular, juice-couple, Final Four seats a few rows up from the center circle.

· Chris Collins, the son of ex-Sixer and current NBC voice Doug Collins, who -- once a Duke player, now an assistant coach for the Blue Devils -- waved to his own beaming parents from the victory platform.

· And Mike Dunleavy, the son of another distinguished former NBA player who now coaches the Portland Trailblazers -- a father who, if anything like what happened on Monday night continues next season, and it probably will, soon could be known as "the other" Mike Dunleavy.

Because when Shane Battier was not tipping in key rebound baskets with the back of his hand ... And when Jason Williams was not bullrushing some poor defender and fouling out of the contest ... Uh ... What? ... Oh ... Never mind! ... When J-Will was not going 1-for-10 behind the arc yet still drilling some unconscionable late triple-dagger into the Wildcats' heart ... none other than knobby, scrawny Mike Dunleavy, looking all of 98 pounds and about 10 years old, was heroically heaving it up, over and all around the opponents, absolutely razing Arizona for a team-leading eight baskets (five of them trifectas) and 21 points and making sure the Blue Devils clinched another NCAA championship.

"Mike's threes gave us a lot of confidence," said Krzyzewski following Duke's 82-72 victory, the Blue Devils' third title under him, their second in Minneapolis and Dunleavy's very first.

"I was feeling it. I guess it was good timing, the national championship and all," said MD Jr., who was just 2-for-8 in the national semifinals against Maryland. "But [my teammates] probably thought 'it's about time.' "

Williams and Battier laughed at that. "So many people say just stop Shane and I ... but Duke's so much bigger than that. Mike was due," said Williams.

Added Battier: "It didn't surprise us he came up huge."

At halftime Dunleavy had come up relatively tiny (1-for-6, three points), which was strange, considering the instructions of his close relative.

"I told him he'd already had a successful season," said Mike Dunleavy Sr. sitting up about 20 rows but flying much higher than that as the Blue Devils celebrated their championship below. The Blazer boss flew into Minneapolis between a home defeat to the Timberwolves and a road game in Denver to join Mike Jr's mother, Emily, and their younger sons, Baker, 18, and James, 13. "I reminded him this is when you're supposed to have the most fun. [The championship] is amazing -- like a dream for us, for him, for everybody," he said. The coach insisted he'd put his own workplace problems aside -- rumor is Dunleavy may be fired unless the under-achieving Blazers win the NBA championship; he also is supposedly considering leaving Portland to coach his alma mater, South Carolina, next season. "Absolutely, my mind is all here," he said, just before a fan from the local branch of Mensa shouted out: "Blazers win title! Stay with your veterans! Stick with Scottie!"

On Sunday, Dunleavy Jr. had explained just what growing up in a basketball family really entailed -- minus the Mensas, of course. "I think I've moved with my family 10 or 12 times, every couple of years or so," said Junior. "I'm real proud of my dad and what he's done this year. I think it is one of his better coaching jobs. He's got 12 all-stars and that's really tough. But he's made the adjustments." As for himself? "When I was younger, people saying stuff bothered me, but I never let the expectations and pressure get to me as far as being a coach's son. My parents just always taught me to be myself and not do anything to embarrass them."

Like shooting 1-for-6? At halftime on Monday night, was that easy to forget? And how about the memory of Dunleavy's freshman season, when he suffered a harsh case of mononucleosis that not only weakened him but devastated the Duke depth in the NCAAs? And come on, didn't his father's situation intrude on his concentration? "We've stayed close," said Mike Jr. "Of course we've talked about a lot of these things. I try to encourage him as much as he encourages me."

So at halftime Dunleavy the younger remembered all that. He remembered after the Maryland loss at home back in February when Krzyzewski told the Blue Devils, promised them, that they would get to the Final Four and win the championship. And he remembered his dad telling him to relax and have fun doing it. Dunleavy said to himself: "They're doubling Shane and Jay. I'm going to get open looks. Just let [the game] come to me and take the opportunities. It's my time."

And so, early in the second half with Duke leading by three points, Dunleavy sprang to the left side, circle extended: Snap, crackle, pop! A triple of Duke triples from practically the identical spot and the Devils roared ahead, 49-39. After Arizona scored nine straight points to get back to 50-48, Dunleavy took over again: sneaky layup, breakaway dunk, another inside thrust in traffic, another deep triple from Lake Wobegon; the result was nine of Duke's 11 points in that run for another double-figure margin (61-51) that was enough to make sure the courageous losers would surely be gone.

"The first couple of threes I was wide open," an ecstatic Dunleavy said later. "After that they were flying in my face but it didn't matter, I was in rhythm. Growing up, I always felt comfortable in the spotlight of big game situations. In the second half, I just found that spot again."

Growing up? As if this open-faced, eighth-grader-next-door is finished with that? High on the ladder in the champions' on-court celebration, Dunleavy Jr. didn't just snip the nets; before waving to Senior, mom and all the other Dunleavys, he actually kissed the rim. Next thing you know the son might even hug his dad.

Blame it on the genes.

Curry Kirkpatrick is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.