Butler Basketball

The Butler Bulldogs' run to the NCAA Final Four is nothing short of incredible.

To think that a team from the Horizon League, without a single player in its rotation taller than 6’9”, and without so much as a trip to the Elite Eight in school history prior to this season has managed its way through four rounds of the NCAA Tournament—including wins over two of the top teams in the country in Syracuse and Kansas State—is a most unlikely story.

Sure, maybe some loyal fans, players, and coaches thought this was possible—a 28-4 record and regular season wins over Ohio State and Xavier have to make believers out of somebody—but not like this.

Butler hasn’t backed its way into the Final Four, it beat two top teams last week in about the most difficult fashion possible. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead against both No. 1 seed Syracuse in the Sweet 16 and No. 2 seed Kansas St. in the Elite Eight—always a key ingredient for an upset.

But then Butler proceeded to blow double-digit second half leads, finding themselves behind in both games with under five minutes to play. Yet the Bulldogs managed to outplay their more highly regarded opponents in crunch time, something rarely achieved by the supposedly plucky underdog.

What makes Butler’s run to the Final Four even more impressive, however, is that the Bulldogs have not been playing at their best.

Yes, the Bulldogs on the floor have been doing everything possible to win—diving on the court for loose balls, grabbing rebounds over taller opponents, and draining timely three-point shots—but one of the team’s most important players has found it a difficult task to stay out on the court.

Coming into the NCAA Tournament, head coach Brad Stevens said that a key for his team would be to keep junior center Matt Howard out of foul trouble.

That mission was accomplished in the first round against No. 12 seed UTEP, when Howard stayed on the floor for most of the game while scoring 11 points, grabbing three rebounds, and collecting just one foul in 30 minutes of action, before being pulled once Butler had put the game out of reach.

Howard, however, has been in perpetual foul trouble ever since.

Against Murray St. in the second round he scored just three points and grabbed four rebounds in only 18 minutes of action while plagued with four fouls for much of the second half. With double-digit scoring from the other four starters, the Bulldogs emerged with a narrow 54-52 victory over the equally undersized Racers.

In the Sweet 16 against Syracuse, the undersized Bulldogs drew a break when Orange center Arinze Onuaku was unable to play with an injured quadriceps muscle.

Howard again got himself into foul trouble early, but Brad Stevens kept him out on the floor for much of the game and he played his tournament high 32 minutes. Still, Howard had to sit at a critical moment in the second half with his fourth foul, and the Bulldogs coughed up their lead as a result.

He still finished the game with his best stat line of the NCAA Tournament of nine points and seven rebounds, but only because Stevens played with fire a bit, out of necessity, and kept him on the floor in foul trouble against one of the top teams in the country.

In the Elite Eight against Kansas St., Howard picked up a quick two fouls and eventually proceeded to collect his third early in the second half. The junior spent just 20 minutes on the court, but avoided a fourth and fifth foul and was on the floor late to put in a critical basket for two of his eight points on the night. He also had four rebounds.

Howard has played competently while on the court, but his persistent foul trouble has forced a trio of sophomores—Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, and Ronald Nored—to take over the spotlight and carry the rebounding and scoring load.

The team’s hustle, chemistry, and timely three-point shooting has carried them this far. However, it’s hard to imagine them carrying away a National Championship without Howard on the floor grabbing rebounds, contributing points in the paint and from the free throw line, and staying out of foul trouble.

While West Regional Most Outstanding Player Gordon Hayward is the Bulldogs’ tallest starter at 6’9”, Howard is the team’s only true post player on the starting lineup, and the only one who will mix it up on the inside.

The Bulldogs are not a particularly deep team in general, and particularly not in the frontcourt, so it is imperative that Howard stays out of foul trouble and stays in the game.

The Bulldogs have gotten away with Howard’s foul trouble so far in this tournament, but they can’t continue to rely on Hayward playing like the next coming of Larry Bird and the rest of the team continuing to outshoot its season averages from three-point range.

Particularly against a physical Michigan St. team that predicates itself on tough interior play and rebounding, Butler cannot afford to have Howard sitting on the bench. With superior depth in the frontcourt and the subsequent ability to rotate players in and out of the game while absorbing fouls, one can also expect the Spartans to try to force contact and draw fouls on Howard.

If Howard can play intelligently and up to his season averages in points and rebounds (11.8 and 5.3, respectively), however, Butler can be even better than they have been on their road through the West Regional to the Final Four.

And that should be a scary thought for the other teams in Indianapolis, because the underdog Bulldogs are more than capable of coming away with the championship trophy.

It seems that the only thing harder than beating the Butler Bulldogs these days is trying to classify them.

Are they a mid-major? Are they a Cinderella team? Are they now the favorite to win the national championship?

Many college basketball analysts would try to have you believe that Butler is too good to be considered a mid-major or a Cinderella story.

But the reality is that being a good basketball team capable of winning a national championship and being a mid-major and a Cinderella team should not be exclusive concepts.

The Bulldogs’ 33-year-old head coach (who looks like he’s 23), Brad Stevens readily accepts the role of being a mid-major. In his eyes being a mid-major is all about money and resources, but that’s all irrelevant once you get on the basketball court. Butler lacks the money and resources of other top programs, but can compete with them on the court, so Stevens readily accepts the label of mid-major because it just means that his team overachieves.

When you look at the Bulldogs’ undersized roster, devoid of top tier NBA talent (with the possible exception of sophomore Gordon Hayward) with two-thirds of it hailing from the school’s home state of Indiana, it’s clear that Butler does not have the resources and deep recruiting pipelines of a Duke, Michigan State, or West Virginia.

As to whether or not they are a Cinderella team—at this point of course they are. When you play in the Horizon League at a small school that has never advanced past the Sweet 16 before this year and you make it all the way to the Final Four, you are a Cinderella story.

When the Bulldogs advanced past UTEP and Murray St. in the first two rounds of the tournament, it wasn’t that surprising and the Bulldogs were rightfully not considered in the same breath with the almost completely unheralded teams like Cornell and St. Mary’s.

Butler’s past success in winning NCAA Tournament games, and recent success in winning 28 games on the year prior to the NCAA Tournament while earning a No. 5 seed, meant that an appearance in the Sweet 16 was not unexpected, unusual, or particularly noteworthy, as it might have been for another team from a mid-major conference.

But now that they have beaten No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State from the West regional and survived to play yet another weekend, Butler is a Cinderella story.

This isn’t like George Mason, an unknown No. 11 seed from the Colonial Athletic Association that barely made it into the 2006 NCAA tournament, making it all the way to the Final Four—that was possibly a once in a decade or once in a century underdog story—but when you put all of the facts together this is still one of the most surprising teams to make it to a Final Four in recent memory.

Honestly, how many experts picked this team to advance this far in the tournament? Not any that I know of.

Sure, it’s easy to look back with hindsight, as many college basketball analysts and writers are now doing, and realize that this team was good all year long and give them a belated pat on the back by telling them they are the real deal and not a Cinderella or mid-major team after all.

But that only confirms that this is a squad of unheralded overachievers, for the most part not heavily recruited out of high school by the elite programs of college basketball, playing in a second or third tier conference, and exceeding expectations when it matters the most.

Aside from their weak conference, lack of five-star recruits, and a dearth of historical success or reputation, there is no reason why Butler should have been excluded from the conversation of Final Four contenders in this year’s tournament.

The Bulldogs entered the NCAA tournament with a gaudy 28-4 record and with the nation’s longest winning streak of 20 games, dating all the way back to a December 22 loss to UAB.

That’s right—the Bulldogs have not lost a game in 2010.

If you look at Butler’s four losses, three of them were to NCAA Tournament teams (Minnesota, Georgetown, and Clemson). Only the loss at UAB was by double digits (10 points) or to a team that failed to make it into the field of 65.

In the two games before that uncharacteristic loss to UAB, Butler also happened to beat both Ohio St. and Xavier, teams that would go on to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

So yes, with hindsight we can all see that Butler had the potential to do well in the tournament, but no one expected this.

Just as being a mid-major team doesn’t mean that you can’t play basketball—but simply that you play in a smaller conference and probably don’t have the resources of the power conference schools—being a Cinderella story doesn’t make you a bad team that happened to get lucky. But rather it makes you a good team that exceeded the expectations that everyone had for you based on history, reputation, talent, national exposure, and perhaps first impressions.

That’s exactly what Butler making it all the way to the Final Four is—a story about a team that has significantly exceeded the expectations that almost everyone had for it based on history, reputation, resources, and appearances.

Many experts are now picking Butler, second only to Duke, as the most likely national champion out of the Final Four participants.

But that doesn’t mean the Bulldogs wouldn’t be more of a Cinderella in victory than would West Virginia, hailing from the NCAA’s supposed top conference, the Big East, or Michigan State, which has been to more Final Fours (six) in the last twelve years than any other school.

Being a Cinderella or a mid-major isn’t always about how good a team is, but it’s about how much a team surprises and exceeds long-held expectations based on its history, resources, reputation, and in Butler’s case, its physical (under)size.

Given that Butler is playing in its home city of Indianapolis and that it took a much tougher road to the Final Four than any of the other three teams (Butler beat the two top seeds in its regional, while none of the other three teams had to play two of the top three teams in their respective regionals), one could make the argument that Butler is now the favorite to win the national championship (I would not).

Even still, they are a Cinderella story.

You can be a favorite and a Cinderella team at the same time.

At least Butler can.

The Bulldogs’ success and run through this tournament are quite unprecedented for a team and school with its attributes and history, and it’s making it awfully hard for everyone to classify them and put them into a neat little box.

Really there is no need—Butler’s story and success are unique and compelling with or without a label.

They’re just not big enough.

That was the knock against Butler coming into the NCAA Tournament. Nice team. Fundamentally sound. But destined for an exit the first time they come up against a vertical challenge. That’s what the pundits said.

But here’s what the pundits forgot, or never knew about, or just plain overlooked: Ronald Nored.

Who?

Six-foot tall, 174 pound guard Ronald Nored? What’s he got to do with defending the paint?

Everything.

Ronald Nored is such a spectacular on-the-ball defender that not only will he shut down the other team’s primary perimeter scoring threat, but he’ll prevent them from running their offense altogether.

And you can’t score down low if you can’t get into your offense.

It’s the basketball equivalent of a devastating pass rush in football. It doesn’t matter who’s open downfield if the quarterback gets hit before the play unfolds.  

Same thing applies with point guards. And nobody takes ‘em down like Ronald Nored.

As the Horizon Defensive Player of the Year he regularly shut down opposing scoring threats. Valpo’s Brandon Wood led the Horizon in scoring at 18 a game but managed just 11 points combined in two games against Nored.

Okay, so you’ve never heard of Brandon Wood. How about Stephen Curry from Davidson? You remember him, right? Darling of last year’s NCAA Tournament, current member of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, all-around scoring machine.

Curry averaged 28 a game last year. Against the Nored defense system he was lucky to get 20 on 6-for-23 shooting, 2-for-13 from behind the arc, with a whopping seven turnovers, in Davidson’s loss to Butler.

Opposing ballers have met similar fates in this year’s tourney. UTEP was a trendy pick over the Bulldogs round one, on the assumption that wide-bodied Derrick Caracter would unleash holy hell in the paint. He never got the chance. Nored shut down Conference USA Player of the Year Randy Culpepper and the Miners got blown out.

We should have seen it coming against Syracuse as well- a team that lacks a true point guard in its starting five. Nored racked up five steals, harassed Andy Rautins to the tune of five turnovers, and the mighty ‘Cuse never got rolling.  

Said Jim Boeheim afterwards, “The game was a story of turnovers. They didn’t make turnovers. They were really good with the basketball. We just had 18 turnovers and you can’t give away that many possessions.”

Same storyline against Kansas St. in the regional final. Guard Jacob Pullen, the key to the Wildcat offense, had one of his worst games of the year on 4-for-13 shooting with four turnovers as the Bulldogs advanced to Indy.

Hard to believe, but Ronald Nored, averaging a nondescript seven points a game in the tourney (up from five a game in the regular season) may just be Butler’s MVP. Indications are that coach Brad Stevens agrees-  it’s Nored, not top scorer and NBA prospect Gordon Hayward, that  leads the team in minutes played. Hell, if Butler wins it all, Nored should probably be the tournament MVP.

But of course he won’t be. Because the kind of contribution he makes is not the kind that gets noticed.

And this is why we love college basketball. Only on this level can a guy have such decisive impact on the game in the unique way that he does without gaining, or seeking, the limelight.

Keep that in mind next time you hear some NBA millionaire prattling on about how it’s all about “the team” after just launching thirty shots in a game. Ronald Nored doesn’t have to say it. He just does it.

Next up for Butler is Michigan State. Already the pundits are saying the same things, expressing the same concerns. Can Butler match up with Sparty’s athleticism? Can they handle State’s strength in the paint?

Well before put your money down keep one thing in mind. MSU’s great point guard Kalin Lucas is done for the season, leaving the talented but inexperienced Korie Lucious at the reins. How will Lucious be able to handle the defense pressure he gets from Nored? Will Michigan State be able to run their half court sets, get into their offense and take advantage down low?

These are important questions because, in order to advance, Michigan State has to go through Ronald Nored.

Good luck.

 -Chris Marakovitz

ROCKBOXSPORTS.COM

  

They hold the other streak. 

Heading into the Final Four, Butler has won 24 consecutive games this college basketball season. It defies all mathematical logic and the Wizard of Westwood.

A small private college in Indiana that can get lost in the shadow of Peyton Manning, Larry Bird's Pacers and the latest saga facing the down trodden Hoosier outfit in Bloomington can finally get their long overdue 40 minutes of basketball fame after a thrilling run in the NCAA Tournament. 

What the boys from Indianapolis have done in just four months can be argued is as comparable to, if not exceeds what a certain basketball team in Storrs, Conn., has done the last 75 time they have taken the floor.

The University of Connecticut women 75-game winning streak is impressive no doubt about it. So far in the NCAA Tournament the Lady Huskies have won their first three games by 49 points per game coming off a regular season where they won by more than 30.

However, we expect them to win. We expect them to be in the Final Four and win the national championship. Anything less will be uncivilized.

If you are honest with yourself, there is no reason UConn shouldn't win the title with relative ease.

Butler does not have one McDonald's All-American on the team. The Lady Husky program seems to get them complementary style like shampoo and soap at an upscale hotel.

Their coach, Brad Stevens, is a bat boy in the offseason I believe. Geno Auriemma has six national championships and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Bulldogs play in something called the Horizon League. Sounds like a recreational league for weekend warriors rather than an actual NCAA conference. UConn has won the last four Big East championships.

Nobody had Butler going to Indianapolis, at least not to participate in the Final Four.

In fact, many picked them to lose to UTEP in the first-round of the tournament. In a time in college basketball where there is tremendous parity, where we have seen Kansas, Kentucky, Villanova, Syracuse and other powers fall to lesser opponents.

In year where traditional powers like UCLA, Arizona, North Carolina, the other Uconn basketball team and Indiana are not even in the NCAA Tournament, Butler has the country's longest winning streak. Who would have thought?

It is so much harder to have sustained success in the men's game because the talent is so spread out that a school like Northern lowa can knock off the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

Could you imagine Geno's girls losing to a mid-major?  That would be like expecting the sun not to come up in the morning.

Seton Hall plays in the Big East and were humbled by 67 points earlier this season at the hands of Maya Moore and Tina Charles.

Butler does not have the basketball budget that some of the power schools get. Those schools are able to lure high priced coaches or recruit the John Wall's and Evan Turner's of the world. The Bulldogs don't have the pedigree and tradition that some BCS schools have that will lure a four or five-star recruit to their university.

While UConn's dominance might be mesmerizing, Butler rise to the Final Four and winning streak is a little bit more.

As every basketball fan undoubtly knows, the Butler Bulldogs are coming home, as the official and almost-literal host to the Final Four.

It's a remarkable story full of Hollywood-parallels, including a small-school basketball team built on fundamentals and defense, playing their home games at the cathedral of Hoosier Hysteria, the home of the golden age of the state's high school tournament, and the film site of the closing scenes of "Hoosiers" to boot. In fact, the Legend of Butler might be better served if their run ended achingly close to a national championship.

Just like the movie storyline omitted the fact that the real-life Milan Indians made the state semi-finals the year before their historic triumph, a lot of casual fans have forgotten or aren't aware the Bulldogs have been building a solid program over several years and four head coaches. They've been busting brackets for the past decade and spent the last few years perennially ranked.

Yes, it's a wonderful story, and I'll up the ante by saying that Bobby Plump, the Milan hero and loose inspiration for Jimmy Chitwood, played his college ball at Butler.

Now here's the bad news for a lot of sports fans: The Bulldogs are no flash-in-the-pan, one-shot Hollywood story. There's a good chance they're going to get better. They're expected to return four of their five starters and possibly their coach.  

As more attention comes to Butler's private-school campus in a leafy section of Indianapolis, watch out for the backlash, because many will see the Bulldogs in shades of another blue-clad private school: Duke.

Unfortunately, we've become a nation of haters. We love a Cinderella story, until society deflowers it in some way.

Butler is teetering on becoming America ’s next Duke–the team millions love to hate.  The Blue Devils were charming when they ascended to perennial power-status a little more than 20 years ago, chock full of wholesome-looking smart kids who couldn't quite get over the hump. They were America 's team–until they broke through and won the title, and then won and won some more. Rooting for Duke has become like rooting for Microsoft.

Now, to many sports fans, they're the despised Dukies, an image that played at least a small role in the furor over the he-said, she-said alleged rape scandal involving several members of the Blue Devils' lacrosse team. The charges were eventually dropped, but not before they were smeared in the media and public perception.

You'd have to be a sociologist to determine why we sour on a winner, because Butler's story ought to reinforce the anything-can-happen nature of March Madness. 

If a little school the middle of Big 10 country and an NBA and NFL town, with no real national cache, until recently, can win with mostly small-town kids in an aging but historic arena, then why can't you?  As Curt Schilling famously said, mystique and aura “are dancers at a club.”

Let's enjoy the Butler Bulldogs because they're a great story from a place that loves great stories.

Now let's all hope Butler doesn't have a lacrosse team.

There are many, many legendary basketball stories in the state of Indiana, but Butler’s appearance in the Final Four could turn out to be the biggest Hoosier story of them all.

Butler has been building up to this moment for nearly 15 years.

In the mid '90s this small private school located in a comfortable northwest Indianapolis neighborhood began a winning tradition that many initially compared to the rise of another school with the Bulldog nickname—Gonzaga.

Like Gonzaga, it has been hard for Butler to shake the stigma of the so-called “mid-major” label and to be taken seriously as a legitimate basketball power.

But with each successful season, and every proving-ground victory, Butler is winning over the doubters.

By getting to the Final Four Butler has gone even further than Gonzaga.

With that said, the reality is that it will likely take winning the national championship for Butler to get its due.

Doubts notwithstanding, the stars may have finally aligned for Butler.

The team is riding a 24-game winning streak, and it gets to play the biggest game in school history just 15 minutes from campus at Lucas Oil Stadium.

While many around the country are just getting to know the Butler Bulldogs, Butler has long has had a place in basketball lore.

For decades, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler’s home gym which was built in the 1920s, was the nation’s largest basketball arena.

One of the most talked about basketball games in history happened at the fieldhouse 56 years ago, when tiny Milan High School, with all of 161 students, defeated the much larger basketball power Muncie Central High School to win the state championship.

That game inspired the movie Hoosiers.

While I’m an Indianapolis native clearly biased for Butler, I know it will take Butler’s best game to beat Michigan State. The Spartans have one of college basketball’s best coaches in Tom Izzo, who has led them to a second straight Final Four and their sixth Final Four appearance in his 15 seasons as coach. 

Izzo’s Spartans won the national championship in 2000.

Still, Butler has several valuable pieces of its own.

Butler is led by two sophomores, both of whom may one day play in the NBA—Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack. Two other starters are also underclassmen. This means that you can expect Butler to compete for another Final Four perhaps as soon as next year.

As well, no coach has ever had more wins in his first three seasons than Butler’s 33-year-old baby-faced Brad Stevens.

Stevens has won nearly 90 games in those three years.

It will not be a fluke if Butler wins the national championship by beating Michigan State and then the winner of West Virginia-Duke. 

They play lock-down team defense, are always in the passing lanes and in your face, and they have held all four tournament opponents to fewer than 60 points.

No, this is not just any Cinderella. Butler can actually win it all.

Share on Facebook

Share/Save

Butler and West Virginia have made another surprise

Twins Hines

Butler and West Virginia both made big surprises to make another wacky tournament ending. West Virginia ended Kentucky winning streak while Butler beat Kansas St. Both of these teams weren’t expected to make it to the Final Four but they have proven that they are good enough.

Butler had to play against Kansas St., another favorite to go into the Final Four. Neither team showed that they were both good enough to win the National Championship. Butler had 20 turnovers and Kansas St was only 38%, this game was open for any team to take. Butler did win with their main guy to thank, Gordon Hayward. Hayward plays a guard and a forward making it hard to guard for the defense, he scored 22 points in this game but for defense he contributed one block and six rebounds. If they play against a team like Duke, then they are going to need to get a lot better especially on defense. Having as a team, only one block and, seven steals is not that good. Kansas St., had 13 turnovers while Butler made 20 turnovers, Butler was lucky that Kansas St., didn’t make each turnover a basket. Other teams wouldn’t let shot opportunities like these ones get away. Butler needs more shooting from more guys for example, Butler had two people shooting more than 10 points they were Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack. But Duke had three people shooting over 10 points in a win against Purdue. To play against the top teams, you need more shooting from your players. One thing, Butler doesn’t need to work on is Foul Shots they shot 70% of their foul shots in. Another thing is that when Butler was playing Kansas St., they moved the ball around wonderfully. They looked for the open player and used the shot clock. They didn’t rush a shot with 30 seconds left on the shot clock, they shots when they had a good luck.

West Virginia beat the number one seed Kansas in a huge game. West Virginia played very pose, they let the game play out and didn’t make amateur mistakes. They had the best game that I have seen them play which made the biggest difference was they got inside Kentucky’s head. They got steals, rebounds, forced fouls and made the right calls. West Virginia had control over the whole game; in the beginning they were down by a little but came back. They must have eaten the champion cereal Wheaties because they were there to win. Four of West Virginia players had more than 10 points and only one fouled out. Five steals and six blocks, in a big team effort. What helped West Virginia the most was that Kentucky was 12% on their three pointers while West Virginia was 43%. West Virginia might need work on their rebounding because they had nine offensive rebounds. When you play against great shooting teams, it’s important to have the ball as much as possible. So as a guy shoots, crash the boards. Joe Mazzulla really stepped up in this game; he had the best game of his career in one of the biggest games this season. West Virginia only had 12 turnovers and forced 16 turnovers for Kentucky.  West Virginia know has confidence into the next game and it will be great for the college to win the NCAA Tournament. It will be the first in school’s history! West Virginia is probably one of the best well-rounded teams because everyone contributes. If one person has a bad day shooting then he helps on the defensive side. If West Virginia plays the same way against any other team then no doubt about it, they will win the whole entire tournament.

Butler will play against the winner of the Michigan St. and Tennessee game. West Virginia will play against the Duke vs. Baylor game. Duke vs. Baylor in the Elite 8 is the same for the men’s and the woman’s tournament, the first time in tournament history. Some thing is working for both of these teams so they have to keep it up.

In 1999, as a 13 year-old recovering from an ankle injury, I watched my very first NCAA Tournament without my grandmother, who had died the previous October.

Back then, John Calipari was coaching the New Jersey Nets.

Bob Huggins was head coach at Cincinnati, marching towards another Conference USA title while Brad Stevens  and Josh Pastner were in their senior year of college (like yours truly).

And it had been 20 years since Michigan State made it to the Final Four.

That year, the darlings of the tournament went to a little school called Gonzaga, who was known mainly as the alma mater of John Stockton, which had only made the tournament once in their history up to that point.

But like another group of Bulldogs, Gonzaga went on a Cinderella run for the ages, first picking off Minnesota in the first round, followed by Stanford in the second round, and then introducing the world to an announcer by the name of Gus Johnson by beating Florida in the Sweet 16.

Although their run ended in the Elite Eight, Gonzaga, who was joined by fellow mid-majors Southwest Missouri State and Miami (Ohio) in the regional semifinals, catapulted overnight into the national spotlight and has remained there ever since.

Eleven years later, the nation was introduced to mid-majors like Northern Iowa, who was coached by a guy who was valedictorian of his North Dakota high school, and St. Mary's, which had one of the most colorful personalities I ever seen in an NCAA Tournament, Omar Shaman.

And oh yeah, there was that school who played in the same field house made famous in a movie from Indianapolis that was coached by a guy who looked like the kid that always shot hoops in your driveway.

Who once upon a time had a job in the real world, working in marketing for a firm in Indianapolis straight out fo college.

Now he goes from working for an investment firm to sitting two victories away from the national championship seven miles from Butler's campus.

From a suit and tie job to college basketball's biggest stage.

During this tournament, we've gotten to know Gordon Hayward, Willie Veasley, and Matt Howard as well as the notion that Brad Stevens has better jumping ability than most people think.

Regardless of what one would say, it would be a stroke of genius to see Butler win the national championship in their home city, in front of their fans in a building that was modeled closely after their historic venue.

Somewhere, Tony Hinkle is smiling.

In 1999, as a 13 year-old recovering from an ankle injury, I watched my very first NCAA Tournament without my grandmother, who died the previous October.

Back then, John Calipari was coaching the New Jersey Nets.

Bob Huggins was head coach at Cincinnati, marching towards another Conference USA title while Brad Stevens was in his senior year of college like yours truly, as well as Josh Pastner.

And it had been 20 years since Michigan State made it to the Final Four.

That year, the darlings of the tournament was a little school called Gonzaga, who was known mainly as the alma mater of John Stockton, which had only made the tournament once in their history up to that point.

But like another group of Bulldogs 11 years later, Gonzaga went on a Cinderella run for the ages, first picking off Minnesota in the first round, followed by Stanford in the second round, and then introducing the world to an announcer by the name of Gus Johnson by beating Florida in the Sweet 16.

Although their run ended in the Elite Eight, Gonzaga, which was joined by fellow mid-majors Southwest Missouri State and Miami (Ohio) in the regional semifinals, catapulted overnight into the national spotlight and has remained there ever since.

Eleven years later, the nation was introduced to mid-majors like Northern Iowa, who was coached by a guy who was valedictorian of his North Dakota high school, and St. Mary's, which had one of the most colorful personalities I ever seen in an NCAA Tournament in Omar Shaman.

And oh yeah, there was that school who played in the same fieldhouse made famous in a movie from Indianapolis that was coached by a guy who looked like the kid that always shot hoops in your driveway all the time.

Who once upon a time had a job in the real world, working in marketing for a firm in Indianapolis straight out fo college.

Now he goes from working for an investment firm to sitting two victories away from the national championship seven miles from Butler's campus.

From a suit and tie job to college basketball's biggest stage.

During this tournament, we've gotten to know Gordon Hayward, Willie Veasley, and Matt Howard as well as the notion that Brad Stevens has better jumping ability than most people think.

Regardless of what one would say, it would be a stroke of genius to see Butler win the national championship in their home city, in front of their fans in a building that was modeled closely after their historic venue.

Somewhere, Tony Hinkle is smiling.

There is no greater surprise in college hoops, regarding a talented program where checking in by midnight wasn’t necessary, attaining a date to its first ever Final Four. The Butler Bulldogs, a small school from an inconspicuous conference called the Horizon League, are traveling to its hometown, not to end a magical dream that turned into reality, but keep aspirations alive to compete in the biggest game on the mammoth stage.

Figuratively, it happened in front of a large crowd at Salt Lake City, where the Bulldogs respectively stunned the world as a Cinderella, taken down No. 1 Syracuse. In what is defined as an illusion, should be described as a legit run, stating the balance, poise and fierceness of an elite program.

How can we not express this as a fairytale, written in the month of March, a time sporting maniacs falls in love with the greatest sporting tournament? At first, it was typified as the massive shocker in NCAA tourney history, but if you noticed something abnormal about the Bulldogs, it wasn’t the win over Syracuse. Instead it’s the toughness and parity seen from Butler of late, celebrating with much euphoria and excitement after obliterating thousands of brackets and upsetting believers and high-profile schools. It was silly, not to realize that the Bulldogs had much willpower and toughness to threaten.

That’s exactly why this isn’t a Cinderella, but a school with ferocious fangs and monstrous weapons, observed as unstoppable villains. If you haven’t seen someone in the tourney with optimism, you have now. If you haven’t seen someone in the tourney with parity, you have now. If you haven’t seen someone in the tourney with perseverance, you have now. All those are ingredients that Butler improvises, to win it all. What was a cute fairytale is now a horror story. And what was a Cinderella is now a legit contender.

So this is a resemblance of the real-life team from the great 1986 movie, Milan High. They can make a movie, if the Bulldogs win the Final Four. Imagine Butler becoming the smallest school to win, similar to Milan High winning the Indiana basketball title in 1954, a year before my mother was born, a year my late father served in the military, and yes, a year when gas prices weren’t outrageous. Milan defeated high-ranked teams, just as Butler has sent a statement to all bracketology and college basketball devotees.  

Let’s applaud the classy and strongest team in the tourney. At least it seems that way, with what has transpired in the last few days. And suddenly, a feel-good story is a historic story, with the Bulldogs coming from out of nowhere sabotaging and staining aspiration for its previous opponents. Who cares? Just alone, the Bulldogs are worthy of winning national title after winning the most critical game in school history, uplifting sanity within a lackluster program that never experienced much humanity. Waiting for a shining moment to happen, it finally materialized in a 63-56 win over Kansas State in the West Regional final.

For all the triumph it has preserved, this class will always be remembered for their incremental deeds. Such as embarrassing the Orange in the Sweet 16, and finally reaching a gratifying stage in history by outhustling, outrebounding and outplaying a fatigued Kansas State. It’s a flattering and remarkable Hoosiers story, forming an unthinkable dream. The assumption that Butler was fundamentally sound advancing to the Final Four made absolute sense, because of its pundits and firmness. So there you have it, a relentless program riding a 23-game winning streak that extended to 24.     

Isn’t this what we prefer to see, a different team?

After all, they exposed much intensity and gusto.

That makes it a heartwarming story as well. And it’s amazing we ignored a basketball team that captivated our curiosity, with its powerful balance and toughness. Sure, the Bulldogs compelled much angry and tears, by annihilating brackets and sending teams home earlier than expected. Of course, it wasn’t their best performance, shooting a mere 37 percent in the first-half, had more turnovers, costly blunders that saved K-State’s lives.

In a shaky contest, the Wildcats were fortune to stay alive and keep it close, but the Bulldogs pulled away several times in the absence of Horizon League Player of the Year Matt Howard, who was limited to four minutes in the half because of foul trouble. But somehow Butler managed to attack the rim, shoot efficiently from beyond the arch outscoring Kansas State’s two star guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente.

They were scoreless until the final minutes of the first half, coach Frank Martin stared disgusted and the Bulldogs led 27-16 en route to end of the half. If you believe in miracles, the fifth-seeded Bulldogs earn the privilege to play in the fieldhouse, where “Hoosiers” was filmed. There could be some luck, as the Bulldogs write an unbelievable tale, better than most sporting stories.

This is a great story for America.

Together, they believed in each other, played tough and will attempt glory at home. Once again, Butler’s coach Brad Stevens, the 33-year old who has a baby face and could be mistaken for a 17-year-old. Inside Lucas Oil Stadium, a modern venue, the Bulldogs have a date with Tennessee or Michigan State in the Final Four, where half the range of 4,500 students enrolled will be in attendance.

In a critical contest, Shelvin Mack fired threes, Ronald Nored and Willie Veasley played in-your-face type defense, and Gordon Haywood collected rebounds. Right now, the Bulldogs seem experience, seem emotional, seem dangerous, seem athletic, and seem unbeatable.

By refusing to acknowledge the Bulldogs, was an erroneous mistake.

There’s a wonderful tale being written.