Butler

[Fearsome Forehand]

I am amazed that a small private school like Butler made it all the way to the NCAA Finals. (Although, Butler was the national champ in 1929 but I don't think there was a tourney then. I imagine the sportswriters named them the national champs.)

Butler has less than 5000 students, around 4500. I wonder when the last time such a small school made it to the finals. Most people have never heard of Butler and outside of Indiana, it isn't that well known. Butler generally has a good basketball team that will pull the occasional upset but this run is simply incredible.

A very small private school on the north side of Indy makes it to the NCAA Finals. That screwed up more than a few brackets.

I can't see Butler taking out Duke. I think the team will be so freaked out by the magnitude of the event that they won't play their best. And even if they do play their best, they are up against a basketball Goliath, Duke. Duke is another smallish private school with roughly 14,000 students but they have vast resources and have won multiple championships before.

I wonder how long the Butler coach will take to ink a huge long term deal with some struggling big time basketball program that can pay him several million a season to jump ship. A month, maybe two?

I've actually been in Hinkle Field House. Tony Hinkle is looking down from the beyond with great pride.

Do you believe in miracles?

Go Butler !!!

 

[dlk]

While I did not attend Butler; my cousin went there & had season tickets one year, ~95. See my location.

 

[ChipNCharge]

People seem to have forgotten that Butler was a preseason Top 10 team.

 

[Sumo]

Duke only has a little over 6k undergrads.

I would say 2001 was the last time a small school made it that far.

 

[jaggy]

You get a good coach and give him hard working smart players and you can go very far.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Duke only has a little over 6k undergrads.

I would say 2001 was the last time a small school made it that far.

True, the 14,000 figure included the various graduate programs.

In terms of undergrads, Butler has only 3,600. There are public high schools bigger than that. Butler is one of the smallest schools in the modern era to reach the NCAA Finals.

 

[Cantonese]

Butler looked pretty legit throughout the tournament. Not really talented offensively, but plays tremendous defense against both a strong frontcourt (Syracuse) and strong backcourt (Kansas State). Don't see them beating Duke though, since Duke basically plays a better version of Butler's game, with a dominant big man for just rebounds and blocks (Zoubek).

Really have to give it up for Butler though... its not like they won their games with last minute lucky shots. They overwhelmed all their opponents with great defense and consistency. Still can't believe their coach is only 33 years old...

 

[pmerk34]

Butler looked pretty legit throughout the tournament. Not really talented offensively, but plays tremendous defense against both a strong frontcourt (Syracuse) and strong backcourt (Kansas State). Don't see them beating Duke though, since Duke basically plays a better version of Butler's game, with a dominant big man for just rebounds and blocks (Zoubek).

Really have to give it up for Butler though... its not like they won their games with last minute lucky shots. They overwhelmed all their opponents with great defense and consistency. Still can't believe their coach is only 33 years old...

Yes and he looks about 27 years old. Lets see him in 10 years he'll look 60.

 

[pmerk34]

People seem to have forgotten that Butler was a preseason Top 10 team.

Well, I would say fans of the regular season have not forgotten. The Tourney attracts millions of casual to non fans in general who have never see a name like Butler in the final and would naturally assume they are a Cinderella team which they clearly are not.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Perhaps the only school to reach the NCAA Finals after 1950 that is smaller than Butler would be Jacksonville University in 1970. JU still has under 3000 undergrads and in 1970 may have only had about 2000 to 2500. But, they had Artis Gilmore. I think the only player Bulter ever produced that played pro ball was Billy Shepherd in the early 1970's (ABA). He turned down a scholarship to UCLA (the b-ball power at the time) to play for Hinkle at Butler as his father had.

Apparently, the Butler kids actually have to go to class; something of a rarity in big time college sports.

As mentioned above, Butler did not come completely out of the blue and were recognized as a top 25 or better team in most pre-season polls. It is somewhat shocking that such a small school would make it all the way to the final. Butler's athletic budget is minuscule compared to some of the schools they have bested. Duke outspends Butler about twelve fold on their respective basketball programs.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

61-59. Not too shabby for the Bulldogs. Too bad they didn't win it all.

 

[atatu]

That last shot was very close, did you guys see the devastating pick that was set on that last shot ? The Butler guy took one of those guys out....

 

[quest01]

I was surprised Butler beat Syracuse.

 

[Fearsome Forehand]

Nothing against Duke, but I would have LOVED to see Butler win.

They came this close. It would have been a three pointer at the buzzer for the win.

Perfect fitting, Hoosier-like ending. Not to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDmW988_5Jg

 

[enrique79]

singler got pwned by that screen

 

[btpayne13]

True story: as bad as my bracket was, I actually picked Butler to make it to the Final 4 (but not to make it to the championship game or win it). Because of that, I didn't want them to beat Duke, making my bracket look even worse than it already was (I know, shoot me because I was rooting for the "evil" Dukies).

Honestly, though, it's about time we give props to Coach K and his team for getting the job done. As much of a "Cinderalla story" as Butler was, absolutely no one I knew had Duke winning it all.

 

[edberg505]

That last shot was very close, did you guys see the devastating pick that was set on that last shot ? The Butler guy took one of those guys out....

LMAO, I was wondering how many people saw that. It was just brutal!!!

 

[Cantonese]

I don't mind Duke winning (don't see why people hate them anyway), but would like Butler to win if its a close game, because that's the only way I thought they could have won, so the results were kind of a bummer since the game was extremely close for the entire duration. One of the best NCAA finals I watched in my opinion, even if it didn't go overtime.

 

[ubermeyer]

were they even in ncaa last year?

 

[Cantonese]

They were in the tournament in the last three years before this finals run.