Another one-seed bites the dust

Oh, my goodness, did you see that Butler-Syracuse game last night? The fifth-seeded Butler Bulldogs of the tiny Horizon League (which includes Cleveland State, in case you didn't know) dominated top seed Syracuse in the first half, but the Orange came out swinging after the break and finally took a 40-39 lead on Wes Johnson's three-pointer with 13:29 to go. But there was no quit in the mighty Bulldogs.

From that point on, it was a heavyweight prize fight, with each fighter taking the other's best punches and coming back for more. Butler came back to take a five-point lead on Gordon Hayward's trey with 9:41 left, but Syracuse tied it a little over a minute later, and it was a see-saw battle after that. Kris Joseph's dunk with 5:23 remaining gave Syracuse its biggest lead of the night, after which neither team scored for 2:10 of game time. Butler's Ronald Nored broke the proverbial silence with a three-pointer at the 3:13 mark, and the Bulldogs were off to the races.

In Butler's next five possessions, Matt Howard scored on a layup after blocking a shot at the other end, Willie Veasley hit a three-pointer and a two-point tip-in, and Hayward made one of two free throws. During the same stretch, the Orange turned the ball over once, committed an offensive foul, and missed three shots, each of which was rebounded by Butler. Scoop Jardine finally hit a meaningless layup with 34 seconds left, but by that point, the Dogs had built a seven-point lead, and it would have taken a minor miracle for the favorites to prevail.

There was no minor miracle for the Syracuse Orange, but Willie Veasley seemed to have divine intervention on his side. That three-pointer he hit to put his team up four bounced high off the rim, caromed off the backboard about two or three feet away from the hoop, then fell through the hoop. And the tip-in that followed it was crazy too. I have no idea where it came from, and I saw it happen. In any case, whether they have God on their side or not, the Butler Bulldogs have reached the Elite Eight for the first time in history.

That wasn't the only exciting game of the night, though it was the only one I saw personally. Kansas State knocked off Xavier in a double-overtime thriller that ended way past my bedtime. The other two games were snoozers, with double-digit seeds falling to big favorites — two-seed West Virginia beat 11-seed Washington by 13, and one-seed Kentucky (which has to be considered the top choice to win it all after Kansas got eliminated) topped 12-seed Cornell by 17.

The Buckeyes play in St. Louis tonight against Tennessee, who they knocked out of the tournament last year. Ohio State is of course the top remaining seed in its bracket, due to Northern Iowa's upset of Kansas last weekend. The aforementioned NIU Panthers will follow against Michigan State, playing without Kalin Lucas. Those should both be interesting games. In Houston, Saint Mary's — the only remaining double-digit seed in the tournament — will likely see its Cinderella run end against Baylor, and Purdue — playing without Robbie Hummel — is probably going to see its dream end against top-seeded Duke. But this is March Madness, ladies and gentlemen. You just never know.