An instant classic in Indianapolis

That national championship game last night was one for the ages. I'm still a little bit disappointed that Butler didn't win — they came oh, so close — but the Bulldogs have absolutely no reason to hang their heads.

Lots of people have written lots of words about what a great game this was, and I'm not likely to top them just dashing off some thoughts on my lunch break. But I can't help wondering what would have happened if Gordon Hayward's six-foot jumper would have gone in with five seconds left. Duke would have had five seconds to run a play, and obviously might still have won it, but it would have been an exciting sequence.

And just imagine the celebration by the Butler players if Hayward's half-court shot had gone in at the buzzer. The Duke players would have collapsed in agony. This might have been the greatest championship game in recent memory, but that would have made it one of the greatest sporting events I ever saw in my life, right up there with the Miracle on Ice in 1980, which I don't even remember that well because I was only eight years old.

It wasn't to be. Give the Blue Devils credit, they got it done. Whether tiny Butler University truly had the second-best men's basketball team in the land this year is open to debate, but they certainly were the second-best team over the last month. And they were just inches from being the very best.

Congratulations, Butler. I know you didn't win the title, but you sure gave us some great memories.

Acta era begins today; go Butler; etc.

Very quick hits, because I don't have a lot of time this morning:

* The Indians open the season at 2:05 Eastern this afternoon on the south side of Chicago. It's not just any opening day, because former All-Star Jake Westbrook gets the start for the Tribe, in his first action since May 2008, after having Tommy John surgery. The White Sox counter with Mark Buehrle, who I will always remember as the guy who hit Travis Hafner in the mouth with a pitch in 2005. Like Westbrook, Pronk is also trying to return to his All-Star-caliber days, so maybe seeing Buehrle out there can get him going.

* Despite the Cavaliers' loss yesterday in Boston, they clinched home-court advantage throughout the postseason thanks to the Lakers' loss to the Spurs. So, with five games left in the regular season, the Cavs officially have nothing to play for. It is perhaps slightly ironic that their next game after clinching home court throughout is against their likely first-round opponent, the Raptors, tomorrow night. I don't expect the Cavs to take it too easy on them, but I don't expect them to play with fire in their eyes either. 

* It's worth noting that despite the loss yesterday, the Cavaliers came back from 22 points down against the Celtics to take the lead in the fourth quarter. And if LeBron James could have hit that three-pointer with four seconds left, the Cavs probably would have won that game. Ultimately, a loss is a loss, but that was awfully interesting.

* I don't have a whole lot of confidence that this will happen, but I'm very much hoping Butler can beat Duke tonight in the national championship game. (I rooted for Butler against Michigan State, even though my dad went to Michigan State, because I can't resist an underdog. So you can imagine how badly I'd like them to beat the Blue Devils.) Duke is probably the better team, but then, so was Syracuse, and Butler beat them too. The Bulldogs beating the Spartans on Saturday despite going over 10 minutes of the second half without hitting a field goal was one of the most unlikely things I've ever seen. Butler won it with defense, and they'll need more of that to beat Duke.

* Tiger Woods makes his return this week at the Masters. I wonder if that'll get any headlines?

George Mason, part two? Not really

We'll start today's post with a response to a previous post, regarding Butler's upset of Syracuse, from Of Fair Hooker's most frequent responder, Jeff Brown:

Mullett, as I'm sure you've heard by now, the Butler Bulldogs won their regional final game as well and are hosting the Final Four next weekend.

This team is a very, very good team.

They're much better, in my view, than George Mason, the other mid-major that went to the Final Four in 2006.

They actually have a chance to win the national title, whereas George Mason had zero chance.

I'm not saying that they will win the title, but I would not be the least bit surprised, not after seeing 3 of their first 4 tourney games thus far.

Of course, the Bulldogs are not technically hosting the Final Four, but Jeff is right in that it will be right in their back yard. Butler plays its home games at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, but the Final Four will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium, the year-and-a-half-old home of the Colts. The two arenas are six miles apart. So yes, it will basically be a home game (or two).

Let's take a look at that George Mason team from 2006. The Patriots entered the NCAA Tournament at 25-7, playing in the Colonial Athletic Association, and were an 11-seed. They had failed to win their conference tournament, but received one of the last few at-large bids to that year's Madness. Give them credit for their Tourney run — they beat 6-seed Michigan State, then 3-seed North Carolina, then 7-seed Wichita State before improbably knocking off top-seed Connecticut in a thrilling overtime regional final. Most observers agreed that Connecticut would beat George Mason at least nine times out of 10, but this happened to be that one time out of 10. The Patriots then fell to eventual national champion Florida in the Final Four, losing by 15 in a game that was never particularly competitive.

These Butler Bulldogs are a different story entirely. They entered the tournament at 28-4, playing in the Horizon League — admittedly, roughly comparable to the CAA in terms of quality. Butler won its conference tournament, mauling Wright State by 25 in the final. The Bulldogs started relatively slowly, but haven't lost a game since December 22, when a loss at Alabama-Birmingham dropped them to 8-4. It's worth noting that that loss to UAB was their only loss to a team that didn't qualify for March Madness; the others were to Minnesota, Clemson and Georgetown.

Since then, they have rattled off 24 straight victories. They came into the Big Dance as the 5-seed. They easily defeated 12-seed UTEP, then had a surprisingly tough game against 13-seed Murray State before righting the ship to beat top-seed Syracuse in the regional semifinal, followed by Saturday's seven-point defeat of 2-seed Kansas State. Their next game is against fellow 5-seed Michigan State, who won an instant classic yesterday against Tennessee. I think Butler will beat the Spartans — in which case they'll face off against the Duke-West Virginia winner for the title. That Duke-West Virginia game will be a battle (which I predict West Virginia will win), and the winner of that game should be the favorite in the National Championship game. But the Bulldogs have already proven, by beating Syracuse and Kansas State, that they can play against anybody.

No mid-major has won it all since 1990, when Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV Runnin' Rebels beat Duke by 30 in the title game. Most people who are old enough to remember that don't really think of that Larry Johnson-Anderson Hunt UNLV squad as a mid-major — they were in fact a 1-seed in that tournament — but they did come from the Mountain West. So it's been 20 years since it's happened. Will we see it this year? Probably not, but that's what I'm rooting for.

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.

Vikings hung in ... for a while

Cleveland State fell behind 14 early in last night's Horizon League championship game against No. 10 Butler, but the Vikings fought their way back to tie it with 1:50 left in the first half; Butler then went ahead four at the half. With 14 minutes left in the game, Butler was only up two (43-41). But then the Bulldogs got off a 17-3 run, and our guys had nothing left in the tank. But still, it was a strong effort against a darned good team.

"I told our guys to keep their heads up," said CSU coach Gary Waters, who took Kent State to the Elite Eight a few years ago. "One game doesn't change your whole season."

Well-said, sir. Well-said.

Cleveland State's probably going to the NIT, which isn't the Big Dance, but it's a significant accomplishment nonetheless. This city should be proud of these young men.

On the Horizon

For those who might be unaware, the Cleveland State Vikings play for the Horizon League championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament at 9 tonight against Butler. The Butler Bulldogs are 10-point favorites, but it's worth noting that the boys from Cleveland have more to play for. If the Bulldogs lose, they'll be 28-4, and that will get them into the Big Dance. At 21-11, the Vikings need to win tonight to get that automatic bid.

Butler may look pretty unbeatable, but the Dogs have lost three games this year, and one of them was to Cleveland State. So it can be done. Of course, if Cleveland State gets in, that'll be one fewer at-large bid available for teams like Ohio State; and the Buckeyes, like their opponents in the tournament title game last year, Florida, are on that proverbial bubble. But with big wins over Purdue and Michigan State in the past week, I think OSU will get in anyway.

It should be interesting. Go Vikings!