The Butler Bulldogs now have a matching pair of glass slippers, as they have embodied the role of Cinderella in the past two NCAA Basketball Tournaments. Tonight the Bulldogs will try to trade those clear slippers in for a crown...the crown reserved for College Basketball's best team.
Butler is a team that year-in and year-out is treated just like their name: a butler. They are expected to serve up easy wins to teams with more money and higher "class" than them. They're expected to preside over the cellar, or be the best team to come from a lowly Mid-Major conference. They're overlooked by media, fans, and "better" teams as just a mere doorman to the big dance. Well for the past two seasons the Bulldogs have performed their job masterfully, showing the door to every team that they've drawn in the Tourney.
Last season the fifth-seeded Dogs dusted off lower seeds UTEP and Murray State before pulling the rug out from underneath the West's one seed, Syracuse, and two seed, Kansas State. Their efforts landed them a spot in their first Final Four in school history, and in their hometown of Indianapolis no less. They drew a match-up with fellow five seed Michigan State, and promptly defeated them with a two-point victory. No one could believe it, a lowly Butler team had made it to the championship game of college basketball. They'd have a chance to tango with the perennial powerhouse Duke Blue Devils on the biggest stage in the country, and for the biggest prize.
It was a story made for a fairy-tale book. A real-life Cinderella story. Butler, the ultimate under-Dogs, would have a chance to win all the marbles from big bully Duke in their own backyard in front of their hometown crowd (along with the rest of the nation). All the ingredients for an American Folklore Classic were in place. It was like a real-life, updated, collegiate version of the movie Hoosiers with Butler's best player, Gordon Hayward, playing the role of Jimmy.
As the movie would have it, Hayward would have the last shot with the game on the line. But this story didn't have a happy ending. Unlike Jimmy's shot, Hayward's wouldn't fall. It bounced off the glass, and ricocheted off the rim before slowly falling to the floor...along with Butler's hopes and dreams. And that was it. An unlikely underdog, an improbable run, an amazing story...all ruined by Devils. Butler's chance to shine was gone forever...or so we thought.
A year later/a season longer here we sit with the same scenario in play. The Bulldogs are unbelievably back in the National Championship game. Of course the scenario could never be as magical and dream-like as last year's, but Butler's unpredictable return to the title game is almost as good of a story as their first trip. And if they win it, it will be better.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, ever expected to see Butler back in the title game...especially not just one year after they had made it to their first. But the scrappy Dogs are back! And from my point of view, this year's run is even more improbable than last year's. I mean it's hard to get to the championship, but it's even harder to get back to it (just ask Duke).
This year Butler was seeded lower (an 8 seed), and had a much tougher road to travel down. The Bulldogs started their run with a buzzer-beating win over nine-seeded Old Dominion. A last second put-in by their current star Matt Howard gave them a two-point victory. Their reward: a match-up with the region's one seed, Pittsburgh. Here we go again.
The Dogs shocked the heavily favored Panthers in a debacle of a finish, which once again involved Matt Howard and the last seconds of a ballgame. With the game tied at 70, Howard was fouled after grabbing a rebound under his own basket with less than a second left on the game clock. He hit his first free-throw, giving the Dogs a one-point lead, and then purposely missed the second to run out the clock, giving them a one-point win. The under-Dogs are at it again!
Butler then knocked off the four seed Wisconsin, before winning a close one over the two seed Florida on their way to their second Final Four in as many years. This year's Final Four match-up was a glance in the mirror for the Dogs though. They faced off with fellow Cinderella Virginia Commonwealth, and proved to be the more deserving of the undeserving. The Bulldog defense clamped down on VCU's three-point attack, and bested the Rams by a final score of 70 to 62.
So here we sit with Butler in the National Championship with all to gain, and nothing to lose...AGAIN. Their perennial powerhouse obstacle this year: UConn. The three-seeded Huskies made an improbable run of their own, one could possibly say. UConn isn't a one-seed, but since they won the Big East Championship this year, it's safe to say that it's not a surprise that they're in the title game. Anyways, Connecticut is the big bully that Butler will have to knock off for all the glory.
If the Bulldogs win, it will be an amazing story. Documentaries and tribute movies will be in the making immediately. If they lose, they'll become the first team since the Fab Five to make it to and lose back to back championship games.
The question is, Do the Dog's have any magic left? With the string of tournament wins from the past two years looming behind them, you've got to say they have a fighting chance. And you've got to remember the old wise saying, "Every Dog has his day." Today could be that day.
p.s.- No matter what happens tonight, don't forget to tip your Butler...they've given us quite a show...two for that matter.
