Glass Slipper, Anyone? 
by Jacob Oberdorf, Staff Writer
April 7, 2011
Last April the Butler Bulldogs came inches away from scoring the greatest upset in Final Four history when star player Gordon Hayward launched a last second shot, only to see it rim out. His missed last-second heave left this whole country thinking “what if”?
What if that shot would’ve gone in and it was coach Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs celebrating rather than Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils. After that game I think it was a pretty safe bet that not many college basketball junkies would ever think that the Bulldogs would reach the “Promised Land” again this season.
But that is the great thing about college basketball and March Madness. The Bulldogs squeaked through their conference tournament and earned an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. Throughout the tournament, seniors Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard led the Bulldogs in beating Old Dominion, Pitt, Wisconsin, Florida and finally VCU to earn their way back into the national championship.
The Bulldogs became the first team to make it to back to back Final Four while being a three-seed or lower in consecutive tournaments. Pitt Senior forward Gilbert Brown said that Butler played his Pitt team harder than any other team that season. That is saying a lot considering Pitt plays in the best conference in college basketball.
Brown also said that the Bulldogs played as if they had nothing to lose. I found this statement very interesting. Schools like Pitt, North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky and UConn are filled with Final Four expectations every year considering they recruit the top high school basketball players in the country.
On the other hand, Butler, a small private school outside Indianapolis, has the players that most of these bigger schools would not even consider to be part of the team. I can tell when I watch Butler play against the bigger schools that the players play with a chip on their shoulders. They aren’t out there just to beat their opponents; they are out there to prove wrong every person in the country that has doubted them.
Unfortunately, the clock struck midnight a little early on the Butler Bulldogs once again when the team lost in the National Championship to the UConn Huskies, a game in which the Bulldogs recorded the worst performance of a final-two team in a very long time.
The Bulldogs’ lack of size haunted them as they were out-rebounded. The Huskies also tied the record for most blocks in the championship (10). The Bulldogs also recorded the lowest shooting percentage in NCAA championship history.
The title game was the last game in a Bulldog uniform for many Butler players, making it very difficult for Butler to make a third run at history. This sad end for Butler leaves me and many other sports fans around the country thinking who will be the next Butler? Who will be the next team to pull off the seemingly impossible? I guess the only logical answer to this question is that only time will tell.
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