2010 NCAA tournament

[Scott M]

Illinois, Mississippi State, UAB, Memphis, Virginia Tech...lots of 20 win squads out with high RPI...Good thing the Gophers played well down the stretch or they would be in the NIT as well.

Time to fill out the brackets.

[knoppers]

ESPN has hyped up the fact that there are so many big east teams in the tourney, and how good they are. it is absolty great that these teams are loosing. too many overrated teams from the east. villinova got beat today, and they should have lost there first game, yah a #2 seed. ESPN and there east teams make me sick, just like the way they cover and back the yankees and red sox.

[knoppers]

Illinois, Mississippi State, UAB, Memphis, Virginia Tech...lots of 20 win squads out with high RPI...Good thing the Gophers played well down the stretch or they would be in the NIT as well.

Time to fill out the brackets.

we would have had a better chance to win the NIT.

[DTro]

I had a big smile on my face last night when I heard the Jayhawks were packing their bags. Not because i don't like them, but because leading up to and even during the first round, every single "analyst" that I heard or read about, stumbled all over themselves letting us know that this Kansas team was "head and shoulders" above the rest of the field and maybe one of the all time best teams.

Ha Ha

[gr8icefishinmind]

I think it is funny how it seems the so called analysts hype up teams only to have them lose! You know that teams hear these things and it probably plays into whaqt happens in the games!! Sounds dumb but like you said, all we have heard before the tournament was how good kansas was and how good the big east was, think about the motivation that gives the opponents and how good it makes the teams like kansas feel about themselves which is probably not a good thing! You always want your team to feel like they have a chip on their shoulder and have something to prove!!

[Scott M]

I heard about Kansas after getting into Baudette last night, I was shocked. I figured it was Kansas narrowly over Kentucky for all the marbles. It's Kentucky's tourney to win is my best guess. I also think Ohio State is looking pretty good in that region.

[Chnginthhofl]

Go Xavier!!! I don't actually like them but thats who I got in the board at work. Make the championship game and hello HDS-7M.

[Mudcutter]

It's a reach I know,, but UNI is a very solid team. 3 point % , 7' in the paint, plays great def and shoots FT at a good clip. No one will give them credit even after beating KU,, but give UNI 5 points agst MSU,, who are you gonna take?? ME UNI!!!!-- and they might pull it off again.

I have allready won my bracket based on the failure of KU and the win off UNI-- because so many had KU as the champion. Also picked Cornell and St.Mary's. Cornell and St.Mary's have the talent and I can't get into it on here, but they are SMART players comapred to street ball..... others play/

ALI FAROKMENESH!!!!! The ASSASAIN!!!

[gr8icefishinmind]

Another one bites the dust as syracuse loses!! What a great tournament so far, one of the most competative tournaments in a long time!!

[Scott M]

Agreed. I have missed many of the big upsets between other time commitments and fishing, but what I have seen has been really good.

[Scott M]

Well, I sure didn't think Duke would be the last #1 standing. They can punch a ticket to Indianapolis tomorrow night. It also will be a chance to test the Never Bet Against Izzo in the Big Dance theory.

Butler and West Virginia, Duke/Baylor, Tennessee/Michigan State

[LMITOUT]

GO DUKE!

[LMITOUT]

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Could this be the college version of Hickory and Hoosiers???

[LMITOUT]

Could be, but as a Duke fan I'd be happier to lose to Butler than to Izzo.

Butler has knocked out some quality teams so they are no slouch by any means and I sure hope that the Duke players don't take them for granted and realize that when it's too late.

Duke has surprised me this season. I honestly didn't see them in this position even after winning the ACC tourney and felt like something was missing to make them a championship contender. Well, as the great Brett Favre once said, "the pieces are in place....we should be pretty good".

Win or lose, at least it's not UNC. GTH CAROLINA!!!

ACC representin'!!

[IceAge@work]

There are a lot of "Hoosiers" connections with the Butler story. They play in Hinkle Fieldhouse where the final game in the movie was filmed. The guy (Bobby Plump)who hit the shot in 1954 for tiny Milan that inspired the movie is a Butler Alum and was an All-American there. etc. etc.

Problem is that was a fictional movie loosely based on something that happened a long-time ago. I grew up a hoosier and to me the story is less about the "romanticized Cinderella story" but a modern day "have's vs.have-not's" in big money college sports.

Butler plays in the Horizon League where other schools include WI-Green Bay, Central MI, Cleveland State & WI-Milwaukee. I hazard to guess the athletic budget for the entire league may not equal that of one big time BCS school.

The team recruited 2/3 of its players from inside Indiana. The players they do get from outside Indiana are not blue chip top 100 guys. All of them are good students who (save for maybe Hayward) have no chance to play at the next level. Yet they have played harder, tougher and with more grit and more resolve than any other team in this tournament.

This is a dramatic "feel good" story but not for the obvious, cliched reasons the national media clings to and won't let go of. If you want to a see the right way to build a college sports program look at Butler. If you want to see how team defense is played watch Butler. If you want to see how a smaller team can match a larger team on the boards watch Butler. Unselfish team that shares the basketball? Watch Butler.

The "Butler Way" is not coach-speak or a manufactured PR deal. This team believes in and lives the concept every game, every day.

Duke is going to be highly favored Monday night and should be. So far they have been the best team in the tournament. But if your not a Duke student or Duke alumni get behind the Bulldogs. Give them a little positive energy because if the game is close in the last five minutes and it simply comes down who wants to win more something very special could happen.

[Scott M]

Should be a good game, but I have my doubts as to how Butler has the horses to win when better defensive teams have not beaten Duke. Duke committed to physical defense and rebounding after a couple of early exits the last couple years. They spread the floor on offense for drive angles, open shots, and 2nd chance points from their bigs. They can play physical and finesse, slow it down or speed it up. Their adaptable game has taken them far this year.

I think there are better teams than Duke or Butler in 2009-2010 D1 hoops, but that's the beauty of a tournament, it's win and move on. Both teams played the hands they were dealt and find themselves in the championship.

Should be a great game tomorrow night!

[IceAge@work]

Should be a good game, but I have my doubts as to how Butler has the horses to win when better defensive teams have not beaten Duke.

I'm with you on the rest of your post but can't agree with the above. There is no better defensive team in this tournament than Butler. They have flat out been in lockdown mode. On Saturday against Mich St. they only scored one offensive basket in the final 11 minutes of the game and still won.

Butler has allowed less than 60 points in all five tournament games so far. The only team ever to do that in the shot clock era. Duke may well win because they are bigger, deeper or more athletic but Butler will force them into a half-court game and then fight them for every inch of the floor.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

And David reached in his sack and withdrew a stone and flung it with all his might at........

Que the fairytale music now!!!

Do you believe in Miracles!!!

[LMITOUT]

No fairytale stories tonight. The Blue Bloods hold on to win and "cinderella" Butler has to take their pumpkin home.

[Scott M]

That was an awesome game! Too bad Butler couldn't pull it out, they had their chance. A few too many dumb plays (Howard's early missed bunnies and dump fouls, lob inbounds, not enough touches for Hayward). If there were 40 minutes played, Butler played smart for 39:45 of them.

Low and behold, the scrap and defensive tenacity of Butler kept it close the whole game. They were the best defensive team in the tournament, I guess I sold them short, but then again I only had them going to the Sweet 16 when preseason some folks picked them as a Final Four team.

I'm curious to see what Hayward does. If he comes back, I would love to follow Butler for a whole year and see David become Goliath.

Duke got better with each game and won the whole enchilada. They had a great year, hats off to them...It was an amazing tournament all together. I wish every tournament and national title game was that good!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

The only two things that game was missing was Gene Hackmen sitting on the bench for Butler and that last shot going in...

There is no joy in Mudville, Mighty Butler has struck out! Great game.

[gr8icefishinmind]

There were a few times in that game that butler seemed to really get it going and take a lead only to have that lead short lived by a duke defensive stop and then a small run by the dukies!! I think if Butler could have gotten out to 6-8 point lead anytime throughout the game, it would have been a different story!! Hayward is a fun player to watch and seems to have some great basketball IQ, he definetly has the talent to play in the NBA. Hope he stays in school though to finish out his college b-ball career!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

kind of surprised no one has mentioned the officiating yet. Thought they let them get away with murder sometimes, and others got called for a whole lot of nothing. To be honest, I thought the officials may have been leaning the Duke way.

That said, I thought this was the best final game in a long while..

[Hookmaster]

They were definitely letting them play rough. They missed plenty of calls both ways but I thought the reffing was worth 6-8 points for Duke. What about Zupech knocking the guy down in the lane very late in the game.

[LMITOUT]

If they would have called it by the book half of the Butler players would have fouled out. It was practically murder under the 3pt line but that is Butler's style of play and the refs let them get away with it. If not for looking the other way, the margin would have been greater than two pts at the end of the game and most likely a blowout.

Duke is under the high-power microscope and people like to see fouls and infractions that simply aren't there just because they despise Duke due to how great they are and have been. It's just the way it is and will be for as long as they keep winning. They are the Yankees of college BB and people want them to lose so they'll whine about something each and every time they win a game. People say they win because they get the calls.......but maybe they win because they're good!!

For some reason people like to remember the calls that go Duke's way, but conveniently seem to forget the ones that don't. And there were more than enough that didn't last night.

[IceAge@work]

If they would have called it by the book half of the Butler players would have fouled out. It was practically murder under the 3pt line but that is Butler's style of play and the refs let them get away with it. If not for looking the other way, the margin would have been greater than two pts at the end of the game and most likely a blowout.

Duke is under the high-power microscope and people like to see fouls and infractions that simply aren't there just because they despise Duke due to how great they are and have been. It's just the way it is and will be for as long as they keep winning. They are the Yankees of college BB and people want them to lose so they'll whine about something each and every time they win a game. People say they win because they get the calls.......but maybe they win because they're good!!

For some reason people like to remember the calls that go Duke's way, but conveniently seem to forget the ones that don't. And there were more than enough that didn't last night.

Duke was physical and aggressive in the paint. Butler was physical and aggressive on the perimeter. It's how both teams played all tournament long. IMO the officials did a good job keeping order and allowing both teams to play to their strengths.

Duke was the more effecient offense most of the night and had many chances to open this game up. They just never got it done. Mostly because the Bulldogs simply wouldn't let it happen.

With three minutes to go I got exactly what I wanted. A close game. Butler imposed there will defensively and the Blue Devils choked a little. It was right there for the taking and the shot(s) just didn't fall. No reason for Butler to hang their head and Duke deserved to win. Hard to ask for a much better finish to this tournament than that.

[zepman]

I thought they were partial to Duke...they needed all the help they could get.

[LMITOUT]

Dan Barreiro - KFAN

INDIANAPOLIS -- If Shooter had been listening on the old Philco radio from his hospital bed, you know what he would have been saying out loud -- screaming in a stream of consciousness -- while he paced during that last timeout and filibustered to the nurse, to another patient, to a potted plant, to anybody or anything that might have been willing to listen. Including himself.

"You didn't get but one field goal, for what? Something like eight minutes? You're down five with three minutes to go. You cut it to 1, don't ask me how. And you got the ball, under your own basket, against the bluebloods, with a chance to win. One basket. That's all you need. That's all you can ask, brother. That's all you can ever ask."

In the movies, of course, they ask for more. They ask for the coach to call the play, and Jimmy Chitwood to look in the coach's face and say, "I'll make it" and the teams to come out of the huddle, and Chitwood to do exactly what he is supposed to do. Drain the shot. Every time. And for Shooter to whoop with joy, while listening to the Philco, and then to cry.

Happens that way in real life, sometimes. But in real life, it can also be a bit more complicated, sometimes even cruel. With the score 60-59, the coach, Brad Stevens made the right call during the timeout. Even though Gordon Hayward was 2-for-9, he called Hayward's number, and Hayward might not have said in the huddle that he'd make it, but with the athletic arrogance that marks the great ones, he no doubt thought he would.

"We wanted to get the ball to [Hayward] and let him make a play," Stevens said.

Hayward did driving towards the basket, going left, coming back right, then lofting a high-arching 12-footer to win the game. "It felt good," he said.

It looked good.

But it was a bit long. "Just wasn't there," Hayward said.

In real life, it was a tough shot, maybe tougher than necessary in that the driving Hayward had the defender, Brian Zoubek, off balance and should have driven into him, forcing contact, rather than fade away. Hayward was 8-for-8 from the line. Then again, it's hard to get a whistle that late. You can ask Michigan State about that.

Bottom line: The shot was just long, and after Zoubek grabbed the rebound and was fouled, he made one free throw and foolishly missed the second on purpose. A semi-desperation half-court 3 by Hayward, not a bad look under the circumstances, banked off the rim and came out.

And most of the nation, desperately wanting Hollywood to intrude on real life, is handed another reason to hate Duke. Maybe even despise Duke like never before.

After all, the Dookies ruined the story.

The scorn is not deserved. The Blue Devils, of course, were under no obligation to play the foils, just so America could go to sleep having watched the perfect ending to a new feel-good movie. They wanted the grand prize, too, had labored hard for it, and as a card-carrying member of the Butler Admiration Society, as absurdly rich as the story might have been if one of Hayward's shots goes down, I must tell you that Duke deserved the victory.

On this night, Duke showed it could out-gritty the grittiest team in the tournament. Some nights, you just have to survive.

Duke survived.

Their big-time shooter (Kyle Singler) shot better than Butler's (Hayward); their foul-plagued inside guy (Brian Zoubek) played a more active, busy, defensive game than Butler's foul-plagued guy (Matt Howard), who committed such dumb fouls that Norman Dale might have cut him at halftime. Howard did get a couple of clutch baskets late, but for much of the second half, the Duke defense had made the key defensive adjustment: Cutting off the Bulldogs' penetration and making almost everything hard for Butler near the basket.

As close as it was, almost all night, it just seemed like everything came a little harder for Butler.

You want the heart-breaking twist? During the first five games of the tournament, Butler had held each opponent under 60. First time that had ever been done in the shot-clock era of the NCAA tournament. If Butler had held Duke to 59 in regulation on Monday night, it would have been overtime and the two teams might still be playing.

Instead, Duke gets to 61, and wins. Several Butler players were asked what they will remember more when they look back: That they got to the championship game, or that they lost on the last possessions.

"For me, it's going to be the loss," Hayward said. "Hate losing. It's one of the worst feelings personally that I have is losing."

Even in defeat, that's the beauty of the Butler story, ain't it Shooter? They want no patronizing pat on the back from the victors. They want no salute for losing by 2 points to a team that had beaten everybody else in this tourney by an average of 17.

They want no cute Little Engine That Could bouquets. They came to this Dance to win.