For the second time in two years, a team playing in their home state will face off against an ACC opponent in the Division 1 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship. This is the classic David vs. Goliath story; the real life Hoosiers. At first glance Duke seems like the bigger, more athletic team, but are they? Butler guard Gordon Hayward may be the best NBA prospect on the floor tonight, and forward Matt Howard has the ability to match up with Duke center Brian Zoubek.
Also, with four white players starting for Duke, and Butler’s two best players being white, the athleticism seems pretty even to me. Talk about putting Miracle Whip on your Wonder Bread.
If I were Butler coach Brad Stevens, I would make my speech to the team short and sweet. It’d probably go something like this:
Well guys, this is it. The National Championship. Be honest, how many of you guys had us going out in the Sweet 16 on your brackets?….You guys are a bunch of liars. Well, as most coaches say, you guys are going to have to play this game. I can’t play it for you, and neither can the other coaches. Of course, if I put a uniform on, they probably wouldn’t question it.
Anyway, gentlemen, you have the chance to do something today that no other Butler University basketball player has ever done before; win a National Championship. Let’s get after loose balls, stay focused, take smart shots, and play our game. No matter what happens tonight, remember that you have elevated yourself beyond everyone’s expectations. But let’s win this one and become more than underdogs, cause I’m pretty goddamn tired of people asking me where Jimmy Chitwood is. That’s about as funny as people yelling “Run, Forest, Run” to a marathoner.
Inside Lucas Oil Stadium tonight, roughly 75% of the crowd will be rooting for the hometown team. Something tells me that probably holds true for the entire nation as well. Not only do Americans love the underdog, but after seeing Duke receive possibly the easiest road to the Final Four, as well as seemingly receiving lots of calls from the refs, they are almost the equivalent to the Evil Empire. With that being said, here are my thoughts on the game.
Let’s go Butler. Destroy the Blue Devils. You’ve had more than just one shining moment, but tonight you have the chance to capture the brightest one of all.
– K. Becks
This is the most current NCAAB article I could find on this website, which I must say is very easy to navigate, however my question is why is Notre Dame currently 15th in the 2010-2011 standings. Since when is Notre Dame any good at basketball. I mean of course everyone has heard that Notre Dame use to be able to win a football back when cigarettes were good for you and the internet was made of wood, but basketball, really?
Amanwhoknowsnothing, I would stick to the degrading women jokes.
In all honesty though, Notre Dame isn’t a bad team. They have some quality wins at Wisconsin (which is extremely hard to do) and against Gonzaga. The only blemish on their record is against Kentucky, and that was at Rupp Arena.
One thing I like about the Irish is that they usually start five seniors. That is very rare to see these days, but I think that it is also a very underrated thing as well. Tim Abromaitis is a good player, and more importantly, has experience.
Lastly, Big East teams that start well are by default going to get credit, because it’s the Big East. Take a look at UConn; I’m not saying they’re not good, but I think the fact that they play in the Big East had something to do with the fact that they were ranked number four heading into the game against Pitt (and Pitt made it clear that UConn shouldn’t be ranked that high).
However, the bottom line is that you want to be playing well in March. If they can survive the rigors of the Big East, look out for Notre Dame in March. Like I said, senior leadership is not something to be taken lightly.