Photo from Google Images
The Butler Bulldogs got a second chance to bring home a National Championship banner, but only if they could tame the UCONN Huskies.
Butler started the season ranked 18th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Preseason Poll. The University of Connecticut did not receive a single vote. No one expected the NCAA Championship game end like this!
The first half of the Championship game ended with a 3-point buzzer beater by Butlers Shelvin Mack to give the Bulldogs a 22-19 lead. This is a National Championship game and the halftime score is 22-19?? My favorite Tennessee VOLS radio Co-host, Alex, tweeted: AAESPN1180 I thought the women’s game was tomorrow night?
This dog fight looked more like puppy chow. With only 41 combined points at the half ranks as the lowest scoring first half of any NCAA title game during the shot clock era.
You could call it great defense, great guard play or as Charles Barkley would say “turrrible” shooting. Butler was 1/19 for 2-point field goals, 6/22 on 3-point field goals and 0 points in the paint with thirteen minutes to go in the second half. This isn’t the Butler team I expected to see…
Most dogs will eat anything, but Kemba and the Huskies gave Butler a taste of Big East physical basketball and all Butler could eat was brick after brick. The last time a team was held under 50 points in a title game was in 1949- Jim Calhoun was 6 years old.
I’m pretty sure this was the worst shooting game EVER in college basketball. It was almost painful at times. I feel bad for these kids, I feel bad for Brad Stevens and I feel bad for anyone who believes in Cinderella. Butler is the 4th team in history to lose back-to-back National Championship Games… AHH the Fab-Five Curse strikes this year’s bracket again!
There was no Disney ending for the Butler Bulldogs, but in Indianapolis and at mid-major schools across the country the Bulldogs story is one most could only dream of. The basketball gods may not be a fan of Cinderella’s, but if the future of college basketball is in the hands of coaches like Brad Stevens- college basketball is in good hands.