Go Bulldogs, Take the Title
Great game by Butler despite the fact they flatlined for the last 10 minutes or so, something we can relate to quite a bit throughout our season. I will be cheering them on not because they sent Sparty home (well maybe), not because I don't like Duke/WVU (well a little), but because I want to see a mid major take home the title. But if Mack and Howard are unable to play, they will probably get rolled. Either way, congrats Bulldogs.
Butler plays on Monday, while the Spartans will be at home,
*sunglasses*
green with envy.
http://ingresstech.com/~bernard/instantCSI/
That game set the game of basketball back 30 years. Wow, was that ugly!
I was rooting for Sparty big time--but MAN is this a great story. I do hope Butler wins it all. For once to see an underdog do this.
Usually these Cinderella teams get lost in the hype when they get farther along in the brackets--and you can't blame them. But this team is something.
Raise you hand if you didn't think some of the ticky tack foul calling didn't hurt MSU, especially without Lucas to settle them down?
AND now I can't wait for all the "Sheet! I had Butler in my office pool, dawg, and if they win I'll take home 300,000 bucks!" posts.
Go Butler!
Of course, if Duke wins it I'll be happy for Coach K--a hell of a guy and coach IMO.
Yeah but the fouls are just part of the game. Butler played more disciplined basketball and got to the free throw line. I didn't feel like there were any big calls that went against Sparty.
Agree with you on Coach K. Met him a few times and he is nothing but classy and humble. Still don't like Duke though.
And the Sparties didn't adjust to the refereeing as well as Butler.
Went to the same high school as Butler coach Brad Stevens albeit I'm about 6 years behind him and have played basketball summer league with him for years. The guy has got to be the most down to earth D1 college coach on the planet. He's seriously one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I'm rooting hard for him but honestly wouldn't mind seeing Coach K win another one. Especially since I find this Duke group of kids much less repugnant than his teams of the past.
MSU got to the Final Four from the free throw line. To complain about officiating would be kind of ridiculous.
I'm one who has kind of soured on basketball over the years because I feel officiating has too much a bearing on the outcome of a game.
I find it silly that a game so subjectively refereed has players being disqualified for a certain amount of "fouls" and the flow of the game can be so disrupted by officiating.
I'm from the "No bones sticking out of your body, no foul" school of thought.
Good point. Reffing doesn't HUGELY affect any other sport, right? *cough* NHL *cough* MLB *cough* college football *cough*
Without Howard and Mack this game will be tough, but I will still be cheering for Butler. Go Bulldogs!
Go Duke! I don't know why so many people dislike them, they are a respected program.
Yep, Coach K has clean coaching record much like Beilein. Huggie-Bear not so much.
That was some ugly basketball. When they cut away to Izzo, he just looked stunned.
Butler is one helluva story though!
that are done.
I'd be very happy if Mich were to ugly-win it's way into the championship game.
Go Bulldogs. Gotta love the Cinderella story.
most people don't pay attention to basketball, the media has hyped Butler as an underdog. Guess what their preseason ranking was this year? 10th in the nation. This Butler team is not a cinderella, they were a 5 seed (just like MSU). They have been to the tourney 8 years in a row, and have had 2 sweet 16's in the last 4 years. Now they have 21 straight wins and are one more away from making history.
Agree. Mid-major, like a microbrew, is mostly a measure of revenue, not quality.
That was awesome, I was so glad to see Michigan State lose. Definitely will be cheering for them to beat Duke, talk about another team I hate.
Hrmpf. For me, all the teams in the final four, including Butler, are problematic. Picking a rooting interest is like trying to decide the color of the shoes with which you would get kicked in the balls. Although this is the least Duke team in a very long time (they play with emotion, they are physical, they are equal parts ugly and precious), they're still Duke. WVU is dually problematic. Huggins is a dick (that team has ONE PLAYER on the roster from the state, and he rides pine), and, uh, well, that other, coach-grabbing thing. Butler has the same douche factor that Duke traditionally has, to me anyway. Moppy-haired, floppy white guys, and whiny guards. Call me a killjoy, but I was rooting against them all along (they got Duke calls in that last game, I thought). That leaves Sparty. My feelings about Sparty basketball are too complicated to reduce to a post. Followed them when they got jobbed in the tournament in '86 and '90 (I grew up liking both U-M and MSU... they got totally fucked in '90 by a Kenny Anderson shot after the buzzer, by the way), loved Shawn Respert, then went to Michigan and it all changed. Then I left the state, time passed, and I found myself respecting Tom Izzo because his coaching style reminds me, in certain respects, of one Glenn E. "Bo" Schembechler. Disciplined, defense-oriented, mentally tough teams. Plus some of the kids on that team played in my high school conference. I want to karate-chop strangers in the throat at the very thought of Dantonio; football is different. But Sparty was my "rooting interest" in the tournament (such as it was). As between Duke and Butler, I would have to pull for Butler, but I can't bring myself to hate this Duke team like I have hated others.
Mack will be playing, apparently he was dehydrated as a result of lingering effects of food poisoning or something.
Howard is a "game-day decision" but I have to think unless he's ordered not to play he's going to be playing. And he's due for a big game. Hell, Butler in general is due for a game where they actually shoot well.
Glad to hear it is likely that they will be close to 100% - they will need it. Good luck to them. I do not buy into all of the Cinderella stuff as has already been mentioned here, but they are certainly fighting the establishment in this game. Duke is the establishment personified.
The Chronicle of Higher Ed had an article today about how Butler is trying to deal with the hype and stay normal. They reported that the coach is making all the Butler players attend Monday classes. Damn.