Final Four is nice, but these Dawgs can do better

By Matt Vachlon

Before I’m accused of being arrogant, let me first admit that Saturday will go down as one of the greatest days of my life as a sports fan. I’ve never been so nervous about a game, and that includes watching the White Sox go all the way in 2005. But after the Butler defense locked down the Kansas State scoring duo of Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, the Butler Bulldogs will be playing in the Final Four, in Indianapolis.

Let me repeat, Butler is in the Final Four. Saying those words continues to blow my mind.

With that said, over the next week you’re going to hear a lot of "Hoosiers" references and there’s also the storyline of Butler being the first amongst its peers, Xavier and Gonzaga, to reach the Final Four. Those stories are nice and they each have their fair share of validity, but they each miss the major storyline behind Butler’s Final Four run.

These Bulldogs have a legitimate chance to win the national championship.

I know I’m getting ahead of myself and no one dislikes looking ahead more than head coach Brad Stevens. But it’s not like the team hasn’t already acknowledged this as its goal.

And they have legitimate reasons to be confident.

For starters, while every Butler fan knows the team has had its fair share of doubters throughout each round, each ensuing victory has more and more given the team the look of a champion. Against UTEP the Bulldogs made outstanding halftime adjustments, they gutted out a victory against Murray State when they weren’t at their best and they withstood late charges by both Syracuse and Kansas State, the top two seeds in their region.

Instead of wilting under the pressure this team has risen to the occasion. The nation’s sixth best defense in the country, according to Pomeroy, has held all four of its NCAA Tournament opponents below 60 points, including holding Syracuse and Kansas State to their lowest totals of the season. And the Bulldogs bona fide stars have shown up as Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack have scored in double figures in each game and Matt Howard has been solid when he hasn’t been plagued by foul trouble.

Still, it’s always acknowledged that things need to fall into place for a champion and Butler has seemingly had those intangibles as well.

The Bulldogs have had players step up as Ron Nored made clutch shots in both the Murray State and Syracuse games and seldom-used backup center Andrew Smith logged 12 key minutes for the foul-plagued Howard in the victory against Kansas State. They’ve made the hustle plays as epitomized by Hayward and Howard each laying out to knock balls into the backcourt on key defensive possessions against Murray State and Kansas State respectively. And finally, they’ve made the lucky plays like this shot (about 1:35 into the clip) by Willie Veasley against Syracuse.

Butler will no doubt have its hands full with Michigan State next weekend as every team that gets this far is obviously very good. And only one team can cut down the nets. Just don’t be totally surprised if the Bulldogs are that team.