This week’s Final Four in Indianapolis has almost everything for the bracket-busted.
It has two coaches who have made the Final Four almost their personal postseason. You have a coach trying to lift his alma mater to its first national title. You have your basic hometown Cinderella in which Butler’s Bulldogs will get real tired of seeing “Hoosiers” clips.
What it doesn’t have makes these matchups even more intriguing. Look at the four teams — Duke, West Virginia, Michigan State and Butler — and find the one bona fide, agent-chasing, NBA lottery-heading superstar.
The only player gracing The Associated Press’ three All- America teams is Duke senior guard Jon Scheyer, a second- teamer.
No star power? No problem.
“It’s refreshing to see four teams where team is the most important thing,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said in a teleconference Monday. “It’s enjoyable and refreshing to watch teams that rely on each other to advance rather than just one person.”
With no superstar players, the top story line in Indianapolis will be a bunch of guys from down the street — literally. Butler is 5 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, marking the first time since UCLA won the 1972 title at the L.A. Sports Arena that a school reached the Final Four in its hometown. When the Bulldogs returned from winning the West Regional in Salt Lake City, the crowd greeting them at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse was massive.
It was 3 a.m.
Monday morning, Butler coach Brad Stevens went to the gym to watch tape, and the line to buy tickets encircled the fieldhouse. However, he won’t say that Saturday’s semifinal against Michigan State, a fellow No. 5 seed, will be like a snake pit for Michigan State.
For one thing, Hinkle seats 11,043. Lucas Oil seats 70,000.
“Everybody talks about it being a home game for us, but Michigan State played games there already,” Stevens said. “They won the national title here in 2000. They won a regional last year in Lucas Oil. This is Butler country, but it’s also Big Ten country.”
Izzo is dealing with his own distractions. Reports out of Oregon have the Ducks ready to offer him their head coaching job, but Izzo said Monday he has not been contacted by the school.
The biggest question in the West Virginia-Duke game is the status of Mountaineers point guard Darryl Bryant. He broke his foot last Tuesday. Doctors have cleared him to play, but coach Bob Huggins said he won’t know until practice today and Wednesday if Bryant can go. Duke will practice thinking it’ll be Joe Mazzulla, a veteran who helped West Virginia beat Duke in the second round two years ago.
“He had a phenomenal performance a couple years ago against us,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, in his 11th Final Four. “He almost had a triple-double. He’s a winner. He’s going to fight you.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
