NEW ORLEANS — Only one college basketball program has reached the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in the past two years.
No, it’s not Duke. It’s not Kentucky or Kansas.
It’s the one Butler Bulldogs. After beating the offensively inept Wisconsin Badgers, 61-54 in their NCAA Sweet 16 game Thursday night at New Orleans Arena, it’s time to stop referring to Butler as Cinderella, or a small-program underdog.
Sandbaggers, maybe. But victory on college basketball’s biggest stages should not be unexpected from a program that has gone 115-24 the past four seasons under coach Brad Stevens.
Then again, Butler does have a way of lulling giant-sized programs into a false sense of security. The same Bulldogs who just six weeks ago were reeling with three consecutive losses to Milwaukee, Valparaiso and Youngstown State are one win away from their second consecutive Final Four.
“When life gets hard, you’re going to quit?” Butler senior guard Shawn Vanzant said. “No, you still go at it.”
Matt Howard, a 6-foot-8 senior center, led Butler with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Butler, the No. 8 seed, will play No. 2 seed Florida on Saturday.
Where have you gone, Gordon Hayward? The versatile forward was Butler’s best player last season, leading the team to the NCAA championship game where his half-court shot at the buzzer banked a little too hard in a 61-59 defeat to Duke.
Hayward left college early for the NBA and the Utah Jazz, but Butler has adjusted. It took a while, as those three consecutive defeats against Horizon League opponents left Butler with a 14-9 record.
The Bulldogs have gone 12-0 since their Horizon stumble, the last three victories coming in the NCAA Tournament. After beating Old Dominion on a Matt Howard tip-in at the buzzer, and No. 1-seed Pitt on a Howard free throw with 0.8 seconds left, Butler was able to clear its bench in the final seconds against Wisconsin.
Have the Badgers scored yet? With 3:10 remaining in the first half, carrot-top forward Mike Bruesewitz made two free throws to give Wisconsin 24 points. Butler had 29, but still the Badgers were in it.
The Badgers didn’t score in the final 3:10 of the first half. They didn’t score during the 20-minute intermission. They didn’t score until Bruesewitz posted up and converted a 3-point play with 14:03 remaining in the second half.
During that scoring drought of little more than nine minutes of game clock, Butler went on a 13-0 run. Look at the final score to see how much that cold spell cost Wisconsin.
