Butler Comes This Close To Beating Duke

• Author: Min-Q Kim
• Posted on: Tuesday April 6, 2010 at 4:00 PM
• Filed under: sports, college basketball, butler, duke, national championship, ncaa tournament, gordon hayward, mike krzyzewski, brad stevens, final four, exclusive

"Hayward...at midcourt. Lauches the shot...!" 

GOL-LY! You thought it was good. Did you not?

Monday night, little school-that-could Butler came within inches -- and I mean inches -- of beating big bad Duke for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. Gordon Hayward put up a halfcourt shot as the buzzer sounded that banked off the backboard, and caromed off the front rim. A gut-wrenching, heartbreaking end in what could have been a dream season for the little school in Indiana. In case you missed it...

When everyone's balls dropped back down from their stomachs, you had to give a proverbial slow-clap for the kids of Butler and what will go down in history as one of the more valiant NCAA Tournament runs ever staged. They went from playing a Bracket Buster game, to a five-seed, to the Final Four in their hometown, to center stage in the National Championship game, with the ball in the air as the buzzer sounded for all the marbles.

Now listen, Butler is a young team, believe it or not... Hayward and Shelvin Mack are their two NBA prospects, but they're both sophomores and should come back. They lose one senior and everyone else, it goes without saying, will return. Though, we can't get over this nagging suspicion about whether the talented young coach, Brad Stevens (a fresh-faced 33 years), will stay -- espcially with a high-profile job vacancy at Oregon, with all their Nike spoils. As it stands, Butler is looking at a pre-season ranking in the single digits next year. Last night's game will change Butler's standing in the college basketball scene, as you only get to be a "come from nowhere" team just once. They'll be looked at and treated like a big-time program: favorites to win games, nationally televised, dates their opponents will circle on their calendars. And it's all because of these last six wonderful games, five of them wins.

On the flip side, Coach K and his Duke program are now without question the best college basketball program in the land. Who could argue? He just won his fourth title, which jumps past the legendary Bob Knight, and ties him with Adolph Rupp. Who is Adolph Rupp? Well, The Kentucky Wildcats play their games in a building named in his honor, so...

But all of this seems somewhat irrelevant, with this game still pretty fresh in our minds. For now, we just want to tip our caps to Coach Stevens and his Butler Bulldogs. What a game. And while the team that loses often disappears from memory, we suspect this will be a little different. Butler was the story here, and just may lay claim to the lasting legacy of this game, even in defeat.

But man alive. I thought that shot was good.

Heartbreak for Butler.

 
The Duke bench celebrates.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski cements his place in the pantheon of legendary coaches...

...with his fourth National Championship trophy.

(All photos by Getty Images)

And what would the tournament be without the "One Shining Moment" highlight montage?

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