A picture is worth a thousand words. This one will hurt for a while.
The worst-case scenario happened at the most-inconvenient time. In Butler’s second chance at an NCAA Championship, they struggled from the outset, falling 53-41 to Connecticut.
What this group has done cannot be underestimated or forgotten. They put Butler on the national map, proved last year wasn’t a fabrication and that they were no Cinderella.
They belong.
Ultimately this year, Butler may be remembered for their poor shooting in the title game rather than what got them there. They missed 23 of their first 25 shots to start the second half. Heck, Butler hit just three 2-pt field goals in the entire game.
The Dawgs will go down in history, but not for particularly what they wanted. They shot just 18.8 percent from the field (12-64), the record for a national championship game. Also their 41 points set a new low for fewest points in a game during the shot-clock era.
Butler tallied just one field goal in the paint (outscored 26-2) and just two points off the bench when Ronald Nored hit two free throws. Those numbers won’t get it done.
Junior Shelvin Mack and senior Matt Howard combined to shoot 5-30 from the floor. With percentages like that, it’s tough to beat anybody.
“We shot as poorly as we did and I know it was pretty bad. We kept thinking shots were going in and that’s the mindset you have to have,” Matt Howard said following the game.
Howard arguably goes down as the best Butler player of all-time. What he has done for this program is monumental, and as I wrote last month, he deserves to be the first Bulldog with his jersey hanging from the rafters of Hinkle Fieldhouse. As for what Howard meant to this program from Coach Steven’s perspective, he couldn’t begin to explain the magnitude of his importance.
“Matt never took a day off in four years,” Brad Steven said. “Even when he got his concussion against UIC, he was mad as heck at our trainer because our trainer wouldn’t let him play but he was right there in practice. For four years, 6 a.m. practice after 6 a.m. practice, that kid never took one day off.”
UConn head coach Jim Calhoun, 68, became the oldest coach to ever win an NCAA Championship and joins the elite company of John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight to win three NCAA titles.
[Note: Butler had planned to return on campus Tuesday at 4 p.m., with a celebration held at Hinkle Fieldhouse. However, after two flight delays in Houston, the event has been postponed to Wednesday at 4 p.m. The doors open at 3p.m. and WISH-TV’s Anthony Calhoun will emcee the event.]
An impressive new technology allows fans to control a high-resolution image to see themselves or others in attendance at the Men’s Final Four. See it here from SI.com.
One of the highlights of every National Championship game is the closing of the season with One Shining Moment. The 2011 video is below.
Follow Scott on twitter @ScottAgness.