Last night was a game to remember. No. 8 Butler became the first team in the 2011 NCAA Tournament to knock off a number one seed, defeating Pittsburgh 71-70. Not only was the size of the feat impressive but the last 7.1 seconds will stick in the minds of basketball fans forever.
Those 7.1 seconds felt like 20 minutes in real-time. Andrew Smith seemed to have locked up the win after a well-executed play that left Smith with a layup. But not so fast.
Pittsburgh inbounded the ball and junior Shelvin Mack did the unthinkable. Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown rushed the ball up the floor and fired a shot up from the half court sideline after feeling the heat from Mack.
“Once the call was made, I realized that was the dumbest mistake of my life…but then the dude from Pittsburgh made up for me,” Mack said.
What could have been the worst basketball memory in the life of Mack, turned into a learning experience for himself, his teammates and basketball players around the country.
Prior to the free throws, Mack stood at the free throw line trash talking, if you will, to Brown. Mack elaborated on what he said after the game.
“I just asked him where he was from,” Mack said. “Just simple questions — just to talk to him a little bit. I told him I was from Lexington (Ky.) and had a 3.0, just stuff like that.”
Brown made the first to tie the game up at 70 but missed the second and the game then should have headed into overtime. Nasir Robinson fouled Butler’s Matt Howard on the rebound and Howard, the smart player that he is, launched the ball towards his basket – nearly 90 feet and earned the call.
The first thing I’m wondering is with 1.4 seconds remaining, nothing good can come for Pitt if the free throw is missed. I don’t understand why head coach Jamie Dixon didn’t pull all his players back to midcourt to prevent what indeed happened.
Up until the final 7.1 seconds, Shelvin Mack had a brilliant day scoring 30 points (7 of 12 from downtown), a tournament record by a Butler player.
And what a class act Brad Stevens is. The first thing he did in his postgame interview was empathize how Pittsburgh lost.
“I’ll be honest, as a competitive guy I feel bad for Pittsburgh…They were the better team most of the second half,” Stevens said.
The Bulldogs are turning into Americas team. Who doesn’t want to see the former Cinderella and now ever-consistent team advance. It all starts with the head coach. He didn’t waste his time running up and down the sidelines, barking at officials and losing control.
And how cool is Stevens. Following the win, he continued the chest bump tradition (that became popular last postseason) with one of the of the walk-on players. Video here.
At 34, its remarkable what this young coach has done in his fourth year as Butler’s head coach. His calm demeanor and winning mentality has him now 8-3 in the NCAA Tournament. Even his peers are taking notice.
“If Cool Hand Luke, Brad Stevens, is the future of college basketball as a coach, we are in great hands,” Louisville head coach Rick Pitino on the CBS studio set.
The Dawgs earned their way back to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in five seasons. With the win, they are headed to the The Big Easy, meeting Wisconsin Thursday. Tip-off set for 9:57 p.m on TBS.