Everyone has been telling us that Butler is not the Cinderella story, that they were ranked in the 11 spot early on. What these network gurus are missing is that this team is not a high major hoop brand, rated or not. And if they really were 11th best, why did they get such a crummy seed? Anyway, in my mind they are the Cinderella team in an upset laden tournament.
Butler won ugly versus Michigan State. My argument for pro basketball being far superior to college needed no more story line than Butler going scoreless for over 10 minutes and still winning. This would never happen in the pros, and remember, this is the 2nd best team in college basketball. The pro players are bigger, faster, better and stronger. The worst team, the Nets, would beat whomever wins tomorrow by 20 to 30. Much much better coaching in the NBA and a much faster game. College offenses are like comparing grade school math to a NASA rocket scientist when compared to the NBA. Remember college gurus Pitino and Calipari want nothing to do with the NBA. Just another pretty face in the NBA but on the college level the top dogs. Not downgrading college because the tournament turns what is basically a really irrelevant season into arguably the best event of the year.
Duke has made a believer out of me once again. They are big, and deep. Bob Knight had a talk with Johnny Orr once about Michigan when they were going to play. Orr was describing his team as having an all Big Ten champion sprinter, an All American long jumper as well as other track speed. As Orr walked away Knight said something to the effect of "Johnny, tomorrow we are playing a basketball game." This is what Duke has...basketball players. You hear how athletic the other teams are, but those teams still have to make shots. Duke makes shots. It reminds me of what Bum Phillips, the old Oilers coach said after a scouting combine. "I don't care how athletic these guys are, at the end of the day you still have to be able to play football."
Duke should win Monday, BUT, the charm of the NCAA tournament is that it is not best of 7, it is a one game shot. In an NBA best of 7 the best team comes out on top. This is a different game, so give Butler a shot. The team that was designed to beat Duke, with size and shooting and defense has been eliminated...Kansas.
Finally, I have never seen a more compelling scene than when Bob Huggins hugged his player, DeShawn Butler when he suffered a terrible injury competing against Duke. He cradled the players head and really displayed unconditional love like I have never seen at any level by a coach. Butler is a real quality kid who is graduating and won an award that basically named him citizen of the year, based on a combination of grades and voluteer work. I was sort of mad that the network kept the mike on long after Butler went down, capturing his screams. He was in terrible pain and it just seemed like they dwelled on it morbidly.
Have a happy tournament and Monday we will see if the slipper fits.
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