March Madness--This Year's Butler Could Be...Butler
Written by T Reginald Sykes, Monday January 09 2012
Oh, this is hilarious. Who thought of this?
We have a final four that consists of teams whom themselves wonder what the #%@& happened.
For the first time in history, four "Cinderella" stories will square off in a battle for the NCAA Basketball National Championship. This is a Final Four that is so unlikely that of over five million brackets submitted to ESPN's bracket challenge, only two people picked all of this season's Final Four teams. Just two?
I'm no genius but my math tells me that that those odds are one in...in...in a lot!
So, if you thought your bracket was a mess, look at anyone else's. Mine looks like hell.
And who are these two people who got all four right? I'd love to take them to Vegas with me. Chances are they made their picks by throwing darts and choosing colors. Maybe a Butler graduate, married to a VCU alumn whose kids go to UConn?
NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD HAVE PICKED THESE FOUR!!!
If God had a bracket, He wouldn't have picked this quartet.
As many of us are, we love to see set of glass slippers enter the ball at the "Sweet Sixteen" portion of the party. Then reality sets in and you're left with warm and fuzzy feelings from that team any time their particular school is mentioned.
Well, things have never been fuzzier because somebody has to win this mess.
People are still talking about George Mason's Final Four run of 2006. But reality set in on them, too.
However, this year, reality never set in. Plainly and simply, we have four teams that have no logical business being alive at this point of the tournament.
This just shows how much closer to equal NCAA teams are than we realize.
When we reached the "Sweet Sixteen," there had been so many upsets that many fans ( well, at least myself, ) began rooting for teams that they had pegged for defeat.
About a minute after the opening tip, I was rooting for Virginia Commonwealth to crush Kansas. The Jayhawks were my only remaining final four pick. ( West Virginia, Pittsburgh and San Diego State all bit the dust far to early. ) I realized that we are all hoping to witness a breakthrough for a Mid-major program and entering the "Sweet Sixteen" round everyone could see that this year we may have another unexpected guest at the Final Four, this year's version of Butler.
Well, this year's Butler...is Butler. They were supposed to be a flash in the pan but they could be considerd the favorite among this bunch. They have been there and were within an inch of winning the whole ball of wax, last season. They earned their way into the tournament without much fanfare and although they lost Gordon Heayward, their leading scorer last season, this team is back. At this point, a National Championship for Butler would shock their own fans more than it would anyone else.
It is difficult to fit Kentucky and Connecticut into the "glass slipper" category, but if you look at it, they are the least likely of this foursome to still have life.
Connecticut is a great team and they have had one of college basketball"s most consistantly solid programs for a couple of decades. They are not part of the "up and comings" for sure.
However, they had to go through a gauntlet during the Big East Tournament, playing ( and winning ) five games in five days. All of the experts had this team losing in the second round just based on a supposed fatigue factor.
Well, they didn't look tired when they reeled off four wins to get this far. The UConn Huskies are a dangerous team and it could be they ar the Nation's best team. But, then again, they aren't supposed to be here.
John Calipari is not a coach to take lightly . His Kentucky Wildcats are an outstanding bunch of kids. But just that...kids. They don't know what they're doing yet. This team is supposed to ease their way into this type of limelight.
Kentucky was one of last year's best teams, losing in the Elite 8 to West Virginia. Then they lose John Wall, Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe in the first round of last year's NBA Draft.
How does a school lose it's four best player and still get to the tournament? Now how do they get to the Final Four. I'm dubbing this guy with a nickname and getting a patten to retain the rights.
From this day foreward, He is to be known as "Coach Cal." ( Okay, I stole that from the radio. ) Whatever the case, having the best coach could give a team the best advantage in the Final Four.
Now we get to the new media darlings. The Virginia Commonwealth Rams didn't deserve to be in this season's tounament. Does anyone remember all of the experts crying about this a couple of weeks ago?
Alabama, Colorado, Virginia Tech and our local St. Mary's Gaels all felt slighted and VCU was the primary target of their frustration. This group took a pounding from the media.
Fans in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia were behind the Richmond Spiders. Not the VCU Rams.
But If the Rams happen to beat Butler and win the title over Kentucky, they will have beaten a team from last season's finals and one team from each of the "Power Conferences." And they had to play an extra game to get this far.
They beat USC (Pac 10) then followed it up by beating Georgetown ( Big East, ) Michigan State ( Big Ten,) the ACC's Florida State and the #1 seeded Kansas of the Big 12. Knocking off Kentucky of the SEC should be easy.
Whatever happens, their season was a major success.
Anyway, through all of this rant, I almost feel obligated to through my infinite wisdom into the spotlight and pick a team from this mess.
Huh, guess again. I just wanted to get my name in print .
Good luck trying to make sense of this one. But I think sense went out the window in this tourney.
I like VCU...But then there's Butler. Can't count out UConn, either. And don't forget about Coach Cal and Kentucky.
Yeah. this year's Butler could be...any one of these four. Have fun watching.
And LET"S GO...SOMEBODY!!!?????
You fill in the blank.
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