Butler crashes final four

If Las Vegas oddsmakers are right (and they often are), the Butler University men’s basketball team will play for the NCAA Championship on Monday. If you have not been following this year’s tournament, it’s understandable that you may be confused. The Final Four is usually reserved for powerhouse programs like Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas. Butler, despite its recent success, does not exactly fit amongst that group. 

It is for that very reason that the Buttler Bulldogs find themselves as the sentimental favorite in this year’s Final Four. If they are able to get past Michigan State, last year’s runner up and a perennial title contender, Butler will face either Duke or West Virginia in the title game. These two teams are loaded with talent that far eclipses that of Butler.

Despite conventional wisdom, it does seem possible, somehow, that a practically unknown Indiana college with less than 4,000 undergraduate students could be the next national champion. The chance that a team like Butler could find success is exactly what drives the popularity of the NCAA tournament. Sure, teams from the big conferences usually dominate, but there is always chance for a Cinderella team like Butler to emerge. 

The NCAA basketball tournament includes 64 teams that all begin the tournament with a chance, however slight in some cases, to be champions. This cannot be said for NCAA football, where the lack of a playoff system, or any system that would allow for the inclusion of more conferences, has caused controversy for years. The issue’s controversy may have peaked in 2008 when Barack Obama weighed in with his own proposal for a college football playoff system. Of course, college football officials were quick to dismiss the President’s ideas.

College football’s Bowl Championship Series system is likely to continue for one reason: money. The bowl system is extremely profitable for all involved (universities, conferences, television networks) and those with the real power have little incentive to change the status quo. Under the current system, teams from outside the top six conferences can go undefeated and still never get a chance at playing for a national championship. Butler, hailing from the obscure Horizon Conference, would never even have a chance. 

There are few quantifiable things that are equal between Butler in comparison to past champions Michigan State and Duke. Each of the traditional powers has more money, more fans, more accomplished coaches, and players that were highly-rated high school prospects. These facts are not likely to intimidate Butler. After all, they have already defeated a number one and number two seed. Despite the distinct differences between Butler and other teams, they continue to win. Two more wins and Butler could make a claim to being the NCAA’s greatest underdog in recent history. And it is the tournament, where 64 teams have a chance to become champions, that has made this improbable success story a reality. Under football’s current system, only the biggest conference teams have the opportunity to be champions.