Duke wins, Butler falls just short on final shot

It was the perfect story: the small school no one expected against the top-seeded superpower. The hometown team with homegrown players trying to make their dreams a reality. It was too close. How close? About one inch from victory.

 With time expiring, and Duke up by two, Butler’s Gordon Hayward threw up a miracle half-court three-pointer, which hit off the backboard, clanged the front of the rim, but didn’t fall through. Butler (No. 5 seed) players and coaches fell to the ground in agony. Duke Center Brian Zoubek held his fists over his head and ran down the court to his teammates in ecstasy.  The Butler dream was dead. 

Duke’s Kyle Singler was flattened by a wall of a screen from Butler center Matt Howard, and was on the floor during the final shot of the game. The pain he felt from the vicious pick was worsened when he saw that Hayward’s shot looked like it could be good, was then alleviated when the shot bounced off the rim. Singler went on to be named the Final Four’s most outstanding player. 

Sophomore Hannah Varnell thought Butler had the victory:

“I can’t believe it didn’t go in! Man, he hit the rim twice in 20 seconds, I really thought at least one of them was going to fall.”

Butler University is a small liberal arts school in Indianapolis, with about 4000 undergraduate students. Their basketball team wasn’t considered anything close to a contender. However, they won their conference this year, the Horizon League. The winners from smaller conferences aren’t usually taken that seriously, but Butler has shown that they can be a force to be reckoned with. 

Sophomore Chris Lutz has been keeping in touch with a friend who attends Butler University:

“He said it’s been insane at Butler these past two weeks. I mean, Butler barely beat Murray State (number thirteen seed) in the second round, so no one really saw this coming. When they beat Syracuse (number one seed) in the sweet sixteen, all hell broke loose. Their school is not much bigger than ours, so imagine what it would be like if our hockey team made it to the championship.” 

Meanwhile, Duke’s college basketball empire won their fourth championship under the famous coach Mike Krzyzewski, their first win since 2001. Duke continued the trend of favorites winning the tournaments, as they are the fifth number one seed to win the tournament in past 6sixyears.  After countless disappointments in the NCAA tournament in recent years, the Blue Devils finally put all the pieces together. 

Sophomore Bryan Willoughby visited Duke during their victory over West Virginia to put them in the finals:

“ I was at a bar in downtown Durham. It was packed with both Duke students and members of the community.  It was crazy. Everyone was freaking out when Duke won. They love Duke basketball down there. Everyone is very passionate about it,” said Willoughby. 

Nevertheless, this tournament run has been a godsend for the Butler Bulldogs. Almost every game was close, four of their five tournament victories came by a margin of seven or less. This loss also broke a streak of 25 straight victories by Butler. However, hopes are high for next season, as all three of Butler’s star players will return.  This tournament may also be a career maker for Butler head coach Brad Stevens. Stevens was the second youngest coach to coach in the NCAA championship game at age 33.