Cinderella: The Sequel

Everyone loves Cinderella this time of year.  After all, half the fun of March Madness is rooting for the underdogs (unless they are playing against your favourite team, of course), and the NCAA Tournament never fails to deliver.  Year after year a scrappy, ragtag mid-major team pulls off a couple of upsets and makes a run in the tournament.  However, just like in the fairy tale, eventually the clock strikes midnight and the team’s chariot turns back into a pumpkin and the small school boys get bounced by one of the big dogs.

Apparently the Butler Bulldogs don’t believe in fairy tales.  They rode that chariot to within one jumpshot of the national title last season.  Now, even more improbably, they’re knocking on the national title door once again.  Cinderella teams aren’t supposed to make return appearances; they’re supposed to fade back into the darkness after their magical run, never to be heard from again.  And mid-major teams – even the “quasi mid-major” ones like Gonzaga or Memphis or Xavier – are NOT supposed to make return appearances to the Final Four.  In fact, they aren’t supposed to get there in the first place.  It really wasn’t that shocking that Butler came so close to winning it all last year – they were one of the top teams in the nation all season long, had a future top 10 NBA draft pick in Gordon Hayward plus two borderline NBA prospects in Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, they went undefeated in the Horizon League, and were actually the favoured team in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  This year is the total opposite – this year’s run is improbable.  Hayward is off in Salt Lake City, toiling away for the Jazz.  The Bulldogs dropped four games in their early non-conference schedule, including one to lowly Evansville at home.  They then went on to drop five more games in their conference schedule.  No, not much was expected of the Bulldogs this year, and as a number eight seed they were only a slight favourite to get past Old Dominion in the first round of the tourney.  But, lo and behold, Brad Stevens’ boys are back dancing in the Final Four.

So what does this all tell us?  That Stevens is the best young coach in the country (and one of the best coaches, period, regardless of age) and Butler will have a hell of a time keeping him long-term at the university.  And maybe the reason the clock never strikes midnight for this team is because they really aren’t  a Cinderella team.  Their results speak to this point – almost half (four) of the past nine Sweet Sixteens have included Butler, including the past two Final Fours.  These aren’t the results of a mid-major team or a Cinderella team – this is the resume of a big time, national power.  So, as improbable as this year’s run has seemed, we all shouldn’t be shocked that the Butler Bulldogs are back in the Final Four – for them, this is business as usual.