Butler barely misses a Hollywood finish

The world is not a good place.

If it was, Gordon Hayward's 45 foot prayer would have hit the backboard just one inch lower, banking in instead of bouncing harmlessly off the rim. Butler not only would have won the national title in their home city, they not only would have beaten Duke to win that national title, they would have done it on arguably the single greatest play in college basketball history.

Hell, it would have ranked among the greatest plays in the history of sports, period. Butler's win would have gone down as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports. Sure, how great this Duke team really was would have been overstated, and there's no doubt that the talent gap between the two teams would have increased with each successive telling of the story.

It would have been to perfect movie ending. Think about it. It seems like every sports movie has the absurdly perfect, hero-makes-an-inhumanly-awesome-play finish that seems just a bit too far-fetched to be believable. This would have been that ending.



Butler, the ever-likable underdog with the baby-faced coach, hangs tough with the big, bad Duke Blue Devils. As Duke looks like they are starting to pull away late, Matt Howard, the loveable-but-struggling star, scores the two biggest baskets off his life, ending an 11 minute stretch without a field goal. After getting a stop, Gordon Hayward, the best player and future NBA two guard, misses a tough jumper. A questionable coaching decision by Coach K, the coach of the villains everyone loves to hate, to miss the second free throw leaves the door open, and Hayward redeems himself by drilling a 45 foot prayer off the glass, giving the Bulldogs the win in a storybook finish.

If you were a screenwriter, isn't that how the script for Hoosiers 2 would go?

But that isn't what happened. There would be no Hollywood ending in Indianapolis.

Instead, the evil empire won their fourth title in the last two decades. And while it was a disappointing end to a fantastic tournament, I am finding it very difficult to hate to justify any hatred of this Duke team.

Nolan Smith lost his father when he was eight years old, and in winning a title this year, he duplicated a feat his father pulled off exactly 30 years ago in the very same city.

Brian Zoubek is the big, white stiff that is about as coordinated as an erector set and throws a cheap shot or three every game, but he is also a kid that had very high expectations, battling through injuries and a lack of playing time for three and a half seasons before likely playing his way into an NBA paycheck these last six weeks.

Kyle Singler is the opaque-skinned all-american forward who resembles the scream mask, but the determination he played with last night -- knocking down big shot after big shot and forcing Gordon Hayward into a miss on Butler's second to last possession -- left me quite impressed.

Jon Scheyer is the heir to the throne of Duke's hated white guard, but he isn't cocky like JJ, or slapping the floor like Wojo, or flopping every three seconds like Paulus. In fact, Scheyer was the only Duke player to go and shake the hands of the Butler kids after the game.

Go ahead and be disappointed about Butler's loss. In fact, I encourage it. Let that feeling sink in, and then go out and protest the insanity of expanding the tournament to 96 teams.

Hate the world for taking away what could have been the greatest story in the history of sports.

Hate the NCAA for ruining the best sporting event there is after this season.

But don't hate these Blue Devils.