Butler guard Gordan Hayward grabbed the rebound with less than 4-seconds left, dribbled up the court and launched a half court shot which appeared dead on...
For that moment the 70,000 fans in Lucas Oil Stadium as well as the millions watching the television broadcast all thought that David could have just knocked off Goliath. Butler, a small college from the Horizon league could have shocked the 1-seeded ACC powerhouse Duke.
As the buzzer went off Hayward’s shot hit the rim and went out; the game was over. Duke was crowned the national champions in a 61-59 thriller.
Butler for that two hour game had its most fans ever, people packed into bars and cheered for the underdog small school playing only six miles from its Indianapolis campus.
All of this, came because of what some claim is the greatest playoff system in sports, The NCAA College Basketball 65- Team Tournament.
If this were football’s BCS version, Kansas and Kentucky would have been squaring off in the championship game, not a small 4,000 student liberal arts college named Butler.
The NCAA tournament stands for what college athletics should be. All 347 men’s Divison-1 basketball teams have an equal opportunity to win the tournament and be crowned number one in the land.
That is why every small school Monday night was cheering and pulling for Butler.
Butler provided the vision everyone wanted to see; a Goliath winning it all.
Dear NCAA please keep the tournament at 65 teams, it is truly one of the greatest events.
-A. Ivins
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