A year after their amazing run to the title game, the Bulldogs are back for more

SCOTT JACOBS

They’re back!

And they just will not die.

Led by the unconquerable heart of a champion and the will to fight another day in yet another improbable NCAA Tournament run, Butler is not only alive and well, they’re heading back to the Final Four, securing another berth because they simply refused to wilt.

Brad Edwards just became an even hotter coaching commodity (I didn’t know that was possible) as Butler overcame an 11 point second half deficit to outlast a really good Florida Gators team.

Anchored by their upperclass leaders Shelvin Mack (junior) and Matt Howard (senior) the Bulldogs of Butler had just enough bite left to stage a wild comeback, sending the Twitter-verse into Gus Johnson fever as the Bulldogs and Gators staged an instant classic.

And in the time you could say “what just happened to my brack–” Butler is back to the final weekend, no longer a novelty, just a national love-affair.  In front of a clear pro-Butler crowd despite being 825 miles from their campus in Indiana, the Dogs advanced to not only the Final Four, but to clear national relevence.  A year after making it to the Championship game, Butler is back in the Final Four as an 8 seed, an even more surprising story than when they advanced as a 5 seed.

To get here they had to beat Pitt (Big East), Wisconsin (Big10) and Florida (SEC) so no one will be doubting whether they belong.  Some teams just shine brighter when the spotlight is on, and that is Butler to a tee.  When everyone doubts them they win.  And after a somewhat up and down season after losing their star Gordon Hayward to the Utah Jazz few expected Butler to be a power again.  They weren’t in the regular season.  But the regular season doesn’t matter if you can turn it up during tourney time.  Butler has that part down pat.

There’s nothing pretty about Butler’s game.  Their shooting for much of the second half was dreadful.  But they’re tough and they’re wily and they clamp down on defense when they find themselves pinned against the ropes.  And that my friends, is why they’re off to Houston and the Final Four.

Again.

Photo: AP

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