Brad Stevens did the impossible in 2009-10 when he led his Butler Bulldogs to the national championship game against Duke and came one basket away from leaving the NCAA college basketball tournament as champions. Stevens has now trumped that in 2010-11, as he has Butler back in the Final Four, one step away from his second straight championship game experience. In the Final Four conference call on Monday morning, Stevens talked about what it was like for a mid-major to continuously crash the Big Dance.
“I think the teams that play the best basketball in the tournament are the teams that have a chance to win the tournament,” Stevens said. “It doesn't matter where you're from or how big your football program is or how much money is in your athletic department. It's about a group of kids coming together that five guys play on a court a once hopefully believing together that give you a great shot to compete.
“It's the wonderful thing about college basketball. Every year we get into the argument about football, what if Boise had a shot, what if TCU had a shot, whatever the case may be. There's no politics in this. There's a 40‑minute basketball game. That's the beautiful thing about it.”
This weekend, Butler will not be the underdog trying to get into the big game because their opponent is a VCU team that many analysts said did not belong in the NCAA college basketball tournament at all. Yet, VCU is now heading up against last year’s Cinderella team and one of them will end up in the 2011 finals.
“I know Shaka (Smart). I'm more likely to watch them than I am the teams that are on TV every night,” Stevens admitted. “I think if I can find a VCU game that I get a chance to watch, I'd rather watch that than watch a BCS school that has been on 10 times in the last two months.
“He's done a remarkable job, incredibly bright guy. His team takes on his persona. I have a lot of respect for him. That's not because of what he's done this year, it's because I known him since he was an assistant at Akron. It was evident he was a bright, up‑and‑comer at that point.”
However, Butler is the team with the big game experience, a team that almost won it all last year. Led by Shelvin Mack, the Butler Bulldogs have as much a chance to win the title as anyone in the Final Four this year. However, Stevens refuses to overlook VCU this Saturday.
“I think VCU and Butler played with a lot of pressure in January and February,” Stevens said. “When you get into the tournament, that pressure may flip a little bit. We're playing loose, we're playing for the first time in a lot of ways in a couple months where you've already been playing basically where you feel like you can't lose. So you're already used to that.
“So the NCAA tournament is a welcome. I think both teams have played really, really well because of that. Certainly they've got a lot more reasons than that. They are a loaded team that is really well‑coached.”
Butler and VCU play Saturday, April 2 at 6:09 pm in the Final Four.
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