Although mid-major teams have produced some of the most thrilling upsets in recent March Madness history, they rarely are ranked among the elite squads in the nation. This year's Butler Bulldogs are poised to buck that trend.
The preseason Top 25 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll ranked Butler 10th in the country, and the Bulldogs retained that position through Week 1 with a 73-62 win over Davidson on Saturday. They are one of only two mid-major teams ranked in the Top 25 — along with the Dayton Flyers — and are the first mid-major team to earn a preseason top-10 berth in nearly a decade.
But the Bulldogs, under the tutelage of third-year head coach Brad Stevens, aren't about to stop there. Stevens, 33, is one of the youngest coaches in the nation, but he is already considered among the elite. In his first two years at Butler's helm, Stevens guided the Bulldogs to a combined 56-10 regular season record, including a 31-5 mark in conference play. Stevens was the Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2009, and he is the third-youngest coach to lead his team to a 30-win season in NCAA Div. I history.
Perhaps the only blemish on Stevens' short résumé has been his inability to help the Bulldogs reach the latter stages of the NCAA Tournament. Butler has yet to earn a berth in the Sweet 16 after two trips to the big dance under Stevens, and the Bulldogs were edged 75-71 by Louisiana State in the first round of last year's tourney. Butler has also made nine March Madness appearances without having reached the Elite Eight.
As they begin to work through a 30-game slate that includes showdowns against a pair of top-25 teams — No. 20 Georgetown on Dec. 8 and No. 15 Ohio State on Dec. 12 — the Bulldogs have one crucial advantage over many of their opponents. Butler's 2009-10 squad returns all five of last year's starters — including three sophomores (guards Robert Nored and Shelvin Mack and forward Gordon Hayward), a junior (forward Matt Howard) and a senior (swingman Willie Veasley) — whose experience will prove valuable throughout the campaign, particularly in the postseason tournaments.
The hallmark of last year's Butler team was a stifling defense that held opponents to a lowly 38.5 field goal percentage, and the Bulldogs will need to continue shutting down enemy attacks in order to maintain their success. Offensively, Butler is a balanced squad, but it does not light up the scoreboard nearly as well as many of their competitors. Howard was Butler's leading scorer during the 2008-09 campaign, averaging 14.8 points per game, with Hayward not far behind at 13.1.
Yet, as a mid-major coach, Stevens does not have the luxury of a sharpshooting superstar — such as former Davidson standout Stephen Curry, who almost singlehandedly led the Wildcats to the Elite Eight two years ago — or of stars with the height and wingspan of those who led coach John Calipari's Memphis squad to three consecutive Elite Eight appearances between 2006 and 2008.
What he does have, though, is a group of collegiate veterans who excel on defense and come up big when the game is on the line. Offensively, while Butler had a tendency to fall behind in the early minutes of games last season, the Bulldogs poured in the buckets down the stretch, outscoring their opponents by an average of just over six points in the second half.
Defense, clutch shooting, experience and shrewd coaching are the four most important factors that portend success in Div. I college basketball, and the Butler Bulldogs possess all of them. They are deserving of the preseason top-10 ranking that has been bestowed upon them, and they have what it takes to make a run at the first mid-major national championship since the 1966 Texas Western squad's legendary trip down "Glory Road" under the late Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins.
When the Final Four tips off at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on April 3, the Butler Bulldogs could very well be alive and kicking in front of their hometown crowd.
