18
Aug
2010
Butler Game Changer
The difference in an inch could have not only changed last year’s college basketball national championship but could have radically altered its landscape. Last season ended when traditional powerhouse Duke was an inch away from losing to mid-major Butler in what would have been the most dramatic final shot in the history of the NCAA. Gordon Hayward’s half court three point shot was barely off and Duke won 61-59. A stern poker faced Mike Krzyzewski watched all game as the mid-major school went toe-to-toe with his McDonalds All-American packed roster and the viewing public was reminded once again that anything can and will happen in college basketball.
Had Butler won the game, would it have transformed the sport as much as say Chris Moneymaker coming from nowhere to win the World Series of Poker? It’s an easy comparison to make with smooth professional gambler Sammy Farha playing the role of heavy favorite foil as Duke did to Butler. Moneymaker’s titanic upset, in poker, created a revolution with a boom of new players, influx of attention, and sports industry. Would a Butler win been just as transformative?
The answer may surprise you. It’s quite possible the Butler win could have been seismic.
In a world where Butler can win the National Championship every coach can explain to a recruit that a National title is possible at their school. You don’t have to be a Blue Devil to get there, you don’t need the facilities of Kentucky, or the TV contract of the Big East. Coaches can say to recruits, you can be a Richmond Spider, a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug, or a Coastal Carolina Chanticleer and still have hope. Granted mid-majors have won in the past, and programs have ascended to National prominence like Gonzaga or Indiana State and descended like UNLV or Indiana State, and from out of the blue George Mason went all the way to the semis, but in recent years the BCS schools have separated themselves a bit from the pack.
Money, TV, facilities and a sizzle factor has made it seem all the harder for small schools to chase their dreams. The big schools have increased the separation between the haves and the have nots in college basketball. AAU programs funnel players to the big boys, where they are enticed by private jets, and sumptuous locker rooms. The fact that some can offer pro-level amenities to many high school players almost makes the choice between a mid-major like Butler that plays in a 70 year old field house and a BCS team like trying to decide to stay at a motel or a Ritz Carlton.
Those factors wouldn’t go away with a Butler win, but the inevitability of the winner coming from one of six conferences would have disappeared. A player would understand you don’t need a great facility, tradition, or program to win it all. You can win it anywhere. In Butler winning world, a player may not have go far from home to play at school for fear of not playing for a national championship. If he wanted to pursue a leadership major at say, Richmond that wasn’t offered at Memphis, he could follow that path and not worry as much about getting shut-out of the big dance.
Players would understand they can go where they want, still get noticed, still become stars, and still have a say in the biggest tournament frenzy in the United States. Used to be a Cinderella had a special place in history when it won a game or two. The game has changed. While the unpredictable championship runs of NC State and Villanova in the 80s were big stories they played in a major conference. A Butler win is the antithesis of a major winning.
Unlike UNLV, which was loaded with a glamour coach, glamour players, and had as much TV time as an ACC school in the 90s, Butler was an old fashioned dark horse. As a program they slowly got better every year and stood toe-to-toe in the National Championship game with the epitome of excellence in the sport, Duke. The class ranks of their names Butler and Duke couldn’t have been any more accurate as it related to the college basketball landscape, if only the Butler had done it.
A Butler win would have transformed everything. The World Series of Poker understood and marketed the Moneymaker effect to the masses with the underlying theme anybody can win. A Butler win would have enabled coaches at the other 200 schools not in a major conference to not only say the same but say it with a straight face. Now, because of three quarter court shot that was off by inch, Butler will merely be a footnote in history rather than a game changer.
