Butler earns return trip to Final Four after beating Florida in OT

NEW ORLEANS -- Of course Butler erased a late deficit. Of course the Bulldogs hit a clutch 3-pointer late in overtime. Of course they're going back to the Final Four.

This is the Butler Way.

Shelvin Mack scored 27 points, including five in overtime, and Butler reached the Final Four for the second year in a row with a 74-71 victory over Florida on Saturday.

"This is a huge deal," said Zach Hahn, whose two 3-pointers helped Butler stay close in the first half. "I don't know that any other mid-major has ever done this. It's hardly happened once, let alone twice. It's an unbelievable feeling."

Butler, the Horizon League champ, has vanquished three higher seeds from major conferences -- top-seeded Pittsburgh, fourth-seeded Wisconsin and now second-seeded Florida -- in succession.

Those big wins came after Howard tipped in a winner in the final seconds against Old Dominion.

This game had another frantic finish.

"We just kind of stayed together, stayed the course, figured it out, and just played resiliently," Butler coach Brad Stevens. "I'm incredibly proud of these guys. They carried their coach in a big way. ... Our players did a great job, and [they are] just a special group. We're really lucky that they're Butler Bulldogs."

Matt Howard scored 14 and Khyle Marshall added 10 for the Bulldogs (27-9), who showed again they simply won't give in, climbing out of an 11-point hole in the last 9:25 of the second half.

Mack was playing through pain after rolling his left ankle in the first half and needed a small bandage on his forehead in the second half. He could not recall what happened to his head, only that it was bleeding when he came to the sideline.

That didn't stop him from draining a crucial 3-pointer with 1:21 left in overtime to give Butler the lead for good at 72-70. He also had enough vigor left during the net-cutting ritual to do a mocking Gator chomp with his arms from atop a ladder.

"It's a physical game. That's what the NCAA tournament is all about," Mack said. "You wouldn't want it any other way."

Kenny Boynton missed a long 3 that could have given Florida (29-8) the lead with a little under 20 seconds left. Alex Tyus appeared to have the offensive rebound, but Howard tied him up and the possession arrow favored Butler.

Florida had to foul Mack with 10.6 seconds to go, and he hit both shots for the final margin before Erving Walker missed a 3 to tie in the final seconds.

"Congratulations to Butler," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "They had great, great heart tonight. ... I knew they had that, you know, all year long."

Before reaching the round of eight this year, Florida hadn't won an NCAA tournament game since winning its second straight national title in 2007.

The Gators missed the tournament entirely in 2008 and 2009, before returning last year and being knocked out by BYU in the first round.

Florida ended Butler's season twice before in the NCAA tournament, once in 2000 in the first round and again in 2007 in the round of 16.

The Bulldogs hadn't forgotten.

Butler players got motivational text messages from Bulldogs past concerning their latest matchup with the resurgent Gators.

In the locker room after the game, players said they hoped they made the Butler community proud. Judging by video of celebrating fans back in Indianapolis being passed around the locker room on a cell phone, they had.

Last year, Butler was able to play in front of those fans at the Final Four in Indianapolis, where about 30,000 fans attended their open practice.

Now it seems as though the Bulldogs win the crowd wherever they play, although Stevens suspects the support they had at last season's Final Four in their hometown will be hard to top.

"Nothing will be like Indy. Indy was crazy," Stevens said. "If there's 30,000 people [at open practice] they're going to try to be getting whoever else's autographs are there in Houston. It's not going to be for our guys. ... But trust me, we will play anywhere they send us and we are thrilled to go to Houston."

Stevens knows it won't be the same this time.

Vernon Macklin scored a career-high 25 points for Florida, while Boynton finished with 17 points and Tyus had his second-straight double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Butler had to overcome Florida's size advantage and a number of its own mistakes.

In regulation, the Bulldogs made 10 of 20 free throws and shot 39.6 percent (21 of 53), including 8 of 30 from 3-point range. Yet they somehow found a way to survive to overtime, when they hit all seven foul shots and three of their eight field goals.

Remarkably, Butler also outrebounded the Gators, 41-34.

Now the Bulldogs are one win away from a second straight appearance in the national championship game.


"They're tough," said Florida forward Chandler Parsons, who had a disappointing five points on 2 of 9 shooting. "They're physical. They have all the characteristics of a good team. You know, it's not their first time here. They were in this situation last year, so I think their experience helped them and I think they just came up with big plays when the team needed it."

Florida appeared to be taking control when Tyus, the leading scorer and rebounder in Florida's overtime win over BYU, got loose for a pair of soaring dunks, then added two free throws and a driving floater during a 12-1 run that gave the Gators a 51-40 lead with 9:26 left.

Howard's basket inside as he was fouled snapped the run, then seldom-used reserveChrishawn Hopkins, who'd just set up Howard's score, added a 3 as Butler slowly clawed its way back again, finally tying it at 57 with 3:03 to go on the second of consecutive driving layups by Mack.

Macklin, who'd been limited by foul trouble in the second half -- he committed his fourth with 9:02 left -- returned to hit a free throw and a layup on a strong move inside to make it 60-57. Mack's free throws cut it to one point and Howard had a chance to give Butler the lead after drawing a foul with 30.7 seconds left.

He missed his second free throw, then Walker missed a long pull-up jumper -- his eighth straight miss to that point -- forcing overtime.

"Walker was 1 of 10, and he's been such a clutch shooter for us," Donovan said. "When you get into those situations where the game is coming down to the wire like that and it's one-possession games, anything can happen."

Butler initially took a 67-64 lead in the overtime on Ronald Nored's free throws, but Florida came back with a couple of clutch 3s. Boynton's tied it 67, then Walker finally hit his first field goal from 3 to put the Gators up 70-69.

That's when Mack responded with his big 3 that propelled Butler to its latest upset. It helped make up nicely for the Pittsburgh game, when his late foul nearly cost Butler a chance to move on.

"I feel incredibly good for Shelvin," Howard said. "If we would have lost on that play, he still scored 30 points and carried us. You can't fault him and say you lost us the game because he essentially won us the game. The kid's incredible. He really carries us at times. This is the type of player Shelvin is."

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

2011 Final Four: Amile's KNOW-IT-ALL Guide, PART 1: WEST

After one of the wilder and more controversy-ridden first weeks in NCAA tournament history, 68 teams have become 16. And after literally hours -- hours! -- spent scouting the field and selecting your picks, your bracket (as always) is busted.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t flash a little hoops knowledge this weekend. To aid in this objective, yours truly has prepared a quick breakdown featuring plenty of tempo-free statistics for the Sweet 16 games you’ll be watching this weekend. It's designed to not only preview this weekend’s action, but also help you sound like you’ve been following the sport with intellectual zeal for months. Your cohorts might have better bracket odds than you do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk around their ridicule.

If this preview proves prophetic, you can keep all the credit. If it’s way off base, blame me. How’s that for a sweet deal?

For the Know-It-All’s Guide to the Sweet 16, let's begin out West ... 

No. 3 Connecticut vs. No. 2 San Diego State
Thursday, 7:15 p.m. ET (Anaheim, Calif.)
Breakdown: Connecticut has a reputation for being a one-man team. In many ways, that reputation is deserved; take star guard Kemba Walker out of the lineup, and these Huskies might not even make the NCAA tournament. But Walker is here, and although the Huskies lack a knockdown shooter to complement him, they grab enough of their misses -- 39 percent, the seventh-highest figure in the country -- that Walker, unlike BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, doesn’t have to be hyper-efficient for UConn to win the game.
Alex Oriakhi grabs a rebound, gets an easy look or kicks it out to his star, and all of sudden, a borderline unguardable guard is coming at you for the second time in 30 seconds. That’s no fun. Throw in the increased contributions of role players such as Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith and Shabazz Napier, and it’s no wonder the Big East tournament champion will arrive in Anaheim as one of the hottest teams in the country, with two of the most efficient, impressive performances in the NCAA tournament under its belt.

If anyone can slow down UConn, however, it’s San Diego State. The Aztecs boast the second-best defensive efficiency in the country this season; that’s the primary reason SDSU is undefeated against everyone but the Jimmer-led BYU Cougars in 2010-11. Because of those matchups with Jimmer, perhaps no team in the country is better prepared to play a high-usage ballhandler and scorer like Walker. The Aztecs don’t force many turnovers, but they do force you to take bad shots, especially on the inside. The Huskies will get to the offensive glass Thursday. Whether they’re able to get good second looks against Malcolm Thomas, Billy White and Kawhi Leonard is another question entirely.
Impress (or annoy) your friends: “I’m not saying Connecticut isn’t going to win, but have you seen the statistical odds for teams that have to travel over 1,500 miles more than their opponents? Jim Calhoun always loves to play out west, but the deck is stacked against the Huskies here big time.”

No. 5 Arizona vs. No. 1 Duke Thursday, approx. 9:45 p.m. ET (Anaheim, Calif.) 

Breakdown: Unlike its fellow No. 1 seeds -- especially Ohio State, because, wow, that George Mason game, yikes -- Duke did not look impressive in its round-of-32 win over Michigan. Yes, the Blue Devils controlled most of the game, but they allowed more than a few open dunks in transition, plenty of easy 2-point attempts and a lot of open 3s to a perimeter-oriented Wolverines team. Duke deserves some credit for holding Zack Novak and Tim Hardaway Jr. to a combined 5-of-15 from beyond the arc, but anyone who watched that game knows that more of those shots could have fallen.

In other words, Arizona is a scary matchup for the Blue Devils. Not only do the Wildcats shoot the ball from long range as well as anyone in the country -- Sean Miller’s team ranks among the top 10 in Division I in 3-point field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage -- but they also have this guy named Derrick Williams. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. Williams is earning a reputation for late-game heroics. He made the game-sealing block in Arizona’s first-round win over Memphis, and he scored the game-winning, no-look, how-did-that-go-in! three-point play to down fourth-seeded Texas on Sunday.

Williams presents huge matchup problems for the Blue Devils. He is too big to be guarded by Kyle Singler, and has too much range (he shoots 58.1 percent from 3) and high-pivot ability to be guarded by one of the Plumlees.

In other words, expect an up-tempo, high-scoring game. Keep your eye on the continued return of Duke freshman Kyrie Irving, who Coach K says will play “significant minutes” in the Sweet 16 and beyond. Keep your eye on Arizona’s shooters. And above all, keep your eye on Williams. If anyone can come up with a way to defend the uber-efficient future lottery pick, it’s Mike Krzyzewski. But it’s hard to figure out just who on this Duke team can do so.

Impress (or annoy) your friends: “Why isn’t Derrick Williams the player of the year? He has a higher offensive rating than any other player in the NCAA tournament and all but one player (Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins) in all of college basketball this season. He’s the most efficient scorer in the country, he almost never takes bad shots, he’s more athletic than you think and he rebounds. Somehow, still, this guy deserves more love. I’m telling you guys ... Williams is going to be a great pro. Just you watch.”

MJ tells UNC frosh to ditch the Kobes, make a Final Four deal

In the past two months, few things have been able to rattle red-hot North Carolina freshman swingman Harrison Barnes.

Michael Jordan sure did, though, last Saturday in Charlotte.

The day before UNC punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 with an 86-83 victory over Washington, the players exited the Time Warner Cable Arena and had an encounter with the most legendary Tar Heel of all-time, and he had some interesting words for Barnes involving his choice in footwear.

Jordan playfully chastised Barnes for wearing the trendy Nike Zoom Kobe VI — Kobe Bryant's shoe. However, given Jordan's famed, maniacal competitive streak, there probably was a strong hint of seriousness to his message, as Bryant's kicks have gained significant ground on Jordan's in terms of popularity with young players. He is, after all, the NBA's active king of cool.

"If I see you in them Kobe Bryants, man, I'm gonna cut you right off," Jordan said. "I don't care if your feet kill you, you're gonna wear them Jordans.

"Wait 'til I tell your momma, man. I'm gonna tell her. But if you're gonna keep winning, you can wear them. But that Duke game, you got killed."

Barnes then motioned to whoever was filming it to cut the camera off, but it kept rolling. The footage was just too good.

Jordan's Duke jab was in reference to UNC's 75-58 loss to the rival Blue Devils in the ACC tournament title game. In that defeat, Barnes had just 16 points off of 6-of-15 shooting.

It wasn't a completely embarrassing run-in, though, as the entire team was given some added incentive to keep winning in the NCAA tournament.

Jordan said that if the Tar Heels win two games in New Jersey this weekend and get back to the Final Four, he'll supply the entire team with the tough-to-find (and quite pricey) Air Jordan 11 Retro "Cool Greys,"along with "anything you want."

Upon hearing that, the words "NCAA violation" might spring into your head, but it appears that wouldn't likely be the case, as the Jordan Brand — owned by, of course, Jordan — is the team's official equipment supplier.

If the Tar Heels are as serious about their sneakers as most kids nowadays tend to be, Marquette could be running into a buzz saw come Friday night.

2011 NCAA March Madness: Nolan Smith leads Duke to 19th ACC tournament championship

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Add another Atlantic Coast Conference championship to fifth-ranked Duke's record haul.

Nolan Smith had 20 points and the Blue Devils ended North Carolina's run of big comebacks at the ACC tournament, beating the Tar Heels (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) 75-58 in Sunday's championship game.

Kyle Singler added 11 points for the Blue Devils (30-4), who led the entire way for a record 19th tournament title. In the first meeting between the fierce rivals in the finals in a decade, second-seeded Duke led by 18 points in the first half and never let the top-seeded Tar Heels (26-7) build any momentum for a third straight tournament escape.

North Carolina had rallied from 19 down in the final 10 minutes to beat Miami on a last-play layup in the quarterfinals, then rallied from 14 down to force overtime and beat Clemson in the semifinals. This time, however, the Tar Heels got no closer than nine after halftime as the veteran Blue Devils maintained firm control from the tip.

The Blue Devils won their third straight tournament and their 10th in 13 years, putting them two ahead of the Tar Heels in the all-time standings.

Smith was named tournament MVP after overcoming a jammed toe in the quarterfinals against Maryland and finishing with 10 assists, while Singler had a better showing after struggling mightily against the Tar Heels in the two regular-season meetings. But on Sunday, the supporting cast backed up Duke's senior stars in a way it had failed to do in last week's loss to the Tar Heels that gave North Carolina the ACC regular-season title outright.

Seth Curry had 11 points, including a crucial 3-pointer after the Tar Heels had pulled to within nine. Ryan Kelly added another 3 a few minutes later helped silence North Carolina's last-gasp push to get back in it and finished with nine points.

Duke shot 62 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game. The Blue Devils shut down North Carolina's offense and held the Tar Heels to 34 percent shooting in a dominant performance that could put the reigning national champions in line for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Harrison Barnes struggled to get things going a day after scoring a tournament freshman record 40 points against Clemson, finishing with 16 points to lead the Tar Heels.

Tyler Zeller had 14 points while John Henson added 10 points and 18 rebounds, but North Carolina never looked anything like the team that had won 19 of 21 games and handled the Blue Devils with relative ease in last week's 81-67 victory.

Then again, the Tar Heels never looked like themselves in Greensboro at all.

Henson acknowledged after the Clemson win that the Tar Heels couldn't keep this up much longer considering how those slow starts could cost them not only an ACC title, but could also mean an early exit from the NCAAs. Yet North Carolina started with the same indifferent performance from the previous two games, while Duke looked more active, more aggressive and just more determined from the opening tip.

The Blue Devils scored on their first four possessions for an 8-0 lead while North Carolina bumbled its way through the opening 2 minutes. That lead would grow to 18 points when Andre Dawkins took a kickout feed from Smith and buried a 3-pointer to make it 40-22 with 1:42 left before halftime.

The Tar Heels didn't make much of a push until the final 7 minutes when Barnes hit a 3-pointer then followed with a jumper that bounced high off the back of the rim before dropping through the net. That brought the Tar Heels to within 63-54 with 5:54 left and had a largely light-blue tinged Greensboro Coliseum crowd into a roar that another improbable rally could be in the works.

But Smith evaded a trap out near halfcourt then found Curry on the left side for a crushing 3-pointer that pushed the margin back to 66-54. Then, after Barnes missed a good look on a transition 3, Smith found Ryan Kelly in the far right corner for another 3 that made it 69-56 with 4:44 left.

Smith added two more free throws then Mason Plumlee threw down a victory-punctuating dunk for a 73-56 lead.

Finally, with the game in hand, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski could substitute Smith and Singler out of the game with 52.4 seconds left to a standing ovation from Duke fans. The Hall of Famer greeted both with a hug -- Smith practically jumped in his arms -- while North Carolina coach Roy Williams joined the applause for Duke's four-year stars as they left the ACC tournament with three titles.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press