Butler This Year's Butler

It seems that with every year in the NCAA men's basketball championship tournament, at least one low-seeded team from an obscure college goes far in it, even sometimes making the vaunted Final Four. Last year, Butler University (in Indiana) surprised everyone with the Bulldogs not only making it to the Final Four, but also getting to the national championship game against Duke and barely losing it to the heavy favorite. So the doubtless-overpaid sports television and radio pundits have been at it this year, wondering which underdog will go far in the tournament, and phrasing the question as "Who is this year's Butler?" Well, guess what? Butler is this year's Butler!

Once again lowly Butler University got it going at tourney time and is now on the cusp of a national championship, with only the Connecticut Huskies standing in their way. The canines play each other for the title on Monday evening.

I thought that Virginia Commonwealth, Butler's most recent opponent, had all of the markings of a great upstart, energetic team playing well beyond its record. But I was wrong, and the team that kept my Florida Gators from reaching the Final Four this year by beating them in overtime has endured.

Still, I haven't forgiven Butler for knocking out my Gators: I'm pulling for the hairy dogs at UConn!