Butler's magical run comes home

From where it began in Milan, Ind. to Indianapolis, the Butler Bulldogs have redefined Hoosier Hysteria.

The 32-4 Bulldogs’ road will end in their backyard, and how appropriately so. The final chapter in this fairy tale is coming home — to basketball’s home — for what could be the most magical Final Four story in the event’s rich history.

It couldn’t happen to a more deserving “mid-major,” for those who still insult Butler with that label.

This is a team coached by a lifetime Hoosier in 32-year-old Brad Stevens, who gave up a job paying triple figures at Eli Lilly to serve as a volunteer assistant at Butler. Stevens has amassed 88 wins, three NCAA tournament appearances and one Final Four berth in just three seasons as a collegiate head coach.

“For a guy his age to do what he’s doing, as hard as it is to win, with such a young team, that’s big-time stuff,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said.

Butler’s roster containing 10 Indiana natives is also big-time stuff. And what makes this magical ending even more special is it’s being done with players that didn’t measure up to the nation’s elite in the eyes of many, including other college coaches around the state.

“I think it was just us coming together as a team,” sophomore guard Gordon Hayward said. “We’ve just found ways to win. We go into every single game with a game plan expecting to win. Someone’s got to go to the national championship and win. So why couldn’t it be us?”

That comes from the school of thought having been coined as “The Butler Way.”

In an era where universities and boosters financially fuel programs for the newest and most up-to-date facilities, Butler does it in Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Wrigley Field of college basketball. Butler’s falling chunks of concrete are delivering it to where dreams come true, while programs such as Louisville construct a new amusement park of an arena.

The young Bulldogs aren’t winning with the one-and-done’s and the sleaze those often bring. While some go to the camera and make fools of themselves after earning a Final Four bid, Butler is celebrating as team, chest-bumping its coach.

It’s the Butler Way. The Colts proved in early 2007 that you can still win at the highest level of competition by doing it the right, subtle way. Now we’re seeing Butler do it.

“It really didn’t hit me until the end of the game,” sophomore guard Shelvin Mack said. “It was, like, my first time ever shaking. That’s when it hit me. We’re going to the Final Four and have an opportunity to compete for the national championship.”

And what an opportunity it is. Butler is scripting another “Hoosiers” by the day. Filmed partially at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the blockbuster movie put Hoosier Hysteria on the map.

Now, with the noise Butler is making this March, the state of Indiana is seeing an unparalleled basketball craze. That’s saying a lot considering story lines such as the 1976 undefeated IU team or the heroics of former Pacers guard Reggie Miller.

Yes, what makes this ultimately special for Butler is the Final Four takes place right at home, seven miles from campus at Lucas Oil Stadium. Would it be too much of a hassle for the NCAA to relocate the tournament’s final weekend from an oversized, trillion-dollar stadium to Hinkle Fieldhouse?

“The only time I’ve ever thought about that — and I didn’t tell our guys this, I told my wife, and that was it, — was when we were driving on the bus back from the Murray State game and we passed the Lucas Oil Stadium,” Stevens said about playing in Indianapolis. “That hit a little bit. That was the first time I even thought about it.”

Anyone want to watch “Hoosiers” this week?