ANOTHER SHOT FOR BUTLER

Art Stapleton
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
04-04-2011
ANOTHER SHOT FOR BUTLER
Byline: Art Stapleton
Section: SPORTS
Type: News

HOUSTON - Connecticut teammates Donnell Beverly and Kemba Walker were like the rest of us.

On the night the men's college basketball season ended last year 850 miles from the Hilltop Apartments where they huddled with friends around Beverly's television, there was a rooting interest for Butler, the team now standing in the way of their quest to bring a national title back to Storrs, Conn.
The last shot of last season's NCAA tournament easily can be found for viewing on the Internet. A Google search of "Butler Duke last shot" yields 74 videos ranging from the CBS broadcast to images captured on hand-held cameras in the arena.

The details remain etched in the minds of seemingly everyone who experienced one of the most memorable endings in college basketball history.

Gordon Hayward's half-court heave, the potential game-winner for the ultimate tournament Cinderella, bounced off the backboard, the rim and then out as time expired, allowing perennial powerhouse Duke to escape Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with a 61-59 victory and the NCAA trophy that came with it.

"I always go for the underdog," Beverly said. "We were pulling hard for Butler, and we watched that last play over and over, because they showed it over and over on TV.

"I really thought it was going in."

Beverly wasn't the only one.

So as Butler prepares for another shot after missing out on that championship miracle, there was no better way to look forward to tonight's title game against UConn here inside Reliant Stadium than by taking one final look back at what almost was.

Matt Howard remembers going over the options with his teammates just as Shelvin Mack fouled Duke's Brian Zoubek, sending the 7- footer to the line with 3.6 seconds left.

With the Blue Devils leading by 1, Zoubek made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. Hayward grabbed the rebound in the lane, ducked around Zoubek and, after three dribbles, let loose a prayer that nearly was answered.

He was able to get free thanks to a vicious screen by Howard, who laid out Duke's Kyle Singler two steps from the midcourt circle.

"We talked about running that play where I would come up and screen for whoever got the ball in that situation, so I was sort of prepared to do that," Howard said. "I started to run back, and then I remembered, 'Maybe I should set a screen,' and I tried to free him up a bit. I turned around and seeing that shot being as close as it was I think made it a little more disheartening.

"It sort of took the wind out of me, and that's why I ended up where I was."

Howard ended up taking Singler's place on the floor as the buzzer sounded.

"That was more an emotional take-the-wind-out-of-me when I saw the shot didn't go in," Howard said. "I don't remember any reason why I would collapse, but I sort of did ... I really haven't watched it [since], and I probably won't watch it before the game."

Zach Hahn entered the game for Ronald Nored before Zoubek stepped to the line.

It was an offense-for-defense substitution that would give the Bulldogs an extra shooter in case that opportunity presented itself.

As soon as Zoubek released his second attempt, Hahn hustled up the floor with visions of what could have been the biggest moment of his life.

If the basketball landed in his hands, Hahn was going to be ready.

"My whole thing was just to get down the court and see if they could get a pass to me, and then be able to knock the shot down," Hahn said. "Gordon kept it, and Matt drilled Kyle Singler with a ball screen. He's always thinking the game one step ahead.

"Gordon's shot, I was right under the basket and it looked good from my perspective."

Added Nored: "I think everyone will tell you from our bench it looked like that thing was going in and it just happened not to fall."

Butler coach Brad Stevens was thinking, at the very least, the game was going into overtime. When Hayward released the shot, he expected the storybook ending, the fairy tale, to come true.

"I knew he'd have a shot to get it and we could come down, a really good player [would have] the ball," Stevens said of Hayward, now a rookie in the NBA with the Utah Jazz. "You know, you take a really good player with a ball in that moment every time."

No one has forgotten just how close the Bulldogs were to upsetting Duke, and that includes Beverly and the Huskies, the ones out to deny the coronation this time around.

"If you told me that night [that] a year later we'd be playing Butler for the national championship, I never would have believed it," Beverly said. "Nobody would have thought we'd be where we're at right now. Those guys can play; it's going to be a good game. It's going to come down to who plays better [tonight]: who executes better, who rebounds better, who plays defense better and who makes their shots."

If Butler makes one more shot than last season, it just might be cutting down the nets in celebration of a national championship.

2011