The Butler Way

The Washington Post looks at the philosophy behind the Butler University basketball program.  It sounds a little like the "Block O of Life," but hopefully is more than just words:

The Butler Way is rooted in five principles: humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness. It’s as familiar to Butler’s players, and anyone connected with the Bulldogs basketball team, as strains of “The Victors” are to any rabid Michigan football fan.
“The minute I walked into the locker room, Coach [Brad Stevens] sat me down and talked about it,” said 19-year-old Michael Burke, a freshman manager for the team from McMinnville, Ore. “It represents doing the right thing all the time, putting the team first and not striving for individual success. It’s a culture. And it’s not just something we talk about; we embrace it. Even for someone like me — a manager — I’m part of the Butler Way.”
Slogans, of course, have no more to do with athletic success than fight songs or face paint. But in the case of Butler, players insist there’s a direct link between the Butler Way and victory on the court.
After last year’s loss to Duke in the NCAA title game, Butler wasn’t expected to advance particularly far in the tournament this year after losing its star player, Gordon Hayward, to the NBA.

I would love to see the Bulldogs pull off the win, even though I picked UConn to win the title in my bracket.

Frozen Four and Final Four

Well the Frozen Four and the Final Four are set. 

In the Frozen Four, Minnesota-Duluth, Notre Dame and Michigan made it in after the #1 seeds were defeated, while North Dakota also advanced.

In the Final Four, Butler and VCU surprised the experts and advanced, along with Kentucky and UConn.  So in VCU's case, they were one of the final at-large teams which had to play in the first four, and Butler was the only team to make the tournament from the Horizon Conference.  VCU's Colonial Athletic Association put in 3 teams (VCU, Old Dominion and George Mason) and one made it to the Final Four.  Other conferences : Big East 11 in tournament, 1 in the Final Four.  SEC 5 and 1, ACC 4 and 0, Big Ten 7 and 0, Pac 10 4 and 0.  Also, for those Big East haters out there in Big Ten country, even if UConn loses in the semifinals, the Big East will finish with the same winning percentage as the Big Ten, who failed to advance a team to the regional finals, let alone the Final Four.  Apparently the Big East isn't the only overrated conference in the country.

Dad has been saying it forever, and I have to agree, get rid of the conference tournaments and let everybody in.  I bet the big conferences would end up looking even worse, and the smaller conferences would bring in more money.  I wonder why that isn't going to happen.