NCAA Tournament: Ranking the unlikeliest Final Four runs since 2000
By Joey Loose
7. 2010 Butler (5-seed)
This is the NCAA Tournament run that epitomized David vs. Goliath, with those Bulldogs famously coming oh so close to beating Duke for the national title, but that’s not telling the whole story. Butler was already a very productive mid-major program before 2010. Former coach Todd Lickliter led the program to Sweet Sixteen’s in 2003 and 2007, while new coach Brad Stevens continued that success with Tournament appearances in his first three seasons, but 2010 changed things in a major way.
Despite being members of the Horizon League, Butler began that season ranked #10 in the AP Top 25, evidence of the high expectations for the team that season. They lost four games in non-conference play, with three of those against ranked teams, but did pick up wins against #13 Ohio State, UCLA, Northwestern, and Xavier. The Bulldogs spent the following months blasting through their Horizon League conference foes, winning the league’s tournament and snatching that 5-seed.
Entering the Tournament having won 20 straight games, Butler was one of the hottest teams in the field and continued that success with an easy win over 12-seed UTEP and a hardfought one over 13-seed Murray State. The real work began in the second weekend, as Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard, and the rest of this lineup clawed two impressive upsets, knocking out 1-seed Syracuse and 2-seed Kansas State to advance to the first Final Four in program history. After a close win against Michigan State in the title game, Hayward’s half court heave came up just off, but the Bulldogs were truly a few hairs away from a remarkable national championship.
Make no mistake, Butler’s run was one of the most impressive performances we’ve seen in this sport, but it’s also far less of a surprise than some of the Final Four runs we’ve seen in recent years. The Bulldogs absolutely deserved that 5-seed and you can argue they should’ve been even higher. They did have those impressive upset wins in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. You wouldn’t find a lot of teams, even playing hot basketball in March, that could have pulled off this type of run back in 2010 or 2011.