NCAA Tournament: Ranking the unlikeliest Final Four runs since 2000
By Joey Loose
4. 2011 Butler (8-seed)
These Cinderella runs can be life-changing for a mid-major program, leading to a boost in donations, enrollment, and interest in the university as a whole. It’s important for these schools, including those from this current Tournament, to capitalize on those opportunities because these can be once-in-a-lifetime type moments. This was not the case at Butler.
Fresh off that run to the national title game, Butler returned a significant part of their talent, sans Gordon Hayward, and began the season #18 in the nation. They dropped several games early in their schedule, including a rematch against Duke, and were nowhere near as dominant a team. They actually lost five games in Horizon League play, including a sweep at the hands of regular season champion Milwaukee. While the Bulldogs won their last nine regular season games, including in the Horizon League Tournament, they were not even regular season champs in the Horizon League.
Without that conference tournament win, Butler would not have been an 8-seed, but they were certainly someone with a lot of attention after the previous year’s success. What Butler proceeded to do was even more impressive. They pulled out clutch games against 9-seed Old Dominion and 1-seed Pittsburgh, getting another major upset in the Tournament. Their second weekend games were two more upsets over ranked foes, as the Bulldogs knocked out 4-seed Wisconsin and 2-seed Florida, beating those Gators in overtime. As if getting back to the Final Four wasn’t enough, the Bulldogs got back to the national title game with a win over VCU in the semifinals.
Butler played the toughest possible teams in each of their four games en route to the Final Four. They had the experience and leadership from the previous year’s run, but they were playing the best teams possible. They weren’t the beneficiaries of upsets; their route wasn’t easier than the year before; they fought tooth and nail to get back to the Final Four and Brad Stevens’ accomplishments in these two seasons are the reason why he’s been with the Boston Celtics for nearly a decade.