There’s a little bit of Bulldog in this Buckeye.
There’s a, um tradition in tournament play- not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there.
-Coach Norman Dale, Hoosiers
It was set up to be the perfect Final Four® weekend. My goal was to see the Buckeyes make the trip over from Columbus to play in the NCAA® Final Four®. I work ten minutes from Lucas Oil Stadium. We air the games. I’d be involved in the Buckeye pre-game pep rallies. It was to be a lot of fun. It’s too bad Tennessee had something to say about that. It’s a real bummer that Ohio State isn’t making the trip to Indianapolis, but another team I’ve watched closely this season is making the trip.
Ohio State and Butler have many connections. The biggest one is Thad Matta, a Butler alum and former Butler coach. For the last several years, OSU and BU have played during the non-conference schedule.
Two years ago, just a couple of months after we moved to Indianapolis, I got the chance to attend my first game at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Ohio State came to town to play Butler. The Buckeyes lost that game, but watching the game in Hinkle was a lot of fun. We were close to the rafters, not the top, but darn close. No fancy chairs, we sat on bleachers. Many of you know I love history, and Hinkle Fieldhouse has a ton of history. I could spend hours just looking around the building. No luxury boxes, no ribbon scoreboards, just a lot of tradition. It’s why Hoosiers was filmed there, because it hasn’t changed much. It’s a great place to watch a basketball game.
This season, I didn’t get to Hinkle to see the Buckeyes lose to the Bulldogs again. (full disclosure: OSU was without Evan Turner for that game. If he had been playing, the outcome would have been different.) David was only a week old, and I couldn’t wiggle my way out of my new parental duties to go to the game. I had to sit and watch the game on ESPN2. I saw a lot of Butler basketball this season on TV. Our secondary station MyINDY-TV carried 13 games, I think I watched 10 of them. Butler won every one of them. They kept winning and winning. It was fun to watch.
I got my picture with Butler’s mascot when he came to the station to shoot show promos. This is just another mascot photo to add to my collection.
Butler has been my second team to cheer for, except when they play Ohio State.
Even still, I only had them reaching the Sweet 16 in all my brackets. I didn’t think they could keep up with the likes of Syracuse. Of course, these guys proved everyone wrong. This team never looked ahead and kept their cool in every game. These guys get to do something very few basketball players have ever done – play at home. (I’ve always said there’s something about being able to sleep in their own beds.) It will be the Butler Bulldog on the corners of that basketball court.
So the next week should be a lot of fun. Work will get more intense since we now have more to cover, but it will be worth it. Tomorrow, I’m going shopping for a Butler polo or T-shirt. All of Indiana will be Butler fans next week.