Wow.  Just wow.  It’s 1:20 AM.  I got home about 30 minutes ago, popped some popcorn (hey, it’s been 6 hours since I ate!), grabbed a Mt. Dew, and fired up the most incredible game I’ve ever seen in person on the DVR.  This one exceeds all the cliches, folks.  It was one for the ages.  It’s also cliche to say that Butler, though they lost, has nothing to be ashamed of.  Losing hurts no matter what.  These Bulldogs fully expected to win this game, and when they didn’t, they plodded off the court with obvious disappointment on their faces.  Nevertheless, they plodded off the court to a rousing ovation from an appreciative city.

They Play The Right Way

I’ve heard more than one person say it of Butler over the course of the tournament.  It is true.  There is no other explanation for a team like Butler being able to play so competitively with a program with the history and caliber of Duke.  They have long scoring droughts.  Their lack of size gets them in foul trouble.  Throughout the game it just felt like it was getting away from them, and yet I was continually surprised to look at the scoreboard and see that Butler never fell more than two possessions behind.  They didn’t waste time or energy complaining about the officiating.  They left that to the fans in the stands.  Instead, they remained focused and kept themselves close enough to have a chance to win at the end.  The only way they could have done any better, in my opinion, was to actually win the game.

The announced crowd was just over 70,000, and by my estimation, no more than 20% of them were Duke faithful.  Easily 50,000+ roared in approval as Butler made that final defensive stop, setting up one possession for a go-ahead score and the most magical of happy endings.  The atmosphere was absolutely electric.  In every other state, it’s just basketball, but this is Indiana, and ten of these Butler boys are Indiana’s own.  When Gordon Hayward released a half-court shot at the buzzer to win the game, those 50,000+ Hoosier faithful rose to their feet and collectively willed that ball into the basket.  It was destiny.  It had to happen.  It almost did.  Folks, that ball hit the square.  As the relatively small contingent of Duke faithful rose and cheered their victory, 50,000 disappointed Hoosiers sighed, but then smiled and applauded their heroes as they left the court.  These guys are good.  They will be back.

Give These Devils Their Due

It’s easy to hate Duke.  They’ve been so successful for so long.  They’re the New England Patriots of college basketball.  Still, this team, the least respected of the four top seeds in the tournament, peaked at just the right time and won by playing essentially the same style of basketball as Butler.  If there’s one thing Duke did well tonight that I believe was a key to victory, it was stop Gordon Hayward.  They did not allow him to really get anything going offensively.  They denied him the ball all night, and when he did get it, they made him give it up or take a tough shot.  If you’re Butler, there is no one else on the floor you want taking that go-ahead shot on the final possession, and he nearly made it, but it was a very, very tough shot.

This Duke team could have very easily lost their composure when they failed to score, up 60 to 59 with less than 35 seconds left to play. They haven’t been living under a rock for three weeks.  They’ve seen Butler do this to the mighty before: Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State.  But they didn’t falter, played superior defense, and got that critical defensive rebound.  Where other teams have become frustrated with Butler’s tenacious defense, Duke was patient and scored efficiently.  Duke was the first team to score 60 points against Butler the entire tournament.  No doubt about it, Duke earned this one.

Contest Wrap

While it was tempting to just go to bed and leave the final commentary for tomorrow, I decided it was time for this contest, like this year’s spectacular tournament, to come to an end.  Without further ado, here are this year’s final contest awards.

• The So You Think You’ve Got It All Figured Out award goes to those of you (you know who you are) who told me, quote, "With your point adjustments this year, all you had to do was pick all upsets in the first two rounds (except for the 16’s), and then use the re-picks to play the odds in the later high-point games, and you can win easily."  Oh yeah?  Well, we had a contestant, Margaret "Bear" Dean, who did almost exactly that.  She picked all upsets in the first two rounds except for Syracuse, winning only 11 out of 48 games, and climbed as high as second.  She then made some "safe" re-picks, including Duke in the championship game.  Her final rank?  121st.  I contend that if this year had not had so many upsets, she would have finished even worse.  Every year someone tries to convince me that this strategy is the easy way to win, and yet in 15 years, it has always been tried and never worked.
• The Top Prognosticator award goes to the contestant who picked the most games out of 63 correctly.  This year’s award goes to Connie Randazzo, who picked 48 games correctly and finished in 3rd place.
• The You Could Have Done Better Flipping A Coin award goes to BethAnn Fairchild, who picked only 12 games correctly and finished in last place.  Better luck next year, BethAnn.
• The Finger Lickin’ Good award goes to Amber "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" Little, my beloved nine-year-old, who picked Duke to go all the way and finished in 14th place.
• The Most Improved Player award goes to Rick Morgan, who climbed from the abyss of 478th place to finish in 27th.  Reward yourself with a new set of drumsticks, Rick.
• The Not In This Lifetime, Pal award goes to 19th place contestant Evan Gidley whose alias asks the question, "Wonder if Jeff is now a Cameron Crazy?"  Is that a serious question?
• The Mission Not Accomplished award goes to Dan "Striving for last place(again)" Kopp, who finished in 20th.
• The Rookie Of The Year award goes to Cason "Cash" DiIulio who never ranked lower than 16th, climbed as high as 1st, and finished in 4th place.
• This year’s contest was so dominated by kids, I’m giving the Jimmy Neutron Award For Childhood Genius to the kid who actually finished 4th in the 12 and under age group, my oldest daughter, Andrea Little.  Andrea finished 18th overall in the contest.
• The Teen Queen award goes to the first place finisher in the 13-19 age group and overall contest runner-up, Christina "Mad Dog" Klinker.  Throw that dog a bone.  Ruff!
• The Easily Outperforming His Lipper Average award goes to the top finisher in the 20-29 age group, Anthony "The Economist" Randazzo, who finished 12th overall in the contest. 
• The I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter award goes to Eusi "can’t believe I’m doing this well" Fraser, who finished first in the 30-something age group and 5th overall.  Eusi will receive a year’s supply of Parkay.
• The 40 is the new 30 award goes to the winner of the 40-49 age group, Brian Pettitt, who finished 6th overall in the contest.
• The Finished Strong In The Contest But Not Yet Eligible For The Senior Discount award goes to Rob Barta, who actually finished second in the 50-something age group but receives this award due to the fact that the first place finisher in this age group already received an award.  Rob finished 7th overall.
• The Pass The Geritol award goes to the top finisher in the 60 and over age group, David Gaffney, who finished 10th overall.
• The Upset Stomach award goes to Lewis Schafer, who scored more upset bonus points (excluding Scategories bonus points) than anyone else at 65.  Lewis spent a good portion of the contest in first place but finished in 36th.
• The Just Because You Deserve It, and I Can’t Think Of Anything Clever To Call This Award award goes to 9th place contestant Mark Vandre and 8th place contestant Heather DiIlulio. 
• The Close But No Cigar award goes to Julie Harman, the lone contestant to pick Butler to go all the way from the beginning.  Julie was one half-court buzzer-beater away from winning the whole thing.  Instead she settles for 11th.
• The You Can’t Escape Destiny award goes Lucky Ongko.  Where should a guy named "Lucky" finish in the contest? Nowhere else but 13th, of course!
• The I Hate This Stupid Scoring System award goes to Chris Shelton, the lowest-finishing contestant with a winning percentage greater than .700.  Chris finished 49th.
• The If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It award goes to CBS for spoiling One Shining Moment with some new chick who just had to have face time during the traditional closing video montage.  You never saw David Barrett, Teddy Pendergrass, or Luther Vandross in the previous editions of the video, did you?  No, they just lent their voices to the best images of the tournament.  No offense, miss, you’re very talented, but this is about the players’ shining moments, not yours.
• And finally, the Contest Championship, the Big Kahuna, the Grand Poo Bah of Prognostication award goes to this year’s contest winner, the precocious fourth-grade phenom, Cayden Bauschek.  Cayden picked 6 of the final 7 games of the tournament correctly with original picks, sealing the deal with his pick of Duke as the national champion.  I guess in this case the little guy really can win it all.

Closing Thoughts

So at long last, I bid my friends adieu.  I want to say a big thank you to everyone who sent me an email of appreciation, encouragement, or something just plain funny.  As always, it is the collection of witty, good-hearted good sports who join my little contest that make it such a joy every year.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to make new friends and reconnect with old ones.  May God richly bless you all.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t give myself an award this year, it is because I received the best award a basketball fanatic like me could ever receive, a trip to the Final Four and the opportunity to witness an Indiana basketball story that will be told and re-told forever.  It was awesome.  I will never forget it.

Until next year, the Lord willing…

The Wizard Of Whiteland

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