Back in 2010, Butler University was a cute little over-achieving team from the Horizon League. It had the baby-faced coach in Brad Stevens and, thanks a roster filled with returnees from the previous season (in which it won the Horizon League regular-season championship, earned a nine seed in the NCAA Tournament, and finished the season ranked No. 25 in the final polls), it debuted at No. 10 in the preseason rankings. It remained ranked throughout (dropping to as low as No. 24 and rising to as high as No. 8) and went 18-0 in league play, won both games in the Horizon League Tournament, and entered the NCAA Tournament as a five seed in the West Region.
Still, few expected Butler to go on the run it did, beating the University of Texas-El Paso 77-59, Murray State 54-52, Syracuse 63-59, and Kansas State 63-56 in Regional play to earn its first trip to the NCAA Final Four which just so happened to be in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, a scant 6.2 miles from Butler’s home of Hinkle Fieldhouse.
In its semifinal matchup, Butler defeated defending national runner-up, Michigan State University (the only Big Ten school Butler had never played), 52-50.
Comparisons to the 1986 film, Hoosiers, abounded as tiny Butler (enrollment about 4,500) was the smallest school to play the National Championship since Jacksonville in 1970. Duke, itself a private school with only about 6,500 students, but with three NCAA Championships on its resume at the time, was the David in this David and Goliath story.
A back-and-forth game, it came down to the waning minutes and, utlimately, Butler sophomore Gordon Hayward‘s halfcourt heave that was the subject of this week’s Fan Teaser.
Here’s a wonderful 10-year reflection story (March 2020) from Jim Boeheim, Frank Martin, Tom Izzo, and Mike Krzyzewski (the coaches of Butler’s final four opponents during its tournament run).
As though to prove 2010 was no fluke, Butler – now without Hayward who was the No. 9 draft pick by the Utah Jazz – played in the 2011 National Championship Game as well, losing to UConn, 53-41, in Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.