Boredom Misapplied

If you haven’t heard already, Butler set a new National Championship Game record by shooting just 18.8 percent from the field on Monday night. That’s right, Butler made just 12 of their 64 shots, including just 3 of 31 (9.7 percent!) from two-point range.

You would expect, after that performance, that all of those critics of Wisconsin who used a poor shooting night as proof of fluky success to come out of the woodwork and shout to the heavens that Butler simply didn’t belong, that their (2nd straight) Final Four run was the product of lucky shots and fortunate bounces rather than simply out of grit, determination, and solid basketball.

I spent all night looking for these critics and yet they were nowhere to be found.

Yes, the same writers who bashed the Badgers after a 36-33 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament and then again after a poor shooting night in the Sweet 16 loss to Butler were not ripping on the Bulldogs for being a party crasher, destined to fall once their good fortune passed. Instead, they were crying the tears, calling out the excuses, and playing the “what if” game in order to somehow use a similar poor shooting night as evidence that Butler not only belonged, but was in fact the better team.

Seriously, why the double standard?

As soon as Wisconsin was eliminated from the tournament by this same Butler team, more than a few “national college basketball writers” used a 30.2 percent effort from the field as foolproof evidence of the Badgers’ destiny for failure.

UW was too dependent on the three-pointer, too dependent on their stars, and unable to win away from home where they tended to struggle from the field.

Never mind the fact this same Badger team squeaked out a victory against a hot Iowa team in Iowa City despite shooting 18 percent in the first half and 35 percent overall.

Never mind the fact this same Badger team beat Michigan while being out-shot by nearly 13 percent.

Never mind the fact the Badgers had shot nearly 46 percent during the first two rounds of the tournament, playing 1,663 miles away from the Kohl Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Just a bad shooting night? No, for the Badgers it had to be something that was destined to happen.

As for Butler: What a shame.

What is it about this Badger program that has media types getting on their every slip?

As much as I would like to have a better explanation, the best I can think of is that Wisconsin basketball is boring.

Not boring in the sense that these “college basketball writers” have been talking about. No, the Badgers are just fundamentally sound and their lack of mistakes gives off the impression of a boring offense. Actually watch a few games and this notion of “Wisconsin basketball” being some sort of boring, stall-oriented system will wash away.

But Wisconsin basketball is boring for these writers. It is boring because there is nothing to write about. No NCAA investigation, no players being suspended, no coaching controversy, no star taking up all the attention, nothing to give a national writer anything resembling a good story.

So in an attempt to meet their quotas, this group of media types has to reapply the word boredom, a word that certain applies to their own perceptions of the Wisconsin program as it pertains to the ease of their own jobs.

The off-the-court tranquility is translated into a “boring offense”, its existence dependent on the shaky existence of a lucky shooting run. Once the bounces stopped going UW’s way, they were destined to lose.

Now don’t get me wrong, Wisconsin and Butler both finished off their seasons with poor performances. Wisconsin’s mistakes were plentiful in New Orleans, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t belong nor does it mean they never had a shot at the Final Four. Certainly it doesn’t mean that the program should completely re-haul its offensive and defensive philosophies simply because the shots weren’t falling one night.

The same goes for Butler. They are no longer Cinderella they have proven they belong. Butler is no longer one of the best mid-major programs, they are one of the best programs, period. Just because the shots weren’t falling on Monday night doesn’t mean they didn’t earn their spot in the final.

Wisconsin’s 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances speak for themselves, as do Butler’s back-to-back title games.

Each had a bad night at a bad time. That’s all there is to write about.

A Championship Tainted

Ok, so it is probably fitting that in a year that saw Auburn go forward from damaging allegations to win the BCS title, Connecticut manages to win the NCAA Men’s title despite facing probation and a 3-game Big East suspension for coach Jim Calhoun.

Ironic? Yes. Acceptable? Absolutely not.

Watching Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith hand over the Championship trophy to Calhoun on Monday night was one of the most disgusting images the college sports fan in me has ever seen. Sure, the presumption of innocence has to be observed and Calhoun has been handed his due punishment, but think about how much harm that scene does to the image of collegiate athletics.

That scene alone washes away any hope of saving college football and basketball from the evils of complete commercialization. The bottom line is clear: Money matters far more than integrity.

I know this is a post-game emotional outburst and perhaps some of you would even dispute my assumption that Butler is indeed squeaky clean, but I still cannot stomach the thought of a coach with a looming suspension and a team on NCAA probation taking home a title that I thought to be the last bastion of hope for the little guy.

The final four was all about contrast. It was the little guys, VCU and Butler, versus not just powerhouses, but controversial powerhouses in UCONN and Kentucky. Thankfully Kentucky’s loss in the semifinal round saved us from another surefire vacation (John Calipari has coached in 2 Final Fours, but he has never coached a Final Four team. No, I did not misspeak).

But with UCONN winning the title, we now have the potential to see a BCS and NCAA basketball title vacated from the same season.

Seriously, what kind of message does all of this controversial success send?

The BCS is obviously a whole different animal. TCU has its felons, Oregon pays recruits, and Auburn, well we know that they won the Cam Newton bidding war before the went on to take the BCS as well. And Ohio State? Well that episode just takes dishonesty to a whole new level.

But this season basketball joined the party. Tennessee was called out for illegal contact and then ex-coach Bruce Pearl committed another minor violation just days after tearfully apologizing for the major violations. And UCONN, yes that UCONN, was slapped with NCAA probation and a 3 game conference suspension for 2012 was given to coach Calhoun.

To see Connecticut’s tumultuous season come to a championship end is not inspirational, it is disgusting.

Butler needed to win this game to save collegiate athletics. Butler, much like Wisconsin, is known for doing things the right way, for recruiting the right players not necessarily the best players, for recruiting student-athletes and not just athletes who happen to show up at a few classes. They embody the true spirit of what the NCAA should be about, a far cry from the stuff going on at these powerhouse programs that are racking up titles to go along with their notices of allegations.

Butler not only gave hope to the little guy, they gave hope to the 98% of programs out there that play by the rules 100% of the time.