Somewhere hidden between acres of cornfields and abandoned auto plants lies a distinctive piece of hallowed ground in the sport of basketball. This middle-of-nowhere locale has given us the likes of Larry Bird John Wooden and Oscar Robinson. Even Larry Steele and Bryce Drew call this wonderful place home.
But so too does another budding hero. The place is Indianapolis Ind. and that hero is Butler University superstar Gordon Hayward.
If you haven’t heard of him yet by the end of the week you will have. ESPN commentators have dubbed him the 21st century Bobby Plump. They’ve been covering him tighter than an NFL safety.
Hayward and the Bulldogs have stormed through the NCAA men’s basketball tournament as the unanimous underdog knocking off University of Texas-El Paso Murray State Kansas State and No.1-seed Syracuse. Their recent basketball success has Hoosier country reliving the 56-year-old memory of Milan High School upending powerhouse Muncie Central in the 1954 Indiana state championship which gave rise to the iconic film “Hoosiers.” The “Crossroads of America” is no stranger to Cinderella stories and Butler is poised to write one of the most prolific tales in history.
Just as Plump became a household name overnight Hayward looks to do much the same thing in the coming week. The two stories though different are intertwined in spectacularly similar ways. Plump and Hayward both attended Butler and both played at legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse. What is also fitting about the Bulldogs Final Four run this year is they will be traveling a lengthy six whole miles to downtown Indianapolis to vie for a shot at a national championship.
Talk about home court advantage. Hard to believe a little school with a little-known coach is two wins away from cutting down the nets in Indy. And with 10 home-grown products.
Butler is the little school that could. It’s the school that isn’t afraid to dream big.
As Hayward put it “someone’s got to get to the national championship and win so why couldn’t it be us?”
The Naismith Trophy finalist who has led the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding this year and helped piece together Butler’s current 24-game winning streak stands at the very core of what the squad is all about— determination.
They are not flashy but instead are hardworking dedicated student athletes. Show up to practice at Hinkle and you won’t find a McDonald’s All-American nor will you be inundated with overbearing egos— just young men on a mission to play basketball the Butler way.
It’s a style that’s difficult to explain but easy to understand. It encapsulates the principle of teamwork that every basketball coach dreams about. Every player hustles on defense works hard on offense has a distinct skill and role on the team and plays smart and savvy basketball. Welcome to Indiana hoops.
All this hype about how Butler is such an underdog— I don’t buy it. They’re in it to win it even if they play in a league sharing the namesake of a milk company.
In a year in which Cornell advanced to the Sweet 16 Northern Iowa dropped Kansas in the second round and the two national championship favorites got dropped before the Final Four it just goes to show that anything can happen. This is March Madness after all.
It is expected that more than 70000 people will pack Lucas Oil Stadium for the Final Four game April 3. A little intimidating for most teams but to calm the nerves you better believe Head Coach Brad Stevens will be out on the floor with a tape measure.
“Yes boys the rim is still only 10 feet off the floor.”
