That was one of the strangest endings I have ever seen!Butlercomes up with a great play to get a layup with 2.2 seconds to take a one point lead. Then, on a play where both players were sprinting for a pass, they call a foul on Pitt. I wasn’t sure how you call a foul in that situation – and yet, in the replay, you can see that the contact pushed the Pitt player to the side. Then, Pitt misses the second FT, Matt Howard gets the rebound, and in an attempt to heave the ball towards his basket, gets hit across the arms by a Pitt player. I am also not sure how you call a foul in that situation – yet, he clearly reached in. At least the refs were consistent.

Needless to say, Howard hits the first FT, intentionally misses the second so that the last 0.8 seconds can tick off – andButlerhas destroyed another perfectly good bracket. For the second year in a row, the Horizon conference champions have knocked off a #1 seed from the mighty Big East. I don’t even know if you can callButlera Cinderella at this point. All I know is I would not want to be Wisconsin or Kansas State – knowing that the mighty Butler Bulldogs are waiting for them in the Sweet 16. They have now won both games in the final second – and after last year’s flurtation with history, this year’s team seems intent on sticking around for a while and seeing if they can finish what escaped them last year.

I don’t even care that it totally took out my insane bracket – where I think I had Pitt going to the championship, since I thought it was too crazy to have Purdue do it. GoButlerBulldogs!!!!!! Keep fighting for the little guys!!!!!!!!