WASHINGTON � Timing is everything.
By Jack Gruber, USAT
Butler's Shelvin Mack scored 30 points in the Bulldogs' upset of No. 1 Pittsburgh.
By Jack Gruber, USAT
Butler's Shelvin Mack scored 30 points in the Bulldogs' upset of No. 1 Pittsburgh.
When Butler lost to Cleveland State a month ago and was 15-7 no one expected this moment to come.
Especially since Pittsburgh was 19-1 at the time.
Certainly when Andrew Smith scored with a few seconds left few thought there would be more moments.
And when Shelvin Mack fouled Pitt's Gilbert Brown with 1.4 seconds in what he called "probably the worst foul in Butler history" no one believed there was another moment to come.
But that came when Brown missed his second free throw and Nasir Robinson fouled Matt Howard with 0.8 seconds left.
Howard's free throw and then intentional miss was the final moment as Butler upset No. 1 Pitt 71-70 to advance to next week's Sweet 16 in New Orleans.
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BOX SCORE: Butler 71, Pittsburgh 70
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PHOTO GALLERY: Best shots from the second round
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BRACKET: Follow the road to the Final Four
In game in which Mack scored 30 points and Brown had 24 including going 4-for-5 from three-point range, all of the talk will be about two of the most ill-advised fouls in NCAA history and whether the refs had any business calling either of them.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon won't be one of those adding to the yak.
"We'll never talk about the officials in a negative manner and I think?they did the best job and they should be proud of what they did out there?.they're the best in the country and that is why they're officiating."
Mack called his gaffe with 1.2 seconds left the "dumbest mistake of my life" and the "longest one-minute." And, a guy who said he will be a "dead-man walking with his team" didn't blame the referee for making a last second call.
"We are asked to play the game for 40 minutes so it should be reffed for the full 40 minutes."
Robinson had no truck with the referees saying "I blame myself. I am smarter than that. I have been playing this game too long to make a dumb mistake like that."
John Higgins, chief of the crew calling the game said in a statement about the late calls: "We do it every day. It just happened to be a crucial part of the game. You have to do what you have to do as an official. If we get it right, we're good. If we get it wrong, we're deadbeats and we're all over SportsCenter. We did what we think is correct.
The short term conversation will be about the fouls but the long term discussion will be about the Butler program, given up for dead in the middle of the season, putting itself back on the national stage just a year after coming within a Gordon Heyward last second heave to win the national title against Duke.
The day before the game Pittsburgh guard Brad Wanamaker called Butler "America's Team" and he wasn't exactly talking in complimentary terms.
But America is now casting its lonely eyes back on the Bulldogs after what Howard called "by far the craziest weekend of basketball in my life" included last second wins against Old Dominon and Pittsburgh in the tournament have their last 11 games.
"You are thinking there is no way we can live this way," said Howard who sunk the winning basket with time expiring against ODU.
Butler coach Brad Stevens, who calls himself "a stat-geek" came into the Pitt game knowing that No. 1 seeds were 91-13 against No. 8s in the second round, an 88% win margin. Stevens said he just was hoping to be "one of those twelve-percenters."
To accomplish that the Bulldogs won two games by a total of three points and Stevens thinks fortune was with his team in the nation's capital.
"One of the things that is very clear and needs to be made very clear is we're not a better basketball team than Old Dominion or Pittsburgh, we just had the ball last. And I think that's just what happens sometimes, and you have two really basketball teams that are very evenly matched."
But it is not Old Dominion or Pittsburgh going to New Orleans for the Sweet 16.
And for Butler guard Ronald Nored he thrilled as a player and a Homewood, Ala., native to be going.
"It's great for our university. It's great for our guys in the locker room" he said of another Sweet 16. We're excited about it and New Orleans is probably my favorite city in the country. It's close to Alabama so maybe I'll have some Alabamians come down. We will enjoy this for a little bit then see who we play and go from there."
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