POSTGAME
As is our liveblog custom... it's our 3 stars and final thoughts!
1st Star - Gordon Hayward (Butler)
-Stepped into the national spotlight tonight with his gamewinning defensive plays and led all scorers with 19. Wake up America, he's the best player left in the tournament.
2nd Star - Barack Obama (President)
-Anytime you beat a former All-American in HORSE as the sitting POTUS, you get a shout out from RSS!
3rd Star - Dairy Queen
-No doubt getting some extra publicity from the perplexing Clark Kellogg. I wonder what he's gonna pull out of the bag for Game 2 and Duke?
Final Thoughts
That was perhaps the ugliest close game I can remember since the epic Memphis/UCLA 50-45 shootout in the 2006 Elite 8. If Butler wants to complete the Cinderella story, they'll have to do more than score 8 points and get one basket in the final 10 minutes Monday night. For Michigan State, another overachieving tourney that ends in the Final 4, but they have to be commended for getting there once again. Fans, we are one night away from Jim Nantz poetically proclaiming "THE BUTLER DID IT!"
This is a big win for little guys everywhere. Watching the game in Youngstown, Butler hung tough but Y1 is right that MSU overachieved to get this far and ran out of gas tonight. No matter who wins tonight, Butler will be the biggest title game underdog since Villanova. It's going to take a much, much better performance offensively to beat either WVU or Duke.
2nd Half
END OF GAME - Hayward makes the critical block and then gets the game-clinching rebound. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't memorable. But it doesn't matter. Butler's dream is still alive! They beat Sparty 52-50!
:2.0 - Nobody on the ball... and they give the foul with 2.0 seconds. Ideal scenario for Butler there to get Lucious on the line. Vanzant right in his jersey.
:5.5 - Might be too risky to foul in this spot... see: Kansas State v Xavier.
:5.5 - Nored 3/12 in the tourney and he has ice water running through his veins! 3 point lead. State does take a TO with 5.5. Or do they? Great, confusion reigns and Izzo is furious? Interesting.
:6.1 - It was the Green iso and Hayward comes up huge with the block! Un-be-liev-a-ble! Fantastic defensive play. 2 big free throws for Butler to make it a 3 point game.
:23 - Clark is right that State has to go quick. Maybe Lucious with a drive or a Green iso. The way this game has gone you have to favor the defense here, right?
:30 - Unlucky! Hayward nonchalantly passes to Nored who drives and sees one crawl out of the rim. Sparty with a chance now down 1 with the ball.
:56 - Good botch from Nantz. Butler with a 1 pt lead - not game tied. Hayward has to take the shot here.
:56 - This time it's Roe with the offensive rebound... and? A foul? Oook. A chance to make it a 1 point game as Mack reenters for the Doggies. Green at the line.
1:35 - Finally! Hayward misses a 3 but gets the pass back from Vanzant I believe and lays it in. Biggest play of the game so far to get that rebound and save it to a streaking Hayward, who has 40% of Butler's points tonight.
2:00 - Green hits in the paint and it is now a 2 point game!
2:23 - Good foul from Roe to stop the 3 on 1 break. Still, MSU's half-court offense looks like vintage Mike Brown in the postseason, except Michigan State doesn't have LeBron James to bail them out.
2:36 - The Bulldog offense consists of 3 free throws the last 10 minutes. They're clinging to this 3 pt lead. Now 10 straight misses and finally MSU has a chance to tie. Where's Jimmy Chitwood?
3:20 - Butler should be in full-fledged panic mode. 9 straight misses and Mack on the bench.
3:46 - Bad shot from Lucious. Butler is still leading by 4 without a FG for 9 minutes! MSU is on a 4-3 run over the last 8 minutes. I knew there was a reason I wanted to blog these games tonight. 7 points in the last 8 minutes!!! Now I know why the regular season sucked. That's the thing about March Madness - once we hit April, we remember why November-February was so forgettable.
4:19 - H & H blew some GOLDEN chances for baskets that trip. We're approaching "Do either of these teams want to win" territory.
5:30 - Finally a bucket from Morgan draws the lead to 4. Finally it seems like the crowd is getting into this one.
6:04 - Butler's half court offense suffering. Thank goodness Michigan State is bailing them out with even worse half court offense. Hayward won't say no though as he goes back to the stripe again. The lead seems bigger than 5.
7:30 - Again, a combined 8 minute FG drought both ways. 46-41 Butler.
8:00 - Thank God Coach K is arriving in the building. Get ready for an unbearable 2nd half for the doubleheader. Wow, and a Magic shot in the crowd! Two for the price of one.
8:35 - Layup botch from Jukes could be a turning point. State can't get a bucket though as Hayward calmly sees a ball go out of bounds. Not exactly Wojo out there pounding the floor... thankfully.
9:00 - Wow. 4 guys with 3 or more fouls on MSU. Butler has got to attack the basket in the closing stages. For Sparty, it'll have to be Green, Summers, and Lucious to get them back.
9:24 - Bad flop attempt from Green. Now everyone on the MSU roster, Magic Johnson and Mateen Cleaves has 3 fouls. Isn't Cleaves the least likely former Final 4 star to be arrested on suspicion of DUI?
9:50 - Green gets a nice looking clothesline from Nored and is called for losing the ball out of bounds. Love these college refs.
10:00 - Teams trading tournovers now. A foul on the inside, Butler in the bonus and Howard misses. Boy, the atmosphere in the building doesn't tell you there's 10 minutes left in a national semifinal.
11:32 - Shelvin Mack hurt? Oh boy. In other news, Clark Kellogg is trending on Twitter - both for his POTUS loss to Pres. Obama and his announcing abilities. Where's Marcelo Balboa when you need him? OK, I take that last one back.
12:15 - Lucious careless with the ball and Veasley with a breakaway jam! Butler now with their largest lead of 7. Good stat from Nantz - Sparty's largest deficit of the tourney. Can they find composure without their floor general?
13:00 - Jukes cleaning the glass. Butler has been much better on the boards so far this half. Intensity ratcheting up like a giant Allen Wrench!!
14:05 - Finally we see MSU's athleticism as Summers throws it down!! 39-37 Butler.
15:24 - Hey! Now we're on a roll as Kellogg uses an actually identifiable basketball term! Howard with a nice reverse layin and Butler suddenly to a 5 pt advantage 38-33. Clark is right that Sparty needs to start running to stay in the game.
15:37 - I like Izzo attacking Hayward defensively as Green takes a trip to the stripe. CUE THE PRETTY AUGUSTA MUSIC! For the PTI fans out there, don't lie and say that you weren't fooled by their April 1 joke. Well played ESPN. Over/Under on cat calls/distractions on course for Tiger is 1.5.
15:54 - Now Nored draws a trip to the line looking for his first points. Can Hayward be the guy and get his teammates involved? That'll be the question this second half. It looks like MSU is really missing Kalin Lucas this game in the half court - he wasn't terribly missed against Tennessee in an up and down game.
16:41 - From Y2 via his ITouch in Youngstown, Hayward has most to gain and hes playing like it. You can also follow his Tweets and our account via the link at the top right of the page.
17:16 - Roe off with his 3rd "PF" (thanks for the abbreviation Clark). Butler's offense flowing better this half, but still having trouble with outside shooting. Their half court D is picking up though.
18:21 - Butler finally back in front thanks to Veasley and Howard crashing the glass. 32-31 Dogs.
18:51 - A three answered by Hayward going back to the line. He looks so smooth off the dribble and pundits think he'll be the best NBA pro from these Final 4 teams. Tonight is the first night where I've seen that.
19:30 - Howard finally with a shot attempt but it falls out. Good coaching to try to get him involved early. The occasion hasn't been too big for Stevens so far.
20:00 - Clark Kellogg's street cred needs to be Dairy Queen'd after losing a horse game to the president. By the way, I know I may sound a little tough on Nantz and Kellogg, but I do play by play on the D3 level... and Kellogg sounds like a student journalism major trying too hard to be either Dick Vitale or Bill Raftery. Where's Billy Packer anyways...
Halftime
*Actually, that might be the hardest interview Obama has had to give outside of Fox News.
*Obama's got a good game. The scouting report says you have to force him to his right. Thank you, I'll be here all week.
*Gordon Hayward is 5/9 with 13 points. His FGA so far in the tourney: 7, 8, 13, 14. Good for Butler that he's been much more aggressive, but Nored and Howard are a combined 0-0 from the floor. That's gotta change in half #2.
Half - Well, at least the game is tied. Clearly, the winner of Game 2 will be favored Monday night. If I'm Butler, I'm encouraged to be tied at half shooting 5/14 from downtown. If I'm MSU, I'm encouraged to be tied with Morgan on the bench with 3. It's close, but let's hope for a more invigorating 2nd half. At least we had an Allen Wrench and Dairy Queen reference from Clark Kellogg - he's bringing his A game!
1st Half
:30 1st - Matt Howard has been Dairy Queen'd 9 times this year according to Clark. Let's see... Dairy Queen'd... he got ice cream? A blizzard?? Umm... ohhhh he got dq'd! He fouled out. Gotcha. Oh, and Butler ties it with a 3.
1:00 1st - Butler struggling mightily offensively as Mack is rejected. Nantz tries telling us it's been a good one, although the crowd seems like it's at the Westminster Dog Show. Are there any Butler fans at this game??? What happened to that homecrowd?
2:52 1st - Surprised that CBS is still doing that Saturday Night Fights thing, at least we'll get to hear Gus then. Quick Butler TO as MSU extends the lead to 5. Hey, at least it gives me more blogging time. Butler 1 of their last 6 from downtown... now I remember why I thought they might go out 1st round. I also remember when I was a lock to win my bracket pool. Thank you Syracuse, OSU, and UK.
3:30 1st - Oh boy, Kellogg and Obama. Obama is what I like to call an Allen Wrench President... ok, I'll stop with the politics now.
3:30 1st - Yipes. 9 combined scoreless minutes finally broken by stereotypical white bench big guy for MSU. Hayward immediately answers. This is as aggressive as he's been the entire tourney. 24-23 Spartans. Oh, and it's another timeout.
While we're in timeout here's some random thoughts from around the sports world today. AKA, the soccer I watched this morning...
1) Drogba was offside for the 2nd Chelsea goal. They move ahead of Man U with the 2-1 win today. With Rooney hurt, United might be out of the EPL race and CL to Bayern.
2) Speaking of Bayern they moved top of the Bundesliga by winning with 10 men at Schalke. Impressive D, especially by masked man Martin DeMechelis. They'll be favored to advance past Man U in the CL this week taking a 2-1 lead to Old Trafford.
3) Man City scored 3 goals in 7 minutes to start the game at Burnley. As a Liverpool fan, I'm slowly coming to the realization that the Gerrard/Benitez Era is over. Maybe they can win the Euorpa League 2 years in a row!
4:30 1st - Impressive that Gordon Hayward was elected Freshmen class president at Butler? What is this, high school? Hey, I could've done that too, but I didn't wanna.... still looking for our first points since the under 8 TO.
6:00 1st - Hayward has gone cold, but MSU's offense is starting to turn the ball over. Surprised to see Butler play into Sparty's game by jacking up quick 3's.
7:26 1st - Mack taking the scoring load from Hayward. By my calculation that's 19 of 20 pts between the 2. "That's called rakin it and takin it." Please make it stop - no, it's much funnier if it continues. Is there anyone we can rake and take Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery about now? Shoot, I'd even take Tim Brando and Mike Gminski or Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes. Eh, maybe just Gus. 22-20 Spartans.
9:15 1st - Kellogg talks about Summers lighting up Michigan St's offense after making a 3. I was gonna retire the blog if he said, "I like to call him The Clapper."
10:07 1st - And now Morgan is in foul trouble with 3. Kellogg talks about Draymond Green as the team's leader?? You mean the 4th leading scorer? Puzzling. Mack with the And 1 draws Butler within 1.
11:02 1st - Now Hayward picks up a foul. We hit the under 12 and it's 18-14. Boy, these automatic TV timeouts kill any momentum in the college game. Wait until the 2nd half when we'll have about 37 timeouts called. Ugh.
11:50 1st - Refs will play a big role in this game. So far it's pretty even. Hey, gotta get them warmed up to screw over West Virginia tonight, right? Oh, and Sparty's midrange game has been insanely good. 18-12 MSU.
13:00 1st - Now we're seeing Gordon Hayward start to lift his team and be more aggressive offensively. 2 straight buckets and then Butler back to the line.
14:16 1st - Ouch. Matt Howard with 2 fouls inside of 6 minutes. That's what Clark Kellogg likes to call a slap chop. Don't ask me why. 16-9 MSU.
14:30 1st Half - BTW, I've decided to switch the entry times to the game times. Hey, I'm running this thing. MSU on a nice run to get back to 12-7 ahead. It might be smart of them to up the tempo, they are that kind of team with Lucious running the show and not Lucas.
6:16 - OMG! Thank you God! We have our first Clarkism of the evening and it was before the first TV timeout!!! Zach Hahn is what I call Allen Wrench!!!! "He's got one specific, unique purpose." Wow. That is phenomenal.
6:14 - Good start thus far, 4 threes made, 2 by each team as Mack goes to the line. Could have been run out of the building after that 6-0 start.
6:10 - Tonight won't be a full play-by-play, but we'll break down what's happening and of course point out things that need to be laughed at throughout the night. I'm going solo, so I'm gonna need to save up the energy. Let's just hope we get 1 good game tonight. MSU in white, Butler in the dark bluish/black. MSU wins the tap!
6:07 - Gordon Hayward looks like he's 11 years old. Can you really picture this guy in the NBA? Butler gets an F- for the "eye test." Thank goodness Kirk Herbstreit isn't here to talk about how Butler looks walking off the bus...
6:01 - Muse's Uprising song has been all over the place. I've seen it in about 5 different commercials, ads for V, and now for Butler! I love Knights of Cydonia and the rest of their stuff is growing on me... gotta love the British rock reference early on! By the way, I was paying zero attention to what Clark was actually saying.
5:58 - Clark Kellogg's strong analysis that these 4 teams ranked in the Top 11 preseason were "kinda sorta expected to be here." This will be a fun night.
5:56 - And we get the official welcome with one of the most underrated network openings to a sporting event. I don't know why, I love the bracket with the scenes from yesteryear. Good luck with that and 96 teams... hello friends!
It's a tall task, but what better way to celebrate this year's Final 4 with a live blog of the semifinal games in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Stop by Randall Simon's Sausages throughout the night for updates and commentary on Butler-Michigan State and Duke-West Virginia. You can be sure that we'll have lots of laughs, and maybe something insightful to say too. See you at 6!
