INDIANAPOLIS — So Butler’s giant heart and iron will and old-school togetherness and toughness and magnificent obsession could not finish the fairy tale against Big Bad Duke.
Its deadly slingshot did not work against this Goliath, and Lucas Oil Stadium, along with a city that lives and dies with the game, fell silent last night after Duke 61, Butler 59, save for the euphoric sounds erupting from Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth national championship team as the Blue Devils cut down the nets knowing that One Shining Moment belonged to them, and them alone.
Bobby Plump, living legend, the real-life Jimmy Chitwood who has been immortalized forever for his last shot that gave Milan High a state crown 56 years ago, sat there with the governor near center court, trying to root the Bulldogs into the history books with him, and Texas Western and Jim Valvano’s North Carolina State and Rollie Massimino’s Villanova, and every underdog in every sport that has defied the odds and dared to dream The Impossible Dream.
Alas, no “Hoosiers” for Butler, a long way from Hollywood. No Hickory High miracle ending. No Last Shot they will remember forever.
But you bet the Bulldogs deserved a better fate. It came down to one Last Shot, and this time it didn’t end the way it ended for Plump and Milan High.
Sometimes there are winners in defeat, and do not dare call them Loosiers in any way. The Bulldogs brought honor to the college game, and to themselves. They played the game the right way, the way the Red Holzman Knicks used to play it, and they put the student back in student-athlete, even during all the March Madness. Maybe a national championship game in the classroom against Duke would have turned out better for them.
Alas, Coach K was too much coach, barely, with too much team, barely, for Brad Stevens and the Bulldogs. It won’t be long before Krzyzewski gets to 1,000 wins and be remembered as the greatest college basketball coach not named John Wooden.
Once upon a time, Duke was Butler. And then Krzyzewski showed up, and Tobacco Road was never the same.
Duke never had encountered a team that played this hard, this smart. Until now. Every possession counted. Every matchup on the floor resembled Dave DeBusschere versus Gus Johnson.
But Matt Howard committed his fourth foul with 14:10 left.
But then Brian Zoubek, Duke’s enforcer, committed his fourth foul with 11:21 left.
Butler (35 percent overall shooting) would go nearly eight minutes down the stretch without a field goal.
Duke finally would begin to dominate the boards. And still Butler would not go away.
Shelvin Mack fed Howard for a lay-in, and it was Duke 60, Butler 59 with 49 seconds left, and Krzyzewski called time.
Kyle Singler, so heroic in the second half, was short on a turnaround J.
Stevens called time out with 13.6 seconds left.
Who wants to be Jimmy Chitwwod now?
Gordon Hayward did.
“It’s one possession like we’ve always wanted,” Stevens said. “You can’t ask for anything more as a team, to take it down to the wire in the national championship game, and have a shot to win it.”
And so it came down to Hayward’s Last Shot this time, not Plump’s Last Shot.
And Hayward, from the right baseline, Zoubek in his face, missed the fade-away long.
“When it left my hand I thought it was good,” Hayward said.
Said Zach Hahn: “I’ve seen him make that shot 1,000 times.”
All of them did. Rebound to Zoubek, who was fouled with 3.6 seconds left. Zoubek sank the first free throw, purposely missed the second.
And now it came down to Hayward’s Last Prayer, a midcourt heave for history.
Ohhhhhhhh.
“It was close, it just … close doesn’t cut it, so…” Hayward said.
Said Howard: “I thought it was going in.”
All of them did. Off the backboard and off the front rim, and over.
“Worst feeling in the world for me is losing,” Hayward said quietly.
Senior Willie Veasley sat in the corner of the Butler locker room, his black jersey pulled over his head to hide the tears. Stevens told his Bulldogs he was proud of them.
“We just came up one possession short in a game with about 145 possessions,” Stevens said.
No Hoosiers. But no Loosiers, either.
“There’s no consolation in the fact that you made it this far,” Howard said. “We thought we were gonna win. It just makes it hurt a little bit more.”