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NEW ORLEANS — Florida and Butler were never mentioned in the same
breath.
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One was seen as a perennial national power and the other as an
up-and-coming jumpstart mid-major.
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2000, the fifth-seeded Gators beat the upset-minded Bulldogs, a 12
seed, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And in 2007,
top-seeded UF breezed past an overmatched Butler squad on its way
to winning its second consecutive national title.
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But as the two teams prepare to face off in the NCAA Tournament for
the third time, that once wide gap separating the programs has
closed.
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One team is playing for a shot at earning back-to-back trips to the
Final Four. Just last week, the other won its first NCAA Tournament
game since 2007.
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one were asked to match each team with one of the above statements
five years ago, it would have been easy.
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Now, it’s a different story.
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Butler is the team that made the Final Four and the championship
game last season. And Florida is the squad enjoying its first bit
of postseason success in four years.
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That’s how fast things can shift in college basketball.
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Some might still consider Butler a Cinderella team. But those
people would be wrong.
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Bulldogs forward and leading scorer Matt Howard is OK with the
label, but he knows it annoys the fan base.
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know from the outside perspective and from what our fans think, I
know they probably don’t enjoy that so much,” he said.
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That anger is justified.
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Butler has made the NCAA Tournament eight times in the last 11
years, showing the type of consistency even top-tier teams can’t
always match.
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put that into perspective, North Carolina, a legendary program full
of history, missed the NCAA Tournament three times in the past 10
years.
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“You don’t get to a national championship game or the amount of
Sweet 16’s that they’ve gotten to by just being a Cinderella
story,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “That doesn’t happen year
after year.”
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definitely isn’t a fluke.
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That’s a big enough sample size to know that Butler belongs on the
same level as Florida.
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Saturday’s game isn’t the David and Goliath battle everybody is
making it out to be. Instead, it’s what an Elite Eight matchup
should be: two of the country’s best teams battling it out for a
chance to play in the Final Four.
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Butler win Saturday would go a long way in officially ending its
time as a Cinderella team.
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But don’t be fooled. That glass slipper was taken off long ago.
