Cleveland State Vikings (6-1): The Vikings used a last-second shot by senior guard Trevon Harmon to defeat the St. Bonaventure Bonnies by a score of 67-64 in a very physical and hard-fought game. After this game, the Vikings headed off on a long series of road match ups. The Vikings began with a contest against the Kent State Golden Flashes, an in-state foe. The Vikings defeated the Golden Flashes, one of the best teams in the MAC, by a score of 57-53. The Vikings then headed east to Rhode Island to play three games in the Ticket City Legends Classic. Cleveland State began by defeating Boston University by a score of 63-62 in a game in which the Vikings came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half. The next day, the Vikings lost their first game of the season against the Hofstra Pride by a score of 63-53. On Sunday, the Vikings rebounded to defeat the Rhode Island Rams by a score of 67-45. The Vikings will have three days off before their first Horizon League match up on the road against the Wright State Raiders on Thursday.

Detroit Titans (3-4): This season is quickly becoming a nightmare season for the Titans, who began the season with hopes of knocking the Butler Bulldogs from their perch atop the Horizon League. At this point, the Titans do not have enough active scholarship players to conduct a 5-on-5 scrimmage during practice. Eli Holman remains on a leave of absence as he deals with an assault charge incurred at a fraternity house, and no updates have been given on his status. Senior forward Nick Minnerath recently suffered a season-ending ACL injury. John Hoskins left the team and guards Chris Blake and Brandon Romain are academically ineligible for the fall semester. Although the Titans were able to wallop Concordia (Mich.) by a score of 113-68, the Titans proceeded to lose two of their next three games in the CBE Classic in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Titans lost to the George Washington Colonials in the first game. In the second game, the Titans lost 67-61 to the Bowling Green Falcons. The Titans eked out a narrow overtime victory against Austin Peay in the final game by a score of 94-93. Playing their fourth straight game in Ohio this past Friday, the Titans lost 81-63 to a talented Akron Zips team. The Titans will return to action Thursday night in their first Horizon League match up against the Youngstown State Penguins.

Green Bay Phoenix (2-4): The Phoenix won a home game against Wyoming by the score of 52-44. The Phoenix then took their talents to Indiana to play Indiana State. Despite the offensive struggles of standout center Alec Brown, the bench helped the Phoenix stay in the game. However, the Phoenix eventually lost in the final seconds to the Sycamores by the score of 57-56 on a late 3-pointer. The Phoenix suffered another loss two days later on the road to the Virginia Cavaliers by a score of 68-42. On Thursday, the Phoenix will begin Horizon League play with a match up at home against the UIC Flames.

Loyola Ramblers (1-4): Despite having three players score in double figures, the Ramblers lost 63-51 on the road at Furman. Rookie head coach Porter Moser finally secured his first win as Loyola’s head coach with a 64-50 victory over Fordham in the Ramblers’ first game in renovated Gentile Arena. The Ramblers begin Horizon League play on Thursday with a road match up against the Milwaukee Panthers.

Milwaukee Panthers (5-1): The Panthers continued their strong start to the reason, which is impressive in light of the fact that star player Tony Meier has not played at all this season as a result of a lingering calf injury. After two impressive home victories over IUPUI and Texas Southern, the Panthers traveled to Michigan State for a road match up against the Spartans. Although the game was close at halftime, the Spartans pulled away in the second half for a 68-55 victory. The Panthers rebounded by defeating Arkansas-Little Rock by a score of 59-54. Kaylon Williams currently leads the Horizon League with an average of 6.0 assists per game. On Thursday, the Panthers will begin Horizon League play with a home match up against the Loyola Ramblers.

UIC Flames (2-3): The Flames dropped a 65-61 decision to Division II Quincy University but followed up with a 79-75 victory over Evansville. The Flames then lost to the Toledo Rockets by a score of 82-67 in a game in which a furious second-half comeback attempt could not overcome a large first-half deficit. The Flames will return to action on Thursday in their Horizon League opener on the road against the Green Bay Phoenix.

Valparaiso Crusaders (5-2): The Crusaders continued their impressive start to the season with three wins in the 2K Sports Classic. Their first victory was a 62-59 triumph over the talented Akron Zips. The next day, the Crusaders pounded IU Kokomo by a score of 79-48. Playing their third game in three days, the Crusaders defeated the Duquesne Dukes by a score of 84-68. After a four-day layoff, the Crusaders traveled to Columbus to play the nationally ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Although the Crusaders were only down by four points at halftime, the Buckeyes’ impressive shooting and the Crusaders’ abysmal shooting combined to produce a lopsided second half that resulted in an 80-47 victory for the Buckeyes. Ryan Broekhoff is currently tied for the Horizon League lead in rebounding with 9.3 points per game. The Crusaders will open Horizon League play with a match up against Butler on Saturday.

Wright State Raiders (2-4): The Raiders’ inexperience caught up to them during the second week of the season, as the Raiders dropped three straight games. The Raiders dropped a 78-65 decision to the Florida Gators. Two days later, the Raiders lost to North Florida by a score of 69-52. The friendly confines of the Nutter Center did not help the Raiders as they lost a close game to the Charlotte 49ers by a score of 70-66. The Raiders’ schedule will not get any easier as they begin Horizon League play on Thursday with a tough home matchup against the Cleveland State Vikings.

Youngstown State Penguins (4-1): The Penguins have continued their turnaround from last season’s disappointing campaign. Sophomore Kendrick Perry currently leads the Horizon League in scoring with 18.2 points per game and the team as a whole is dramatically improved. After a hard-fought defensive struggle against UC Riverside that ended in a 53-49 overtime victory, the Penguins headed to State College to face the Penn State Nittany Lions. Despite once again making a school-record 14 3-pointers, the Penguins fell behind early and lost to the Nittany Lions by a score of 82-71. The Penguins battled yet another Pennsylvania foe three days later when they battled the St. Francis Red Storm on the road. This time, the Penguins came away victorious by a score of 60-59 when senior DuShawn Brooks blocked a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer. The Penguins will travel to Detroit in their Horizon League opener to battle the Titans on Thursday.

Cleveland State Vikings (2-0): The Vikings shocked the nationally ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday by a score of 71-58. On Tuesday, the Vikings knocked off the Rio Grande Red Storm, an NAIA school, by a score of 86-57. Cleveland State will face another test on Friday evening at home when they square off against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. Senior center Aaron Pogue missed Tuesday night’s match up with an undisclosed illness, and his availability for this important game is unknown.

Detroit Titans (1-1): The Titans began the season by defeating the Division II Lake Erie College Storm 95-57. On Monday, the Titans faded in the second half and lost to Notre Dame by a score of 59-53 in a game in which they led at halftime. The Titans will face Concordia (Mich.) on Friday at home. Eli Holman, whose presence is key to the Titans’ success this season, remains out indefinitely for the Titans to address personal matters, and no new information has been released about his status.

Green Bay Phoenix (1-2): The Phoenix started off the 2011-12 campaign by knocking off the University of Mary, a Division II school, by a score of 94-55. However, the Phoenix started slowly against the Duquesne Dukes on the road two days later and lost 84-66. On Wednesday, the Phoenix lost a close game on the road against North Dakota State by the score of 65-61. The Phoenix have received strong play from sophomore center Alec Brown, who posted double-doubles in his first two games and has averaged over three blocks per game to start the season.

Loyola Chicago Ramblers (0-3): Rookie head coach Porter Moser has had a rough start to his career at Loyola. The Ramblers started the season by dropping two games on the road to major conference schools. Beginning the regular season with a 67-49 loss to Illinois, the Ramblers also lost three days later to the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 74-61. On Wednesday, the Ramblers collapsed in the second half in yet another road game and lost to Eastern Illinois by a score of 65-61. Loyola faces another game on the road against Furman Nov. 20 before returning home to the newly renovated Gentile Arena to face Fordham Nov. 26.

Milwaukee Panthers (2-0): The Panthers began the season with a 71-65 victory over Division II Southwest Minnesota State. Two nights later, the Panthers pulled out a 59-57 nailbiter against Northern Illinois. The Panthers’ solid start has come without star player Tony Meier, who has been sidelined with a calf injury and has not played this season. On Friday, the Panthers will square off against IUPUI at home.

UIC Flames (1-1): The Flames started off the season by losing to Eastern Michigan by a score of 68-57. On Wednesday, they rode the strong play of their defense to a 59-42 win against Roosevelt in their home opener. The Flames will look to earn their second win of the season against Division II Quincy University at home Saturday.

Valparaiso Crusaders (2-1): Participating in the 2K Sports Classic, the Crusaders lost their first game of the season on the road against the Arizona Wildcats by a score of 73-64. The Crusaders rebounded later in the week to win their first game of the season against Georgia Southern by a score of 90-81. On Monday, the Crusaders pounded Holy Cross (Ind.), an NAIA school, by a score of 88-38. The Crusaders will play the Akron Zips Friday at home.

Wright State Raiders (2-1): The young Wright State squad opened the season with a tough road game against nationally ranked Ohio State, losing 73-42. However, the Raiders recovered two days later against Division III Kenyon College and won 80-56 in their home opener. On Wednesday, the Raiders earned their second victory of the season at home against Jackson State by a score of 56-39. The Raiders have no games this weekend, and they will most likely spend it preparing for their match up against Florida next Monday on the road in Tampa, Fla.

Youngstown State Penguins (2-0): The Penguins have started strong in a season in which they have been predicted to improve significantly upon last season’s dismal record. The Penguins notched their first win of the season by a score of 76-69 on the road against Samford. Returning home to the friendly confines of the Beeghly Center, the Penguins won 80-62 against Division II Notre Dame (Ohio) in a game in which the Penguins sunk a school-record 14 3-pointers. The Penguins look to continue their winning ways on Friday at home against UC Riverside.

Projected starting five:

Sr. G Ronald Nored
Jr. G Chase Stigall
Jr. C Andrew Smith
So. F Eric Fromm
So. F Khyle Marshall

Important departures:

Shelvin Mack: 16.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.4 apg
Matt Howard: 16.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.4 apg

Two of the mainstays on the Butler teams that advanced to two consecutive NCAA championship games are gone. The Bulldogs will also need to replace Shawn Vanzant (8.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.7 apg), a key role player during the past few seasons.

% returning scoring and rebounding:

Scoring: 37 percent
Rebounding: 53 percent

The Bulldogs return three players with significant starting experience: Khyle Marshall, Andrew Smith and Ronald Nored.

Additions:

The Bulldogs will welcome six new recruits to the squad this fall. Roosevelt Jones is a three-star recruit from Illinois who will play small forward. Jackson Aldridge is a three-star recruit from Australia who will provide depth at guard. Kameron Woods is a two-star recruit from Kentucky who will add height. Andy Smethers is a two-star recruit and local product who can play both guard and forward. Alex Barlow and Elliott Kampen are two less heralded recruits.

Schedule highlights:

Butler’s home matchup against Louisville Nov. 19 will be the team’s most important nonconference game. In Horizon League play, the Bulldogs will face two stretches in which they face Detroit and Cleveland State, two of the top teams in the Horizon League, as well as an improved Youngstown State team.

Prediction: The Bulldogs will finish first in what should be a closely contested Horizon League this season.

Next: Cleveland State

Back to Horizon League preview

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

1. Although Phil Jackson seems pretty convinced that there won’t be a next season for the NBA next season, several college players are gambling that they’ll still be making NBA money within a few months. Here are a few of the players who announced during the past few days that they’ll be entering the NBA Draft.

• Arizona’s Derrick Williams, with agent
• Butler’s Shelvin Mack, no agent
• Connecticut’s Kemba Walker, with agent
• Florida State’s Chris Singleton, with agent
• Kansas’ Josh Selby, with agent
• San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, with agent
• UCLA’s Malcolm Lee, with agent

2. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz breaks down the NCAA Legislative Committee’s proposal to move up the deadline for declaring for the draft. If the Board of Directors approves the measure, players will need to decide by April 10 whether they intend to declare for the draft — and they can’t turn back. It essentially ends the test-the-waters approach, which isn’t good for the kids, Katz writes.

3. One player who won’t be testing the waters this season is Baylor’s Perry Jones, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz writes. Somewhat surprisingly, Jones will return to the Bears, who had a disappointing season but will return a start-studded team, anchored by Jones.

4. Despite the uproar about the early entry deadline, that’s small change compared to the fiasco in San Diego. The Associated Press reported this week that the FBI is investigating former members of the Toreros program for running a sports betting business, and 10 people have been charged in the case, including the team’s all-time leading scorer, Brandon Johnson. In addition to Johnson, former player Brandon Dowdy is accused of fixing games.

5. Jorts-mania could be coming to a town near you. Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson will be launching a Jorts Tour — after his now-famous nickname — to sign autographs and hawk his clothing line, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.

6. As Nebraska prepares to move to the Big 10 next season, the Huskers have reworked coach Doc Sadler’s deal to pay him an extra $100,000 per year, making his salary $900,000 per year through 2015-16, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

7. One of Nebraska’s former Big 12 rivals, Iowa State, is dealing with some drama after police arrested freshman center Jordan Railey for punching a man late Wednesday night along a hot spot for Ames restaurants and bars, according to the Associated Press. Coach Fred Hoiberg has suspended Railey while gathering more information about the incident.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

Man, what a rough week for news in the world of college basketball.

Several players landed in trouble with the law (Nebraska, Florida). An NBA-minded freshman skipped his team’s season-closing banquet to work out in Vegas (Kansas). And speaking of Sin City, the gambling bug apparently migrated south to San Diego, where the very integrity of the game is in question after the FBI unearthed a supposed sports business ring that included former Torero players who are accused of fixing games.

And just to pile on, the NCAA looks pretty selfish and uninterested in the welfare of student-athletes after moving forward with a proposal to give players until about a week after the championship game to decide whether they want to return to school or enter the NBA Draft. Needing only an affirmative vote by the NCAA’s Board of Directors to become official, the proposal applies tortured logic that benefits schools and coaches but not players. And the players already are limited because the NCAA won’t let them profit from their name or likeness in commercial products, such as video games. However, the NCAA is happy to take its cut from those sales.

That’s enough to get you pretty down about the game.

Thankfully, I watched the Harlem Globetrotters play tonight on ESPN. And that evaporated my creeping cynicism. The figure-eight weaves, between-the-legs passes and crowd-pleasing interludes don’t look like traditional basketball. All those fancy moves make for great entertainment, and everyone in the arena is having fun — even the tough-luck Generals.

Basketball is supposed to be fun. Yes, the game can be a means to a career — and a small fortune — for the most talented players. But for the 99 percent of players who don’t come within sniffing distance of an NBA pay check, the game needs to be fun. If it’s not, why play? The Globetrotters take fun to an extreme, but they embody the soul of the game.

Despite the spate of bad news, the game goes on. By November, optimism will be the mood du jour as nearly 350 Division I teams embark on the journey toward a 2012 championship. And with any luck, most of them will have plenty of fun along the way.

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

If it’s April, three of the top stories in basketball relate to which coaches are changing jobs, which players are going pro, and which players are transferring. Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman has a list for the latter category. In case you’ve missed some of the player movement of the past few weeks, Goodman lists all the players who have announced that they will play elsewhere.

At ESPN.com, you can track all the coaching movement in Division I in a chart that lists schools, former coach and new coach. As of today, 13 teams are still in the hunt for a new coach.

And if you want to find out whether your team’s best underclassmen will be playing in the NBA or NCAA next season, check out CBS Sports.com’s set of charts.

The most recent team to fill its open coaching position is UNLV, according to the Associated Press. BYU associate coach Dave Rice is moving on from the Mormons’ home base of Utah to Sin City. Rice’s now former boss, BYU coach Dave Rose, said Rice is an excellent teacher and has a history of success, which he’ll be taking to the desert and a Rebels team that has emerged as a perennial Mountain West contender.

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin will begin treatment for prostate cancer after announcing that he was diagnosed with the disease in fall 2010, according to SI.com’s “Fan Nation” blog.

BYU is extending coach Dave Rose’s contract, a rare reward for excellence at the university, according to Fan Nation. Just don’t ask about the financial details.

We already have some drama heading into next season’s North Carolina State vs. Maryland rivalry in the ACC. Granted, in recent years, there’s not much of a rivalry to speak of between those teams. However, Wolfpack Athletic Director Debbie Yow, former boss of Maryland coach Gary Williams, accused Williams of trying to sabotage her search for a new coach. She eventually hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried to replace Sidney Lowe, drawing the ire of State fans who wanted Shaka Smart or another hot name. There’s plenty of bad blood between Yow and Williams, according to the “Lost Lettermen” blog.

UCLA finally knows where the Bruins will be playing home games next season while Pauley Pavilion gets a facelift. Eamonn Brennan, of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog, reports that the Los Angeles Sports Arena will host 14 Bruins home games, with the team playing four others at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Fresh off his third national championship, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun said he will take some to decide whether he wants to retire, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. But don’t think that means he’s taking any time off from the recruiting trail.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

I watched every second of Connecticut’s championship game victory against Butler. And that might officially make me a basketball geek — as if there were any doubt about that.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Huskies’ 53-41 win wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever watched. But there’s been far too much talk about how terrible the game was, and some commentators have even hinted that the NCAA Tournament has a flawed format in which the best team doesn’t win the title.

To that, I say: horse manure.

The NCAA Tournament has one of the most difficult post-season formats of any sport at any level because a champion must win six — at least — games in a row against opponents that play a variety of styles. A championship run is a testament of a coach’s ability to strategize a game plan and adjust it during the heat of the action. It’s a testament of great players performing at a consistently high level for three weeks.

Even the most talented teams in the country will likely face at least one opponent that plays a style that makes the favorite somewhat uncomfortable. For underdogs, the ability to get a team outside its comfort zone, force mistakes and capitalize on opportunities forms the recipe for an upset. VCU took that recipe and repeated it from the First Four to the Final Four.

The Rams got past USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas with a pressure defense that preyed on inconsistent backcourt play. On offense, VCU rode hot three-point shooting to cover up for a size disadvantage in the post. If the Rams met the Jayhawks in an NBA-style seven-game series, there’s no way I could see VCU winning the series. I’d pick VCU to win one, maybe two games in seven against Kansas. But the more talented team — as NBA analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley frequently pointed out during their stint as NCAA Tournament analysts — would likely advance, barring injuries or a major internal meltdown.

And that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament wonderful. To be champion, you must come to play every game for three weeks. Anything short of your best effort could send you home. And even your effort might not be enough if you’re running the wrong game plan.

So don’t tell me Butler’s 18 percent shooting in the championship ruined the tournament or somehow devalues Connecticut’s achievement. In the game I watched, I saw an outstanding defensive effort in which the Huskies limited the Bulldogs to a tiny number of clean looks at the hoop. However, Butler also failed to make in-game adjustments. The team took 51.6 percent of its shots from three-point range, making only 9-of-33 attempts. After Chase Stigall hit a three to open the second half and give Butler a six-point lead, the team didn’t make another shot from the field for seven minutes and only one shot in 13 minutes. During that stretch, the Bulldogs missed 11 three-pointers.

Brad Stevens realized his teams was overmatched in the post, but the Bulldogs just weren’t getting it done from the perimeter. The team’s stubborn insistence on jacking up bombs — and bricks — led to the dismal shooting percentage and put Connecticut on track to the championship.

More simply put, the Huskies executed their game plan more efficiently and effectively than Butler could, and the Bulldogs couldn’t adjust to do anything about that. In a championship game performance, that’s all you can ask from the winning team, regardless of the score.

No hands? No one saw this coming?

It’s not that surprising, really. And it fits the way this season has gone and how many saw the season as it evolved, which is something college basketball fans should be happy about. That is especially true for those who are simply fans of the game.

There have been a lot of years where analysts all over say that the NCAA Tournament should be wide open. We’ve said that picking a Final Four would be difficult, and that’s certainly true before we know the NCAA Tournament field because no one knows what the matchups will be. Even when the field is announced, many of us have said it’s hard to predict the Final Four.

But even in many of these seasons, there are often just a handful of teams that many feel can win a national championship. Stories are written talking about teams that can win it all, and some mention a number in passing – “there are eight teams that could win it all” and similar quotes can be found often enough. And in the end, amidst all the talk of the gap closing between mid-majors and BCS conference schools and all the parity, invariably we would have familiar faces in the Final Four just about every year. Since 1985, at least one of Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina or UCLA has been in the Final Four.

This season, we heard a lot of the same talk. We heard about parity often, as usual, although a better word is “evenness” since there’s not a whole lot of difference. More so than any season I can remember, the seedings in the NCAA Tournament don’t mean a whole lot this year. There wasn’t a dominant team in college basketball, just a lot of good and some very good teams, along with a large number of mediocre teams. Florida State, No. 10 seed, knocked off Notre Dame, a No. 2 seed, in the second round. Frankly, there wasn’t a big difference between the two teams. It’s not as if it was a matchup of an NBA team against a top-tier college team. So none of the results thus far should shock anyone.

For once, this season the race for the national championship appeared wide open. Defending champion Duke entered the season as perhaps a prohibitive favorite to win in some eyes, but the Blue Devils were vulnerable often and went out in the regional semifinals. If there was a team that looked like the favorite coming into the NCAA Tournament, it was Ohio State – but the Buckeyes were far from heavy or even prohibitive favorites. And maybe Butler’s run to the national championship game last season had something to do with it, but this time around there wasn’t a lot of talk about how only a handful of teams could win it all.

For once, this season the feeling that there wasn’t much difference between a lot of teams is proving to be true. We’ve seen it in all of the results, from upsets based on seeding to close games. We’ve seen it in teams that have advanced far. We’ve seen the city of Richmond, hardly a basketball hotbed, have two teams reach the Sweet 16.

Now on Monday night, we have a matchup of Butler and Connecticut. The Bulldogs were in this game last year, but weren’t expected to duplicate this. It was thought to be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, in part because of the loss of Gordon Hayward to the NBA. And at one point, the Bulldogs looked like they might not be an NCAA Tournament team at all. The Huskies, meanwhile, were picked 10^th in the Big East preseason poll and finished ninth in the regular season. While Connecticut is a national power and has won two national championships, this didn’t shape up to be one of their best teams.

But this season has been one where the action has followed the talk. Two mid-major schools reached the Final Four, and one is in the title game. The two high-major schools who made it weren’t supposed to be here; both were thought to be at least a year away from having a team that could make such a run. But they won their way to Houston.

For once, college basketball truly has been wide open. Anyone could win it all this season. The national championship will be won by an unexpected team, a team no one would have picked to be in this game in October or on January 1, and one that few might have picked on March 14. For that, we can and should all be happy.

For just the fifth time since UCLA completed its run of dominance in the 1970s, we will have a mid-major program playing for the national championship. And based on the torrid play of VCU and Butler, there’s no reason to think the Rams or Bulldogs can’t knock off Connecticut or Kentucky to claim the first title for a non-power conference team since UNLV demolished Duke in 1990.

For a quick history lesson, here’s a rundown of championship game participants from conferences not named the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10 or SEC since 1975.

• 1977: Marquette, Independent. Beat North Carolina.
• 1979: Indiana State, Missouri Valley Conference. Lost to Michigan State.
• 1980: Louisville, Metro Conference. Beat UCLA.
• 1983: Houston, Southwest Conference. Lost to North Carolina State.
• 1984: Houston, Southwest Conference. Lost to Georgetown.
• 1986: Louisville, Metro Conference. Beat Duke.
• 1990: UNLV, Big West Conference. Beat Duke.
• 1998: Utah, Western Athletic Conference. Lost to Kentucky.
• 2008: Memphis, Conference USA. Lost to Kansas.
• 2010: Butler, Horizon League. Lost to Duke.
• 2011: ???

Yes, that’s more than five teams. However, some of those teams were part of now-defunct conferences that ran with the big boys during their heyday. Louisville, which no one would confuse with a mid-major program, represented the Metro Conference in 1980 and 1986. That conference evolved into Conference USA, and the Cardinals upgraded to the Big East. Fellow Big East member Marquette played as an independent when coach Al McGuire guided the Warriors, as they were known for 40 years until 1994, to the 1977 championship.

Houston would likely qualify as a mid-major program today, but in the 1980s, the Cougars played alongside Texas, Arkansas and the rest of the Southwest Conference, one of basketball’s premier conferences at the time. The Cougars are now part of Conference USA, which contains some programs that feel like mid-majors and others that don’t. The latter category includes Memphis circa 2008, when John Calipari led the Tigers to a thrilling overtime loss against Kansas. Any team coached by Calipari and receiving the top recruits in the country on an annual basis just isn’t a mid-major.

That leaves us with Indiana State (1979), UNLV (1990), Utah (1998) and Butler (2010) as the four true mid-majors that have advanced to the national championship game. The list of outstanding players from those teams is impressive: Larry Bird, Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, Andre Miller, Michael Doleac and Gordon Hayward. Those teams’ ability to attract NBA-caliber talent helped give them a shot at the title. But only Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels completed the task, with a dominant win against Duke in 1990 that drew the wrath of coaches across the country because they felt Tarkanian built a team of trouble-makers and cast-offs who percolated through the junior college circuit. But you can’t argue with the wins and the national championship banner in Vegas.

With such a small history of mid-majors in the championship game, this weekend must be considered historic. We have not one but two mid-major programs in the Final Four, and one of them is guaranteed to have the right to play for a national championship.

Although we’ve already seen a bunch of thrilling upsets, the most indelible one would be Monday night. Kentucky might be a No. 4 seed and Connecticut a No. 3 seed, but those two teams represent historically great, power conference programs. Butler or VCU would stand alongside UNLV as one of only two mid-majors in the past 40-plus years to shake off all comers and wrest the championship from the grips of the major conferences.

VCU had more than its fair share of adversity, some of which wasn’t expected. This is a team picked third in the Colonial Athletic Association before the season, with some picking them second. The non-conference slate went reasonably well, but had some missed opportunities. It included blowing a lead at UAB right before Christmas, then a couple of wins right before CAA play that left head coach Shaka Smart concerned about leadership – not exactly what one would expect of a senior-laden team. Joey Rodriguez remembered going home after the UAB game, namely that it felt like an even longer drive (he drove from Birmingham to his home in Florida) because it was a missed opportunity.

Then there was the month of February, which has been well-documented. The Rams had a fine month of January and led the CAA when it was over, including a big win at arch-rival and preseason favorite Old Dominion. But after February, this was a team that appeared to need to win the CAA Tournament if they were to reach the NCAA Tournament.

The rest, as they say, is history. But the Rams didn’t get here unscathed.

“We went through some adversity this year as most teams did,” said Smart. “We weren’t 35-2 coming into this game, but we’re playing our best basketball when it matters most, and that’s why I’m sitting up here right now with a net around my neck.”

The same is true of Butler. The Bulldogs also looked like a team that needed to win their conference tournament to make it to the NCAA Tournament, thanks largely to a couple of missed opportunities in non-conference play and a three-game losing streak that ended with a loss at Youngstown State and had them at 6-5 in league play. That was also the last time they lost.

The Bulldogs’ seed in the tournament doesn’t suggest they needed to win the Horizon League, but they did to make that moot. They had a better non-conference slate than VCU with a couple of good wins, but also looked quite unimpressive at times and their start in the Horizon didn’t help.

“Getting to this point isn’t easy and staying together isn’t easy when everything is going wrong,” said junior Ronald Nored. “And that was the thing that I think has gotten us to this point.”

Connecticut got off to a roaring start as Kemba Walker carried them early. But in Big East play, the Huskies came back down to earth, especially at the end of the regular season as they lost four of five. About a month earlier, they lost three of four. They finished 9-9 in Big East play, good for ninth place, which set the stage for their legendary run through the Big East Tournament.

The supporting cast for Walker at times looked to be emerging, and at other times it didn’t. But it’s definitely here now, with Jeremy Lamb growing up tremendously during the season and Shabazz Napier emerging, while Alex Oriakhi continues to improve inside. And with that and Walker on a roll that is the stuff of legends, the Huskies are in Houston.

Then there is Kentucky. The Wildcats faced adversity right away as Enes Kanter was declared ineligible by the NCAA. Kanter was widely believed to be a possible difference-maker for this team, and without him they looked a little less formidable. But they never had him, so it’s not as if they had to adjust to life without Kanter.

That wasn’t all. Once SEC play got going, the Wildcats had a hard time winning away from Rupp Arena. Their only road wins came at struggling South Carolina and at Tennessee, the latter on the last day of the regular season as the feast-or-famine Volunteers were limping into the conference tournament. Since then, the young Wildcats have grown up, winning seven more in a row away from home.

Even in some of the games each team won, there was some adversity. The phrase that a season is a marathon and not a sprint may be a cliché, but it is true. The teams that play through it the best are often the ones left standing.

None of the four teams playing in Houston made it here unscathed. As is often the case, sports has imitated life when it comes to the 2011 Final Four.

(8) Butler 74 (2) Florida 71 OT

In each of the past two NCAA Tournaments that Florida played Butler, the Gators reached the national title game, winning it in 2007 and losing to Michigan State in 2000. These two teams are different from their recent counterparts, and the winner will be one step away from the championship game.

In 2000, Florida squeaked past upset-minded No. 12 Butler in the first round, thanks to a Mike Miller layup at the buzzer. In 2007, the Gators won a fairly tight game against the Bulldogs en route to their second consecutive championship. In 2011, we have No. 8 Butler looking to complete another improbable Final Four against No. 2 Florida.

Florida will have an advantage with more athleticism, especially in the frontcourt with Alex Tyus, Vernon Macklin and Patric Young. However, what the Bulldogs lack in athleticism, they make up for in smart play and hustle. Matt Howard is playing like one of the best five players in the NCAA Tournament thus far, and he is utterly clutch in closing moments. In the backcourt, Shelvin Mack will have the size advantage against Florida’s guards.

Here are a few critical questions for this match up.

Can Kenny Boynton prevent Mack from efficiently running Butler’s offense and shooting well from the perimeter?

ANSWER: No, Mack had his way with Florida, finishing with a game-high 27 points. Mack hit four three-pointers and added four assists while committing only two turnovers.

Will Andrew Smith be at 100 percent after injuring his ankle against Wisconsin? Will he and Matt Howard be effective at battling Florida for rebounds and keeping the Gators’ big men from dominating in the post?

ANSWER: Smith didn’t look to be quite at 100 percent, and he got into foul trouble. However, Butler battled Florida for rebounds as a team, with Howard and Smith contributing 13 of the team’s 36 rebounds, compared to the Gators’ 33 rebounds.

Besides Boynton and Erving Walker, the Gators are a mediocre free throw shooting team. Will that weakness come back to haunt the Gators against a Butler team that has a propensity to foul fairly often?

ANSWER: No, it didn’t hurt the Gators. Walker and Boynton made 11-of-13 free throws, and the rest of the team made 7-of-9 free throws. Florida has to be happy with that production, which didn’t cause trouble.

Which team’s bench players will have a bigger impact on this game? Butler gets solid contributions from Khyle Marshall, while Florida has excellent young guys, especially Young, Erik Murphy and Scottie Wilbekin.

ANSWER: Butler’s team effort outdid Florida in the end, and that shows up most obviously in bench production. The Bulldogs outscored Florida’s bench 23-2. Khyle Marshall was outstanding for Butler, with 10 points and seven rebounds, all of which came at the offensive end. As a team, Butler grabbed more than 36 percent of their missed shots.

(3) Connecticut 65 (5) Arizona 63

All eyes will be on Arizona’s Derrick Williams and Connecticut’s Kemba Walker. These two superstars can go off for 30+ points in any game, and they might need at least that much today.

For Arizona, guarding Walker is extraordinarily difficult because he has the ball in his hands so much and can create his own shot from nearly anywhere on the court. The Wildcats have some quick guards and good size, but they’ll need to be careful when switching off screens to avoid leaving Shabazz Napier or Jeremy Lambopen on the wing.

On offense, Williams also will have a significant advantage. He is bigger and quicker off his feet than the Huskies’ defenders. Alex Oriakhi is the only starter with the size to compete with Williams, but he might not have the quickness. Besides his ability to deliver thunderous dunks, Williams can step outside behind the arc, where he makes 58 percent of three-point attempts.

Because Williams and Walker seem destined to put up big numbers, the supporting cast will make the difference. In the first half against Duke, Williams didn’t get much help. But in Arizona’s 19-2 decisive run to open the second half, Williams provided only two of those points. If Arizona can continue to play like it did in the second half vs. the Blue Devils, Connecticut will be in trouble.

Here are a few critical questions for this match up.

Which superstar will have the better shooting day? Both players might finish with more than 30 points, but that’s not necessarily a good thing if it takes one of them 40 attempts to get there.

ANSWER: Neither star had an utterly dominating performance. In fact, they had almost identical games. Williams finished with 20 points on 5-of-13 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Walker also had 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting with seven assists. He also had some clutch step-back jumpers late in the game to hold off the Wildcats. Walker’s ability to create plays helped make the difference in the Huskies’ narrow victory.

Which superstar will get more support from the rest of his team? Against San Diego State, Jeremy Lamb had a sensational game, with 24 points. But he and Walker did almost everything, scoring 60 of the team’s 74 points. Connecticut might need more than two players to make significant scoring contributions to beat Arizona.

ANSWER: Both teams had two other scorers reach double figures. Arizona’s Jesse Perry was solid with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Lamb was actually the most active shooter for the Huskies, making of 7-of-19 shots for 19 points. Lamb has emerged as an excellent outlet for Walker when defenses collapse on him. He has regularly found open space on the perimeter.

Can Arizona keep Connecticut from collecting a ton of offensive rebounds? The Huskies grab 38.6 percent of their missed shots, good for No. 7 in Division I. The Wildcats are a decent rebounding team but will need to make a concerted effort today.

ANSWER: Absolutely. Arizona won the battle of the boards, 39-28. The Huskies grabbed only 30 percent of their missed shots, while Arizona had second chances off 43 percent of the team’s misses. Perry, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom were especially productive, with 23 rebounds.

Given that Arizona likes to get a large chunk of its scoring from the free throw line, can the Huskies avoid committing lots of fouls to give a 74.7 percent free throw shooting team easy opportunities to score?

ANSWER: This probably made the difference in the game. Arizona shot only 16 free throw attempts in the game, making 11. That’s about right for the team’s percentage, but the Wildcats didn’t draw enough fouls to make up for a relatively off shooting night at 39.3 percent from the field. The end for Arizona came when Jamelle Horne missed a three-pointer in the closing seconds after the Wildcats grabbed an offensive rebound from a Williams’ missed shot. Arizona was within one made three-pointer of the Final Four but couldn’t get the shots to fall.

• The national championship game on Monday night is certainly up there with the best ones I’ve seen. Throughout the game, you never felt like either team was going to run away with it, even though at times Duke looked like they could be one play away from breaking it open.
• Here’s an interesting nugget that CAA blogger Michael Litos pointed out: had Butler pulled off the victory on Monday night, all four postseason tournaments would have a mid-major as their champion. Dayton won the NIT, VCU won the CBI and Missouri State won the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

• Connecticut got a commitment last week from Shabazz Napier for next season, provided he gets through the NCAA Clearinghouse. This is significant in two ways. For one, Napier was originally slated for the class of 2011, so they get a player who wasn’t expected to be in college next season although that was always a remote possibility. Also, the Huskies get an elite point guard to run the show, one who went on a big run of improvement over 10 months. Since last May, he has gone from being a gunner to a floor leader, and with that began to show his full potential. He took it to another level during the school season, leading Lawrence Academy to a perfect record en route to a NEPSAC Class C title.

• On a related note, this weekend will start our coverage of travel team basketball with the Boo Williams Nike Invitational in Hampton, Virginia. This year, things are a little different: it’s one of three events Nike is running as part of its Elite Youth Basketball to determine the teams that will play in the Peach Jam in July. It isn’t a tournament, so there is no champion unlike past years. More details and player evaluations will come early next week.

• There is always something striking about the coaching changes, and what leaps out this time around is that there are quite a few even with the season over. Oftentimes, most vacancies have been filled by now simply because of the ability of athletic directors and coaches to meet at the Final Four, but as of now three (soon to be four, according to reports) high-major openings exist, and each could set some dominoes in motion when the new coach is hired. Vacancies at places like Charlotte and Marshall could do that as well.

• Brad Stevens’ new 12-year contract at Butler is not only well-deserved, but a great move because he’s the perfect fit there. He’s an understated guy who loves where he is and at a program that knows what it is and has had a great run of success even before this season.

• UNC Wilmington probably didn’t have in mind what has transpired when they let Benny Moss go during the season. The search has dragged on, and after having over a week to decide former Citadel head coach Ed Conroy opted to take the head coaching job at Tulane instead. It’s anyone’s guess where they go from here, but this hasn’t been the school’s finest hour from a PR standpoint.

• Gene DeFilippo said he wanted the next Boston College head coach to be one who will go out and sell the program to get more people in the seats. While he got a fine head coach in Steve Donahue, I’m not sure he’s getting quite what he wants otherwise. Donahue is a humble and very likeable man, but he’s not a charismatic, rah-rah guy who will go to the ends of the earth to put fans in the stands. One can’t blame Al Skinner for attendance there being spotty considering that Boston belongs to the Red Sox and Patriots first and foremost, with the Celtics a distant third and the Bruins an even more distant fourth before we get to college sports.