INDIANAPOLIS – The key numbers for Saturday’s game between Xavier and Butler are 1.2, 1.3 and 1.8.
With 1.8 seconds left in the game, Butler’s Gordon Hayward grabbed a loose ball and shot a layup. The ball went through the net with 1.2 seconds to go to put Butler up 69-68. The officials stopped play to check the instant replay to figure what most people in attendance thought they would: how much time there should be on the clock for Xavier to make one last desperation play to go for the win.
After about five minutes it became evident they were looking at a possible clock malfunction that caused the clock to not tick off enough time prior to Haywood’s layup. After 11 minutes the officials declared the game over with Butler winning 69-68.
Apparently the clock erroneously stopped at the 14.7 mark. The officials put a stopwatch to it and determined that 1.3 seconds had elapsed. That was deducted from the 1.2 seconds left, so the game was over.
The last procession of the game, which lasted 36 seconds, started when Xavier’s Mark Lyons got tied up for a held ball. Then the possession took what seemed like an eternity to complete, as it included two missed 3-pointers by Butler, two offensive rebounds, a mad scramble for the ball and finally Hayward’s layup.
Xavier’s coach Chris Mack, when informed the game was over, raced over to the officials to plead his case, then threw his hands up in disgust as the officials hustled off the court.
After the game Mack was still skeptical of the call, but didn’t say they blew it.
“I know when I go back and I have a chance to watch it on film, I really hope for everybody’s sake they got it right,” said Mack.
But it was Saturday afternoon and there was no better place to be than at Butler’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to watch college basketball.
This game matched two teams that share a history together, both as former members of the Midwest Collegiate Conference (which later became the Horizon League) and two private non-top six conference basketball schools that have been constantly ranked in the Top 25. They are two of the best non-BCS schools in the country.
Until last year, when Butler beat No. 14 Xavier in Cincinnati 74-65, the two schools had not played since 1998 when Xavier won 73-66. Xavier leads the all-time series 28-15, including seven straight at Hinkle Fieldhouse coming in.
But that is before Butler started its run of ranked teams. This year Butler is ranked at number 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and 21 in the AP Poll.
It is amazing that these two small private schools have become basketball powers on the national scene.
Xavier has become a basketball factory producing good players, great teams and lot of recognition for the school, without sacrificing their academic integrity. The Musketeers play in the beautiful 10,250-seat Cintas Center, where they average close to 10,000 fans a game. At the same time Xavier has figured a way to maximize their basketball revenue stream so much that Forbes magazine named them one of the 20 most valuable college basketball programs in the country for the second year in a row, generating $7.9 million in operating income last year. That put them 17th out of over 300 Division I basketball programs. They fly to their away game in a chartered jet, just like the big boys do.
As for Butler, they have turned their success into invitations to play in some of the top preseason tournaments and regular appearances on national TV. Their success has allowed them to play home games against not only Xavier, but teams like Northwestern and Ohio State. Unlike Xavier, the usually fly commercial and they average around 6,000 fans per game, although this year they are averaging close to 7,500 fans per game. It appears they are growing and creating new fans in Central Indiana. It wasn’t much more than 15 years ago that Xavier was averaging 7,500 fans per game.
The game started out with a three-pointer by Hayward and Butler led the entire first half, pushing the lead up as high as 15 points before Xavier whittled it down to 39-32 at the half.
In the second half the Musketeers scored the first 11 points and went ahead for the first time when Jordon Crawford made a three-pointer to make it 41-39 with 17:39 to go.
Xavier held their lead in the second half until Lyons fouled Ronald Norad, who promptly made both free throws to tie the score at 60 with 4:07 left.
The Musketeers got the lead back when Jason Love hit a baseline jumper to make it 66-65 with just 1:32 left. Crawford then hit a jump shot with 46.7 seconds left to push the lead to three points. Butler’s Shelvin Mack got fouled by Terrell Holloway with 39 seconds left, making both foul shots to get Butler within 68-67. The only thing that remained at this point was the one last sequence that ended with Haywood’s game-winning layup.
Butler’s Brad Stevens, always the even-keeled coach, said that during the time it took to sort out the ending for the game he told his players, “If the call doesn’t go our way or we a worse team? If it goes our way are we a better team?”
It was a shame that such a great basketball game by these two good teams on a glorious winter day in America’s basketball state had to end by a decision by the officials rather than a great shot or great block.
The Bobby Knight watch: He was sitting courtside doing the game for ESPN2. There were two uniformed policemen and two Hinkle security guys standing near or seated by the famous coach. At one point near the end of the first half a group of students started chanting his name, eventually joined by some other fans and he waved to them, which got an even louder cheer by the fans. After the game he signed autographs for fans.
