Butler Memories: My all-time low point as a Butler Bulldogs fan

I have some spare time so I thought I would reflect on my highs and lows as a Butler Bulldogs fan.  We'll start with the lows.

Let me set the scene.  February 3, 2011.  Butler has just lost back-to-back Horizon League games in overtime.  Both games were winnable, and the Bulldogs were just unable to come up with crucial baskets down the stretch in both.  While these two games were against two of the better teams in the Horizon League in Milwaukee and Valparaiso, they are still games that Butler should have won. Butler was 6-4 in the Horizon League at this point, quite disappointing for a team that return a majority of its players back from a squad that went 18-0 in league play the previous year.  I was looking forward to the Bulldogs' next game against Youngstown State, who was 1-10 in the HL going into that contest.  This was supposed to be the game that is the springboard for a potential climb back up the standings.  A step in the right direction.

I was not able to watch this game as I was busy doing work this Thursday night in February.  But that night, I had the mentality that I would wake up the next morning and Butler would be 7-4 in league play.  So later that night, once the game is over, I click on the box score on ESPN.com, and there it is.  At first I thought it was a score reporting mistake.  Youngstown State 62, Butler 60.  That was as shocked as I had been in a while (although my shock from Brad Stevens' latest coaching decision dwarfs any other time I was shocked).  Then I look at the play-by-play to find out that Butler had an 8-point lead with under 4 minutes to go in the game.  In my mind the game should not have even been close, and that the starters should have been sitting by the 4 minute mark.  But no, Butler was shut out on its last six possessions and Youngstown state went on a 10-0 run to win the game.  As hard as it was, last year I finally watched the game in its entirety on Youngstown State's UStream channel.

Butler was now 6-5 in Horizon League play, and I can truthfully say this was low point in all of my years as a Butler fan.  However, this game turned out to be a wakeup call, because Butler did not lose another game until April, winning the rest of its Horizon League games, winning the Horizon League tournament in Milwaukee against the Panthers.  That was quite a redemption game, as Butler lost by 24 to Milwaukee in the first game and lost in over time the second game.  Butler then proceeded to make it all the way to the National Championship game.  If you were to tell someone on February 4th that Butler (14-9, 6-5 Horizon) would be in the National Championship game, they would've thought you were crazy.  But this game turned out to be a springboard for an exciting run through February and March.  While I would've preferred Butler to not lose to a poor team such as Yougnstown State, it did make their NCAA tournament run that much sweeter.  The season could've fallen apart, but through a bloody face, the dethroning of a 2 and a half year starter, and a newly-bespectacled coach, Butler was able to do what no one thought was possible.  Make a second consecutive National Championship appearance out of the Horizon League.