Butler's Buzzer-Beater

By - Kris Fletcher

Last year's tournament Cinderella appears to be back at it once again.

The Butler Bulldogs, who last season advanced all the way to the championship game before falling to the Duke Blue Devils, hit the first buzzer-beater of this years tournament on Thursday afternoon, defeating the Old Dominion Monarchs by a final score of 60-58.

Photo by: Nick Wass

Star forward Matt Howard, who was one of the key contributors for Butler during last seasons tournament run, followed up a miss by teammate Andrew Smith and banged in the game-winning layup as the horn sounded. There was a brief review to determine whether he had gotten the shot off in time, which he clearly had, and the Bulldogs were propelled on to the next round.

Up next for Butler will be the top-seeded Pitt Panthers, who easily got by the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs Thursday night by a final score of 74-51. No doubt Butler will be the underdog, but at this point, I'm not putting anything past them. I would expect at the very least a competitive, hard-fought game. And really, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Bulldogs won it.

It was nice to get a reminder this early in the tournament of WHY we love it as much as we do. Very few things in the world of sports can compare to a buzzer-beater.