joshua wilsher

Sweet 16

More news about the men's basketball. I'm aware that 95% plus of the visitors to this blog don't give a rat's, but I like to document for future reference. An hey, if you can share in the excitment all the better!!!

So the Dawgs arrive back on campus tonight after their 3 point vicory in the second round of the tournament - next week they'll be competing in the Sweet 16!!! Who they face next will be determined by the result of tomorrow's match between the Purdue Boilermakers and Florida Gators. The latter being last year's champions and the No. 1 seed this year. I am obviously hoping for a Purdue win but whatever the matchup, I hope to be able to catch the game if televised here in Canada.

This is the first time since 2003 that Butler has made the Sweet 16. Reasearch as to whether they have ever ventrued beyond has proven difficult but it seems they haven't. There are three Indiana teams represented in the tournament this year which is no suprise being Indiana; Butler; the aforementioned Purdue Boilermakers; and dynasty team, the Indiana Hoosiers who, at the time of writing this blog are in a first half battle with the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA is the winingest team in tournament history with 11 penants, and coincidently, my first choice when applying for international exchange.

The Bulldogs basketball program's system has been dubbed "The Butler Way", an unselfish team style that has been called "the way the game should be played". So will a basketball team consisting of no known future NBA draft choices, representing a school of less than 4,000 enrollments, become the cinderella story of the tournament? Time will tell. I do bet tho, that if we win the next game it will be front page of USA Today.

Below are some pics I took on the old camera that never got uploaded... until now. Last November, I took a trip with Butler schoolmate, and sports freak, Troj, to catch a home game of his blessed Hoosiers. Troj's love for that team is equalled to that of his love for Notre Dame football as evident by his sweater and the banner hanging behind him. (However, I recall this love affair for Indiana and Notre Dame playing second fiddle to that of his hometown Chicago Whitesox. Yes he is one sports freak!)

You can see that I have donned the Indiana t-shrt for the event (which was given to me for my birthday by Indiana law student, and former Butler school mate, John).

While I wanted to see a Big Ten schol in action, I have always been intrigued by their home arena, Assembly Hall - note its simplicity and the lack of advertising.

posted by Joshiesmoov @ 8:46 PM