BUTLER SURPASSES GONZAGA AS TOP DOG OF ALL MID-MAJORS

Move over Gonzaga, there is a new dog that is best in show—and its name is Butler.

The Butler Bulldogs grinded out a 74-71 overtime victory Saturday in New Orleans to punch their ticket back to the Final Four. Last year, Butler went all the way to the National Championship Game and was a miracle shot away from winning the title.

Gonzaga certainly has made their presence known throughout the years by making it to 13 straight NCAA Tournaments and constantly giving ranked teams from power conferences all it could handle. However, those Bulldogs have never made the Final Four and have made the Elite Eight only once since 1999.

Butler may not have Gonzaga’s longevity, but it has made good use of its five consecutive trips to the tournament.

In 2007, Butler made it to the Sweet 16 after beating Old Dominion and Maryland, before losing to Florida. After that season, then-coach Todd Lickliter decided to take the Iowa job and the school decided to take a shot from within. Butler’s choice was a young, 30-year-old assistant named Brad Stevens.

After not getting past the first weekend of the tournament in 2008 and 2009, Stevens guided his team to the improbable title run in 2010.

This year’s Butler team opened up the season ranked No. 18, but struggled without Gordon Hayward and sat at 14-9 on Feb. 3. However, the Bulldogs stormed back to win its final seven regular season games and the Horizon League tournament en route to an No. 8 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Strong leadership by senior Matt Howard and junior Shelvin Mack allowed Butler to win close in all four of its tournament games for its return trip to the Final Four and a shot at unfinished business from last year.

Even without a title, Butler’s run this year is even more impressive than last year and it has put itself as the top mid-major program out there, and I believe Stevens is committed to make sure his Bulldogs stay there with his youthful wisdom leading the way.

To be honest, I do not think this program will be going away anytime soon and it will take a lot for the next mid-major to surpass them.

MODEL INTERVIEW: SANDRA LONDON

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IT'S TIME FOR A FORMULA TO DETERMINE THE 68-TEAM FIELD

Houston, we have a problem.

It always seems that the NCAA Tournament has some teams seeded either too high or low, while a team is snubbed in favor for another that may not deserve to be in the field of 68.

To fix this, there needs to be a formula based off of three major components—the polls, RPI, and strength of schedule—to easily determine who are the 37 at-large teams that did not win their conference tournament and to seed the whole field.

Teams like Utah State, who continue to do well every season, always get penalized from seeds that they deserve because of their conference affiliation.

The Aggies won 30 games and the WAC tournament for the second time in three years, but were given a No. 12 seed despite an RPI of 15 and strength of schedule rank of 120, according to RealTimeRPI.com.

Also, the selection committee’s surprising decision to take UAB over other bubble teams such as Colorado or Virginia Tech was made worse when the Blazers lost their first round game to Clemson on Tuesday, 70-52.

Having a formula that emphasizes both human polls, the RPI, and strength of schedule would be much like what the Bowl Championship Series is to college football, but it would ensure that the top teams are seeded properly.

As far as bubble teams are concerned, the final eight at-large teams should be the ones in the First Four for the right to be in the 64-team bracket, or to go to the NIT if they lose. That way, it awards low-rated automatic qualifiers by not having to play an extra game in the tournament, while improving the quality of the four first round games.

Hopefully, this will make everyone’s job a lot easier in making and filling out their brackets.

JIM TRESSEL'S TWO GAME SUSPENSION IS NOT ENOUGH

With Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel's recent suspension, the NCAA rules committee continues to prove that they are a joke.

Tuesday, the NCAA handed Tressel a two-game suspension for failing to notify the university that some of his players committed violations.

However, what good is this two-game suspension if Ohio State is only playing two tune-up games against Akron and Toledo?

If the NCAA really wanted to punish Tressel for his infractions, it should have suspended him for at least the same amount of games that Terrelle Pryor and four other Buckeyes were suspended for.

In December, the NCAA handed a five-game suspension to those five players for selling school memorabilia in exchange for tattoos.

However, the NCAA got it wrong in suspending them for the first five games this season instead of the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas, a 31-26 win for Ohio State.

Suspending Tressel for Ohio State's first two conference games—Michigan State and Nebraska—would also serve as much stiffer punishment.

This has already happened in college basketball where Bruce Pearl and Jim Calhoun received suspensions for only conference games for violating rules.

Lastly, the NCAA could also have taken away scholarships and placing the school on probation for its second violation in three months.

Either of these would have been more severe than what is basically a slap on the wrist, but it is a shame that the NCAA cowered in making sure that this would not happen again.

In the meanwhile at least the NCAA acted swiftly as did, although looking further into the situation would have suited this better.

Well, look at the bright side Jim. At least your sweater vests

are still A-1.

CAN SMALL-MARKET NBA TEAMS KEEP THEIR SUPERSTARS HAPPY?

On July 8, 2010, the landscape of the NBA changed with this sentence.

"In this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat."

This is what LeBron James famously said during "The Decision" and the result is that more potential free agents are predetermining their moves before their contracts run out and it comes at the expense of the small market teams that have those players.

Carmelo Anthony spent all summer and half of the NBA season trying to force a trade to the New York Knicks and the trade finally went down between them and the Denver Nuggets on Feb. 21. Two days later, the New Jersey Nets redeemed themselves after losing in the Carmelo sweepstakes by acquiring Deron Williams from the Utah Jazz.

The message is now clearer than ever from the players' standpoint. "Build a good team around me, or I will play with other superstars somewhere else."

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors found out the hard way with James and Chris Bosh, respectively. Neither team could lure big free agents or swing trades for better pieces and good sidekicks to compliment them.

The result is that there are now two franchises that will take YEARS to shake off the effects, and no other team is willing to go down this road again without compensation.

Rather than losing their star players with nothing in return, Denver and Utah decided to pull the plug and act now, saving themselves months of headaches and speculation.

Some teams, however, may not be as lucky.

Chris Paul wanted to be traded this season, but stayed put as the New Orleans Hornets continued to handle their financial woes.

The NBA took control of the Hornets this season after former owner George Shinn failed to sell the franchise.

New Orleans might be forced to live with the fact that the face of its franchise might walk out in 2012, and there could be far worse effects than what Cleveland is suffering this year.

While the team struggles to find a local buyer and to lock up David West to a long-term deal, not signing and making Paul could be a crippling blow to basketball in the city of New Orleans, to the point that the Hornets could move.

While the city hopes that does not happen, there are some small market teams that are successful in keeping their high-profile stars.

The San Antonio Spurs have shown great stability in keeping Tim Duncan and building around him. The result is a team that has won at least 50 games in a full schedule every year during his tenure.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are getting the big picture as well. They signed Kevin Durant to a five-year deal this past offseason as he and Russell Westbrook are growing as MVP candidates. With Durant, Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka, the Thunder are continuing to grow into one of the elite NBA teams.

In the meanwhile, most small-market teams will continue to suffer this fate as they struggle to keep their star players happy. However, they have gotten wiser to try to at least get decent parts back in order to cushion the blow and move on quickly.

LeBron James' "Decision" has left the Cleveland Cavaliers with more
losses this year in the past two years combined.

Mirroring what Miami's Big Three assembled, New York hopes to return to glory with
Carmelo Anthony (left), Amar'e Stoudemire, and Chauncey Billups.

Now the question is: Will Chris Paul (left) follow Carmelo, Amar'e, and LeBron in leaving his team?