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.

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.