The Butler Bulldogs are the darlings of the NCAA tournament after making two finals over the past two years, but this season they enter the field not as Cinderella's, but a team that is expected to make a run.
That run will begin on Thursday as Butler takes on Bucknell at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky for one of the first games of the NCAA tournament. Bucknell now finds itself in Butlers old shoes and will be looking to start off with an upset of the Bulldogs on Thursday.
Butler went 26-8 this season and could dominate in the East region following a win against Bucknell, after which they could face Davidson or No. 3 seed Marquette.
Butler will have the target on Thursday and after making their way from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10, they will join the new Big East.
"Butler really kind of set the gold standard, in my mind, for preparation and attention to detail and being the team that doesn't beat itself," Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said. "That's kind of how we've tried to model our program."
Butler made it to the finals in 2010 and 2011, losing to Duke and UConn. The 11th-seeded Bucknell team will be a challenge, but the Bulldogs know what their facing. Bucknell lost to Connecticut that season in their last tournament appearance and they have a claim to fame as an upset team, after they took down Kansas in 2005.
"Bucknell has all of the pieces and all of the experiences and all of the accomplishments that go along with the teams that go deep into the NCAA tournament out of a non-BCS league -- a lot like the Butler teams of the past," Stevens said. "These guys are really accomplished. They've gotten a ton of accolades. They deserve all the accolades, but they're still, in maybe the national media's eyes or the national attention's eyes, not getting their due respect. From us and from basketball people in basketball circles, they have the utmost respect and they're a really good basketball team."
Butler has had a solid season, including wins against Gonzaga and Indiana, two of the number one seeds in the event. Butler went 11-5 in the Atlantic 10 this season and won four of their last five games before dropping to Saint Louis. The team had a 13-game winning streak earlier this year and ranked 123rd in scoring and 73rd in field goal percentage with 45 percent. The team was 85th in rebounding and 146th in assists.
"It's been an unbelievable 13 years, I can tell you that," Butler coach Brad Stevens said. "To think about some of the places we've been and some of the places we're going is kind of mind boggling. Being in the middle of it, I just tried my best to focus on our team."
Bucknell is ranked 177th in scoring and went 28-5, including 12-2 in the Patriot League. The team ranks 104th in rebounding and 128th in assists, but they are hitting nearly 46 percent of their shots from the field. The team enters the tournament hot, winning seven games in a row.
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