It was a bittersweet Tuesday night for our Final Four host city.In the sweet column, Indianapolis' Butler Bulldogs are back in the Tournament after beating Wright State in the Horizon League championship game for the second straight year. The Bulldogs, who haven't lost since December, capped a perfect league season. Expectations have been high for Butler all season long, as they returned their entire starting lineup from last year's squad. After a disappointing first-round loss to LSU, they'll be hoping to get back to the Sweet 16 and maybe even dreaming of playing in the Final Four just down the road from their own little gym. They'll probably be trying to do that as a 5 or 6 seed.
On the bitter side, IUPUI (for those without their scorecards, that's Indiana University-Purdue University of Indanapolis; yes, you read that correctly) lost to Oakland (for the same folks, that's Oakland from Rochester ... and that's the Rochester in Michigan) in the Summit League championship game. The Golden Grizzlies have a surprisingly high top 60 RPI for a team that had a pretty mediocre non-conference season before storming through one of the weaker D1 leagues. I wouldn't expect much from this team, but it's March, so expectations are irrelevant.
Finally, North Texas pulled a mild upset over Troy in the Sun Belt championship to book their place in the Tournament. A clutch jumper from junior guard Josh White with 22 seconds left in the game did the deed. While North Texas is unlikely to be hoisting a national championship trophy on the first Monday in April, they may best the rest of the field in at least one area -- the awesomeness of their nickname. Good luck to the MEAN GREEN.
On the bitter side, IUPUI (for those without their scorecards, that's Indiana University-Purdue University of Indanapolis; yes, you read that correctly) lost to Oakland (for the same folks, that's Oakland from Rochester ... and that's the Rochester in Michigan) in the Summit League championship game. The Golden Grizzlies have a surprisingly high top 60 RPI for a team that had a pretty mediocre non-conference season before storming through one of the weaker D1 leagues. I wouldn't expect much from this team, but it's March, so expectations are irrelevant.
Finally, North Texas pulled a mild upset over Troy in the Sun Belt championship to book their place in the Tournament. A clutch jumper from junior guard Josh White with 22 seconds left in the game did the deed. While North Texas is unlikely to be hoisting a national championship trophy on the first Monday in April, they may best the rest of the field in at least one area -- the awesomeness of their nickname. Good luck to the MEAN GREEN. 
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