2010 NCAA Tournament Final Four. April 3rd and 5th. Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.

Lighting struck twice.

Once again, we found ourselves at the epicenter of the NCAA Basketball tournament. Once again, we attended the Final Four.

Tom Izzo found a way to get his team back to the show for a second straight year, and his sixth in the last twelve. Truly amazing with Kalin Lucas going down with an injury a week earlier against Maryland. Duke was there too, with their too white crew of try harders, floppers, and weird looking fellas. West Virginia with Thuggins and De’Sean Butler made the trip after doing all real basketball fans a favor in knocking off Kentucky. Last, but certainly not least was Butler. Yes. Butler managed to knock off both Syracuse and Kansas State to arrive at the Final Four. Quite the set up.

I flew into Detroit on Friday. Sam and I met up with Jimmy for a few pre-trip beers at the local b-dubs and we called it a night.

Saturday morning it was Sam and I on the road to Indy. A funny thing happened. We probably heard 6 Tom Petty songs on the local radio stations during our 4-5 hour trip. Because of this, we have anointed Tom Petty as the official musician of the Trip, and it is further mandated that only Tom Petty be jammed out in any vehicle being used by members of the Trip. Nate and his lady friend rode to Indy the day before, and would be met up with accordingly. Saturday was to be a great day.

4/3 – We dropped our bags at the hotel and made our way downtown. Indianapolis is a great place to host any basketball game at all. Nice hotels with great lobby’s, all within reasonable distance from each other. There is also a connected sky-way that hooks up a mall type area, making getting around very easy. It has been determined by the trip collective that anytime the tournament is in Indianapolis, it is nearly a must do, regardless of the other sites. Sam and I found the Michigan State team hotel lobby jam packed with Spartan fans and a few beer kiosks. We made our stand in the corner for much of the afternoon with a few pops. Nate and his special girl met up with a few of their friends, and we made a thing of it.

Things may have gotten out of hand.

From there, it was onto the two national semifinal games. Four teams left.

#5 Michigan State vs #5 Butler – Both teams had amazing stories coming into the game. Michigan State hung its hat on finding its way into another Final Four without Kalin Lucas. Tom Izzo coaching ‘em up. Korie Lucious hitting a miracle 3-pointer against Maryland. Beating Cinderella Northern Iowa who had all of the momentum after beating Kansas. Grinding out a win against Tennessee. Butler had a different path. They nearly lost to UTEP, knocked off Murray St after they took down #4 Vandy in the 1st round. In Salt Lake City, Butler disposed of both Syracuse and Kansas State playing the type of game that got them this far – gritty defense, rebounding the ball, and getting to the line. Seems oddly familiar. This game played out how you expected it to. Close and brutal. Coming down to the final possessions, Butler found a way to bring Sparty and Izzo down. Butler 52, Michigan State 50.

Nate of course was rooting for MSU the whole way. I was decked out in Spartan garb along with Sam as well. I did not root for most of the game though. I enjoy Butler. They’re my namesake, and I’ve always appreciated their squads.

#1 Duke vs #2 West Virginia – Well, nobody was rooting for Dookie, were they? We sat a row behind this guy with a Duke Lacrosse hat on. His old lady friend was a bitch, and they both had giant binoculars and camera lenses. West Virginia must win. Except they didn’t. Duke does a hand full of things very well. Well enough to win a lot of basketball games. This includes offensive rebounding and three point shooting, and this is what slayed Huggy Bear in the end. Sad moment was De’Sean Butler taking a charge and destroying his knee. Of course he was the one the foul was called on. Thuggins held his tearful player in the lane while the doctors attended to his shattered knee. I hope he’s fine, because he has great basketball skills and I enjoy watching him play. Duke 78, West Virginia 57 (game was a bit closer than this, getting away from the Mountaineers at the end).

Off Day. Jimmy was supposed to meet up on Sunday to ransack the town with Nate, Sam, and I. He couldn’t, so we made due the best we could. The day started with a trip to Meijers and Barnes & Noble to buy up as much Tom Petty as was humanly possible. Then, we met up with Nate, grabbed a bite, and went to find Hinkle and Butler’s campus. I hooked up some Butler gear at the book store, then it was a stroll to Hoosiers.

From there it was some random downtime, and a movie. We chose Hot Tub Time Machine.

4/5 – One more game for the season. Jimmy came through, we got our shit in order and went downtown for the day. After a questionable lunch decision to eat at a random Skyline Chilli, we stashed the car at IUPUI’s parking garage and rolled up into Indy.  A little walking around found us in a b-dubs to catch Tigers opening day. How could we have predicted this was also the home bar for Duke? Wall to wall dookie fans. These fools are all douches. I’m in a Butler t-shirt, and I’m getting harassed left and right. No worries though, I give some back. I did have a random guy grab my ass real hard. The lacrosse jokes were flying left and right. Sam filled up the juke box with the North Carolina fight song (which got no reaction from these fans), and we watched the Tigers win their first baseball game of the season. I met a Duke fan with the last name Duke. We had several beers. It was a good time. An hour before tip, we stumbled into the street, threatening every Duke fan in site. Good for us, there were only a few. Butler had taken over Indianapolis, and we felt great about what was in store for us.

Just like the previous game (Butler vs MSU), this game was slow paced and boring to somebody who enjoys the And-1 Mixtape tour. To me, it was beautiful.  Butler forced Duke to play it’s game. Duke was up by random amounts not going over 5 for most of the game. Butler’s grit kept them in it through the 1st half and into the 2nd. G-time was indeed #toobigyo, not backing down from physically imposing Duke, and their roster of pure blood basketball soldiers. It’s sad to think about really. Butler had a fucking chance, more than anybody would have ever given them in November. Down a bucket with 35 seconds or so to go in the game, G-time had a fall back jumper that looked to be onions the whole way, ending up being a hair too long. Off the rim, rebound Puke, shooting two FT’s. Fine. Some Fag who’s last name starts with a Z made the 1st, missed the second, and it was G-time back down the other way for a half court three point heave that was so amazingly beautiful for the hour it hung in the air. It did not go in, Butler did not win, and Duke Lacrosse fan jumped up and enjoyed some moments with the kids with different colored shorts sitting to his left. Such is life. Sam and I ducked out, and this basketball season came to a grinding halt. Too bad, as we had made friends with a couple Butler students, and I’m pretty sure we had the hook up to some sweet victory parties or something. Duke 61, Butler 59.

From there it was hotel room, pack it in, and drive back to Detroit. The trip was again on pause until next year. I grabbed a flight (delayed, again. Dar), back to Vegas, and life begins again.

Comments are closed