Horizon League Moments: Seven Straight and Counting...

Note: With the Horizon League celebrating the 10th anniversary of its name change, the League will be looking back at 10 significant moments from the last 10 years.

The streak started in 2005, with Milwaukee reaching the Sweet 16 as the No. 12 seed. Over the next seven years, fans participating in office pools and bracket challenges could count on one non-BCS conference to provide a first-round NCAA Tournament winner: the Horizon League.

Since 2003, the Horizon League holds the best record among all non-Power 6 conferences in the NCAA Tournament at 19-12. Included in that run are four trips to the Sweet 16 and two national championship appearances. The Horizon League is one of seven conferences, joining the ACC, Big EAST, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pac-10 and SEC in producing at least one first-round tournament winner in each of the last seven years.

After Butler went to the Sweet 16 in 2003, it was Milwaukee that served notice that the Horizon League would be a major player in the NCAA Tournament, stunning Alabama in the opening round of the tournament, 83-73, before knocking off fourth-seeded Boston College, 83-75, to reach the Sweet 16. The Panthers would once again win its first round contest in 2006, besting Oklahoma before falling to the eventual national champions from Florida.

Butler would return to the NCAA Tournament in 2007, taking a No. 5 seed to the Sweet 16 with wins over Old Dominion and Maryland. The Bulldogs would fight Florida in the regional semifinal, providing the sternest test the Gators would see en route to a second straight national title, leading late before losing, 65-57.

Once again, it was the Bulldogs winning its first round game in 2008, blitzing South Alabama with a barrage of three-pointers in an 81-61 demolition. The No. 7 seed, Butler would fall in overtime to Tennessee in the second round.

Butler would return to the NCAA Tournament the following year, but it was not the Bulldogs who kept the League's winning streak intact. That honor went to 13-seeded Cleveland State, who had knocked off Butler in the Horizon League Championship to punch its dance ticket. The Vikings took the fight to No. 4 Wake Forest, racing out to a double-digit lead in the first minutes of the game en route to an 84-69 win that was not as close as the final score indicates.

After a one-and-done in 2008, Butler has carried the Horizon League banner to uncharted territory in each of the last two years, reaching the national championship in both 2010 and 2011. The Bulldogs came within a half-court heave of the national title in 2009, falling to Duke, 61-59, before becoming just the second No. 8 seed to reach the national championship game in 2011. Along the way, Butler won at the buzzer twice, built a 20-point lead against Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 and fought back from a late deficit to score an overtime win over Florida.

Scoring a 70-62 win over VCU in the Final Four, Butler would fall in the national championship game to Connecticut, but not before proving that the student-athlete model can work at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics.