There were plenty of Butler fans who made the trek across the country to San Jose last weekend as the Bulldogs opened NCAA Tournament play. Here in Salt Lake City, as Butler continues to maneuver its way through what's left of the West Region, many of the same fans have made the journey... and they've been joined by a few more of the Bulldog faithful.
Over the years, I've spent enough time around Butler basketball games to know when their fans are on edge. Last night, being up 10 at halftime on Syracuse is undoubtedly the most uneasy I've ever seen a collection of Butler fans. But, their support never waned... even when the Orange nearly took control of the game on multiple occasions in the 2nd half. It may have been easy to hear the anxiety in their cheers, but they were cheering nonetheless (along with nearly all the Kansas State, Xavier, and neutral fans in the building).
However much uncertainty there was at the half, it was all washed away after the final horn sounded. I don't think I've ever received so many high-fives and fist-bumps following a game... all of it quickly followed by sighs of relief and fulfilling laughter. Safe to say, there were a lot of emotions on display, and it was an incredible feeling to be able to witness it all firsthand.
While seeing and hearing Bulldog fans hasn't been difficult during Butler's trio of NCAA Tournament games, they're also being joined each game by a legion of fans shouting at the top of their virtual lungs here on the Internet. Each time Butler takes the floor for an NCAA Tournament game, we've been serving up a live blog on HLN. My colleague, Adam, takes in the action from Indy and I pass along what I'm allowed to from courtside (yes, there are rules for that kind of stuff). Twitter has also been a domain of choice, and it's sometimes interesting to see who's pulling for Butler. So, who are these "interesting" people? They're fans of the other nine teams in the Horizon League.
Yep, that's right, fans of other teams in the Horizon League are "tweeting" their support — all 140 characters or less — and pulling for Butler to continue the nation's longest winning streak (now at 23 games) all the way to the Final Four back in Indianapolis. Just check out some of this stuff that rolled in from Twitter after Butler's 63-59 victory Thursday night over Syracuse:
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Prior to tip-off Thursday night in Salt Lake City, I attempted to "tweet" some short videos from a Butler pep rally which took place earlier in the day at the team hotel. In theory, it would have been a great way to pump up Butler fans back in Indianapolis. While I was able to post a couple videos, my theory didn't account for a painfully slow wireless network in the arena as game time approached.
So, with that in mind, below are the rest of the videos I was unable to pass along, all rolled into one neat little package. Though everything you'll see took place before Butler defeated Syracuse, it still "works" today and will hopefully help Butler fans continue to revel in the Bulldogs' spectacular victory.
One more hard-fought win, and Butler will have the opportunity to truly serve as "host" at this year's Final Four.
