Mountaineers advance to first Final Four since 1959

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Country roads, take me home. Or better yet, Indianapolis. It's almost heaven, West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler and the Mountaineers are off to the Final Four for the first time since 1959.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Country roads, take me home.

Or better yet, Indianapolis.

It's almost heaven, West Virginia. Da'Sean Butler and the Mountaineers are off to the Final Four for the first time since 1959.

Joe Mazzulla scored a career-high 17 points in his first start this season and West Virginia handled a cold-shooting Kentucky team stocked with future NBA players almost from the opening tip for a 73-66 victory in the East Regional final Saturday night.

"It's something we've been preaching," Butler said. "Not even just two more. Ever since we won our first game. Five more, four more, three more. It doesn't mean anything unless you win the whole thing."

Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins, back with his alma mater, is in the Final Four for the first time since taking Cincinnati in 1992. It's an even longer stretch for West Virginia - Jerry West was the star of the team 51 years ago, and not yet a Hall of Famer or NBA logo.

"The first day I was here, I told them I came back to win a national championship," Huggins said. "I came back to win it for the university, having played there, and for the great people of our state."

For freshman sensation John Wall and the young Wildcats (35-3), a scintillating season ended with a clang.

They were awful from 3-point range, missing their first 20 attempts and finishing a stunning 4 of 32 (12.5 percent). DeAndre Liggins finally hit a 3 with 3:29 left to end the drought, but by then it was too late.

West Virginia went the other way, making eight 3s in the first half without a 2-point basket.

The second-seeded Mountaineers (31-6) used the same aggressive, in-your-face defense that led them to their three previous tournament wins. They closed the lanes, leaving Kentucky's speedy guards with few chances to penetrate. And they flustered Kentucky's big men, particularly center DeMarcus Cousins, by collapsing three players into the post once he got the ball.

West Virginia also denied the top-seeded Wildcats easy shots by committing fouls and forcing Kentucky to make free throws, which didn't happen. The Wildcats went 16 of 29 from the line.

"We made it very difficult for them to see open cutters and just make plays in general," Butler said.

The Mountaineers will face today's Duke-Baylor winner Saturday.

Kentucky coach John Calipari led his talented team to the regional final in his first season, restoring the Wildcats among college basketball's elite after several underachieving seasons.

But they showed their inexperience in this one, misfiring all night after using a swarming defense to beat tournament darling Cornell in the round of 16.

Calipari was left staring at the Carrier Dome roof, wondering what he could do. Now, his focus shifts to which Wildcats are coming back or headed to the NBA.

After the sudden end to the season, Wall was noncommittal about his future.

"We wanted to make it as far as we wanted to and that was the championship. We got it cut short," he said.

Calipari built Kentucky into a championship contender again, and the Wildcats routed their first two tournament opponents. They became favorites to win an eighth national title when No. 1 overall seed Kansas was upset in the second round.

But other than an 11-0 run early, the Wildcats were wildly ineffective all game. Darius Miller missed all six shots, and Patterson and Eric Bledsoe were a combined 6 for 16.

Mazzulla, meanwhile, played the game of his life when West Virginia really needed it.

Hindered by a surgically repaired shoulder, the backup guard came off the bench in 35 games this season and averaged 2.2 points - barely worth a mention in most scouting reports. He started Saturday because West Virginia point guard Darryl Bryant broke his right foot Tuesday in practice.

Mazzulla dashed uncontested to the rim for several easy baskets. When he was out of the game, he was on all fours in front of the bench slamming the court in encouragement.

Mazzulla thanked Huggins for sticking with him as he recovered from his injury.

"He still gave me a role," Mazzulla said. "That kind of helped my perseverance."

West Virginia fans chanted "Final Four! Final Four!" as the players took their spots at halfcourt after the final buzzer. Butler, who scored 18 points, led the Mountaineers in a little Final Four dance and they cupped their ears to the crowd.

"I talked about it being special," Huggins told the crowd. "Two more and it will be really special."

It's been a turbulent time for Huggins since his previous Final Four appearance. He was forced out at Cincinnati, had a heart attack in 2002 and spent a year coaching Kansas State before he found the country roads back to Morgantown in 2007.

"I told all guys I recruited, we want to win a national championship," he said. "We need you to be a piece of what we want to do."

He couldn't have imagined at the start of the tournament relying on Mazzulla to be the key piece that led his team to Indianapolis.

But the Mountaineers had the stage Saturday after Kentucky grabbed the spotlight all season.

Butler, who played with a sore right hand, was a big part of Kentucky's problem. He made four of West Virginia's 10 3-pointers

The Mountaineers led 28-26 at halftime in one of the quirkiest 20 minutes of shooting in tournament history. They made eight of 15 3-pointers - and went 0 for 16 on 2s. Not inside, not mid-range, not from anywhere except beyond the arc.

Butler hit four of them, shouting toward the crowd and pounding his chest after each one.

More oddities: Kentucky missed all eight 3s in the first half and outrebounded WVU 29-13. But the Mountaineers had only three turnovers after averaging 11.9 per game this season.

Mazzulla made five of 11 shots before fouling out late in the game, but all of them were clutch.

Kentucky had the lottery picks. West Virginia had Mazzulla.

Now, Mountaineers fans will be singing "Take me home, country roads," from Syracuse to Morgantown and all the way to Indianapolis.

BUTLER

from B1

"It'd be just as cool if we moved it to Hinkle," Butler coach Brad Stevens said of his team's fieldhouse. "I'd be all for that."

No such luck. Still, the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (32-4) are writing their own underdog story, even if they can't really be called underdogs anymore.

Shelvin Mack scored 16 and Ronald Nored and Willie Veasley keyed an in-your-face defensive effort on K-State guards Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente to help Butler become the first school from a true, mid-major conference to make the Final Four since George Mason in 2006.

Butler will face today's Tennessee-Michigan State winner Saturday.

"This is probably the coolest thing that's ever happened in my life," Nored said.

Trailing almost the entire game, No. 2 Kansas State (29-8) rallied to tie it at 54 with 3:09 remaining.

But Butler didn't fold, it only got better. The Bulldogs scored the next nine points to seal the game before Pullen's shot at the buzzer dropped - but offered no consolation.

"It was a great experience, but it hurts that it had to end," Pullen said.

Enrollment at Butler is in the 4,500 range, about 15 of whom have reminded everyone why college basketball captures America's heart this time every year.

They are weaving a story about the overlooked and under-appreciated getting their time in the limelight - the kind of tale every underdog has to love.

But make no mistake - this is not some scrappy, overmatched team that needed a break, no Danny and the Miracles, or Villanova shooting 79 percent to knock off mighty Georgetown.

This is a team that stood toe-to-toe with Syracuse on one night, then Kansas State the next, shutting down two power teams from power conferences with legitimate stars of their own.

Pullen and Clemente didn't score a point for Kansas State until 15 seconds remained in the first half, and it was no matter of luck. Rather, it was the tough, in-your-face defense of Nored and Veasley that did it - smothering a pair of players who had combined for 53 points two nights earlier in a double-overtime win against Xavier.

Clemente finished with 18 and Pullen 14, but they shot a combined 11 for 30.

"Defensively, they just try to hound everybody, try to stay in the lane, pack it in so there's nowhere to drive," Pullen said.

Clemente made a 3-pointer with 4:49 left to cap an 8-0 run and give K-State its only lead of the game, 52-51. Teams like Butler are supposed to fold then, right?

Well, not quite.

Hayward got fouled going to the hole and made two free throws to take the lead back, and teammate Matt Howard made one more free throw to make it 54-52. Clemente dribbled for what seemed like forever for a layup to tie, and that was the last significant basket the Wildcats would make.

BUTLER (32-4)

Mack 5-11 3-4 16, Veasley 1-4 0-0 3, Hayward 7-14 6-6 22, Nored 2-5 0-0 4, Howard 2-2 4-8 8, Jukes 1-3 0-0 2, Hahn 0-1 0-0 0, Vanzant 2-3 0-0 5, Smith 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 21-46 14-20 63.

KANSAS ST. (29-8)

Pullen 4-13 4-4 14, Sutton 0-5 0-3 0, Colon 1-2 0-0 2, Clemente 7-17 1-4 18, Kelly 6-10 2-3 14, Samuels 0-4 0-0 0, Judge 2-3 0-0 4, McGruder 2-3 0-0 4, Irving 0-0 0-0 0, Merriewether 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 7-14 56.

Halftime-Butler 27-20. 3-Point Goals-Butler 7-15 (Mack 3-6, Hayward 2-4, Veasley 1-1, Vanzant 1-2, Jukes 0-1, Hahn 0-1), Kansas St. 5-15 (Clemente 3-7, Pullen 2-6, Samuels 0-1, McGruder 0-1). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Butler 41 (Hayward 9), Kansas St. 29 (Sutton 7). Assists-Butler 9 (Nored 5), Kansas St. 8 (Irving, Kelly 2). Total Fouls-Butler 16, Kansas St. 19. A-17,587.

Coach Frank Martin wouldn't make excuses, but clearly that Xavier game took a lot out of the Wildcats - and it showed at the end.

"We looked tired. We were sluggish but I don't think it was as much about our wrongdoing as it was Butler's right-doing," he said.

With the score tied at 54, Butler took the lead for good on the next possession when Hayward - that rare NBA prospect playing at a mid-major - stretched his entire 6-foot-9 frame to not only collect a too-high, alley-oop pass from Nored, but collect himself and make the shot.

"I've said it already lots of times," Hayward said. "Coach and my teammates put me in that position and sometimes you've just got to make a play, and I was lucky enough to hit it."

Pullen came back with an air ball and Butler pulled away from there, ending Kansas State's equally gritty quest - an effort that will certainly gain the Wildcats more cachet in a state that has long thought about the Jayhawks first.

Big man Curtis Kelly also had 14 points for Kansas State, which shot 38 percent for the game and didn't make a basket outside of 15 feet in the first half.

Credit for that, once again, goes to the Bulldogs, coached by the 33-year-old Stevens, who has refused to buy into the underdog story.

Being a mid-major, he insists, is mainly about money and resources, not about 5-on-5 in a 40-minute game with nothing - or everything - on the line.

Stevens found the players who fit his style - players who like to work hard, don't back down from a challenge and don't care that the big schools didn't come chasing after them.

They're players who loved Hinkle Fieldhouse, the home of the Bulldogs, but also a tourist stopover because it's where the 1980s classic "Hoosiers," starring Hackman, was filmed.

"I can't tell you how many times I've watched that movie," said Hayward, a native of Brownsburg, Ind. "I lost count. Growing up in Indiana, I have watched it so many times. But I definitely love that movie."

Players who appreciate it certainly appreciate team basketball, Stevens said, and now his team will play in a much bigger venue - Lucas Oil Stadium next Saturday against Michigan State or Tennessee. The stadium seats about 70,000 for basketball. Butler's home games - all of them - drew a total of about 90,000 all season.

A great underdog story, most of America will call it.

Good bet, though, that the boys from Butler won't settle with being happy to be there.

"Certainly this is going to be a highlight for all of us," Stevens said. "But you're always moving to the next thing."

WEST VIRGINIA (31-6)

Ebanks 4-7 4-4 12, Jones 4-10 2-5 13, Smith 1-4 4-6 7, Butler 4-15 6-7 18, Mazzulla 5-11 6-8 17, Thoroughman 1-1 0-0 2, West 0-0 0-0 0, Jennings 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Flowers 1-3 1-4 4, Kilicli 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 23-34 73.

KENTUCKY (35-3)

Cousins 6-11 3-5 15, Patterson 3-7 2-2 8, Miller 0-6 2-4 2, Wall 7-18 4-8 19, Bledsoe 3-9 1-6 7, Dodson 2-9 0-0 6, Hood 0-0 0-0 0, Harris 0-0 2-2 2, Stevenson 0-0 0-0 0, Orton 0-0 0-0 0, Liggins 2-7 2-2 7. Totals 23-67 16-29 66.

Halftime-West Virginia 28-26. 3-Point Goals-West Virginia 10-23 (Butler 4-8, Jones 3-6, Mazzulla 1-2, Flowers 1-2, Smith 1-4, Mitchell 0-1), Kentucky 4-32 (Dodson 2-9, Liggins 1-5, Wall 1-5, Patterson 0-4, Miller 0-4, Bledsoe 0-5). Fouled Out-Flowers, Liggins, Mazzulla, Miller, Wall. Rebounds-West Virginia 36 (Jones 8), Kentucky 51 (Patterson 13). Assists-West Virginia 14 (Flowers, Smith 4), Kentucky 10 (Wall 5). Total Fouls-West Virginia 22, Kentucky 27. Technical-Liggins. A-22,497.

"We've had games where we missed free throws and 3-pointers, but our defense, we gave up a lot of layups. And they just outplayed us," Cousins said. "We played bad defense. We were supposed to go under the screen but we were going over, which was giving them layups. I mean, simple stuff that we know better."