Docile mascot aside, these Bulldogs pack more bite than bark

HOUSTON -- The dog is the ironic part in all this. Blue 2. That slobbery, lovable canine with the thick folds of skin and 5,000 followers on Twitter, an English bulldog with wide shoulders and matching head and, as typical for its breed, suspect intelligence.

It doesn't fit the Butler basketball mold.

Bulldogs are of good temperament, rarely aggressive and never too concerned with exerting much effort. Blue 2 wouldn't stand a chance of making his school's team.

He doesn't have enough bark or bite or know-how.

Butler wasn't Cinderella in makeup last year and isn't again now, but in advancing to a second straight national championship out of the Horizon League, it has proved that physical play still can define great basketball.

The Bulldogs ended Virginia Commonwealth's magical NCAA Tournament run in one Final Four game Saturday, a 70-62 final at Reliant Stadium that advanced a No. 8 seed into Monday's title game and sent an 11 seed home.

Butler will play Connecticut, and the last No. 8 to own an opportunity to cut down national championship nets was Villanova in 1985.

A physical signature sure worked for the Wildcats.

This isn't the same Butler that wrote such a storybook journey in winning its way into the Final Four last year, that roused a nation of basketball fans into believing and hoping such a program could claim its sport's ultimate prize, that came a bounce off the rim against Duke from doing so.

This version isn't as talented.

But it sure is as tough.

You don't watch Butler for the artistry of movement or the fluidity of skill. The Bulldogs are all Two-Buck Chuck and stale crackers. They fight and scratch and claw and do things like outrebound an opponent 48-32 in the Final Four.

They get 19 second-chance points off hustle and determination. They lose their minds for a stretch early and attempt to -- gasp! -- play fast against a VCU team hoping to increase tempo through pressure, miss a layup, turn the ball over twice and then regain their senses.

"Butler is going to play the way it plays," VCU coach Shaka Smart said. "Our guys fought and battled, but they were the more aggressive team. That made the difference. It had more to do with Butler than us."

You wonder how good Butler would be had Gordon Hayward, the kid whose last-second shot against Duke nearly fell, not left school early for the NBA. Maybe the Bulldogs would have reached this point. Maybe not.

What can't be denied is how players such as senior forward Matt Howard (17 points, eight rebounds) and junior guard Shelvin Mack (24 points) grew from that experience against the Blue Devils and used it here Saturday, how a senior such as Zach Hahn (eight straight second-half points during one stretch) fed off the belief that stepping up in huge moments is what Butler players are meant to do.

VCU rode its black-and-gold carpet throughout this tournament, one of the last teams included and yet one that responded with five wins. It missed too many shots here to stand a chance at playing Monday, too many ones that had fallen all of March.

That's what you get against this version of Butler, fewer opportunities to score as the game wears on and adjustments are made and rotations are tightened. Fewer good looks.

"I don't think we let the surroundings get to us," Howard said. "Didn't really feel like a national semifinal. And I think that's a good thing. It helps to play like you normally would. Whatever is going to happen will happen, but we have a belief in one another that we can get it done."

That will be tested again on the season's final night, this time against a Connecticut side that finished ninth in the Big East Conference and yet has won 10 straight since opening its league tournament on March 8.

I don't know if Butler is good enough, skilled enough, quick enough to beat the Huskies. They are smart enough and unquestionably tough enough.

"You know, I think our guys are pretty focused," Butler coach Brad Stevens said. "We can't play the national championship until Monday night. We have to prepare well but also have to enjoy each other's company. We don't need to be on edge the whole time."

This isn't Butler of last year, but that isn't to say things can't end differently. Maybe this time, the shot hits net and not rim.

Either way, I'm betting Blue 2 and that wrinkled face looks bored as sin.

That is, if he isn't tweeting.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.