A year after an appearance in the national final, the Bulldogs played to a nERD of 10.33 and a record of 28-10 in the regular season. Like many other teams to have made big runs, Butler peaked immediately prior to the NCAA Tournament. They finished off conference play with seven straight wins before winning their conference tournament.

That's what bumped the Bulldogs up to the 8 seed. They were already dangerous in that position with their recent play and previous year's success, but Butler also had two really good players in Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, who averaged 32.4 points between them in the regular season.

In their Final Four matchup with VCU, Mack went big with 24 points, leading the Bulldogs to an 8-point win and their second straight championship tilt. Unfortunately for them, they ran into Kemba Walker, Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies.