While it may be April, March Madness doesn’t stop just because the month does (coronavirus quarantines, however, are a different story).
And for Gordon Hayward and his Butler squad in 2010, the Madness kept rolling well into the next month as his Bulldogs took on the Michigan State Spartans in the Final Four.
Hayward would help seal the win with a last-second rebound that would prevent the Spartans from scoring to tie the game or take the lead with a 3-pointer.
Butler came away with a 52-50 victory due to the Indiana native’s heroics, Hayward scoring 19 points and 9 boards counting the game-clinching rebound.
“We’ve been talking about the next game all year, and it’s great to be able to say the next game’s for a national championship,” said the future Celtic forward at the time (via the Associated Press).
Much like current teammate Kemba Walker a year later, Hayward’s improbable run set him up to play for an NCAA championship, facing off against the Duke Blue Devils on April 5th, 2010.
“If I was not playing, I’d be a Butler fan,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “I like they way they play, I like their story.”
Unless it’s your team they sunk, how could you not?
