[Hoot Gibson]

Butler has talent though. Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack are very talented players. Gordon Hayward was an extremely talented kid last year. Those Butler kids have a will to win and that goes a long way. That's not putting down Stevens' coaching ability either. He's a great coach like I said in the post above.

I could certainly see Coach Cal winning with that talent. No matter who the coach is, it all starts with talent. The argument I'm making is that Butler has talent. If they didn't, they wouldn't have gotten where they did last year and they certainly wouldn't be where they're at in this tournament.

Butler has some talent but they develop talent. Butler recruits and signs players that Calipari (or Billy Gillispie) would not allow to walk on at Kentucky. Shelvin Mack reminds me of how awful a judge of talent Billy Gillispie was everytime I watch him play.

I am convinced that most of the top coaching talent in the country exists in smaller programs where coaches have fewer responsibilities off the court. I doubt that Stevens spends much time endorsing products or preparing for media events.

I enjoy watching teams that are schooled in fundamentals like Butler and Richmond more than I like watching teams that rely more on raw athleticism. However, I was impressed with Pitt's execution and teamwork. They are not a typical Big East team.