Butler faithful packed Hinkle for Final Four madness

“You’ve been waiting forever to play in this game! Who’s gonna win tonight?”

“WE ARE!”

“Are you a Bulldog?”

“Hell yeah, Butler!”

The chants echoed continuously throughout Hinkle Fieldhouse, along with the thunderous rumble of feet underneath the bleachers and reaction, positive or negative, to every change of possession.

And when Butler sophomore forward Gordon Hayward came down with the final rebound to seal the Bulldogs’ first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament’s championship game, the historic arena erupted with entire minutes of non-stop cheers.

Each of the stadium’s lower balconies filled with ecstatic Butler fans who came to watch the hometown university’s men’s basketball team participate in the Final Four at nearby Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday.

Butler beat Michigan State 52-50 to advance to the final round against Duke on Monday.

From the opening of the Fieldhouse doors at 5 p.m. to the playing of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” upon Butler’s victory, not a minute passed without energy.

Students, faculty, alumni and Indianapolis residents came to watch the game on four giant viewing screens.

“It’s not so much what it feels like, it’s just kind of a culmination of, ‘We’ve been this good and we’re finally there,’” said Josh Arntz, a 2008 Butler graduate. “It’s almost like a breath of fresh air. Now everybody knows about Butler basketball. It’s great for the team and great for the school.”

Arntz, who returned to his alma mater from Nashville, Tenn., for the Final Four, said he never thought the day would come when his Bulldogs would be this close to a national title.

“You have teams like Syracuse, Kansas, Kansas State — you have so much good depth out there, and big recruits don’t look at Butler,” he said. “We really have to recruit whatever we can get, so it’s almost stacked up against us. To see us rise up this way as a team and as a program is unbelievable.”

Rachel Mohlman, a 2004 graduate, shared the excitement.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “The Sweet 16 was cool back in 2003 when I was in the band and we went to Albany, but this just beats that. It’s just incomparable. It’s amazing what this team has done.”

She added that having 10 Indiana natives on the team — including last year’s Horizon League Player of the Year Matt Howard and this year’s honoree Hayward — made the journey even more special.

“It’s great, because they have the hometown support behind them,” Mohlman said. “We can just cheer them on from high school onward and just support them 100 percent. They’re just such good kids and such good kids academically too. We’re proud of that and Brad Stevens is proud of that.”

The Butler fans expressed their appreciation for Stevens, who will attempt to become the youngest coach to win an NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship since IU coach Branch McCracken in 1940.

“From what I hear, he’s just exceptional with the students and just a great guy all-around,” Mohlman said. “Just a class act.”

Following the Bulldogs’ win, attendees continued to party in the Hinkle Fieldhouse parking lot, honking horns and chanting cheers. The vibe around Butler’s campus is likely to continue all the way to tip-off Monday night.

“I think this is going to help boost the program within the state,” Arntz said. “We can be that good. We don’t have to be North Carolina. We don’t have to be Duke. We can be exactly who we are and do everything right and still get here.”