Butler plays for berth in Sweet 16

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, CALIF.

Danero Thomas realizes Murray State lost its chance to sneak up on anybody else in the NCAA tournament when his jumper beat the buzzer and Vanderbilt.

He certainly knows the 13th-seeded Racers won’t catch Butler by surprise today. After all, the fifth-seeded, nationally ranked Bulldogs got to the top of the mid-major heap by surprising one big-name school after another until they earned their own big name.

“We’ve been doing it all year,” said Thomas, whose 15-footer sent Murray State into the second round. “It’s just the next game, and we’ve been winning since the beginning, so we’ve just got to get in there and stay focused.”

Butler already is everything the Racers aspire to be: a small-school power with a rich basketball tradition and a history of outperforming schools with bigger budgets and more television visibility. Murray State has the hoops history — and a 31-win season after romping through the Ohio Valley Conference — but doesn’t have Butler’s national respect.

With a win at the Shark Tank and a trip to the West Regional semifinals, the Racers believe they could seize it.

“Our guys don’t think they’re mid-major,” Murray State coach Billy Kennedy said. “They all believe they’re high-major. They all think they should have gone to Kentucky or Louisville. ... It’s not bad that they have that confidence. The hard thing is getting them to play together and be unselfish, and that’s what Butler has been able to do, and we’ve been able to do.”