Butler's tourney run makes Titans' OT loss sting more

As much as it pains me to say this, I was rooting for Butler to win the national championship, and you should have been, too. The Dawgs were representing the Horizon League, and, in an indirect way, Detroit. More coverage of the league means more coverage of the Titans, and for a rebuilding program that's a good thing.

I got caught up in the Butler love just as much as anyone, enjoying how CBS and the rest of the media worked to death the Hoosiers, underdog and home-state angles.

One thing that didn't sit quite right, though, was all the talk of Butler's 25-game winning streak that was snapped in the season's final game. Duke ended it, but it should have been broken nearly three months earlier in Detroit.

Call me a sore loser, but Butler's Final Four appearance only made the Titans' two-point overtime loss at Calihan Hall sting that much more.

Plain and simple, Butler did not win that game. The Titans didn't lose it either.

Coach Stevens and company were handed it, wrapped nicely and neatly by a trio of men in striped shirts. Normally, I don't complain about referees. Missed calls are bound to happen, and the injustices usually find a way of balancing out by the end of games.

But the (phantom) foul call on Xavier Keeling with 0.4 seconds left changed the game - and the season - for both teams. At that point, the Bulldogs were 4-0 in the Horizon League. The Titans were 4-1.

The winner of that game was to take sole possession of first place in the conference. That may not sound like much, especially so early in the season, but for a young Titan team that meant the world.

The Titans were still searching for an identity, and were very much affected by momentum. If they were excited, happy and passionate, they could beat any team. But a bad performance could spiral into multiple losses.

The Titans had their wind knocked out of them after the Butler loss. Coach Ray McCallum described it as "heartbreaking," and that's putting it simply. It was the kind of loss to which country signers dedicate love songs.

After that officiating debacle, Detroit went 3-7 before winning five straight, including a trip to the conference tournament semi-finals. Butler won 21 more games in a row, including a perfect 18-0 mark in conference play, before falling to Duke in the championship game.

What's done is done, but it's fun to think about what could have happened. If Detroit had won that game, maybe the confidence would have caused the Titans not to blow some very winnable contests down the stretch.

Maybe Xavier Keeling wouldn't have been forced to take multiple last-second shots, only to miss and earn the scorn of Titan Nation.

Maybe the Titans wouldn't have limped into the conference tournament as the seventh seed.

Maybe they would have been able to meet Butler in the conference finals, and maybe they would have been in the Big Dance instead of their Indiana rivals.

If seasons can be defined by one game, the home loss against Butler was the one for the Titans. It shouldn't have ended that way, and that should make the players mad.

It should fuel their competitive fires for next year, when age and experience should give them an even better shot at winning the Horizon League. It should also excite them, because they played the second best team in the nation harder than anyone the Bulldogs faced in the NCAA tournament.

They should also be excited for the offseason, specifically today. They might just be getting the puzzle piece that will put them over the top in the conference. Expect some good news by way of Detroit Country Day in the very, very near future.