Player Highlight: Willie Veasley - Butler

Willie Veasley - Butler

Willie Veasley is a 6'3 senior guard/forward on Butler. He isn't quite big enough to be a strong forward, or a good enough ball handler to be a guard, but he's the toughest guy on the court. He averages about 10 points and 4 rebounds a game.

From Freeport Illinois, Veasley broke his high schools career scoring record in January of his senior year, while scoring his own career-high 40 points.

Last year he sat out his first four games with a knee injruy, and then came back in the season with three rebounds in nine minutes against Ohio State.

This year in the NCAA tournament Veasley was the main rock in Butler that brought his team all the way to the championship.

One game he defended one of the best forwards in the league, Syracuse's 6'7 All American Wes Johnson, to the next game guarding one of the fastest players, Kansas State's 6'1 guard Denis Clemente.

On their last game against Duke, Willie really let his defensive skills shine but his offense just wasn't enough this time to overcome the Blue Devil's. He scored only 2 points and had 3 assists at the end of the game.

Willie is still looking to play after he graduates, but where is another question.

Player Highlights: Butler, Brian Zoubek - Duke

Brian Zoubek - Duke


Brian Zoubek, Duke's senioer 7'1 center helped aim his team to the championship this year. He grew up in Philadelphia, and averaged 24.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and 4.2 blocks a game in high school. He was rated No. 24 in the Rivals.com top 150 prospects of 2006.

At Duke he started every year except his sophomore year, when he broke a bone in his left foot and was in crutches and had rehab until early winter.

He ended his senior year by becoming No. 4 on Duke's all-time list in offensive rebounds and set his school's single-season record of 145.

Brian majors in history and also participates in Role Model Speaker Series at the Emily K Center. You can tell Brian is a role model on the court by leading his team to victory against Butler on Monday.

Championship Game

Round of applause for Butler who really put it all out there tonight to try and beat Duke. No such luck as Duke, beat them 61-59 in the last minutes of the game. It was a close one up until the end, and the Bulldogs had a few chances to win it. I even thought the desperation half court shot was going to go in. Still Duke pulled out on top proving to be the best team in the league.

End of the Final 4

Butler beat Kansas. I love when this stuff happens. The underdogs come out on top, and the big schools with all the money end up crying. It is sad, but it's fantastic for Butler. I'm cheering for them to beat Duke now!

Speaking of Duke, they beat Baylor, no real surprise here.

What we really want to know is what happened to Kansas? Or was Butler really just that good? The Bull Dogs Gordon Hayward scored 22 points, helping to defeat Kansas 63-56. Shelvin Mack also scored 16 points while Willie Veasley and Ronald Nored played powerful defense.

April 5th is what counts, hopefully Butler will keep up it's game and can take on No. 1 seed Duke. I'm sure if that happens there could actually be no winning brackets in the world!

Finally the Final 4

This year there has been no set best team in the tournament. Everyone has had a chance, and only one No. 1 seed ended up in the Final Four. This goes to show that anything can happen.

I was reading an article on some polls. According to Scaredmonkeys.com, Thirty-one percent of people that voted said that they think the Duke Blue Devils will win, while 33% of total voters HOPE that Butler will win.

I think I can probably agree with this. Upsets keep things interesting!