Why Butler and not a team in the WAC?

You can have Calhoun and Cal and Howland and Williams -- PTW is most intrigued by Butler's Brad Stevens among the well known college basketball coaches.

Just how has Stevens, his assistants and his players achieved a pair of Final Four Two finishes coming out of the Horizon Conference? This minus major funding and, most important of all, without blue chip recruits.

What the Bulldogs have accomplished is not an aberration, which typically is a one-in-a-whatever-number-you-wish-to-insert-here occurrence. It's a bloomin' miracle!

Yes, various pundits believe that the level of college hoops has been diminishing for some time now but, even if true, this does nothing to lessen the attainments of the Hinkle Fieldhouse bunch. Stevens' group earned the participation in back-to-back national championship contests while others failed to do so and last season's final game was reached minus the best player in modern school history in Gordon Hayward.

Here is Stevens at a recent United Way event laying out his philosophy:

Stevens, who is 117-25 in four seasons as Butler's head coach, spoke about the pyramid to success he's used with the Bulldogs.

Character provides the anchor for the pyramid, Stevens said, as a base to assess core values, such as passion, serving others, remaining humble and being accountable to one another.

Next comes preparation.

"You have to prepare well to ultimately get where you want to go," Stevens said.

After the preparation come performance.

"Do your job one play at a time," Stevens said.

Results forms the smallest portion at the pyramid's top, said Stevens, who noted Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Walsh's book "The Score Takes Care of Itself."

"If you take care of the character side, prepare the right way and perform together, results take care of themselves," Stevens said.

Stevens goes on to praise the departed Matt Howard with the ultimate compliment.

Here is an intriguing Stevens audio all about the use of data which goes way beyond simply perusing the actual numbers -- it runs 3:46.

Do take note that the Bulldogs 2011-12 schedule has dates all the way to the Final Four, and rightly so.

So what does this have to do with WAC basketball?

Granted, Butler has a venerable venue and attendance ranges from 5,000 to 9,000 for home games but why Butler with all this success and not a team in the Western Athletic Conference?

Of all the teams in the WAC, Utah State, with great fan support and a coach lauded as one who can get five to meld into one, comes to mind first.

The Aggies have certainly ruled the conference roost but without success, let alone off-the-chart triumphs, in the Big Dance.

What's the difference(s) between the two basketball programs?

It doesn't appear that Butler has been landing more -- or maybe it should read much more -- talented recruits than the Aggies or is PTW missing something in this regard?

Both programs can be characterized as the result exceeding the sum of their respective parts. But Butler obviously much more so.

Also, what about the rest of the WAC members (as the post is not meant to ding USU)?

With many, if not all, of the others, two items stand out for falling short(er): both lower talent level and inconsistent year-to-year recruiting plus having to take chances on players with less than stellar reputations for buying into the one-for-all, all-for-one philosophy.

It seems near impossible to coach core values into a player (and his game). At least some residue must already be there in order to build upon it. The majority of WAC coaches have to take far more chances on kids -- even Morrill to a degree but never at the core of his program -- and some work out and some don't which causes zigs and zags in the direction of a program.

It does look like Butler is beginning to land higher-ranked talent (the result of the last two years) but still not so-called five star recruits who are the typical one-and-dones and with much more volatile egos.

Can Stevens continue to replicate the success of the last two seasons? That will be fascinating to watch but there shouldn't be anyone in this country expecting a third Final Four appearance in 2011-12. The odds are stacked against this happening.

While typing all this, Gonzaga came to mind. Best characterized as a moving-from-a-little-engine-that-could to a national known entity, Coach Mark Few has definitely gotten the Zag program on the map. But this also hasn't resulted in any blue-chippers coming to Spokane. In fact, Gonzaga has performed best with gritty overachievers and the luster is actually beginning to fade, at least a bit as Few has lost 17 players in an 11-month period, including every signee from the 2008 class. But that's a whole 'nother story.