On Butler, and underdogs everywhere

Go Butler.
That’s what Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was saying during the just-completed NCAA Tournament.
Butler didn’t quite make it all the way — sorry, Duke haters — but the mid-major’s near-Cinderella story did serve to inspire many.
Count Sloan among the masses, and now he’s using the Indianapolis school for inspiration as his club opens NBA postseason play with injured Andrei Kirilenko (calf) out and both Carlos Boozer (oblique) and Mehmet Okur (Achilles) hurting.
Asked if he still thinks his injury-depleted team can go deep into the playoffs, Sloan used the cause of underdogs everywhere to suggest the Jazz may as well give it a shot.
“Why would they have the NCAA Tournament (if everyone didn’t have a chance),” he said. “They’d just have the team that everybody thought was supposed to be the champion be the champion.
“Now,” Sloan added, “you get to play, and if something happens, someone’s hurt, you still play and see what happens.”

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