Less than 12 hours before playing for the national championship, some of Butler's players were back in the classroom.
The first Final Four team to play in its hometown since UCLA in 1972 spent all week following the norms - 6:30 a.m. practices, regular classwork, even shuttling players 5.6 miles from the team's downtown hotel to campus last week and again on Monday.
It wasn't a distraction to the players.
``I have four classes tomorrow,'' Gordon Hayward said Sunday. ``I don't know what we'll do about that, but we'll try to keep things normal and if he (coach Brad Stevens) wants us to go, we'll go.''
They did.
Team spokesman Jim McGrath confirmed to The Associated Press that some players went to morning classes, then returned downtown for a short film session shortly after noon. They went through a one-hour shootaround inside Lucas Oil Stadium at 1 p.m., and then stayed downtown to get ready for the game at 9:21 p.m.
Just another typical day in the life of a Butler basketball player.
On Tuesday, the basketball players, like the rest of the students, won't have to worry about setting the alarm clock. University president Bobby Fong announced at a downtown pep rally that all classes would be canceled.
``We're not crazy,'' Fong told the crowd.
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CAMERON CELEBRATION: Win or lose, Duke was planning to celebrate its season Tuesday back at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Team officials on Monday announced plans to open their celebrated arena at noon for a free 1 p.m. rally.
The Blue Devils were making their first appearance in the title game since 2001, when they won their third championship.
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PIONEER PRIDE: The Pioneer League was hoping its football co-champions could win a pair of postseason basketball tournaments.
The conference sponsors non-scholarship football at the FCS level. The Flyers and Bulldogs shared the 2009 Pioneer League football title with 7-1 conference records.
In addition to Butler's appearance in the men's basketball championship game, Dayton won the NIT with a win against North Carolina in New York.
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GENERAL GREIVIS: Maryland's Greivis Vasquez has won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard.
Vasquez, the Atlantic Coast Conference's player of the year, averaged nearly 20 points, six assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. The affable, charismatic native Venezuelan led the Terrapins to a 24-9 record, a share of the ACC's regular-season title and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
He ended his career as the second-leading scorer in Maryland history with 2,171 points, and is the only player in ACC history with at least 2,000 points, 700 assists and 600 rebounds.
``I want to be just like (Cousy), a winner, not only on the court but off the court,'' said Vasquez, who was introduced by Hall of Famer Bill Walton.
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AP Sports Writers Michael Marot and Joedy McCreary contributed to this report.
