That sound you just heard was Cleveland State letting some air out of the Bubble.In the second game of the night to go down to the wire, the Vikings edged Butler 57-54 to claim an automatic bid. Butler remains in the driver's seat for one of 34 at-large bids, which reduces the number of spots available for bubble teams by one.
But this game was about more than the fingernail-biting in Blacksburg and College Park, Happy Valley and Las Vegas. It was, first and foremost, about a determined Cleveland State team that finally found a way to get past their conference rivals. After two heartbreaking 2-point losses to Butler during the regular season - one on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer - the Vikings showed that they still had some left - heart, that is - in holding off Butler in the closing minutes.
How bad did Cleveland State want this? Coach Gary Waters (who's Danced before with Kent State) was wound so tight during this game, he looked like he could explode from sheer emotional intensity at any time. At one point late in the game, he got down on all fours and banged on the floor with his hands to energize his defense. When it was over, Waters released it all in a stream of tears. (That's him, practicing his Dance moves, I suppose, during the crazy buzzer-beating win at Syracuse in November.)
The gritty performance will send the Vikes Dancing for the first time since 1986 when they pulled off a major upset against ... I can't remember who.
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