Ken Davis

INDIANAPOLIS - In all fairness, Butler guard Ronald Nored should have gotten the word out to Butler fans during the week. He should have sent an e-mail or posted an update on his Facebook page. Maybe he could have leaked the news to the local media.

Butler fans have been through enough stress, trying to will their nationally unappreciated team to this Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium — just six miles from campus. When they saw Nored heading to the free-throw line with 6.1 seconds left, and Butler clinging to a 50-49 lead over Michigan State on Saturday night, the Bulldogs faithful looked worried.

They had every right to be concerned.

The sophomore from Homewood, Ala., is a 61.2 percent free-throw shooter. In the first four games of the NCAA tournament, Nored had made only 3 of 12. Not exactly reassuring numbers to anyone — not even Old Blue, the bulldog mascot.

If only those Butler fans had known how hard Nored had worked on his free throws all week in practice. Maybe their stomachs wouldn’t have been tied in knots.

“I just thought they were going to go in,” Nored said when asked what he was thinking as he stepped to the line. “I’ve been practicing all week, practicing for the last few weeks to knock them in just because I’ve been so terrible. I did my routine, took a deep breath and knocked them in. My teammates believed in me. My coach believed in me. That’s all it was.”

He might've been the calmest guy in the building. Nored had already gone 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. He made the last two — perhaps the biggest of his life — without any difficulty.

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The shots provided a 52-50 victory as Butler (33-4) won its 25th consecutive game and advanced to Monday night’s national championship game against Duke. The Blue Devils (34-5) had little difficulty disposing of West Virginia 78-57 in the second semifinal Saturday.

Butler’s remarkable run continues despite the fact the Bulldogs shot 30.6 percent from the field and made only one field goal in the final 12 minutes, 13 seconds of the game. According to Kyle Whelliston, who runs The Mid-Majority Web site, 595 teams won games on neutral courts in 2009-10. Only two shot worse than Butler did Saturday night. Ironically, one was Duke on Nov. 27 at Madison Square Garden against Connecticut. The Blue Devils shot 29.2 percent while beating the Huskies.

Butler will play on the final night of the college basketball season despite the fact Michigan State won the battle of the boards and two Butler starters saw their minutes limited because of physical problems. Matt Howard took a bump to the head and played only four minutes in the first half. Shelvin Mack was dehydrated, but still scored 14 points.

They are moving on, in large part, because Nored prepared for the moment. Just in case. He shot hundreds of extra foul shots at Hinkle Fieldhouse this week, working with Butler assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry.

“I saw a picture of me shooting free throws in warm-ups [during earlier rounds of the tournament],” Nored said. “I was short. I shot so many short. So I just wanted to kind of get my elbow under and finish high and then flick my wrist. It looks like I’m aiming it. If feels like I’m aiming it rather than shooting it. Coach Shrewsberry was working with me on finishing through and finishing high.”

Butler coach Brad Stevens puts Nored on the floor for defense and a little ball-handling. He’s not out there to score. Nored was 0-for-4 from the field, but he had two assists and three steals in 38 minutes. Only star forward Gordon Hayward (19 points) played more minutes for the Bulldogs.

Nored was 1-for-7 from the line against UTEP in the first round. He was 2-for-5 against Murray State. He didn’t even get to the line against Syracuse or Kansas State. And really avid Butler fans probably remember Nored was a 46.9 percent free-throw shooter as a freshman.

But Stevens doesn’t look back. He’s always talking about the next play. That’s one of the reasons Butler has been successful.