Hometown Teams Purdue and Butler Have Rough Road Home to Final Four in Indy

This year's Final Four will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

There are currently two teams in the Sweet 16 that are looking to be there that play just minutes from the stadium.

Both Purdue and Butler survived this weekend with two-point victories in their respective games, and both teams now face similar uphill climbs—a date with the No. 1 seed in their regions.

Butler will face Syracuse in the first game on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, Utah. Purdue will follow that up with the last game on Friday night against Duke in Houston.

Butler has not lost a game since Dec. 22, including a dominating run through the Horizon League tournament. They have been exposed down low because of their lack of depth at the center position, but the play of Shelvin Mack has really elevated the Bulldogs to where they are today.

Obviously Purdue lost a huge piece of their team when Robbie Hummel went down with his injury a few weeks ago. The team has rallied behind JaJuan Johnson and Chris Kramer. The offense is less productive, of course, but the defense is still there.

Both Butler and Purdue had slow starts but eventually took the lead after the half, with big runs in each game. Both teams are playing eerily similar, and both rely on their defense and slow tempo to control the game.

Much like Michigan State playing in the Final Four in Detroit last year, the Bulldogs and Boilermakers look to have a home-court advantage if they can make it past the next two rounds.

Defeating No. 1 seeds and winning the game after that will not only be the hardest test these teams have faced this year, but the coaches will also have to have the teams prepared for their next games. Both coaches have shown they are winners and know how to get their teams prepared for the big game, but game-planning and executing are two different things.

There is the unlikely situation that could play out with Butler and Purdue facing off in the national championship game.

Although that may be far-fetched, the fact is, with the situation in Bloomington with the Hoosiers, fans here in Indiana are excited to see two teams from the basketball capital of the world still in the greatest tournament in sports.