How often do you hear an elite coach that says, without qualifiers, “The other team was better and we couldn’t do anything to beat them”?
Typically, you will hear a coach say, “Give them all the credit, but…”
One thing I liked about Butler post game was this mentality that they lost the game. It wasn’t that Duke beat them, it is that they missed the shots at the end of the game to win. But, their thought process is one that is cultured from arrogance. A humble coach would have his team feeling like they were just lucky to get there and that they did what they could but the other team was just better. Butler thought they deserved to win that game and were not walking around saying, “It was Duke!”
There is more to being successful than just being confident, especially in sports. You see a lot of successful teams with swagger. They run their mouths, they are cocky, they are arrogant. And usually they get that from their coaching staff.
I think humility is right down there with class on the least important aspect of sports.