It was a given that there would be a Cinderella team in the 2011 NCAA national championship game entering Saturday's Final Four match-up between Butler and VCU, but the rest was up to the Bulldogs and Rams.
Shelvin Mack made sure that it would be Butler representing the Cinderellas in the title game, scoring 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbing six rebounds en route to Butler's 70-62 win over VCU on Saturday night.
Butler will to the national championship game for the second straight season following its win over the Rams. The Bulldogs lost to top-seeded Duke, 61-59, in the 2010 NCAA championship game in Indianapolis last season.
Matt Howard finished with 17 points and eight rebounds for Butler, which shot just 36.2 percent from the field. Shawn Vanzant scored 11 points and Zach Hahn scored 8 points off the bench for the Bulldogs.
Jamie Skeen led all scorers with 27 points for VCU, which shot 39 percent for the game. Bradford Burgess added 15 points and eight rebounds and both Toby Veal and Juvonte Reddic scored four points for VCU.
The eighth seeded Bulldogs led 34-28 at halftime and outscored No. 11 seed VCU, 36-34, in the second half to advance to the championship bout. Butler will face the winner of Kentucky and UConn in the title game on Monday.