Being able to repeat has proven to be incredibly hard in college basketball, but just as difficult is having success the year after coming so close to cutting down the nets.
Since Butler made consecutive NCAA finals in 2010 and 2011, the national runner-up has fallen at least one round short of getting back to the title game the following season. Yet what we've seen from last year's second-place team indicates this trend could be coming to an end.
North Carolina, fresh off a dominant run through the Maui Invitational that was capped by Wednesday's 71-56 win over Wisconsin, is looking as good as the team that fell to Villanova by three points in April.