Fueled in large part by Gordon Hayward 's and Shelvin Mack 's roles in leading Team USA to the gold medal in the FIBA Under @-@ 19 World Championship during the off @-@ season , Butler began the season ranked 10th in the Coaches ' Poll and 11th in the AP Poll . A few commentators picked the Bulldogs as a possible " sleeper team " to make the Final Four . Stevens was not so sure , privately telling his father , " We have a really good team , and I ’ m not sure how far we can go this year , but next year , we ought to go really far . "