By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — After a losing one of the most hard fought college basketball finals of the last 15 years, three graduating seniors from the Butler Bulldogs basketball team will get one more shot at a win — this time against the Harlem Globetrotters.
Willie Veasley, Avery Jukes and Nick Rodgers signed one-game contracts with the famous Globetrotter foils, the Washington Generals, for a game Wednesday night at Canseco Fieldhouse in Indanapolis.
The senior trio was part of Butler’s unlikely run to the NCAA championship game against Duke earlier this month. The Bulldogs 25-game-winning streak ended with a 61-59 loss, but the heavy underdogs captured hearts of America for a gutsy performance against the vaunted Blue Devils.
“I don’t think I would want to be a Globetrotter on Wednesday night trying to shut these guys down,” said Generals President and Owner Red Klotz in a press release.
The Globetrotters and Generals have played against each other for decades in entertaining exhibitions that feature over-the-top costumes and elaborate dunks. The Bulldogs seniors were eligible for the one-game contracts because they've exhausted their college eligibility at Butler.
The Globetrotters haven’t lost to the Generals since 1962, a winning drought they're hoping will end Wednesday.
“These kids have the winning attitude we need to push us over the hump,” Klotz said.