For Butler University men's basketball coach Brad Stevens, summer is far from an off-season. If anything, in the wake of two straight Final Four runs, it is even more hectic than hoops season.

Stevens held camps at Butler 19 out of 30 days in June. This month he will be on the road recruiting for three weeks, and then will join USA Basketball for nearly a month to go to Hong Kong for the World University Games.

"The summers are usually more busy than the winters, which is crazy, but that's the way it is," Stevens said.

This summer is just another chapter in the whirlwind saga of Stevens - a 1995 Zionsville Community High School graduate- and the historic ascendancy of Butler basketball. After the 2010 run to the Final Four in Indianapolis, which ended with Gordon Hayward's near-miss in the national title game against Duke, few thought Butler could repeat the feat.

Despite losing Hayward early to the NBA, the Bulldogs reloaded and shot all the way to the NCAA championship game in Houston, where they fell 53-41 to UConn.

In that loss, Butler shot a nearly unimaginable 18.8 percent from the field. For Stevens, the nature of the contest made it easy to move on.

"That's the game where as a coach you say, 'I can let go of that game pretty easily,'" Stevens said. "Everyone else is going to be critical of it and look at it differently, but I thought we did everything we needed to do to be able to give ourselves a chance to win. We just didn't make shots."

Butler's 2011 tourney run could've ended in the first weekend, but game-winners by Matt Howard pushed the eighth-seeded Bulldogs to wins over Old Dominion and No. 1 seed Pittsburgh. Throw in an overtime victory over No. 2 seed Florida to reach the Final Four, and the Bulldogs were the Cardiac Kids of the tournament.

"They were the ultimate fighters," Stevens said. "They were so much fun to coach and I loved every minute of it."

Although Butler fell short of it's ultimate goal for the second year in a row, there was no long-term hangover. Stevens and the Butler program adhere to the axiom that the journey together is more important than any single game.

"That's the philosophy we've followed for the last 17 years, and the one we'll follow as long as I'm here," said Stevens, who is currently under contract until 2022. "It's not about what you've done, it's about what you're doing. You're always thinking about what's next, trying to maximize today and not just revel in success."

Looking to the future, Stevens recognizes the rebuilding which must take place with the loss of seniors Howard, Shawn Vanzant and Zach Hahn, as well as Shelvin Mack, who became Butler's second early entry into the NBA in as many years.

"Those guys meant as much to Butler as anybody who has probably ever been here," Stevens said. "And that's because of the way they conducted themselves off the court and how they acted as students, and certainly what they were able to achieve on the court that brought increased global awareness to our university."

Last season, hard work transformed Howard into a multidimensional threat, which helped Butler excel beyond initial expectations. Stevens is looking for 6-foot-11 center Andrew Smith to carry that torch this coming season.

"I think he is going to have a great junior year," Stevens said. "He's doing everything that guys here have always done to jump to that next level."

With its leadership vacancies, Butler will rely on its veterans.

"With losing all of those guys, you'd better have some strong leaders in that locker room to make sure the new guys know what's expected," Stevens said. "I can't think of better leaders than we have with senior captains Ronald Nored and Garrett Butcher, and juniors like Emerson Kampen, Chase Stigall and Andrew Smith."

The past two seasons have elevated Butler to a national standing once unthinkable. Stevens admits it has been a life-altering experience.

"It has made it a lot more difficult in a lot of ways, and that's just part of it," Stevens said. "I want to be good and always be good. Obviously with increased distractions - in a positive way - it takes you away from doing your job, and I want to focus on doing my job as well as I can. Fortunately I can do that here."

Increased fan support has been a major bonus, and was on display at this year's summer camps.

"When I first started working Butler basketball camp in 1996, we wouldn't see a Butler shirt until the last day, when we handed them out," Stevens said. "Now, every kid has one and some have one every day. There is no doubt it has grown dramatically, and that has been my barometer for it."