Both Mike Green and A.J. Graves will be traveling to San Antonio this weekend, just not with the entire team. A.J. Graves will be participating in the 3-Point Championship on Thursday, April 3 on ESPN at 9 p.m. (ET). Green will take the court at the Alamodome on Friday, April 4, to play in the NABC All-Star Game. The game features two teams of college basketball's top seniors and will be played in the Men's Final Four venue for the first time. Tip-off for the NABC All-Star Game is 5:15 p.m. (CT) (all info posted on Athletics site).
In somewhat sadder news, one of the men's basketball players asked and was granted a release from the basketball team. Sophomore Elliot Engelmann was granted a release from the basketball team to transfer to another school. The school in which he will attend was neither given or hinted at there is one yet, in the press release. Career-wise, I must say this is a good move for him, because with the new freshman they are getting in along with the possible junior college player that they may get in for next season, he may not see that much playing time. This I am not sure about though, just a guess. I am somewhat sad to hear that he will be leaving though, best of luck to him in the future.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
In recent news
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
2007-2008 Season in Review
This was an incredible season for the Butler Bulldogs. Despite the sweet 16 run last season the Bulldogs were not ranked in the pre-season polls. The Dawgs started the season by defeating the Ball State Cardinals, Indiana State Sycamores and the Evansville Purple Aces. This year was the first time the Bulldogs defeated the Sycamores in at least 4 years.
The Bulldogs then proved that the deserved to be on the national stage by winning the Great Alaskan Shootout. They defeated Michigan, Virgina Tech (in OT) and Texas Tech. They did so by shooting the lights out at the tournament. While doing that they set a tournament 3 point record.
After the shootout the Dawgs battled Ohio State at Hinkle. This was a special game for many reasons. This was the first time a Big Ten team has come to Hinkle in over 10 years. The score at halftime was 30-20 in favor of Ohio State. The Dawgs shot 25.8% from the floor during the first half. At halftime Stevens talked about the law of averages meaning keep on shooting and eventually they will go in. To boost the player's confidence he had them crumble paper and throw it into a trashcan. The Dawgs came back and won 65-46. During the second half of the game Campbell was injured which kept him on the bench for a few weeks.
An early preview of league play began the next week. Butler barely escaped Detroit and then fell to Wright State in a nail bitter at the Nutter Center. After a week off for finals, the Bulldogs defeated Florida State at a Wooden Tradition Game at Conseco.
After the Ohio State game, Matt Howard was given the opportunity to start. During the games these games when Campbell was not available or was limited, Howard emerged as one of the teams stars. He presence at the post was one of the teams missing ingredient from last year. He proved corrected his play from earlier in the season by not getting into foul trouble. He started the rest of the year except for senior day when Campbell was given the starting job so all 5 seniors could start their final regular season game together.
The Bulldogs ended the calendar year by playing tough games at Florida Golf Coast and Southern Illinois. At the end of the Southern Illinois game Graves hit a shot from 28-30 feet away with defenders around him for the victory. This shot was described as the shot heard around the midwest. It was the top play on Sportscenter that night.
After the first of the year the Dawgs continued league play loosing only 1 of their remaining league games. This occurred was the game at Cleveland State. One of the highlights of this portion of the season has to be the game at Valpo which was televised on ESPN2 as part of ESPN's rivalry week games. The Bulldogs battled hard the entire game and game back from deficit. The Dawgs only lead for 17 seconds the entire game. At that point Campbell was left wide open and hit a trey for the win.
The Dawgs took a break from league play for the made for TV bracketbuster game in late February. This game turned out to be a battle of the Bulldogs as the Drake Bulldogs visited Hinkle. This was the premier game of Bracketbuster weekend as the both teams were ranked in the top 25. In fact, the Bulldogs were ranked 8th in both polls that week, their highest ranking ever. The Butler Bulldogs could not pull it out and lost 71-64. This was their only home last during the entire season.
The Bulldogs bounced back the following week and defeated Wright State 66-61 for the Horizon League regular season championship. After the game the Bulldogs cut down the nets in celebration. During that game Betko scored a career high 17 points. The win also secured home court advantage for the Horizon League Tournament.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the regular season against Detroit at Hinkle. Although the game was a blow out 65-31. All 5 seniors were honored after the game. In this era of college basketball it is very unusual to have a team with five incredible seniors on it.
The Dawgs defeated UIC and Cleveland State in the Horizon League Tournament. After the Cleveland State the Bulldogs cut down the nets in the celebration. This was the first time since the league gave the regular season champion hosted the quarter, semi and finals of the league tournament that the Dawgs won the league tournament. This win gave the Dawgs the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
One of the priceless moments came during the season came on Selection Sunday. The Dawgs were stunned and silent when they saw the were awarded a 7th seed in the NCAA tournament. This was a huge snub as the Dawgs play during the season earned them a 4th-6th seed.
The Dawgs played South Alabama in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Dawgs proved they should have been awarded a higher seed as they defeated the Jaguars 81-61 in their home state. Pete Campbell shot 8-10 form behind the arc and finished the game with 26 points.
Two days later the Dawgs played Tennessee. This was a rematch of the NIT Season Tip Off Tournament semi-final game from the previous season. The Tennessee Volunteers jumped out to a 13-2 lead, but the Dawgs never game up. In fact Tennessee had a 13 point lead at the 11:27 mark of the first half. The Dawgs battled back and tied the game at the end of regulation, but game up short at the end and lost 76-71. The Bulldogs left everything on the court which is all anyone can ever ask.
The Bulldogs finished the year with a 30-4 record. This was the most a Butler team has achieved in school history. This was an incredible season one that I will remember for a long time. This was an incredible team to watch as they truly know how to play as a team.
This also ends my posts for the season. I want to thank Josh for giving me the opportunity to write on this blog. Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this blog throughout the season. I have enjoyed writing for this blog. I will continue to post during the off-season as news comes out and I look forward to blogging during the 2008-2009 season.
BU-TLE-aRe you a Bulldog? HELL YEAH!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Young Gunz
Hopefully we'll see another tough Butler team like this in the near future. Shawn Vanzant is reminding me more and more of Mike Green with his tough overall game. Zach Hahn has the shot strength and poise to fill Graves' shoes if he develops. Matt Howard is already a bona fide beast. How many years of eligibility does Jukes have left? Veasley is tough off the bench but did not get a chance to develop much this year. I don't think that I will ever be attached more to another Butler team since I am a senior and most of our best players are seniors as well, but thanks to these last two years I am a Butler fan for life! It was too bad to see an Elite Eight quality team fall so early in the tournament, but what a great game. Go Dawgs!
Tough game
Tennessee is damn lucky that we didn't play our best game. We tried, but things just wouldn't go our way.
I just wish it wasn't over. I'll really miss watching our five seniors play.
Thanks for everything fellas.
And young guys, you have some very big shoes to fill. Good luck, and I can't wait to see you progress in your time here too.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Birmingham: The City
The NCAA assigns each to a hotel. Butler was assigned to the Wynfrey hotel, rated 4 diamonds by AAA, in one of Birmingham's suburbs. The hotel is located in a retail area. The hotel is connected to the main shopping mall in this part of town. The mall is average sized, but some stores have 2 locations. There are additional restaurants around the hotel/mall including Olive Garden and California Pizza Kitchen. At last year's first and second round site in Buffalo, NY there was absolutely nothing around the hotel which was also in a suburban area.
The cheerleading coach arranged a trip to the Birmingham Zoo for the band and cheerleaders. The zoo is located in a suburban area in the woods which gave the feeling it is away from everything. It is smaller than other zoos I have been to, but it was a nice way to get out of the hotel.
The weather here has been awesome. The sun has been out and the high has been in the low 70s. Due to the clear sky at night the lows are in the upper 40s to low 50s. Many people here are getting a slight tan. I am not getting used to it because I have heard that it is cold and snowy in Indiana.
To beat the Vols...
... We have to keep them from running up and down the court. Tennessee can play stifling defense. They're very physical and the refs let them play that way against American. So there's no reason to think that they'll be any less physical against us.
We have to body up against them on offense then. I hesitate to say the same for defense, because Howard in foul prone and he could get in trouble quick. Green was in foul trouble yesterday, so he might be a little gun-shy. If we play our style of defense, we should do fine. We haven't let teams get up and down on us or control the tempo -- except in the Drake game, and I'm sure we've learned from that experience.
Our biggest problem will be scoring. The Vols are big and fast. We're going to have to hit our jump shots. I doubt Howard will be a factor unless he draws a lot of fouls. We're going to need Veasley and Jukes to contribute to our points in the paint when they play. They're definitely strong and fast enough to battle the UT defenders. Sadly, Green probably won't be able to penetrate and score. So, we're going to need to reign down from 3-point land. If Graves and Campbell aren't hitting, we're screwed.
But, we have an X-factor. His name is Julian Betko, and he won't let this team underachieve.
I'm definitely nervous about this game, but American exposed the Vols' weaknesses and the Dawgs will definitely benefit from that. We played this team last year in the Pre-season NIT. Graves and Streicher played against Bruce Pearl when they were freshmen. We know what to expect. We just have to play our game, which relies on our excellent jump shooting.
I expect a low scoring game in the 60s, and I'll bet that Butler is with Tennessee up to the end. If we win this game, there's no reason we can't beat anyone in the country. We could be the George Mason of this tournament.
Let's hold our breaths and pray to the basketball gods for this one.
