I haven't been up to date with some notable, news-worthy events pertaining to Butler, so I will do my best to recap them now.
1. Brad Stevens' Boston Celtics staff now consists of three other Butler players/staff: Micah Shrewsberry (Butler assistant coach, 2008-2011), Ronald Nored (Butler point guard, 2008-2012), and Drew Cannon (Butler graduate manager/statistical analysis, 2012-13).
2. Brandon Miller's 3rd assistant coach will be former Gardner-Webb head coach Chris Holtmann. While there, he faced Butler in November 2011 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in a game that was part of the Hoosier Invitational. Butler won the game, 68-66.
3. Butler will face Washington State in the first round of the Old Spice Classic on Thanksgiving Day.
4. Butler will face NJIT at Hinkle Fieldhouse this upcoming season.
5. Vanderbilt lost two of its best players today: Kevin Bright, who will play professionally in Germany, and Kedren Johnson, who was suspended for the 2013-14 season. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with Butler. Well Vanderbilt is coming to Hinkle Fieldhouse to play Butler this season, and that game just got a lot easier.
6. Former Butler guard Willie Veasley will be the video coordinator for the Illinois State men's basketball team this season. Veasley was instrumental in Butler's 2010 Final Four run, played professionally in Japan in 2010-11, and was most recently the video coordinator at IUPUI.
Stay tuned for two pieces coming to this blog in August. I still have to write about my all-time high as a Butler fan, and I am also writing a piece about Khyle Marshall.
Until then, Go Bulldogs!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Butler Memories: My all-time low point as a Butler Bulldogs fan
I have some spare time so I thought I would reflect on my highs and lows as a Butler Bulldogs fan. We'll start with the lows.
Let me set the scene. February 3, 2011. Butler has just lost back-to-back Horizon League games in overtime. Both games were winnable, and the Bulldogs were just unable to come up with crucial baskets down the stretch in both. While these two games were against two of the better teams in the Horizon League in Milwaukee and Valparaiso, they are still games that Butler should have won. Butler was 6-4 in the Horizon League at this point, quite disappointing for a team that return a majority of its players back from a squad that went 18-0 in league play the previous year. I was looking forward to the Bulldogs' next game against Youngstown State, who was 1-10 in the HL going into that contest. This was supposed to be the game that is the springboard for a potential climb back up the standings. A step in the right direction.
I was not able to watch this game as I was busy doing work this Thursday night in February. But that night, I had the mentality that I would wake up the next morning and Butler would be 7-4 in league play. So later that night, once the game is over, I click on the box score on ESPN.com, and there it is. At first I thought it was a score reporting mistake. Youngstown State 62, Butler 60. That was as shocked as I had been in a while (although my shock from Brad Stevens' latest coaching decision dwarfs any other time I was shocked). Then I look at the play-by-play to find out that Butler had an 8-point lead with under 4 minutes to go in the game. In my mind the game should not have even been close, and that the starters should have been sitting by the 4 minute mark. But no, Butler was shut out on its last six possessions and Youngstown state went on a 10-0 run to win the game. As hard as it was, last year I finally watched the game in its entirety on Youngstown State's UStream channel.
Butler was now 6-5 in Horizon League play, and I can truthfully say this was low point in all of my years as a Butler fan. However, this game turned out to be a wakeup call, because Butler did not lose another game until April, winning the rest of its Horizon League games, winning the Horizon League tournament in Milwaukee against the Panthers. That was quite a redemption game, as Butler lost by 24 to Milwaukee in the first game and lost in over time the second game. Butler then proceeded to make it all the way to the National Championship game. If you were to tell someone on February 4th that Butler (14-9, 6-5 Horizon) would be in the National Championship game, they would've thought you were crazy. But this game turned out to be a springboard for an exciting run through February and March. While I would've preferred Butler to not lose to a poor team such as Yougnstown State, it did make their NCAA tournament run that much sweeter. The season could've fallen apart, but through a bloody face, the dethroning of a 2 and a half year starter, and a newly-bespectacled coach, Butler was able to do what no one thought was possible. Make a second consecutive National Championship appearance out of the Horizon League.
Let me set the scene. February 3, 2011. Butler has just lost back-to-back Horizon League games in overtime. Both games were winnable, and the Bulldogs were just unable to come up with crucial baskets down the stretch in both. While these two games were against two of the better teams in the Horizon League in Milwaukee and Valparaiso, they are still games that Butler should have won. Butler was 6-4 in the Horizon League at this point, quite disappointing for a team that return a majority of its players back from a squad that went 18-0 in league play the previous year. I was looking forward to the Bulldogs' next game against Youngstown State, who was 1-10 in the HL going into that contest. This was supposed to be the game that is the springboard for a potential climb back up the standings. A step in the right direction.
I was not able to watch this game as I was busy doing work this Thursday night in February. But that night, I had the mentality that I would wake up the next morning and Butler would be 7-4 in league play. So later that night, once the game is over, I click on the box score on ESPN.com, and there it is. At first I thought it was a score reporting mistake. Youngstown State 62, Butler 60. That was as shocked as I had been in a while (although my shock from Brad Stevens' latest coaching decision dwarfs any other time I was shocked). Then I look at the play-by-play to find out that Butler had an 8-point lead with under 4 minutes to go in the game. In my mind the game should not have even been close, and that the starters should have been sitting by the 4 minute mark. But no, Butler was shut out on its last six possessions and Youngstown state went on a 10-0 run to win the game. As hard as it was, last year I finally watched the game in its entirety on Youngstown State's UStream channel.
Butler was now 6-5 in Horizon League play, and I can truthfully say this was low point in all of my years as a Butler fan. However, this game turned out to be a wakeup call, because Butler did not lose another game until April, winning the rest of its Horizon League games, winning the Horizon League tournament in Milwaukee against the Panthers. That was quite a redemption game, as Butler lost by 24 to Milwaukee in the first game and lost in over time the second game. Butler then proceeded to make it all the way to the National Championship game. If you were to tell someone on February 4th that Butler (14-9, 6-5 Horizon) would be in the National Championship game, they would've thought you were crazy. But this game turned out to be a springboard for an exciting run through February and March. While I would've preferred Butler to not lose to a poor team such as Yougnstown State, it did make their NCAA tournament run that much sweeter. The season could've fallen apart, but through a bloody face, the dethroning of a 2 and a half year starter, and a newly-bespectacled coach, Butler was able to do what no one thought was possible. Make a second consecutive National Championship appearance out of the Horizon League.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Butler point guard discussion 2013-14
This is probably the biggest question mark heading into the 2013-14 season. Rotnei Clarke, who played most of his 33 minutes per game at point guard, has exhausted his eligibility. While Roosevelt Jones averaged over three assists per game last season, he had a poor assist-to-turnover ratio and his best position is clearly small forward. That leaves us with 3 candidates for starting point guard: Alex Barlow, Rene Castro, and Jackson Aldridge, with one of the first two guys likely to get it. Now had this been Brad Stevens coaching, I would have said Barlow would be the starting point guard initially, for two reasons. First, in his six years as head coach Brad Stevens has never started a freshman from day one with exception to the 2008-09 season when he started three of them (Hayward, Mack, Nored). But that season was different from this upcoming one in that Butler had an extremely young team with so many new faces. The second reason is that Brad Stevens was a defensive-oriented coach (at least more than most college coaches), and that side of the floor is where Barlow excels. Brad Stevens was always extremely complimentary of Barlow's defense in the past two years. Now I'm not stating Coach Miller won't value defense as much as Stevens. I'm just saying that Miller hasn't had the closest eye on the Butler program and its players. Therefore, Barlow is going to have to prove that he can run the team on offense, because he cannot just dribbling up the court and then immediately handing it off to Roosevelt Jones. The offensive end is where Castro has the edge, and on a team where scoring will not come as easily as it did last year, it becomes more necessary to have a point guard with a scoring mentality, and Castro certainly has that. Castro also seems to have a decent three point shot, so he can take some of the perimeter attention away from Kellen Dunham.
Jackson Aldridge was buried on the bench because of his 20% shooting percentage and his ineffectiveness running the team on offense. Unless he makes major improvements, expect him to say on the bench. So as I see it right now, Castro will be starting and playing 20-25 minutes per game, Barlow will come off the bench and see 15-20 minutes of playing time, and Aldridge will be used sparingly. But these are just my opinions. How do you see the breakdown in playing time at the point guard spot. Comment below as I am always open to reading other peoples ideas and thoughts.
Jackson Aldridge was buried on the bench because of his 20% shooting percentage and his ineffectiveness running the team on offense. Unless he makes major improvements, expect him to say on the bench. So as I see it right now, Castro will be starting and playing 20-25 minutes per game, Barlow will come off the bench and see 15-20 minutes of playing time, and Aldridge will be used sparingly. But these are just my opinions. How do you see the breakdown in playing time at the point guard spot. Comment below as I am always open to reading other peoples ideas and thoughts.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Butler hires Brandon Miller as new head coach
Butler has hired Butler alumnus Brandon Miller as the new head coach of the Butler Bulldogs. Miller, who played for Butler from 2000-2003, was the video coordinator and director of basketball operations from 2003-2007 at Ohio State under former Butler coach Thad Matta, was an assistant coach at Butler in 2007-08, spent three more years at Ohio State after that, and was most recently an assistant coach at Illinois under John Groce. In addition, it does not appear that any of Butler's current players are leaving the program which is great news looking forward to 2013-14.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Brad Stevens leaves Butler to become head coach of Boston Celtics
That's right. I didn't see it coming either. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that 2 days after Butler is no longer a mid-major program that Stevens would leave. Maybe that has something to do with it. I have always believed Brad Stevens would be at Butler for the next couple of decades, becoming one of the best college basketball coaches in history. Stevens and his family always seemed so satisfied with where they were. I guess this was to big of an opportunity to pass up, a head coach in the NBA. While I know he will do a great job rebuilding in Boston, I wouldn't count out the chance that he returns to coaching college basketball like Rick Pitino did. Nonetheless, I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Now, for what this means for the future of Butler basketball. If a new coach were to be hired within Butler University, it would most likely be Terry Johnson, who has been Stevens' assistant coach the for all six of Stevens' years as head coach, or Brandon Miller, a former player and current assistant. LaVall Jordan, a former Butler player and assistant coach and current assistant at Michigan, also seems to be a front-runner for the job. I could also see Butler looking outside the program at someone like Bill Carmody who got fired at Northwestern in March. Whoever becomes the next head coach, I surely hope the continue preaching all of the values of "The Butler Way," and that Butler doesn't not change its values now that they are a high-major program. In terms of recruiting, I'm almost positive that it is too late for any of the incoming freshmen to decommit, since they should already be on campus in summer school at this point. I will discuss next season more once a new head coach is announced.
Until then, go Bulldogs!
Now, for what this means for the future of Butler basketball. If a new coach were to be hired within Butler University, it would most likely be Terry Johnson, who has been Stevens' assistant coach the for all six of Stevens' years as head coach, or Brandon Miller, a former player and current assistant. LaVall Jordan, a former Butler player and assistant coach and current assistant at Michigan, also seems to be a front-runner for the job. I could also see Butler looking outside the program at someone like Bill Carmody who got fired at Northwestern in March. Whoever becomes the next head coach, I surely hope the continue preaching all of the values of "The Butler Way," and that Butler doesn't not change its values now that they are a high-major program. In terms of recruiting, I'm almost positive that it is too late for any of the incoming freshmen to decommit, since they should already be on campus in summer school at this point. I will discuss next season more once a new head coach is announced.
Until then, go Bulldogs!
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