Fresh off a lesson in efficiency from the Michigan Wolverines, a young and confident West Virginia Mountaineer couldn’t help but offer his two cents on Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr.

https://twitter.com/Carvelli3/status/280163185355538433

Eron Harris, to his credit, had a respectable night, finishing with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting. But his team was shallacked 81-66 on national television, while the duo of Burke and Hardaway at the Barclays Center confirmed to many that they may be the most dangerous backcourt in the country. Defining “amazing” in this instance is certainly open to interpretation, but John Beilein has a special tandem to work with, while Bob Huggins has a team in need of a reality check. Oh, to be a freshman in college once again.

Catholic Seven Speak Up

All of a sudden, the infrequently used sports chant “We’ve Got God” has taken on a whole new meaning. The seven Catholic-affiliated schools from the Big East, more commonly known as the seven Big East schools that don’t have a Division I football program, finally used the one bit of leverage they had — a connection with a higher power —  as a way out of a decaying conference.

https://twitter.com/BonnieBernstein/status/279383453437407232

https://twitter.com/AdamZagoria/status/279382035297079296

The Catholic Seven will likely add a few more programs that are aligned both religiously and academically, effectively bringing to an end one of the great leagues a basketball hoophead has ever seen. As someone who literally grew up on the Big East, this certainly evokes emotion. Not really the thought of a future with no Big East, but the pause this news gives to remember all those nights you stayed up watching Big East basketball.

https://twitter.com/sharrowsDC/status/279376312668401664

And, yea, bro, sucks to be stuck with that…

https://twitter.com/MDuMont11/status/279411191695159297

Down Goes Indiana

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Brian Otskey is an RTC columnist. Every Tuesday during the regular season he’ll be giving his 10 thoughts on the previous week’s action. You can find him on Twitter @botskey

1. After enduring the dreaded finals week, we college basketball fans were given a treat on Saturday afternoon courtesy of two teams who call basketball heaven, otherwise known as the state of Indiana, home. In what was the game of the year to date, the Butler Bulldogs overcame a second half deficit and tons of foul trouble and knocked off the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers. While an unranked team beating #1 is always an amazing accomplishment, nobody should be surprised by this result. Butler has done this time and time again over the last few seasons with a variety of different players (although this was the program’s first victory over a #1-ranked team) who embrace the same unselfishness and winning culture. The Butler Way, as it has been deemed, is the reason why Brad Stevens is considered among the top coaches in the college game. This meteoric rise for the 36-year-old Stevens, in only his sixth year as a head coach, doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Butler won the game by torching Indiana from deep and dominating inside, consequently exposing preseason All-American Cody Zeller’s deficiencies. Roosevelt Jones and Andrew Smith took it to Zeller all game and made him look like a very average center in the process, one who struggled to rebound and had difficulty scoring against the physical Butler defense. Zeller’s stat line may look alright (18 points, five rebounds), but 10 of his points were scored at the foul line. He wasn’t a major factor on either end of the floor, a credit to Stevens and his preparation as well as Butler’s personnel. This is a blueprint for future opponents with the proper personnel on how to attack Zeller and Indiana. The Hoosier defense, which up until Saturday’s game had looked much improved, did not look all that impressive on this day. Aside from Victor Oladipo (who is quickly becoming Indiana’s most important player), the Hoosiers didn’t defend the way they needed to against Butler’s deliberate offensive sets. Indiana has plenty of time to fix the problems and remains a legitimate national title contender but Saturday’s result was a good reality check. There is no truly dominant team in college basketball this season and we will see more results like this as the year progresses.
   

   Alex Barlow’s Game-Winner Knocked Off Indiana

2. Another fantastic game broke out later Saturday night in Tucson where Arizona overcame a six point deficit in the final minute to shock Florida and remain undefeated. In a 40-minute game, the Wildcats led for only a stunning one minute and 24 seconds, out-played in their own building for the vast majority of the game. What did I draw from this game? Not much except that it was fun to watch and both teams are legitimate top ten outfits. Who is the better team? I’m sticking with Florida. The Gators went into the McKale Center and methodically dismantled Arizona for 37 of the 40 minutes played. The problem for Florida was meltdowns at the end of both halves which proved fatal. The Gators held an 11-point lead with under two minutes remaining in the first half but two turnovers and a blown defensive assignment on Nick Johnson allowed Arizona to cut the lead to three at the half. Florida weathered the storm and slowly built up a comfortable lead in the second half before Arizona charged back. A Scottie Wibekin triple with 2:44 remaining seemed to be the dagger but Florida would not score again. In a final minute disaster, the Gators committed three turnovers and 90% free throw shooter Kenny Boynton missed the front end of a one-and-one. Mark Lyons still had to hit a tough shot off the glass to give Arizona the win but this was a total giveaway by Florida, a team that had no business losing this game given the way it played out. What did I like about the Gators? A lot, from Patric Young’s smooth touch and suffocating defense to Mike Rosario’s newfound self-control and poise. Billy Donovan’s team does a great job in zone defense and I thought they should have played some more possessions in it. After a made basket, I really liked Florida throwing on some light full court pressure before settling back into the 2-3 zone. It served them well by confusing Arizona for the better part of the game. Offensively, Florida has nice balance and utilizes Erik Murphy in the perfect way with pick-and-pops as well as a series of staggered screens that really confused Arizona’s defense. Rosario and Boynton play more under control this year and don’t chuck as often as in the past. This is a team that should win the SEC and contend for a national championship. As for Arizona, this is a very good team but not one I’m sure can contend for a national title. Sean Miller’s club must cut down on its turnovers (which it did against Florida) and improve its three point defense. I mentioned Arizona’s poor opponents three point percentage in a previous edition of this column and the Wildcats failed to stop Florida’s shooters on Saturday. That has to get better in the long run if Arizona wants to go deep in March. Kaleb Tarczewski is a tremendously talented young center but he was exposed by Young. Tarczewski will keep getting better but any team with a skilled big should be able to handle Arizona inside. Don’t get me wrong, Arizona will likely win the Pac-12 and advance deep in the NCAA Tournament but this team is flawed, as are many. This was a great resume-building win for Arizona but I’m not so sure the Wildcats would have beat Florida if the game wasn’t in Tucson. Read the rest of this entry »

Jesse Baumgartner is an RTC columnist. His Love/Hate column will publish each week throughout the season. In this piece he’ll review the five things he loved and hated about the previous seven days of college basketball.

Five Things I Loved This Week

I LOVED…. the magic of an intrastate rivalry in a basketball crazy state with Butler/Indiana. There are some games that seem like they’re just meant to take place in March, with all of those final consequences, and this sure seemed like one of those contests. What a treat of a game this early in the year, with all the back-and-forth and late dramatics that you could ask for. It makes sense that the Cinderella-prone Bulldogs and the upstart Hoosiers would be primed to start up a testy rivalry, but this barnburner might have just sped up that process by a couple of years. And you have to love the recruiting implications, too.

I LOVED… Sean Miller’s Wildcats taking out Florida in an early-season battle of potential March heavyweights. This one made me smile for two reasons – one, I feel like Miller is still on track with molding UA back into the perennial power that it was just a few years ago (and with that campus to recruit to, as it always should be…). But the other reason is that we need a couple of schools in the West to step up after a rough couple of years, just to restore some geographic balance to the college landscape. This Wildcats team looks like they could do their part this season.

I LOVED…. how content Tubby Smith is. He’s got another sneaky good team at Minnesota this season, as the Golden Gophers have only lost to #1 Duke and taken down Memphis and San Diego State, among others. You have to think that a guy with Tubby’s resume (read: national title) has turned down some offers at more marquee programs the past few seasons, but he’s remained committed to what most people would consider a rather moderate-profile university in a quality conference. It’s not flashy, and neither is Tubby, but it’s refreshing to see a good coach stay the course and keep building.

Tubby Smith Appears to Have His Best Minnesota Team

I LOVED…. Indiana losing a game at this point in the year. Though I’ve questioned their No. 1 ranking from the start, I really do like this team and think they very well could cut down the nets at the end of the year. But they needed some adversity, and getting it now rather than in late January or February will be a positive development, in my opinion. And getting it from a team that isn’t at their talent level should give Tom Crean even more material to work with in practice.

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Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn.

Tonight’s Lede. It All Comes Together For Jim Boeheim. College basketball is littered with great coaches, leaders who elevate their respective programs with a handful occupying various leagues across the country. Transcending “great” and becoming “legendary” requires a sustained period of excellence. You can count these select few on one hand. Jim Boeheim belonged in this rarefied air even before Monday night’s remarkable achievement when he became just the third Division I men’s basketball head coach in history to reach 900 wins, and the first to do so in an uninterrupted tenure at one institution. Boeheim attended Syracuse as a college student and varsity basketball player, took up an assistant job there for seven years, then rose to the head coaching position, a title he has maintained with aplomb, visionary thinking and progressive leadership, for more than 30 years. Monday night’s culminating win, a 72-68 triumph over would-be spoiler Detroit, ties a bow around the longstanding brilliance of Boeheim’s work within and around the program. I don’t know when Boeheim will retire, but if the 68-year-old decides to call it quits as early as after this season, his career will have been one of the greatest we’ve ever seen. A well-deserved tip of the cap is very much in order.

Your Watercooler Moment. Two Big Transfer Debuts.

The Tigers Need Brown To Help Offset the Loss of Dixon (Photo credit: Getty Images).

Similar storylines tethered UNLV and Missouri’s season projections in varying degrees to the ability of transfers to step in and contribute right away. For Missouri, most of the talk surrounded UConn big man Alex Oriakhi and Auburn swingman Earnest Ross. Oregon transfer Jabari Brown was less of a central storyline not because of a lack of talent or physical tools, but for the timetable of his eligibility. Brown’s services became more urgent, though, once guard Michael Dixon was suspended and eventually left school over a sexual assault accusation. UNLV’s situation follows the same rough outline, in that an elbow injury to forward Mike Moser – previously conceived as just one piece of arguably the nation’s deepest frontcourt – turned Pitt transfer Khem Birch’s arrival into a critical, much less ancillary, entry into UNLV’s frontcourt rotation. Both players made their highly anticipated debuts on Monday night, and the results went pretty much as you’d expect. Birch and Brown showed some rust in their first taste of major college hoops in 12 months. Brown had 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting (including 1-of-7 from three), but it’s hard to infer anything beyond an encouraging first run, simply for the fact that the Tigers doubled South Carolina State on the scoreboard in a 102-51 rout. The Rebels, meanwhile, were taken to the brink at UTEP, and were one Konner Tucker three-point jumper away from taking a bad loss. In 14 minutes, Birch submitted just four points and three rebounds. How well these players fit into their new teams is a time-tested analysis that can’t be decided on one night’s action. We’ll get a better read on the newcomers over the next couple of months. After one game, the general consensus is lukewarm if slightly encouraging. Concluding anything more would be uninformed guesswork.

Tonight’s Quick Hits…

• UConn Pays Homage to Newtown Tragedy. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings had massive rippling effects not just on national news shows but in the sports world. Major sports teams around the country, from professional leagues to college, paid tribute to the victims in various ways. UConn followed suit by holding a moment of silence before its game against Maryland-Eastern Shore tonight, donning green patches with the letters “SH” and several players, including star point guard Ryan Boatwright, inscribing the initials on their faces in a visually poignant tribute that fit the severity of the events. Kudos to the UConn athletic department for coming through with a strong emotional statement to distinguish the tragedy’s geographically-proximate institution by not only setting aside a moment for respect and remembrance, but also implementing a visual token to emphasize the importance of the tribute alongside the basketball game being played. Read the rest of this entry »

With semester exams rudely disrupting the slate of games for the better part of last week, college hoops fans across the country eagerly waited for Saturday to roll around as 88 Division I games tipped off. There was one game, however, that dominated the rest. You may have heard that Butler knocked off previously unbeaten Indiana and shocked the country in the process—yet again. The Bulldogs enter the Top 25 for the first time all season, while Indiana falls from #2 to #5. Later that day, Arizona stormed back to beat Florida in dramatic fashion, but the Wildcats’ win certainly was overshadowed by Butler, and rightfully so.

This week’s QnD after the jump…

Quick ‘n Dirty Analysis.

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We’re now five full weeks into the 2012-13 college basketball season, plenty of time to get a read on some of the teams that everyone thought was better or worse than their preseason projections. So how does Las Vegas view it? Check the following list, which shows a number of popular schools with three correlated columns: each school’s preseason odds to win the national title (“Preseason”); its current odds to win the national title (“1st Qtr”); and the plus/minus in the interim. Note that we’ve normalized these odds to add up to 100% so that you’re viewing true odds relative to all of the other teams vying for the title this year. All odds were taken from TheGreek.com.

One other editing note is that these odds were taken and calculated prior to Saturday’s action (i.e., Butler’s upset win over Indiana and Arizona’s win over Florida).

 Some QnD analysis…

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1. The fields and arenas of play were more reserved than usual this weekend as Americans’ hearts remained heavy in the aftermath of the inexplicable and incomprehensible massacre that took place in Newtown, Connecticut, Friday morning. Moments of silence were observed at games from coast to coast for the fallen children, teachers and administrators whose lives where brutally taken from them much too early. Here at RTC, we generally try to stay above the partisan bickering that passes for national political discourse these days, but enough is enough — whatever we’re doing with respect to national firearm policy isn’t working. We don’t claim to have a reasoned and fair solution to this problem, but our leaders who presumably work for we, the people, need to figure out something better, and now.
2. The good people of the state of Connecticut of course are feeling more pain and heartache than anywhere else during this tragedy, and Kevin Ollie‘s Huskies will return to the court tonight with that burden in tow (with videos). It’s a bit more than an hour’s drive southwest from Storrs to Newtown, and many of the UConn players expressed their grief in terms of the connection to their own family members and loved ones: Tyler Olander’s mother is a sixth-grade teacher; Kevin Ollie has a school-age daughter; Shabazz Napier has a two-year old niece whom he adores. The school plans on wearing some sort of commemorative patch on its uniforms honoring the victims — perhaps as soon as in tonight’s game against Maryland-Eastern Shore — and the team will travel to Newtown soon to lend some additional support for the townspeople. As the most high-profile team in the Nutmeg State, these are necessary moves by the Husky program.
3. Sigh… on to the rest of the weekend’s news. In a completely expected announcement Saturday, the so-called Catholic 7 Big East schools voted unanimously to leave the conference and set out on its own course as a basketball-centric league. Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence and DePaul have decided that the race to the bottom that its football-playing peers have forced them into during all this conference realignment madness is no longer palatable. Apparently, the RPI anchor that schools like Tulane and East Carolina represented was the final straw. Now, the details on the when and how the exit of these seven universities will happen needs to be settled, but the other major elephant in the room is which schools the New Big East will target to fill out its roster — early reports suggest that Xavier, Dayton, Creighton, Butler and Gonzaga — all or some of them — are on the wish list. Regardless of who this new conference grabs, it’s nice to finally see proud basketball schools pushing back against the football behemoth.
4. While on the subject of Butler, Brad Stevens’ plucky squad knocked off the nation’s top-ranked team (per the AP/Coaches, not RTC) on Saturday afternoon at the Crossroads Classic, engendering another round of breathlessness (ourselves included) at just how excellent a head coach the 36-year old wunderkind already is. In a game that was must-watch television throughout, the final outcome hinged on a floater from a sophomore walk-on named Alex Barlow who had made a grand total of six buckets all season. The player who became a Bulldog so that he could apprentice under Stevens with a goal of becoming a head coach, added himself to the lore of a giant-killing school that has already scalped hoops titans North Carolina and Indiana this year. The overtime victory was Butler’s first ever win over a #1 team, and as the Indy Star‘s David Woods writes, it represents just another chapter in a program’s history where reality is better than fiction. Seriously.
5. The Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting additional details regarding star guard Michael Carter-Williams’ odd situation last Sunday where people tweeted pictures of him appearing to be under arrest at a local mall. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, MCW was detained and fined after a shoplifting incident at a Lord & Taylor store where he allegedly placed a Polo Ralph Lauren bathrobe and pair of gloves valued at around $120 into his backpack and walked out of the store. He was stopped by loss prevention staff and offered a deal where he could avoid arrest by paying a “civil demand,” wherein he could pay five times the value of the merchandise up to $500 and walk away. One source stated that Carter-Williams paid the fine with his credit card and left the scene freely. After Saturday night’s game versus Canisius (where MCW went for 12/14 assts), Jim Boeheim had little else to say about the matter other than to say that everyone “is satisfied with the result.”

Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

This Weekend’s Lede. College Hoops Arrives In A Big Way. It is only fitting that the driest week on the college basketball calendar preceded a weekend of riveting hardwood action. It began, naturally, with Butler being Butler, and by that I mean knocking off a team that, from a talent standpoint, the Bulldogs had no business challenging. After years of watching Brad Stevens build his team on hard work, discipline and hard-nosed defense, the Bulldogs’ giant-killing tendencies are no revelation. Even by Butler’s standards, taking out the No. 1 team in the country with a Hoosier-dominated crowd taking in the scene, is remarkable. The drama escalated later that night with Florida’s come-from-ahead loss at Arizona, an excellent road win squandered away thanks to poor late-game management and a flurry of untimely mistakes. And let it be known, Mark Lyons (the inefficient, turnover-prone, shot-chucking, pass-averse Lyons) converted a high-difficulty running layup with 7.1 seconds remaining to complete the Wildcats’ home court defense. Those two games far outstrip any other contests that took place over the weekend, but there were plenty of fixtures of note, most of which we’ll delve into in the space below.

Your Watercooler Moment. Don’t Try To Explain Butler. Just Appreciate It.

Indiana entered the Crossroads Classic with a No. 1 ranking. Now they can’t claim that title within state borders (photo credit: AP Photo).

If the Catholic 7 are still going back and forth on potential additions to complete the new league, Butler is as sure a thing as any team – from Gonzaga to Xavier to Saint Louis – it may consider. Over the past four seasons, the Bulldogs have showed uncanny poise and pluck on the grandest stage – the NCAA Tournament. Saturday’s coup proved the Bulldogs’ Tourney magic is not merely a postseason phenomenon; they’re just as capable of rattling and tripping up high-major heavyweights in the regular season too. With state bragging rights on the line, and a Bankers Life Field House rife with Hoosiers’ anticipation, the Bulldogs spoiled Indiana’s chance to cement its state supremacy and national No. 1 ranking. What’s more impressive than the result itself – which, as I’ve reiterated, is yet another testament to what Stevens has built this program into over the past five years – is the way Butler got there. Just over a week ago, sitting in the press conference after Butler’s win at Northwestern, a reporter asked Stevens about why he may have missed on Wildcats’ walk-on and Fort Wayne, Indiana native (and leading scorer) Reggie Hearn. He responded by noting that, similarly, no one had recruited Alex Barlow, and Stevens gushed on about the sophomore’s will and dedication and hard work. Naïve and conditioned to jaded coachspeak as I am, I interpreted Stephens’ praise as a savvy way to deflect a potential recruiting miss (Hearn) and channel it into something positive – Barlow’s development. Doubting Stevens was a bad choice, because Barlow, as you now well know, went from nondescript walk-on to hoops folk legend thanks to a game-winning floater in overtime to KO the Hoosiers once and for all. It was a fantastic culmination for a player whose background is, well, exactly the type of storybook tale you might expect.

Also Worth Chatting About. Nothing New On Florida; Big Win For Arizona.

Framing Arizona’s victory in the context of Florida’s mistakes is a disservice to what the Wildcats accomplished in the final minutes Saturday night. There’s no doubt the Gators could and probably should have left Tucson with another impressive victory, but this game says less about Florida than it does Arizona. The Gators turned it over 14 times, many of them coming in crucial stretches in the second half, and that’s something Billy Donovan’s team needs to remedy going forward. It’s also completely understandable. This was the first time all season Florida really needed to bear down, run its sets, and execute – almost all of its other wins came by way of blowout, the final result decided well before the final whistle. On Saturday, the Gators tightened up (few teams go an entire season without experiencing this), and Arizona took advantage. This is nothing we haven’t seen before. The Wildcats’ talent was never in question, nor was their frontcourt depth or scoring aptitude. What remained something of a mystery was their mettle and resolve, their ability to tough out dicey situations. Arizona needed all the moxie and fight it could muster against Florida, who controlled the game for large stretches but could never quite create enough distance to put the Wildcats away for good. Arizona hung around, bade its time, and with the game on the line, got the bucket it needed from arguably its most commonly-raised flaw all season: point guard Mark Lyons. It’s a statement for Arizona, but it does nothing to qualify the Gators stand-alone status atop the SEC.

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Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed some quick thoughts from this afternoon’s showdown between Notre Dame and Purdue…

Three Key Takeaways.

Jack Cooley and Notre Dame Handed Purdue Easily Today

1. Purdue Is Definitely In A Rebuilding Season. In his eighth season as the head coach of the Boilermakers, Matt Painter has faced the tall task of attempting to replace Purdue legend Robbie Hummel. Thus far, the task has proven to be quite difficult. The Boilermakers sit at just 4-6 on the season and have already suffered losses to two mid-major programs (Bucknell and Eastern Michigan). Throughout the season, Purdue has struggled mightily with turnovers and its shooting percentage. Its struggles in both areas have thus far prevented the Boilermaker offense from establishing an identity on offense. Today’s starting lineup featured a redshirt freshman and two true freshmen, so it is easy to understand why the Boilermakers are battling through some pretty significant humps.
2. Jack Cooley And Garrick Sherman Provide Notre Dame With A Formidable Frontcourt. Both the senior Cooley and the junior Sherman had productive afternoons with Cooley tallying 18 points and nine rebounds and Sherman pitching in 11 points and three rebounds. While Cooley starts and Sherman comes off the bench, there are many instances where the two are on the court together. Those instances provide the Irish with an interior-size advantage that has not been too common during the tenure of Mike Brey. The Big East is always a fairly rugged league, so this size advantage will undoubtedly help the Irish when conference play commences.
3. Notre Dame’s Experience Helps The Irish Greatly. This season’s Irish returns all five starters from last season’s team and that gives them an experience advantage in almost every game it will play this season. You can sense this team’s experience while watching them play. Purdue went on a 16-2 run in the middle of the second half and the Irish never once became rattled. The Irish tri-captains — junior Eric Atkins, senior Jack Cooley, and senior Scott Martin — have seen a little bit of everything during their collegiate careers, so it is pretty easy to see why the team does not get rattled no matter the circumstance.

Star of the Game. Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame. While Jack Cooley put up another workmanlike effort for the Irish inside, it was the sophomore Connaughton that stood out on both ends of the court. Offensively, the swingman contributed 16 points, including a late three-pointer that put the late Purdue surge to rest. Defensively, Connaughton was in the face of Purdue sharpshooter D.J. Byrd all night and never allowed the senior to get into a groove offensively.

Quotable.

• “We are flowing really well right now. No one is being selfish, which is great to see.” – Notre Dame forward Jack Cooley, acknowledging the strides the Irish offense has taken in its recent games.
• “I thought that was really business-like by us today.” – Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, referencing his team’s steady effort in the victory.

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Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed some quick thoughts from this afternoon’s showdown between Indiana and Butler…

Three Key Takeaways.

1. It Is Very Possible That Brad Stevens Is The Best Coach In The Country. How many other coaches could have led their team to victory against the number one team in the country with three players fouled out? If any others, the answer to that question is a very small number. Butler entered the overtime period against Indiana with swingman Roosevelt Jones and center Andrew Smith already disqualified due to fouls; then, early in the extra time, forward Erik Fromm picked up his fifth foul. With these three relegated to spectator status, Butler used a much smaller lineup consisting of Alex Barlow, Rotnei Clarke, Kellen Dunham, Chase Stigall, and Khyle Marshall. This lineup proved to be very effective for Butler, as the Bulldogs made five of their seven shots in the extra period. Reserve Stigall and rarely-used Barlow, who only recorded one field goal during the entire 2011-12 season, made the two biggest shots of the game for the Bulldogs. Well-coached teams are squads that never step down in the face of adversity and that is what Butler did this afternoon. You also have to credit the coaching staff for having players like Barlow and Stigall ready to contribute in the late minutes.
2. Butler Is A Very Balanced Team. While Rotnei Clarke deservedly draws most of the national praise, this Butler team can hurt you in a variety of ways. Before fouling out, Andrew Smith more than held his own against Cody Zeller, who is without question one of the best players in the country. Smith finished the afternoon with a very workmanlike 12 points and nine rebounds. Roosevelt Jones had a huge afternoon for the Bulldogs too, as he finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Khyle Marshall and Erik Fromm were also double-figure scorers for Butler, finishing with 12 and 10, respectively. Alex Barlow, Kellen Dunham, and Chase Stigall all contributed to the scoring column down the stretch with huge field goals that helped contribute to a truly “team” victory. Butler’s balance this afternoon had to have been a great sign for Brad Stevens, as he now knows he can rely on other guys if and when Clarke has an off night.
3. Indiana Certainly Did Not Play Like The Best Team In The Country. This might be a little obvious considering the fact that the Hoosiers lost the game, but they did not play a very good game. Standout sophomore Cody Zeller was stymied inside all afternoon by Butler’s interior defense and only managed nine field goal attempts. It is usually not a good sign when your National Player of the Year candidate only takes nine shots. Senior forward Christian Watford was a non-factor for most of the afternoon, as he was saddled with early foul trouble. Watford finished the game with 10 points, but did so while only converting one field goal. Senior guard Jordan Hulls had a rough day shooting the ball, as he converted just four of his 11 field goal attempts and did not make a single three-pointer. Freshman point guard Yogi Ferrell and junior swingman Victor Oladipo each made terrific plays down the stretch in regulation to force overtime, but both players battled turnover issues all game long – each finishing with six. If Indiana wants to be in the top team discussion this season, it is going to need more efforts where it plays like a great team consistently throughout the game.

Butler Deserves to Celebrate Another Huge Win

Star of the Game. Roosevelt Jones, Butler. A case could be made for Rotnei Clarke or Andrew Smith, but I just have to go with Jones. The scrappy sophomore filled up the stat sheet for the Bulldogs by finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Throughout many stretches of the game, Jones was the best player on the court for either team. Jones’ strong play in the first half kept Butler very much in a game that Indiana could have ran away with early.

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