The Holy Land of Hoops

Though we commented on the game in another thread, I wanted to give Butler a tip of the hat tonight with their own separate thread, as they were featured in primetime on FS1 at Hinkle, the Fenway Park of college hoops.

One Game:
Butler 100, Manchester (Div 3) 44.
Butler is a fun team to root for.

In other action, Notre Dame got the win at home vs Bryant. Bryant was only down 4 with 4 minutes to go. The Irish have the annoying offense where their guards throw up bricks, which allows their clumsy frontcourt guys to get offensive rebounds and putbacks. The same thing year after year.

Bryant, by the way, is located up in the woods in my hometown in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and for years was the summer home of the New England Patriots, back in the Steve Grogan years. The campus was built by the Tupperware guy in the 60s or early 70s on the site of an old tiny local airport.

On behalf of the Butler BB Nation, I apologize for this game being scheduled and played. Manchester is a bad DIII team. AD Collier should never had scheduled this game. Wouldn't IUPUI or IPFW been better options?

IUPUI and IPFW are 342nd and 254th in the RPI currently. So no playing them is far worse. Playing non-D1 filler games do nothing to your numbers, which is better than playing D1 filler games that harm your numbers. It was just a pointless game, scheduled solely to get more gate from the home schedule. It's purely about money.

Why are the only two options non-D1 teams and low RPI opponents? How many Division I teams are there in the state of Indiana that would play at Butler? Find one and stop this D3 crap.

Didn't they change something this year to make it where playing a D2/3 team is penalized after what the MWC did last year? I know it doesn't count towards the win total.

Why not play Indiana?

D3... yuck.

Those of you who are commenting about other Indiana teams coming to Hinkle. Many high-major teams won't. That's been the magic of Butler the last 20 years. They beat who they need to at home and win against other high-majors on the road or at neutral sites.

Ball State: @ this season
Evansville: @ this season
Valparaiso: Horizon League is still ticked off
Notre Dame won't come to Hinkle
IU won't come to Hinkle
Purdue won't come to Hinkle
IPFW is too big of a RPI hit
IUPUI is too big of a RPI hit
Indiana State will be back on the sked next year

Collier, and in the past Stevens, was quoted as saying Butler doesn't play 2-for-1's...1-for-1's only. Gonzaga agreed to that, Ohio State agreed to that, but others rarely do, maybe that will change with Big East status in the next few years.

Edrick wrote:IUPUI and IPFW are 342nd and 254th in the RPI currently. So no playing them is far worse. Playing non-D1 filler games do nothing to your numbers, which is better than playing D1 filler games that harm your numbers. It was just a pointless game, scheduled solely to get more gate from the home schedule. It's purely about money.

I agree 100% that it was a game to fill the coffers, although the gym was only about 60% full. I could care less about the RPI on Dec 10. It will take care of itself as the season goes along. I would much rather see a true basketball game than the scrimmage that took place last night. Dawgs should have played 4 on 5 to make it a better game.

I don't see how IPFW/IUPUI is considered too big of an RPI hit considering a DIII team doesn't even count as a win. I personally would rather have a win against an RPI 200+ team than a DIII that doesn't even count for anything other than a way to make a couple of grand at the box office/concession stands.

I can also guarantee season ticket holders/fans would rather see IPFW/IUPUI...

butlerguy03 wrote:Those of you who are commenting about other Indiana teams coming to Hinkle. Many high-major teams won't. That's been the magic of Butler the last 20 years. They beat who they need to at home and win against other high-majors on the road or at neutral sites.

Ball State: @ this season
Evansville: @ this season
Valparaiso: Horizon League is still ticked off
Notre Dame won't come to Hinkle
IU won't come to Hinkle
Purdue won't come to Hinkle
IPFW is too big of a RPI hit
IUPUI is too big of a RPI hit
Indiana State will be back on the sked next year

Collier, and in the past Stevens, was quoted as saying Butler doesn't play 2-for-1's...1-for-1's only. Gonzaga agreed to that, Ohio State agreed to that, but others rarely do, maybe that will change with Big East status in the next few years.

SLU, Dayton, Belmont, Drake... there has to be better options than D3