The Butler WILL do it...

[butlerchris]

When I said Butler had 4 starters back, I meant Dunham. Barlow, Woods, and Jones. I agree bench strength remains to be seen, Martin will get a lot of minutes, may even be a starter before the year is done. Etherinton and Wideman have looked good and Aldridge may get some minutes if healthy. It was certainly encouraging to see the rebounding against NC. The shooting is inconsistent so far. Free throw shooting better than last year so far.

I agree Butler looked good OOC last year then faded, I think the early ot losses in league play really hurt. Also failed to dominate at home. If they can turn that around, they will do fine in league play.

[Bill Marsh]

When I said Butler had 4 starters back, I meant Dunham. Barlow, Woods, and Jones. I agree bench strength remains to be seen, Martin will get a lot of minutes, may even be a starter before the year is done. Etherinton and Wideman have looked good and Aldridge may get some minutes if healthy. It was certainly encouraging to see the rebounding against NC. The shooting is inconsistent so far. Free throw shooting better than last year so far.

I agree Butler looked good OOC last year then faded, I think the early ot losses in league play really hurt. Also failed to dominate at home. If they can turn that around, they will do fine in league play.

I see. I thought you meant 4 starters from last season.

[Sactowndog]

I think most Butler fans expected a pretty good team this year - we have four starters back. Granted the coaching turmoil and the transfers certainly raised doubts. It looks like we wound up with a good coach and the freshman look solid. It comes down to mental toughness. Coach Stevens' teams won a very high percentage of the close games. Last year, Butler had 6 OT games and several other close ones, and unfortunately they lost most of them. The Big East looks like a league that is very balanced so the teams that win the close ones will be dancing; those that do not will not.

You're not accounting for the loss of Fromm who started twice as many games as Chrabasz. They really have only 3 starters back and a 4th player who started 10 games. Jones is back but he doesn't replace Marshall who was a huge presence inside.

I always like teams with a solid returning nucleus to build on last year's success, but Butler had a losing record last year and was way over its head in Big East competition. So, they didn't have a lot of success to build on. So, they needed an infusion of new talent so they could improve the roster and their recruiting didn't really accomplish that. On paper, there wasn't really a lot of reason to expect a better season, so I've been surprised by their early season success.

Having said all that, I really liked the way that Butler played last year. Excellent team work, great ball movement, crisp passing. I also liked the fact that when the losing set in, they never seemed to give up. They played hard every game in which I saw them. So, they seemed well coached and to have the basic ingredients to be a successful team. Perhaps that's what's carried over into this season.

Butler got off to a strong start OOC last year as well. We'll have to see if they can sustain it into conference play this year.

Fromm was a great kid who didnt really have the athleticism to play in the Big East. His shot needed to be on and often wasn't. Andrew and Tyler are both upgrades at that spot. Khyle was more athletic but he was also a ball stopper. Butler wins by playing good defense and team basketball. With Jones at the three and Cam at the 4 the ball moves much better and Butler plays more of a team game.

[Bill Marsh]

I think most Butler fans expected a pretty good team this year - we have four starters back. Granted the coaching turmoil and the transfers certainly raised doubts. It looks like we wound up with a good coach and the freshman look solid. It comes down to mental toughness. Coach Stevens' teams won a very high percentage of the close games. Last year, Butler had 6 OT games and several other close ones, and unfortunately they lost most of them. The Big East looks like a league that is very balanced so the teams that win the close ones will be dancing; those that do not will not.

You're not accounting for the loss of Fromm who started twice as many games as Chrabasz. They really have only 3 starters back and a 4th player who started 10 games. Jones is back but he doesn't replace Marshall who was a huge presence inside.

I always like teams with a solid returning nucleus to build on last year's success, but Butler had a losing record last year and was way over its head in Big East competition. So, they didn't have a lot of success to build on. So, they needed an infusion of new talent so they could improve the roster and their recruiting didn't really accomplish that. On paper, there wasn't really a lot of reason to expect a better season, so I've been surprised by their early season success.

Having said all that, I really liked the way that Butler played last year. Excellent team work, great ball movement, crisp passing. I also liked the fact that when the losing set in, they never seemed to give up. They played hard every game in which I saw them. So, they seemed well coached and to have the basic ingredients to be a successful team. Perhaps that's what's carried over into this season.

Butler got off to a strong start OOC last year as well. We'll have to see if they can sustain it into conference play this year.

Fromm was a great kid who didnt really have the athleticism to play in the Big East. His shot needed to be on and often wasn't. Andrew and Tyler are both upgrades at that spot. Khyle was more athletic but he was also a ball stopper. Butler wins by playing good defense and team basketball. With Jones at the three and Cam at the 4 the ball moves much better and Butler plays more of a team game.

And I was already impressed with their team game and ball movement last year!

Thanks for the insight. I'll look for that next time I watch them play.