A Review of Butler

[OmahaGuy]

I'm back! It's that time of the year. When one team's season is over, we take a way-too-early look at them for next season!

The Dawgs are the first in the league to tap out. Let's take a look!

OUT:
*Paul Jorgensen
*Nate Fowler

BACK (Barring transfers):
*Henry Baddley
*Joey Brunk
*Bryce Golden
*Christian David
*Jordan Tucker
*Aaron Thompson
*Sean McDermott
*Kamar Baldwin

IN:
*Bryce Nze (transfer from Milwaukee)
*John Michael Mulloy
*Khalif Battle

MY THOUGHTS:
Wasn't terribly impressed with the Dawgs this season. I honestly don't know whether to be optimistic about them or not for next season. Now I think Baldwin, Thompson, Tucker, and McDermott are talented players but other than that, idk I just don't see it. I don't know enough about Nze or Mulloy to comment on them but Battle seems like a good player. Finally, I'm not impressed by LaVall Jordan. I don't think he's a very good coach. But that's just my take. What say you guys?

[XUFan09]

I think Jordan is a pretty good coach but he just didn't have the talent this year for Butler to be good. Now it's his job to get talent in the coming seasons to see what he can do.

[Xuperman]

Man, if Baldwin goes pro they are toast.

[DudeAnon]

Need to up the level of recruiting, you can only get by with "The Butler Way" magic for so long.

[Irishdawg]

Baldwin isn't going pro, nor do I think there's the market out there for him. I do think transfers could become a story this offseason, and depending who leaves could either be a good thing or a bad thing, but other than Baldwin (and even he only has 1 year left), I don't know that there's anyone on the team or staff that played particularly well.

Interestingly, the team dropped 50 spots in the kenpom rankings from the time that Jordan Tucker became eligible. I don't think he's the singular reason for the dropoff, but he isn't good enough offensively to make up for how terrible he is defensively.

I think Jordan could be a decent coach, but I also think he's not a guy that is good at making hard decisions (aka, firing his assistants or chewing out a player), nor has he had to yet. He's a really nice guy, but I think he's too buddy, buddy with his players and staff, and this team needed a different kind of guy to guide them through tough times. Honestly I think he should job shadow Ed Cooley, because ideally I think that's his ceiling. I do think changes to the staff are necessary, and it wasn't all on Jordan for the staff he assembled given that he got the job in June, but this team, in addition to not having great talent, folded like a cheap tent down the stretch anytime the game got tough.

[kmacker69]

Need to up the level of recruiting, you can only get by with "The Butler Way" magic for so long.

I think that was the biggest thing that was missing this year! The toughness, mental and physical were severely lacking on one of our most talented teams ever. 2 top 100 kids and a big body tx coming in next year, but without the toughness it's going to be another struggle of a year.

Forgot we also get Hastings from his redshirt and he is very athletic 6-7 wing.

[scoscox]

Need to up the level of recruiting, you can only get by with "The Butler Way" magic for so long.

The "Butler Way" magic aka brad stevens was a very good coach

[butlerguy03]

Butler's season was the most cringe-worthy since 2004-05, maybe since 1992-93. Almost everyone on the team disappointed this year - even Baldwin. Christian David probably had the biggest growth, but that was limited to the defensive side of the ball. I think the sentiment around the Dawgs is you give LaVall Jordan 2 or 3 more years to prove his recruiting and coaching can turn things back in the right direction.

To those who don't believe The Butler Way is real, I forgive you for the cheesy name, but the University really does live by a code that the basketball team has taken and embodied for many years. Sometimes the announcers use it because it is the lazy way to describe hard play. As a Butler fan, even I get tired of hearing it 12 times every broadcast, just like I got tired of hearing "Jordan Tucker - the Duke transfer" all year.

[EMT]

Season not over......

[OmahaGuy]

My bad guys