It's early, but latest loss gives Butler's NCAA hopes severe hit
NEW YORK -- There are no must-win games in November and December.
So Butler didn't lose a must-win game Tuesday night.
But, yes, it kind of felt like it, long as I'm being honest.
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Recap: No. 15 Georgetown 72, No. 22 Butler 65 |
Because the Bulldogs' 72-65 loss to No. 15 Georgetown here at Madison Square Garden was yet another missed opportunity, and they're quickly running out of opportunities that'll give them a chance to meet the preseason expectations placed upon them. Remember, this isn't just some basketball team. This is a basketball team from the Horizon League ranked 11th in the first AP poll. And when you're a basketball team from the Horizon League ranked 11th in the first AP poll, you can't afford to take three losses in your opening nine games because there's just no way to make up for it.
Butler will never get back to No. 11 now.
Tiger Woods has a better shot at a Merry Christmas.
"But we were never really focused on rankings," Butler wing Gordon Hayward said, and that's fine. But the Bulldogs are now dangerously close to not only losing their national ranking but also reaching the point where earning an at-large bid is improbable bordering on impossible. If that happens, I can imagine Bob McKillop watching from a distance and thinking, "Yeah, I should've warned them."
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| Gordon Hayward, who scores 24 points Tuesday, and Butler now might have to bank on winning the Horizon League tournament. (Getty Images) |
The Wildcats' notoriety (thanks to Stephen Curry) earned a preseason ranking of No. 20 and invitations to marquee events. They played Oklahoma in the NIT Season Tip-off, got West Virginia in the Jimmy V Classic, Purdue in the Wooden Tradition. They played Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, got Butler in a BracketBusters matchup. It was an impressive slate of games. But the Wildcats finished 1-4 against those five (their only five) top 50 opponents, and ultimately had no chance of an at-large bid on Selection Sunday.
When they lost to Charleston in the Southern Conference tournament, that was it.
Suddenly, Butler could be headed for a similar fate.
The Bulldogs' notoriety (thanks to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and a solid returning core) earned that preseason No. 11 ranking and invitations to marquee events like the 76 Classic and Jimmy V Classic. But the Bulldogs have now played four games in those two events, and their record is 1-3 with losses to Minnesota, Clemson and Georgetown. The only victory came against UCLA, which sounds great but means nothing considering Cal State-Fullerton, Portland and Long Beach State have also handled the Bruins. Sure, the victory at Northwestern looks good, but there's a decent chance it won't hold up given how Northwestern rarely holds up. And though Saturday presents another opportunity with a game against Ohio State, it could be a lose-lose proposition with the Selection Committee.
A win? It's just a win over an Ohio State team without an injured Evan Turner. A loss? It's a loss to an Ohio State team without an injured Evan Turner. So surely you can see the problem with Saturday, and all that's left on Butler's schedule after that in terms of matchups against likely NCAA tournament teams is a game against Xavier (5-3 with losses to Marquette, Baylor and Kansas State) and a to-be-determined game in BracketBusters. That's it. Which means there's a chance Butler could go undefeated from this point forward and still enter Selection Sunday with only one top 50 victory, and it would have come against an Ohio State team missing its best player.
That's not good.
Because now even if Butler wins the Horizon tournament and earns the league's automatic bid, there's almost no chance at a decent seed. More likely, the best-case scenario has Butler getting something like a No. 7 seed, a No. 8 seed, a No. 9 seed or a No. 10 seed, which would require the Bulldogs to win a tough first-round game and then upset a No. 1 seed or No. 2 seed to escape the opening weekend.
That's not good, either.
"My point on the schedule, my point on playing people is, 'Let's live. Let's go and challenge ourselves,' " Butler coach Brad Stevens said.
No question, the Bulldogs did that.
But with three losses through nine games, that approach could cost them dearly.
