Underdog label doesn't fit big boys at Butler anymore
SALT LAKE CITY -- You're going to read a little about Cinderella. You're going to read a lot about Hoosiers. You're going to read those in reference to Butler, the Horizon League school from Indianapolis that sits one game away from reaching the Final Four in its hometown.
Don't believe it.
Those references are crap.
Butler isn't a Cinderella. Butler is the big bad wolf. Butler isn't Hoosiers. Butler is Jaws.
Butler isn't cute or cuddly. Butler is a killer. A bona fide basketball monster. Butler isn't just happy to be in the West Regional final Saturday against Kansas State, and nor should it be. Butler could win this whole damn tournament, because even with an enrollment of just 4,200 students and the profile of a so-called mid-major, Butler is a bully on the block.
But that's not what you're going to read. You're going to see the analogy to Hoosiers, and when you do, please have mercy on the writers and analysts who do it. There are legitimate reasons for the analogy, remember that. The real-life team from that great 1986 movie, Milan High, won the Indiana boys basketball title in 1954, back when that state had just one classification. Milan was small, Butler is small. Milan took on the big boys, Butler is taking on the big boys, most recently dispatching No. 1 seed Syracuse on Thursday in the Sweet 16.
Cherry on top? Milan won the 1954 state title at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Butler's home gymnasium? Hinkle Fieldhouse.
There are parallels. I can see that. But those parallels are perpendicular to reality once the game starts, because on the actual basketball court Butler isn't an overachieving little underdog.
"Underdog? Butler's nowhere near that," said Kansas State forward Jamar Samuels. "They're a great team, and they have one of the best players in the country."
His name is Gordon Hayward, and he's 6-feet-9, and ...
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| Butler vs. Kansas State |
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Edge: Butler vs. Kansas State |
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"He plays guard," Samuels said. "A 6-9 guard, man. That's something you don't see."
Butler has at least one future NBA player in Hayward, and maybe two others in 6-8 forward Matt Howard and 6-3 guard Shelvin Mack. Butler didn't cobble its roster together from castoffs and overlooked prospects -- Butler stole studs out of other school's backyards. Indiana and Purdue wanted Howard. Purdue and Michigan wanted Hayward. Miami, from the ACC, wanted Mack. So did Vanderbilt from the SEC. Kentucky didn't, and Mack is from Lexington, but that's why Kentucky went downhill the past few years. It screwed up on players like Shelvin Mack.
"Doesn't matter what conference they're in," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said about the Bulldogs before the Sweet 16. "I probably had them in the top 15 all year [on my coaches poll ballot], and the top 10 a lot of the year ... The reason is because they have players that can play anywhere in the country. This is not some senior-oriented team that's come together and gotten better."
Love that comment, because Boeheim is right -- Butler isn't a reprise of Kent State from the 2002 Elite Eight or George Mason from the 2006 Final Four, teams that were led by seniors into the far reaches of the NCAA tournament. Butler's best player and the Horizon League Player of the Year, Hayward, is a sophomore. Mack, a first-team all-league pick who scored 14 points against Syracuse in the first half, is another sophomore. Howard is a junior. Butler's starting point guard, Ronald Nored, is a sophomore. The Bulldogs start just one senior, small forward Willie Veasley, and their first two players off the bench are juniors Zach Hahn and Shawn Vanzant.
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| It's no fluke. Brad Stevens and the Bulldogs are stacked. (Getty Images) |
That assumes one thing, and it's a big thing. It assumes Hayward doesn't turn pro after this season, which he might. That's the thing about basketball bullies like the 2009-10 Butler Bulldogs -- they have players who are good enough to enter the NBA Draft as underclassmen. Hayward will have a decision to make, because at his size and with his combination of shooting range, versatility and athleticism, he's the second coming of Mike Dunleavy Jr. Maybe you're not high on Dunleavy, the 6-9 shooting guard for the Indiana Pacers, but he does average 12.2 ppg for his NBA career. And he was the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2002.
Hayward isn't that kind of a prospect, but he could be, and maybe he even should be. As a freshmen he shot 44.8 percent on 3-pointers, remarkable accuracy for a player his size. This season he slumped to 29 percent from behind the arc, and that's the reason he's generally considered a late first-round pick if he enters the 2010 NBA Draft. But if he comes back to school and shoots like he did as a freshman, he would be a top 10 prospect for 2011. No question about it.
Not that I'm rushing Hayward out the door. He comes from a decent background financially, not from a family that's eating Ramen noodles three times a day. Could he get hurt as a junior or senior? Sure he could. It's possible. But how many NBA prospects can you name that saw their future go down the drain because of a college injury? I can think of one: Chris Marcus. He's it. If I'm Hayward, I would like those odds.
The same philosophy should hold true for Butler coach Brad Stevens. He's 33 and he looks 23, but he's Butler basketball in a nutshell: Looks are deceiving. He's not some cute little thing. He's a coaching giant, or he's going to be once he gets enough years under his belt. He ranks fourth all-time for wins by a first-year coach (30), second all-time after two years (56), and first after three years (87 and counting). He's the Mark Few of the Midwest, and he needs to remember that. Few has turned down bigger schools and bigger money to stay at Gonzaga, but he's an emerging legend in Spokane -- and I'm guessing Few has even managed to save a few bucks for his kids' college tuition. That's Stevens' destiny at Butler, if he stays.
If he goes, Stevens could become the next Thad Matta, a superstar at Xavier and now Ohio State. Sure he could. Or, if he leaves for the wrong program at the wrong time, Stevens could become the next Barry Collier, who left Butler for Nebraska in 2000 -- only to return to Butler, humbled and probably months away from being fired, to serve as athletic director. Or Stevens could become the next Todd Lickliter, who left Butler in 2007 for Iowa, which fired him last week with a 38-57 record in three years.
Butler doesn't need to be a steppingstone. Thanks to the work of Collier, Matta, Lickliter and now Stevens, Butler could be -- should be -- a destination.
What it's not is a fairy tale, like those cute little fishies from Finding Nemo. Playing in something as big as the West Regional final against a team as good as second-seed Kansas State means Butler is in deep waters, but don't feel bad for Butler. Who feels bad for the shark?
