Tag: Butler Bulldogs (Page 3 of 5)

      Butler, Duke to meet on Monday

      April 3, 2010 /

      The Butler/MSU game was tied at halftime and tight the whole way, but Butler managed a late lead against the Spartans and held on to win. The Bulldogs shot just 31% from the field, but outscored Michigan State by seven at the free throw line and forced 16 turnovers, which offset the poor accuracy from the field. Butler held on to win, 52-50.

      Gordon Hayward led the Bulldogs with 19 points and nine rebounds. Butler played the stretch without Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, who were sidelined with leg spasms and a concussion, respectively.

      In the late game, the Blue Devils built an eight-point lead by dominating the glass and hitting their threes, and pulled away in the second half behind their “Big Three” — Jon Scheyer (23), Kyle Singler (21) and Nolan Smith (19). Brian Zoubek controlled the glass on both ends of the floor, posting six points and 10 rebounds.

      Monday night’s matchup will be touted as a David versus Goliath affair, but Duke and Butler are pretty similar in the way they play. Both teams hang their hats on good man-to-man half court defense and efficient, ball-control offense. It should be a low-scoring, tight game. I expect that Duke will be favored by five or six, but Butler is fully capable of pulling the upset. I’m sure the crowd will be pulling for the Bulldogs.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Writers Q&A: The Final Four questions

      April 3, 2010 /

      I’m going to pretend I work for ESPN and answer the questions that the Worldwide Leader asked its college basketball writers.

      What are you most looking forward to Saturday?

      Seeing just what kind of crowd Butler is able to draw and whether or not it helps Bulldogs beat Michigan State. Final Four crowds are notoriously corporate and laid back, so if the Butler faithful (and the newly converted) can create some real home court atmosphere, it will make things tough for Michigan State. I’ll also be watching how the Bulldogs handle playing in a dome; they’re used to playing in smaller gyms and fieldhouses in the Horizon League.

      At the end of the day, whose performance will we be talking about?

      There are a long list of possibilities, but Nolan Smith is playing excellent basketball of late. He’s the only Duke guard that will be able to get into the lane and create his own shot, and his floater will be very useful against West Virginia’s zone. And for all of the talk of Jon Scheyer’s “clutch-ness,” Smith isn’t afraid to take the big shot either.

      Butler-Michigan State: Who wins and why?

      Despite the Spartans’ experience, I think the Bulldogs win a tight one. They’ve already beat two teams (Syracuse, K-State) that are better than Michigan State, so they appear to be the better team. The question is — can they put all the distractions and the sheer magnitude of the game behind them and just play ball? I think they can.

      Duke-West Virginia: Who wins and why?

      I have a feeling this game will be nip-and-tuck the entire way with the Blue Devils pulling away at the end with a big three and excellent free throw shooting. Even though it was a 2-3, Baylor’s zone will get Duke ready to face the Mountaineers’ 1-3-1. I don’t expect West Virginia to continue to shoot the three like they did against Kentucky — Duke is excellent at guarding the arc.

      Be sure to check back around tip-off — I’ll be tweeting during both games.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Breaking down one of Butler’s favorite plays

      April 2, 2010 /

      Yesterday, I described the play that the Cavs used to beat the Bucks on Wednesday, so in preparation for tomorrow’s Final Four games, I thought I’d dig into one of Butler’s favorite sets.

      They ran this play at least twice on Kansas State last weekend and scored both times. It’s especially effective against defenses that try to get out in the passing lanes.

      The play starts with the point guard (#1), usually Ronald Nored, at the top of the key, dribbling to his right. Matt Howard (#5) starts to move towards Gordon Hayward (#4) as if he’s going to set a screen for him. Shelvin Mack (#2) starts to creep up the lane towards Howard’s man.

      Here’s Howard’s read: If his man is over his left shoulder (as he’s facing Hayward), preparing to help on Hayward (#4) as he comes off the screen, then Howard (#5) knows he has a step on him. He doesn’t screen and immediately releases to the basket.

      If Howard’s man is hugging him, Mack (#2) can set a screen, but usually he just engages his own defender (by walking into him and effectively screening him off), so he can’t help on Howard as he cuts to the basket.

      If Howard is open, Nored (#1) delivers a pass that should hit the center right in front of the basket for a lay up.

      To defend this play, three things need to happen: 1) there needs to be ball pressure on Nored, 2) Howard’s defender needs to stay close to his man preferably on the basket side, and 3) Mack’s defender needs to curl around (get behind) Mack when he starts to head into the lane so that he’s in position to help on Howard when he cuts.

      This play uses Hayward as a decoy. Howard’s man is so worried about Hayward coming off the screen that he forgets about protecting the basket against a cut by Howard. Defenses will typically crowd Hayward and Mack since they are Butler’s most dangerous scorers. This leaves the basket open for Howard.

      Butler uses a lot of little misdirection plays that work well against aggressive man-to-man defense. Head coach Brad Stevens likes to run this play out of a timeout, so look for it on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how Tom Izzo chooses to defend it.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Don’t expect a high-scoring Final Four

      April 1, 2010 /

      With Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse out of the picture, some are grumbling about the lack of big-name teams at the Final Four. By the time the final buzzer sounds on Monday night, it’s entirely possible that those same detractors will call the games “boring” or “ugly.”

      Here’s why:

      1. Pace
      There are 347 teams in the D1 ranks and of the four teams set to play Saturday, Michigan State (#215) plays at the fastest pace. The other three teams — Duke (#232), Butler (#285) and West Virginia (#306) — are all in the bottom third in the number of possessions used per game. All four teams are in the top 50 in offensive efficiency (points per possession), so there should be some scoring, but don’t expect any high-octane, up-and-down affairs.

      2. Defense
      Duke (#3 in defensive efficiency), Butler (#6) and West Virginia (#10) are elite defensive teams, and Michigan State (#33) isn’t bad, either. All four teams hold their opponents to less than 41.5% from the field and 33.1% from long range. Duke and Butler play great positional defense and always seem to have a help defender in the right spot. Michigan State and West Virginia use superior athleticism to smother opponents. The Mountaineers will even utilize a tough-to-attack 1-3-1 zone.

      These teams are evenly matched and low-pace, low-scoring affairs lend themselves to close games. This should result in exciting basketball, but we’re not going to see anything like 2009, when all four teams were in the top 130 in overall pace.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Basketball

      Wednesday Final Four Commentary

      March 31, 2010 /

      Andy Glockner, SI.com: Tom Izzo is the best college basketball coach in America. Relax, North Carolina and Duke fans. No one’s slighting your leading men or their career accomplishments. We’re talking about right now, this very moment, two days after Izzo pulled off the near-impossible and made Michigan State’s three-year turn-of-last-decade run now look more like the rule rather than the exception. Think last season’s dramatic push to the national title game in Detroit with a youthful roster was stirring? This year’s Spartans have overcome a leadership void, player-coach discontent and a back-stiffening gym-floor sleepover in addition to the late rash of injuries. Their quartet of NCAA tournament wins are highlighted by a crucial lane violation, a buzzer-beating three and the country’s largest temporary (and most loquacious) point guard dropping a delicious dime that helped beat Tennessee. And let’s be honest: On the list of legendary college basketball settings, how long after Westwood, Lawrence, Chapel Hill and Durham would it take to finally get to East Lansing? Izzo doesn’t get enough credit for the level of talent he brings in, considering he’s selling kids on winters in central Michigan. Meanwhile, Roy Williams’ office phone has a golden arches insignia on it.

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      College Basketball, March Madness

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