chc3Bulldog

Good catch... I was still in the euphoria of Butler beating NC. Forgive the faux pas Kansas not K ST.

chc3Bulldog

Good catch... I was still in the euphoria of Butler beating NC. Forgive the faux pas Kansas not K ST.

WH

That North Carolina team is not the 9th best in the country. Not even close. Bunch of young, thin guys. Got talent, all right, but they got pushed around by older players and didn't play hard until very late. Typical immaturity of underclassmen who haven't been through many struggles.

Still, it's North Carolina! Great win for Butler. They played extremely hard. Extremely.

What it means for the season? We'll know in about four months.

GoMuskies

Those two white guards sure can play, eh WH?

chc3Bulldog

Conditioning looked to be a factor for NC. They were bending over gasping for air even in the first half. BU does a good job with conditioning. Freshman Dunham came in the best shape of all players. This win helps BU's confidence, but it's over now and next game up. NC could use this like BU used their humble loss to Xavier.

WH

Strawman. No one ever said they couldn't play. They can shoot and pass, all right. But against Xavier they could not defend.

That's why Stigall is getting more minutes. Stevens is careful now, after the X loss exposed the Butler backcourt defense, about when he puts Clarke and Dunham on the court at the same time. Dunham is being used more selectively.

Stigall is a white guy, too, but he's older, knows the system, knows his role and plays better defense. Dunham also seems to be playing a few more minutes at small forward where he is not as exposed defensively.

Clarke and Dunham aren't going to win any games with their defense. But if their offense is always as good as it was vs. UNC, that won't be a huge problem. We'll see.

chc3Bulldog

Butler's loss to Xavier was definitely bad offense and defense on Butler's part; but it is not indicative of what they will do the rest of the year. Instead it is likely to be the opposite. Butler has a history of learning from their mistakes...

GoMuskies

Gosh, if they only had some black guards!

WH

Like Nored and Mack? Why, guys like that might get you to a Final 4.

GoMuskies

Yeah, they're totally limited by those silly honkeys.

jpschmack

A-10 represent!

Kevin Waymire

WH, UNC may not be the 9th best, but they are top 25 for sure. And Butler crushed them, with no issues, minus a little scare at the end of the game. They basically gave a big "**** YOU" to yours and a AdamtheFlyer's BS analysis after one loss.

__________________
"Miller didn't do anything last year to improve on or surpass Gregory's performance..... In fact it looked just like a Gregory team. Nice start, crappy middle (with every excuse in the book), a decent win or two near the end to get everyone's hopes up, then a dissapointing finish - that is Dayton basketball 2002 - 2012."

-KNOBBY

WH

Any win over UNC is a great win. Great for Butler and great for the league. I don't know if UNC is top 25 caliber right now, but with all the young talent, the Tarheels probably will be soon enough.

As for my analysis after the Xavier game, I wrote: "Personally, I partly discount the Butler loss. The Bulldogs looked very much like a work in progress and a team searching for its identity."

I stand by those remarks. Stevens is figuring out how to use Clarke and Dunham, build an offense around them and get the other guys to step into new roles. Being a great coach, Stevens is getting this to happen rather quickly. The Butler team that beat UNC played and looked a lot different than the team that lost at Xavier.

What this means for the rest of the season? We'll find out. Butler is not as bad as it seemed in the X loss and probably not as good as it seemed in the UNC win.

vcurams05

Great win for Butler. I'm not sure UNC deserves the 9th ranking but great win nonetheless. It's pretty obvious if you let Dunham and Clarke rain deep threes you're gonna lose. When UNC's athletes starting asserting themselves the game changed drastically. That is UNC's problem not Butlers. Great job and congrats to the Bulldogs.

MudFlap

Good one. Cleaning up coffee.