MudFlap

...or it could have been good offense and defense on Xavier's part. Rotnei was wearing Dee Davis in the game I saw.

xu95

Butler is a strong 8th in the RPI. At this point they are a lock for the tournament.


(Before there are 752 responses to this, I clearly had my sarcasm font on above)

CarlosTheJackal

Er, pretty nice back to back wins over Marquette and UNC the past two days. Certainly not the team we saw at Cintas. All RPI boats rise with wins like this.

Go Bulldogs!

Title_BU

8TH was for games prior to UNC. I can't imagine they aren't 1 this evening.

REF

Hey Butler fans - the best thing that can happen for your team around here is for the UD crew to pile on as they so often do. They've been predicting Xavier's demise since we moved to the A10. Like a charm, UD fans predict doom and gloom for X in every successful year (okay - that's been nearly every year for a while now).

Really, it will become music to your ears. An unexpected loss -- 512 posts about how your team sucks, your coach isn't good enough for 3rd grade CYO, "facts" and CHARTS demonstrating the impending implosion of your program -- and finally, success, sweet 16's and more. Get used to it – it really does develop a nice, enjoyable rhythm. Oh yeah, nevermind their predictions for the Flyers – they’ve been on the verge of “repeating as national champs” for 44 years now.

CvilleMuskie

WH, you mentioned on Xavier - Butler Game thread about not taking November games too seriously in terms of jumping to conclusions one way or another. The year that hit me also involved the Maui tournament. Can't remember the year? Maybe the board can fill in the details. I believe it was a Ball State team that scored two huge upsets and then took a highly rated Duke team to the mat in the final game and lost a close one. I thought for all the world that Ball State was a shoo-in for the NCAA. They never made the field! Please correct me if I am wrong. I find myself having more and more senior moments!:-)

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Peace, Cville Muskie

codawg

Last night was a great win for Butler. Like it has been stated before, sometimes it takes an a**whipping to wake up. Xavier put it to Butler in all facets of the game. The biggest key to that game was the physicality Xavier showed and a flat Butler was never able to respond after the first punch. Since them, Brad and Co. seems to have ingrained the toughness aspect of the game into the kids heads. They out-physicalled a very physical Marquette team and pushed around a bigger, albeit very skinny UNC. If they are able to stay physical and crash the boards for 40 Minutes, they will be tough this year. The more active they are, the better shots their shooters will find! I think I say for all Butler fans, we are looking forward to the A10 grind and can't wait for a great season.

Kevin Waymire

Kellen Dunham is the truth! That kid can flat-out stroke it from deep. He's the kind of kid I wish Xavier had.

__________________
"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

uz2b-len

I'm really glad Butler is in the a10, giving me all the more reason to pay attention to them and root for them. Go Butler! (Except when playing UMass, of course.)

WH

I remember that Ball State team. I even saw one of the games they won. Ball State beat Kansas and UCLA back to back. Ball State had a forward named Smith who I thought would be an NBA player.

That was about 10 years ago! Ball State ended up in the NIT and that kid Smith had a cup of coffee in the NBA.

I try never to be too judgmental in November. Usually a team has shown itself by the end of the December, but if you recall, there was a certain Elite 8 team fielded by Xavier that didnt really get its act together until mid to late January.

You can see lots of teams trying to work out the kinks now. Butler, obviously. UMass and LaSalle have had issues. Bona is trying to figure out how to live life without Andrew.

Others have been more cohesive early on. Dayton, Xavier, Temple, St Joe's.

We all risk embarrassment by being too certain too early. The unpredictable nature of every season is what makes college basketball so enjoyable.

hawkhill

Umass averted an early season disaster with their buzzer beater:
http://www.umassathletics.com/sports.../111312hu.html

Harvard was awful last night. Being down 4 to them with a minute and change left is pretty bad.
VCU, Butler, St Louis, Lasalle have all had early season pigs. They will improve.
Last year, St Joe got out of the gate really well and then got inconsistant in the second half of the year. I would rather get the bad stuff out of the way early than fade in February!
Good luck to all a -10, especially Butler vs Illinois today(Has a-10 ever won Maui?) and VCU tomorrow vs Memphis!

REF

Does that include pre-season championship claims?

Happy Thanksgiving folks!

CvilleMuskie

Thanks for helping my memory, WH. And as I now remember it, Kansas, UCLA, and Duke were all highly ranked. And Ball State led Duke midway through the second half. If any team thought they were headed to the NCAA in November, that team had the right. But the season is never a sprint!

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Peace, Cville Muskie

urmite

You mean the A-10 isn't going 3-0 vs Kansas?

FormerlyDawgsStudent

The Maui games where Theron Smith led Ball State to big victories were also plagued with the games being stopped because players were cramping bad. I think the tourney had some humidity issues that year. Smith was a pretty good player (but injury prone). I saw Butler get the best of him that year at Ball State.