Elijah Brown, a Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, Calif.) senior, signed a letter of intent last Wednesday to play men’s basketball at Butler.

Brown previously gave his verbal commitment to Butler in January.

The 6-foot-4-inch shooting guard averaged 17.3 points per game this season for Mater Dei while leading the team to its second consecutive California state championship.

“I’m really excited to officially welcome Elijah to the Butler basketball family,” coach Brad Stevens said in a statement released by the Butler athletics department. “Elijah is another great example of the type of student-athlete we like to attract to Butler.

He is a very versatile guard who can do a number of different things, including score the basketball in a variety of ways.”

Mater Dei went 34-2 in each of the past two seasons with Brown on the roster, with each season concluding with a state title.

“Anytime you recruit a young man who has two state championships and has played in those environments and under that kind of spotlight, that certainly adds to his ability to handle those types of experiences once he gets here,” Stevens said.

Brown is a highly-touted recruit who appeared on Rivals.com’s rankings of the top-150 recruits in the country. The Los Angeles Times also selected Brown to its 10-player All-Area Team.

The guard spent the first two seasons of his high school career with St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio.

“I’ve been dreaming of playing Division I basketball since I was a kid,” Brown said in a press release. “Ever since Butler started showing interest in me and coach Stevens started coming to my games, I knew I wanted to consider going to Butler very seriously.

“Now that my dream is a reality, it’s the best thing for me. I can’t wait to get started at Butler and win some games.”

Brown is the son of Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown.

It has been reported by various new outlets that Brown will coach the Cavaliers next season.

The offer of conference membership from Big East officials to Butler University was no surprise to Butler officials.

In his first interview with The Collegian since the conference switch, President Jim Danko said university officials assessed a second possible move when deciding to move to the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The move to the A-10 did complicate the decision to move again.

“There was discussion about the potential of a Big East invitation,” Danko said. “In this day and age of conference realignment, we knew that it was a possibility.”

The group assessed a 20-percent chance that the Big East would extend an invitation to Butler to join the conference.

Before coming to Butler, Danko served as the School of Business dean at Villanova—a Big East institution. He said the conference splintering was “a long time coming.”

“I was aware of frustrations at those schools even before I stepped onto Butler’s campus,” Danko said. “It wasn’t completely new to me, and I certainly think my background knowledge of the situation helped along the way.”

When the FOX Sports Network made its way into the talks, the chances that Butler would join the conference went from 20 percent to about a “70, 80 or 100 percent chance,” he said.

“The sports network would be very lucrative for the schools involved, or it would at least cover a lot of their expenses,” Danko said. “The problem with these sorts of things is that you never have enough to cover your expenses.

“But the television deal definitely made the conference move more viable.”

As the face value of a potential conference move continued to increase, the deal turned into a “no-brainer.”

“You think about the exposure, the media deal, the realignment with other schools,” Danko said, “it was obvious. The league was turning into a perfect fit.”

Realigning the university with schools to which Butler aspires was another force in the decision.

Costs of the switch are uncertain, Danko said. The A-10 has not finalized Butler’s early exit fee.

“We know what the higher limits are, but nothing has been set in stone,” Danko said.

There are also expenses that come with starting a new conference. Since the new Big East is starting from scratch, there are a lot more costs the university will have to split with the other institutions.

The Butler Board of Trustees, Danko said, was quick to “universally back” a move to the Big East.

Danko said 95 percent of the reactions from the university community have been positive.

“Those with negative responses seem to be operating on a fear of athletics,” Danko said. “And you consider those responses and reactions, and you move forward.”

Danko said the move will continue to make Butler more recognizable on the national stage.

Athletic Director Barry Collier, men’s basketball coach Brad Stevens and Danko all agreed in the discussion about whether to move, that it would only be wise if the basketball team would continue to do well.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t going to continue to perform among those other schools,” Danko said. “We were only going to do it if we were going win.”

Recruiting high school basketball players is the lifeblood of the Butler men’s basketball team. Coach Brad Stevens and his staff recruit players who can help extend the team’s success.

Next season’s recruiting class includes four players.

Shooting guard Rene Castro and power forwards Nolan Berry and Andrew Chrabascz have signed their letters of intent to attend Butler and play basketball for the 2013-14 academic year.

Shooting guard Elijah Brown has verbally committed to Butler but has not signed his letter of intent.

Stevens and his staff have certain criteria recruits need to meet.

“There is a minimal level of basketball talent ability that they obviously have to have to be considered,” Stevens said. “Those abilities and what you are looking for can sometimes vary by position.”

Stevens said it is not all about trying to recruit the highest-ranked talent.

“The best team I have ever coached maybe had one guy who was included in one top-100 list,” Stevens said. “I don’t think it means a lot what people say about you in high school. I think it is how you perform once you are out of high school.”

Assistant coach Michael Lewis said recruits also need to have certain characteristics that not only fit the team’s expectations on the court, but also in the classroom.

“We look at what kind of student they are,” Lewis said, “and really look at how they achieve. We like high achievers.”

Additionally Butler basketball is always looking for recruits who can fill in the team’s needs.

“As we finish the year, we are evaluating from a standpoint of who we know we have coming in and what we have currently on our roster,” Lewis said. “That’s how we move forward on our spring recruiting and into the summer.”

Compared to the recruiting classes of 2011 and 2012, all the players in this year’s class who have signed or verbally committed have attended high schools outside Indiana.

The players in the 2013 recruiting class come from a number of different U.S. regions.

Castro and Chrabascz come from the Northeast. Castro is from  Milton, Mass., and went to Worcester Academy. Chrabascz is from Portsmouth, R.I., and attended Cushing Academy.

Berry comes from the Midwest, born in St. Louis. He attended De Smet Jesuit High School.

Brown comes from the West Coast. Born in Sanata Ana, Calif., he attended Mater Dei High School.

“Obviously, this university and especially its basketball program have changed quite a bit in the last 10 years,” Lewis said. “With the success of the basketball program and the notoriety that is on a national and an even global level, our recruiting has expanded compared to what it was 10 years ago.”

Although the team may recruit in different regions, both Stevens and Lewis said it is important to recruit high school players from Indiana because there are some very skilled players in Butler’s backyard.

“The state of Indiana is a great state to recruit from,” Stevens said. “There are a lot of schools down here.”

To keep players in Indiana, Butler must find ways to entice Indiana high school players. Both Stevens and Lewis said Butler’s tradition is one way to do this.

The Hinkle Fieldhouse renovations could also be another way to attract  high school recruits.

“We are in the middle of a major renovation of an 85-year-old building,” Lewis said. “This is a great facility, but the university is making a commitment to improve the whole experience and doing a lot for the student-athlete.”

Stevens said Butler’s moves to new conferences can be a tool used to recruit players in different regions.

“Certainly with our move to the Atlantic 10 last year and the Big East this year, there are increased chances to be able to get in the doors,” Stevens said.

Even with the change in conferences, Butler basketball will try not to change the way it recruits.

“We don’t want to get away from the type of person we recruit here,” Lewis said. “Because those are the guys who have been successful.”

Sources have reported that former Butler associate head coach Matthew Graves will be adding two former Bulldogs to his staff at South Alabama.

The Indianapolis Star, WISH-TV and Fox 59 have reported that former Bulldogs guard Ronald Nored and coordinator of basketball operations Darnell Archey will be joining Graves at South Alabama.

Former Butler guard Brandon Miller will also reportedly be rejoining Stevens’ coaching staff.

Miller played for Butler from 2001 to 2003 after transferring from Southwest Missouri State in 1999 when he helped lead the Bears to the Sweet 16.

After sitting out the 1999-2000 season, Miller scored 1,121 points in his three seasons with the Bulldogs that culminated with a stellar senior season.

Archey and Miller were seniors on the 2003 Butler squad that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

Miller served as a special assistant to Illinois University coach John Groce this season after having previously worked under former Butler coach Thad Matta at Xavier and Ohio State.

Miller previously worked with Stevens as an assistant coach at Butler during the 2007-08 season.

Nored, a Homewood, Ala., native, served as Brownsburg High School’s boys basketball coach this season.

Meanwhile, Butler fans can breathe easy, as Stevens is not leaving Butler.

It had been rumored last week that UCLA had Stevens at the top of its list of coaches to replace the fired Ben Howland.

Howland was let go last Monday after a 10-season run with the Bruins that included three consecutive Final Four appearances from 2006 to 2008.

UCLA instead named University of New Mexico coach Steve Alford to the position Saturday.

After 17 years in the Butler men’s basketball program, Associate Head Coach Matthew Graves is leaving to become the head coach at University of South Alabama.

“At South Alabama, I think you are looking at a position that right now is one of the top jobs in the Sun Belt (Conference) with everything from resources to location to facilities,” Graves said in a press release.  “What I found throughout this process is that the people are tremendous, much like those I’ve worked with at Butler University.”

South Alabama’s Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann made the announcement Monday at a press conference.

“The pool of finalists was filled with top-notch basketball coaches and basketball minds,” Erdmann said in a press release. “As the process transpired, it became very clear that the right man for the job was Matthew Graves.”

Graves played for Butler from 1993 to 1998. He was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs during the 1996-97 season and helped take the team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 35 years.

After graduation, Graves started as an assistant coach at North Central and Ben Davis High Schools in Indianapolis before joining the Bulldog staff as coordinator of men’s basketball operations in 2001.

Graves became an assistant coach at Butler in 2003 under former coach Todd Lickliter and was later promoted to associate head coach in 2010.

“I could not be more thrilled for both Matthew and South Alabama,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said in a press release. “He is a terrific person and coach, who will undoubtedly bring great credit to the university.”

While on the Butler staff, Graves was listed No. 2 on CollegeInsider.com’s ranking of the top 25 mid-major assistants in 2009.

The previous South Alabama coach, Ronnie Arrow, retired in December as the winningest coach in the Sun Belt Conference. Associate head coach Jeff Price served as an interim coach the rest of the season, finishing 17-13.

Graves left for South Alabama after Butler’s loss to Marquette in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

“It was a tough decision, but at the end of the day the thing that made it an easier decision was the people involved,” Graves said in an interview with al.com. “There were tears saying goodbye to people. But at the same time, it’s a new chapter, and I’m excited to call South Alabama home now.”

No matter how well a college men’s basketball team may play during its regular season, should it make the NCAA Division I Tournament, it will ultimately fall into one of two categories.

The ‘teams that showed up’ category, or the ‘teams that folded like a card table’ category.

In its last few tournament appearances, Butler has often placed itself in the former group. Whether it is by statistical dominance, sheer luck or a mix of both, Butler coach Brad Stevens knows how to field a tough team to oust from the tournament.

And Stevens’ players know how to show up during the Big Dance.

Of course, there’s always some luck involved when any team experiences a deep tournament run.

But in Butler’s case, the statistics offer an intriguing look into why Butler’s recent teams have seen NCAA tournament success.

Let’s take a look back to the 2009-10 season, during which Butler put itself on the map with a run to the National Championship Game.

The Bulldogs averaged a little more than 70 points per game on nearly 46 percent shooting during the regular season. They turned the ball over less than and outrebounded their opponents through the campaign.

When that team got to the tournament—as some pundits may have predicted—it just wasn’t as statistically strong.

Butler was playing against consistently tougher competition than it saw in the Horizon League. The Bulldogs’ tournament competitors shot better against Butler than Butler’s regular-season opponents did.

On the other side of the ball, Butler scored nearly 10 points less per game during the tournament than they did in the regular season. Every key offensive statistic went the wrong way, numerically, for Butler during the tournament.

And yet, the Bulldogs won five tournament games and lost their sixth, the National Championship contest against Duke, by two points.

Flash forward to the 2010-11 season. The team wasn’t exactly the same, but the script was, statistically.

Butler’s shooting from the field dropped from 44.6 percent shots made in the regular season to 37.3 percent made in the tournament. Points per game fell by nearly nine.

The Bulldogs’ opponents rebounded better in the tournament than Butler’s regular-season foes. If you take out the offensively putrid National Championship game against Connecticut, the same could have been said for shots made against Butler.

But, again, Butler racked up five tournament victories before falling shy of a sixth.

This doesn’t make any sense, especially if you’re a statistical guru. Granted, Stevens is one himself and he isn’t complaining.

But through a single game in this season’s tournament, the script of Butler being statistically worse in the tournament versus the regular season is playing out once again.

And Butler is 1-0, preparing for a game against Marquette tonight.

There are a few reasons for Butler’s success in spite of everything the stats suggest.

The first actually lies in the statistics and is the only one I haven’t mentioned yet: opponents’ points per game.

While Butler’s tournament opponents seem to have little trouble shooting better than Butler’s regular season opponents, it has not translated to more points.

The 2009-10 season saw Butler allow 59.9 points per game during the regular season. The Bulldogs’ tourney opponents could barely muster 56, on average.

During the next campaign, Butler allowed 71.8 points per game in the regular season. That figure dropped to 61.3 during the tournament.

During the 2012-13 regular season, Butler allowed 63.8 points per contest. Bucknell managed just 56.

Despite allowing opponents to sink a higher percentage of shots during the tournament than they do in the regular season, the Bulldogs prohibit their tournament foes from scoring more total points.

Much of this likely has to do with Butler’s game tempo, which is typically relaxed and slow. It is harder for opponents to get off more shots when they just don’t have the ball very much.

Butler’s defense also forces opponents to make many passes and wind the shot clock down below 10 seconds as often as possible.

The cast has certainly changed for Butler since the 2009-10 season, but the system has not.

“We’re similar (to past Butler teams) in we focus on the defensive end,” senior center Andrew Smith said during the Bucknell postgame press conference. “We feel like, even if you’re having a bad night, you’re going to be able to play the game if you focus on defense. That’s the main similarity.”

While strong defense is clearly a reason why Butler can limit its tournament opponents’ point production, it is not as straightforward as that.

There are many college teams that play ‘strong defense’. But they don’t all play the same style of defense.

Stevens is known for switching up defensive views throughout contests so opponents are unable to focus on and try to overcome a single defensive outlook.

After the Bucknell victory, he talked about why he made the decision to put junior forward Khyle Marshall on Bucknell senior center Mike Muscala.

“They run a lot of action where we’re going to hedge a ball screen and Andrew is going to return to Khyle’s guy, and Khyle is going to return to Andrew’s guy,” Stevens said. “So it was almost like we pre-switched to guard the switch later on.”

Pre-switched to guard the switch? Not a phrase you hear very often in college basketball press conferences.

And that leads us to the final reason why Butler is continually able to defy the odds: Stevens as Butler’s coach.

Like I said above, the cast has certainly changed. It has to—players graduate, move on the NBA or other careers.

Stevens has resisted any possible temptations associated with jumping to a big conference school to build a system that senior guard Rotnei Clarke described as “tough.”

“I can’t explain it,” Clarke said. “It’s pretty complex. It’s something I’ve never seen before, the things that we do defensively, and it takes a little bit to understand.”

Stevens has installed a defensive system that works at the tournament level. And the most important part: he gets his players to invest in it wholeheartedly.

“Once (people) see us in person or on TV, they see how physical we are on defense,” sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones said. “Coach Stevens wants us to focus on defense, and so that’s what we do.”

Jones said he and his teammates knew they could come back when Bucknell jumped out to a 37-31 lead early in the second half.

“Coach Stevens said when we got back in the huddle that they were going to make a run, and we had to make our own run,” Jones said. “We knew we could come back if we stayed the course and played defense.”

Staying the course seems to be the true theme here. Statistics would not suggest that ‘the course’ leads to Butler victories in the tournament.

Luckily for the Butler community, Stevens and his players follow their own course.

Lexington—Butler coach Brad Stevens is the worst kept secret in college basketball.

Everyone has known that Stevens is a good coach. But this year, people are getting a chance to understand and break down just how good he is.

After all, you don’t boast a 12-4 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament record and have the most victories in Division I men’s basketball in your first six years as coach of a single team, if you are an average coach.

But it’s not just the record that is impressive about Stevens. It’s his demeanor, his commitment to Butler and his knowledge of statistics and of the game.

Now, I’m not saying that Butler takes it all for granted. School officials proved that when they extended his contract through 2021-2022 and, in all honesty, when they made the decision to join the Big East.

And I’m not saying that local media—myself included—take him for granted. We all know how good he is.

What I am saying is that I have been amazed at the celebrity status he has achieved in Lexington this week, not only among media members, but among other coaches and teams as well.

Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said watching tapes on Butler was like watching a coaching clinic. And Marquette coach Buzz Williams said he holds Stevens in the highest regard.

“Coach Stevens is a Hall of Fame coach,” Williams said. “He’s just not old enough for you to call him that yet.”

Even former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy got in on the Stevens love.

Dungy said in a tweet: “Brad Stevens is a great coach and a great person. I would love to have my son play for him.”

So everyone is in agreement that Stevens is better than good, right?

During a press conference, Stevens said Dungy was someone he would like to think he modeled his coaching style on, but he really couldn’t say that.

“I’ve always admired and thought that the ultimate coach was Tony Dungy,” Stevens said. “But he’s way better than I am and way more calm and poised than I am.”

This coming from the guy who crossed his arms and barely looked up at the scoreboard as sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones made a last-second, game-winning basket to beat then-No. 8 Gonzaga on ESPN College GameDay in January.

“I’m not near the coach that Coach Stevens is,” Williams said. “Our kids are not going to make a shot and my reaction is going to be the same way his.

“But I have great respect and admiration that he can operate like that.”

Despite the high regard from his peers, Stevens sees it differently.

“I think that that’s been sensationalized a bit,” Stevens said. “I don’t think I’m as cool and collected as everyone likes to talk about.

“Sometimes my competitive side spirit gets the best of me.”

Seniors Andrew Smith and Rotnei Clarke have seen that side of him, which not many others have.

“He’s usually calm and he really holds his composure well,” Clarke said. “When he’s upset, you’ll know. And we’ve known”

In spite of all of this, the biggest surprise the media has had this week was being introduced to Stevens’ knowledge of the game.

It truly started after the win against Bucknell, when he was discussing the triangle-and-two defense the Bison employed. He talked about how little the Bison had played in that formation, even breaking it down on a game-by-game basis.

“They played it for six possessions against LaSalle in December,” Stevens said. “And they played it one other time in one other game that I can remember.”

People at the press conference laughed, but I think they were really in shock. There was one that was ready to test his knowledge of Marquette and Davidson.

Of course Stevens, being who he is, credited his staff, including the overnight stat-phenomenon Drew Canon.

But don’t let the humbleness fool you. Stevens is a stat guy. Andrew Smith gave an example of his preparation for games on Selection Sunday.  He said the Bulldogs learned they were paired with Bucknell and did about 15 minutes of media before going to the locker room to meet with Stevens.

“Coach came out and said, well, I’ve already watched 20 clips of Bucknell’s defense,” Smtih said. “We all just started laughing. I don’t even know where he gets that information so quickly.”

The fact remains that he does.

“He’s a pretty special coach,” Smith said, “and in my opinion the best coach in America. And I think he has proved it year in an year out.”

He manages to take less-than-top-rated players, put them together and create a national championship game caliber team. He manages to get the best from his players and gets them to buy into his program. He manages to at least fool all of us into thinking he does it all as the calmest coach in college basketball.

“I think the best piece of advice I got was right when I got the head coaching job at Butler,” Stevens said.  “(One of my friends) said, ‘you know what? What I learned was you have to be yourself.’

“So I can tell you just be yourself and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. At least that way you have no regrets with it.”

Butler is looking to win. Marquette is looking for revenge.

Tomorrow’s third round match-up boasts a rematch of the two from the Maui Invitational back in November of this season.

Butler beat Marquette on a buzzer-beating, desperation heave from senior guard Rotnei Clarke.  And Marquette hasn’t forgot about it.

Marquette guard Vander Blue said that is the lasting memory of the Maui invitational for him and most of the team.

“That shot was amazing,” Marquette guard Junior Cadougan said. “It’s motivation, period.”

It hasn’t helped that ESPN created a commercial using the shot.

“I would say it’s fresh in their minds,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “They’ve seen the commercial countless times on ESPN.”

But Butler has moved on.

“You know, there’s a lot of attention put on it during the tournament,” senior guard Rotnei Clarke said. “But since then, we’ve moved past it.

“It’s definitely not going to have any impact on the game tomorrow.”

The one thing the two teams can agree on is both teams have improved since November.

“They’ve obviously really improved in a lot of areas.” Clarke said. “They’ve had some guys like Wilson who has really stepped up their game since Maui and they’re really clicking on all cylinders right now.”

Marquette finished its season with a 23-8 record and its first-ever Big East Conference regular season championship.

Nearly half of the Golden Eagles’ games came against teams that were selected for the NCAA Tournament or NIT.  They were 6-7 against NCAA Tournament teams.

Marquette defeated Davidson 59-58 last night on a last-second shot in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Golden Eagles had three players in double-figures, led by the last shot hero, Vander Blue with 16 points.

It was the same play, by the same guy that led Marquette to a last-second victory over St. John’s in its regular season finale.

Clarke described Marquette as “big, physical, fast and athletic.”

“They do a great job rebounding and get of lot of points in the paint too,” Clarke said.

Some of those words Marquette players would use to describe Butler as well.

Both teams hold a positive rebounding margin, with Butler on average out-rebounding opponents by 7.6 per game and Marquette 4.3.

And physicality has become a synonym for senior center Andrew Smith and his entourage down low.

“I remember that Smith was a real physical player,” center Chris Otule said. “All their bigs are really physical and we have to focus on trying to defend without fouling.”

Smith has played against some of the best centers in the country this season including Indiana’s Cody Zeller, Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk and Bucknell’s Mike Muscala.

Last night he, along with the other Butler big men held Muscala, who averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds this season, to only nine points, a career-tying low and 10 rebounds.

Not only has Marquette improved, but so have the Bulldogs as they traditionally have during the post season.

“Brad Stevens is not 12-4 in the NCAA Tournament because he coaches the same team in March that he coaches in November,” Williams said.

The game could be the start of a long, or short with as many conference changes happening, rivalry for these two teams. Both will be in the Big East next season.

But as always, Butler coach Brad Stevens is focused not on next year and not on “a shot that should have never gone in,” but on what he can control; the next play, the next game.

“There is a lot that goes into being able to move on to the next play,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “(We) manage the good, manage the bad and understand that as long as you have season left, you can always take advantage of what’s next.”

Game time is set for 7:45 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. It will be shown on CBS and can also be watched online on March Madness live.

Butler used its traditional opponent-stifling defense to propel itself to the next round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament with a 68-56 win over Bucknell.

It was the defensive-minded Butler basketball that the nation was introduced to during the Final Four run in 2010.  It was the kind of basketball where you can only score 21 points in the first half and still win.

It was the kind of Butler basketball where you can go from having a double-digit lead to being down by six and still win.

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“They have some mettle, they have some intestinal fortitude that is built up over time, but also a core part of our program,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “But it is truly a Butler team, which I feel really good about.”

The Bulldogs took a 21-14 lead into the locker room at half-time.

They were only shooting 32 percent and had yet to make a 3-point field goal.  But, they had held Bucknell to a mere 25.9 percent shooting from the field and Naismith Player of the Year finalist, senior center Mike Muscala to only two points.

“It may not have been esthetic the entire game, you know missing our first 13 3’s,” Stevens said. “But our defense was really good in the first half. “

The team’s defense let up for about ten minutes at the beginning of the second half, when Bucknell went on a 19-2 run led by senior Joe Willman and Muscala.

Butler went over three minutes without scoring a basket and the Bison extended its lead.

“We knew they were going to make a run,” senior center Andrew Smith said. “We were prepared for something like that and fortunately were able to fight back.”

Stevens called a timeout after Willman scored a jumper to give Bucknell it s largest lead at six points.

Coming out of the timeout freshman guard Kellen Dunham sunk two free-throws to break the dry spell, but it was the seniors who really got Butler going.

Smith hit the first Butler 3-pointer of the game two possessions later, followed by a steal by Marshall to Clark for his first three of the game.

It was the start of a Butler 22-5 run.

“I told them in the locker room there’s a lot of teams in this tournament that wouldn’t be able to withstand a 16-point swing,” Stevens said. “And then have a 16-point swing of their own.”

Butler built its lead to 12, the largest of the game for either team and cruised to the win with 12 made free throws at the end.

Clarke led Butler with 17 points, followed by sophomore Roosevelt Jones and Smith both with 14. Smith finished the game with a double-double by adding a career-high 16 rebounds.

He also set a Butler record for rebounds in a NCAA Tournament game.

Sophomore Alex Barlow set a career-high with 10 points and added five rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot.

“Barlow was dialed into a different level than pretty much any other guy we had on our team the last couple of days,” Steven said. “With his study, getting into the film room, with his ability to read actions.

Bucknell’s Willman finished the day with a career-high 20 points and six rebounds in his last collegiate game.

Butler held Muscala to nine points, tying a career-low.

Butler will play Marquette on Saturday. Butler beat the Golden Eagles back in Novemeber during the Maui Invitational on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Clarke.

The time has not yet been announced.

See photos from the game here.

Today was Butler’s final day of preparation before taking on the Bucknell Bison in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Tomorrow’s game will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

Despite Butler being the higher seed at No. 6, many analysts and fans alike are calling for an upset by Bucknell in Butler-fashion.

But Butler is not looking at themselves as favorites.​

“The way we’re looking at it, there’s no favorites going into this tournament,” senior guard Rotnei Clarke said. “Anyone who is in this tournament is deserving and Bucknell has got a lot of history themselves.”

Nor does head coach Brad Stevens consider the higher No. 6 seed an advantage.

“It becomes harder to win if you’re the top seeded teams because of all the talk,” Stevens said. “And I think that’s been the case with our two Final Four runs, we played with no pressure.”

Stevens doesn’t deny the threats of the Bison.

“Bucknell has all of the pieces and all of the experiences and all of the accomplishments that go along with the teams that go deep into the NCAA Tournament out of a non-BCS league,” Stevens said. “A lot like the Butler teams of the past.”

Bucknell has the Patriot League Player of the Year, defensive player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year in center Mike Muscala.

Muscala averages 19 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. The job to guard the monster center will be placed heavily on Butler senior center Andrew Smith.

“I can guarantee you it won’t be easy,” Smith said. “He’s a great player, but it’s going to be more than just me. It’s going to be a team effort.”

The Bison set a Patriot League and school record with 28 wins and were the Patriot League Champions behind seven straight victories to end the season.

“It’s going to come down to the little things, I think,” Clarke said. “Just executing well and rebounding, offensive rebounding, just hustle plays, things that determine the end of a game.”

Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said these are things that Butler do well and what he has modeled his program after.

“Butler has set the gold standard in my mind for preparation and attention to detail and being the team that doesn’t beat itself,” Paulsen said.  “I hold Brad Stevens and the Butler program in the highest regard you could hold a coach and a program.”

Stevens echoed the sentiments and said that he, nor the people in the basketball circles across the country, have ignored the accomplishments of the Bison.

“There’s a reason (teams) don’t schedule them in the preseason,” Stevens said. “I don’t like preparing for them, but I’ve appreciated watching them.”

In the end Stevens said it will come down to his team and how they can perform against a good team.

“We’re just trying to win so our last locker room meeting doesn’t happen today,” Stevens said. “You know, one more day together.”

Odds and Ends

In typical Butler fashion the team watched film and had a practice at Transylvania University, before coming to Rupp Arena for press conferences and an open practice on the main court.

Rotnei Clarke went with his mom and dad to a gym last night to shoot his nightly routine. He said he shot for 30-45 minutes. Andrew Smith is the one who let it slip and apologized to Clarke if he embarrassed him, but said he “had to.”

It is Clarke’s first NCAA Tournament appearance and is appearing to be soaking it all in. After the press conference he tried to take his nameplate as a souvenir. Tournament officials kept it for later use though.

Brad Steven’s son, Brady, was on the court during the team’s open practice rebounding for the team. As the clock ran down, the team went to the corner to sign autographs for Butler fans in attendance. Brady got some coaching tips from his dad and sunk two shots to end the practice.