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Butler battles UConn for national title

VIDEO: Butler looks ahead to title game

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Blue II pampered in Houston

VIDEO | After Final Four win, Butler looks ahead to title game

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Blue II pampered in Houston

VIDEO | After Final Four win, Butler looks ahead to title game

Since Butler eliminated Virginia Commonwealth in last night’s national semifinal game, things are back to normal, or as normal as they can get on the eve of a national championship.

The No. 8 seed Bulldogs are about to appear in their second consecutive national title game, and many outside the “Butler Bubble” continue to be in awe of a Hayward-less team repeating a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Butler (28-9) is back to being the underdog and will face No. 3 seed Connecticut (31-9), led by head coach Jim Calhoun and junior point guard Kemba Walker.

Butler has kept a business-as-usual approach throughout the tournament and even in the intense heat of the national spotlight. Players continue to have what head coach Brad Stevens called a “normal road trip”—attending study tables while on the road and Skype-ing into classes should they be asked to.

But even as Butler continues to preach they’re handling things with their ho-hum approach, it’s undeniable that they’ve changed the landscape of college basketball forever.

Final Four runs by other mid-majors, such as George Mason in 2006, can be written off by college basketball bluebloods as “flukes” or “anomalies.”

But Butler’s back-to-back appearances in the championship game are neither of those. The two-year journey is a result of a young head coach running what he calls “a values-based program with a mission and a vision” and finding ways to win on the court with a mix of young and old talent.

Butler has even managed to change the way some refer to mid-majors, as there’s a newfound sense of higher respect for schools from non-BCS conferences.

Ironically enough, Butler will have to defeat a school from the nation’s largest conference in order to be the 2011 National Champions.

Connecticut, which won the Big East conference tournament as the No. 9 seed, will be led by the NBA-level talent of Walker. In the month of March, Walker averaged 26.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in March and had 18 points with seven assists last night against No. 4 seed Kentucky.

Walker will be supported by the team’s second-leading scorer, starting freshman guard Jeremy Lamb, who had 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists against the Wildcats.

A lesser-known key to the Huskies’ game is freshman guard Shabazz Napier. A player who offers options off the bench, Napier is intended to open the court and give options to Walker rather than dial up numbers on the stat sheet.

Essentially, Napier is the anti-Ronald Nored—intended to facilitate scoring rather than shut down opponents defensively.

“I think Lamb, Napier and their other guards really put people in a tough position,” Stevens said. “[Those two and Walker] along with the activity of their bigs are why they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. Those guards break you down, get inside, cause you to rotate, and then you’re in bad rebounding position.”

And rebounding, a skill both teams have used to reach the title bout, will be important during the national final matchup.

Both have used a combination of length and positioning to out-rebound opponents throughout “March Madness”—guys like senior forward Matt Howard, sophomore center Andrew Smith and freshman forward Khyle Marshall crashing the boards for Butler and sophomore center Alex Oriakhi and freshman forward Tyler Olander doing the same for Connecticut.

The Bulldog-Husky matchup will be a reunion for two summer teammates—Butler junior guard Shelvin Mack and Walker, who played together on the USA U-20 gold medal-winning team and have kept in contact during the season via text messaging.

“We had a lot of fun together on and off the court,” Mack said. “I like to see the success he’s having, and I know he’s been working hard. He’s just continuing to get better these days.”

Mack will certainly be looked to as Butler’s response to anything Walker does. Both junior guards have been the offensive leaders of their teams this season, and whichever one has the better game tomorrow night may very well be responsible for taking a championship trophy back to campus.

Following the trend of simplifying the magnificent, Butler is 40 minutes of game play away from potentially winning a national championship.

“I don’t know if it’s selfish or not, but we want to do it for ourselves,” Stevens said. “We don’t need to disable some theory. It’s about this team and believing that we can accomplish the next task at hand.”

The game tips off tomorrow at 9:23 p.m.

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Butler outplays VCU 70-62 in Final Four game, faces UConn Monday

PHOTO GALLERY | Moment by moment of Butler vs. VCU

Photos by Maria Porter
Video by Elyssa Garfinkle

For the second consecutive year, the Butler men’s basketball team will compete in the final game of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

A display of resilient, focused play earned them a 70-62 victory over No. 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth (28-12). The win was a perfect representation of the program’s motto—“The game honors toughness.”

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“The way we look at it is this—we want to win,” senior forward Matt Howard said. “We don’t look at it as it’s a mid-major that wants to win. We don’t look at conferences. It’s about players, their system.”

Butler handled VCU’s full-court pressure and early scoring runs with poise, conferences aside.

“We said coming into the game it was going to be a possession game, and it was going to be something where we had to be great with the ball,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought we attacked the [full-court] pressure well.”

No. 8 seed Butler (28-9) had to overcome an early six-point deficit and sharp-shooting from the Rams, who scored 12 of their first 15 points on 3-pointers.

“I was nervous as heck when they started making all those threes early,” Butler head coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought our rotations were OK but not probably good enough, but then our guys adjusted pretty well.

“I thought we defended the way we wanted to.”

The Bulldogs also had to overcome 27 points from the Rams’ senior forward and leading scorer Jamie Skeen. Skeen was 10-for-17 in the game and also grabbed six rebounds.

VCU senior guard Joey Rodriguez was not as proficient from the field, shooting 1-of-8 for three total points.

But Rodriguez still managed to give Butler some problems, customarily dribbling into the lane and dishing out to Skeen or junior forward Bradford Burgess. Rodriguez finished with eight assists and two steals.

The VCU trio was not enough to combat Butler’s top three contributors, though.

Junior guard Shelvin Mack was nearly unstoppable on the hardwood, shooting 8-for-11 to total 24 points.

“Shelvin has a will and determination that’s unlike some other guys,” senior forward Matt Howard said. “Many times, he has carried this basketball team, and that’s still while playing within our offense. That’s what Shelvin is—a great basketball player.”

Howard spent a good portion of the night on the hardwood thanks to diving for loose balls and VCU fouls. When he was on his feet, Howard scored 17 and grabbed eight rebounds.

A key rebound and pair of points came with one minute remaining in the game after senior guard Shawn Vanzant missed a fade-away jumper. Howard freed himself from a defender, snatched the ball and laid it in with his left hand.

The well-timed play kept the Rams at bay by giving the Bulldogs a 63-57 lead and the cushion necessary to win the game.

“There’s a reason why [Howard is still] standing in all these tournaments, the reason why he’s playing and continues to play and play,” Stevens said. “He wins everything in practice, everything all the way throughout the year.  It’s because of his motor and his non-stop will to succeed for his team.”

Vanzant was Butler’s third-leading scorer in the game with 11, nine of which came in the second half.

VCU was unable to regain a lead late in the second half for two reasons—they could not out-muscle the Bulldogs on the glass, and they struggled from the free throw line.

Butler out-rebounded VCU 26-16 in the second half and 48-32 overall.

Freshman forward Khyle Marshall was a large part of the Bulldogs’ efforts down low, grabbing nine overall with many coming on the offensive end to extend possessions.

VCU’s accuracy from the “charity stripe” was poor. The Rams were 8-of-13 at the line, and missed many opportunities to build a large lead early or climb back into the mix near the end.

The timing of the misses was more important than the misses themselves.

Senior guard Zach Hahn had incredible timing tonight, scoring eight points and dishing an assist to Howard in less than four minutes of play.

Mack said although he and Hahn haven’t always been able to knock down shots, staying positive was the key.

[We] are doing a great job of giving [Hahn] the ball where he can have success,” Mack added.

Butler will look to continue its teamwork against No. 3 seed Connecticut in Monday night’s national championship. Until then, Mack said Butler will rest and prepare for their opponent.

“We realize there’s still a game to be played, hopefully another game to be won,” Howard said. “That’s what we want to do, and we’re going to prepare to do that.”

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Blue II pampered in Houston

VIDEO | Smith is in it to win it, Bulldogs prep for Final Four game

What do you think about the Bulldogs’ match up against VCU? We’ve done our homework and gathered the dish on our Ram opponents. Here’s what we’re up against:

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Blue II pampered in Houston

VIDEO | Smith is in it to win it, Bulldogs prep for Final Four game

Photos by Maria Porter
Video by Elyssa Garfinkle

The Butler men’s basketball team is not the most sought after for photo opportunities here in Houston.

Butler’s live mascot, Butler Blue II, is hands down the most popular person, or rather, mammal in the “Space City.”

But you’d think he was a person if you were in his presence. The way he is spoken to and the way he is treated to some of the finer things in life makes the personification all that much more believable.

FoxSports.com reinforced that perception earlier today when their “College Experiment” show filmed a segment with Blue and a female getting massages and sharing a martini together.

The martini, sipped at the Intercontinental Hotel, was named in the bulldog’s honor, and naturally contained blueberries.

During the shoot, Blue regularly stood up to try to eat from his food bowl, or got tired and put his head down to nap.

Michael Kaltenmark, Blue’s handler and “father,” spoke to him much like a parent would.

“Blue, stay. You know better,” Kaltenmark said a few times. An occasional “C’mon, Blue,” slipped out as well.

Just call it tough love from a loving father.

“I love this job,” Kaltenmark said behind the scenes of the shoot. “I’d like to keep as long as they’ll let me.”

Blue is in Houston for his second consecutive Final Four, which has brought about a higher degree of normalcy for players, students and fans accustomed to having Blue present at games in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

After two weekends of NCAA tournament play without Blue alongside the Butler team, all is right with the world, or at least Houston.

The Bulldogs and Rams both may have young and powerful head basketball coaches, but the schools couldn’t be more different. And, sure, while we might have one national championship appearance on them, VCU’s drive and skills on the court make them a key opponent that’s still up for the big win. Click and drag the chart to see how else we compare:

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