When Butler made the jump from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 conference it set itself up for a new schedule and new sights to see.

Experiencing new places is something the team looks forward to each road game, sophomore men’s basketball guard Alex Barlow said.

“All of the places we have been able to see are usually very historical and unique,” senior center Emerson Kampen said.

The team played Indiana University at Bankers Life Fieldhouse  on Dec. 15.

“Playing at Bankers Life was a pretty cool experience for me overall as a freshman in the Crossroads Classic,” freshman guard Kellen Dunham said. “Playing there reminded me of my Indiana All-Star days.”

The team enjoys the ability to see the history and cultures in cities of some of the other programs it plays.

“On some road trips we will see educational things, like when we stopped at Constitution Hall in Philly after playing St. Joe’s,” Barlow said.

During its trip to Philadelphia for its game against Saint Joseph’s, the team immersed itself in the city’s culture with Philly cheesesteaks and cannolis.

The night before every game, the team has a meal together out on the town.

Of all the places the team traveled to, Kampen said Maui was no doubt his favorite place to travel.

The team took part in the EA Sports video game tournament, went snorkeling and had a free day at the beach in Maui, Dunham said.

Although it may seem fun to take vacations from school, the players often miss class, and schoolwork can become hectic at times.

Kampen said it means, in addition to everything else, on the road, the men’s basketball players like to catch up on sleep or get caught up with their studies.

Attendance for Butler men’s basketball games this season is at in highest point in more than four decades.

Hinkle Fieldhouse has been sold out for games against Gonzaga and Temple.

“Especially ever since we beat Indiana, after that game we sold out the Gonzaga game within a few days,” Matt Harris, fan development manager, said.

The excitement created by the nationally-televised win over Gonzaga has seen fans gobbling up tickets for other Butler home games.

Tickets for this Saturday’s game against Rhode Island sold out last Thursday.

Only a few single tickets remained available for the game versus Saint Louis on Feb. 22 as of last Friday.

The senior night game against Xavier on March 9 sold out in early January.

Harris said with the other three home games falling on weekdays, it is unlikely they will sell out.

Season ticket sales also increased for the eighth straight year, Harris said.

Last season 115,231 fans attended Butler men’s basketball games at Hinkle Fieldhouse, an average of 7,202 per game.

The Bulldogs had not seen average attendance that high since they averaged more than 8,000 fans per game in 1964.

And attendance this year is expected to be even greater than last season’s totals.

Through 10 home games this season, 75,593 fan have attended the men’s games. That is an average of 7,559 per game. Last season through 10 home games the average attendance was 6,905 fans per game.

This season, the Gonzaga game saw the whole allotment of student seats filled, a rare occurrence even with the success of Butler in recent seasons.

“We have a set number of seats that we hold aside for students regardless of whether or not the rest of the tickets are sold out,” Lindsay Martin, sports marketing manager, said.

“Twice since I’ve been here have we ever reached that number in student attendance,” she said. “That was up to last weekend’s Gonzaga game and Ohio State in (2009).”

The number of student seats reserved for a game can vary from 1,200 to 1,500, depending on the demand.

The process for getting a seat for the Gonzaga game differed in that students were required to get a wristband in advance of the game if they wanted to be in attendance.

This was done because of the high demand for tickets for the sold-out game.

Martin said there is not much concern for possibly needing to turn students away at sold-out games if there are no student seats left.

“We’re not really concerned about that because we’ve only reached that magical student number twice in the last six years, and over those six years, we’ve been pretty good,” Martin said. “When you look at it, over a quarter of the student body would have to come to a game for us to be concerned about that.

“If that does become a concern, that’s a great problem to have.”

Student attendance going into the Gonzaga game was actually down slightly from last season, but much of that has to do with the number of home games that were played when students were on break, Martin said.

“We’re not concerned about student attendance,” Martin said. “Obviously as we continue playing and if we keep playing well, we expect that our numbers will outshine last year.”

The Butler men’s basketball team is back on the road at Atlantic 10 Conference foe Saint Louis.

The Billikens are 14-5 overall and have a 3-2 record in the A-10.

Saint Louis is tied with Massachusetts for third in the conference.

Senior forward Cody Ellis leads the Billikens in scoring with 11.2 points per game.

Saint Louis advanced to the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament.

Tip off is set for 9 p.m. tomorrow.

The game will air on CBS Sports Network.

The Bulldogs (17-3, 4-1) remain in the Top 10 in both major polls this week.

The Associated Press has Butler placed ninth in its Top 25 for the second straight week.

The USA Today Coaches Poll has the Bulldogs slotted at 10th in this week’s rankings.

Rotnei Clarke picked up right where he left off.

The senior guard led the Butler men’s basketball team with 24 points in its 83-71 win against Temple.

Clarke received a roaring welcome from the sellout crowd of 10,000 at Hinkle FIeldhouse during introductions of the starting lineups.

The Owls (13-6, 2-3) were led out of the gate by senior guard Khalif Wyatt who led the team with 22 points, 16 coming in the first half.

Temple held the led over the Bulldogs (17-3, 4-1) for much of the first half because of the Owls’ 63.6 percent three-point shooting.

The Temple lead was as high as seven when Butler freshman guard Kellen Dunham hit two successive three-pointers to cut the lead to 21-20.

Clarke hit a jumper on the next possession to put Butler in front for the first time with nine minutes remaining in the half.

The Bulldogs would lose the lead briefly but pushed the advantage to as much as eight points before the Owls pulled to within three points as the half ended.

After the break, Butler’s lead grew to 13 with more than 13 minutes remaining in the game.

However, Temple fought back with threes by senior guard Scootie Randall and senior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson made a free throw after being fouled on a successful layup to tie the game at 56 with 8:12 remaining.

A dunk from junior forward Khyle Marshall off a pass from Clarke brought the lead back to the Bulldogs.

Dunham followed with a couple of timely three-pointers that were able to help Butler pull away for good.

Clarke did not appear to be held back by any aftereffects of the sprained neck he suffered in the Jan. 12 game at Dayton. The senior missed three games because of the injury.

“It was great, just kind of heartwarming to have him back on the court knowing what he went through and knowing how scary it was,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said.

“Knowing something like that happens puts a lot of things in perspective,” Clarke said. “I just wanted to be able to get back out there with these guys and our coaches and coming away with a win was even better.”

Clarke was knocked to the floor several times over the course of Saturday’s game but he said he was not affected.

“Honestly going into the game, I wasn’t worried about it,” Clarke said. “I was just going to go out and play the same way I’ve always played. It was a crazy incident what happened, so I was just going into it with a peace of mind knowing I was going to play the same way.”

Butler’s offense operates better with Clarke on the court, Stevens said.

“We’re a better transition team, obviously with Rotnei in the game because of the way Rotnei passes the ball,” Stevens said. “But also, the threat of him shooting when crosses 27 feet or so.”

Teammates were on the receiving end of Clarke’s team-high nine assists, many of them dunks.

“It’s easy to get assists when you can throw it up there and guys just grab it and dunk it in like this guy (Marshall),” Clarke said.

Marshall scored 19 points, 14 of which were scored off of dunks.

Dunham was almost perfect from behind the arc, shooting five-of-six on three-pointers. Dunham finished the game with 17 points.

Stevens said Clarke’s absence was beneficial for the young shooter.

“I really believe that that’s probably the thing that you can say with certainty that he’s rising,” Stevens said. “He’s really playing with a great deal of confidence but he’s playing well on both ends of the floor.”

Clarke’s return was great news for the team but Stevens said he was pleased with the way the team played in his absence.

“Knock on wood we don’t have to go through that again with any of our players where they have to sit out, but if it does happen, we’ll just sub the next guy in and find a way,” Stevens said. “I was really proud of our guys. The way they played over those 150 minutes—that was big time the way they stepped up.”

Months of planning went into preparing for Saturday’s ESPN College GameDay broadcast at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

ESPN first alerted the university of its decision to have Butler host the first show of the season last August.

The athletics department had been working in coordination with ESPN since October to finalize the logistics of the broadcast.

“I’m going to say we’ve had three or four conference calls with ESPN,” said Mike Freeman, associate athletic director for external operations. “We’ve been in constant communication with them the last two months because this is the first one where they’re doing basketball this season.”

ESPN crews first arrived at Hinkle Fieldhouse Tuesday night and began work Wednesday.

The network sent a camera crew earlier this month to shoot footage and scout the venue ahead of the broadcast.

“When they came in to look at the building and get ready for it, they said it’s going to set up well for television,” Freeman said.

Construction of the set at center court began Friday night after the teams wrapped up their practices.

“There’s some different things that we’ve had to work through in terms of site, space allocation for ESPN over the last few days, setup times,” Freeman said. “We’ve had to work through adjusting practice times, but nothing major and in the end it’s all going to be worth it for the kind of event and exposure that Butler University will get from having ESPN College GameDay on our campus.”

Freeman said the national broadcast is unlike any event Hinkle has hosted in the time he has been at the university.

“We put on events on the court sometimes—tipoff dinners, luncheons. We even had the John Mellencamp concert a couple years ago,” Freeman said. “They brought in 45 staff members to run College GameDay, so the workload on us hasn’t been as much as when we run an event.”

The months of preparation for the broadcast and the active involvement of ESPN in the organizing process is also atypical of most Hinkle events.

“Most events like that around here don’t work like that,” Lindsay Martin, athletics marketing manager, said. “They’ve got their own staff that’s solely dedicated to College GameDay and making sure every aspect, from things that happen during the show, to where their production staff needs to set up, to helping us get a commemorative T-shirt in the bookstore and stuff like that. People are assigned to every single aspect of that, which is certainly a larger scale operation than what we’re used to.”

ESPN staff members began to arrive around 5 a.m. Saturday morning, with Hinkle employees reporting for work around an hour later.

“Basically we’ll be here to answer any questions for fans that come out to the broadcast because obviously it’s something that’s new for everybody,” Martin said. “No Butler fan has ever been through a College GameDay before here at Hinkle.”

ESPN analyst Rece Davis said Hinkle is a classic venue for the program that showcases the traditions of the game.

“It has the feel of a place like Cameron Indoor Stadium, like ‘Phog’ Allen Fieldhouse that, you know, maybe it’s just because in our minds and subconscious we appreciate the history of the game,” he said. “But it’s almost as if you feel a connection to the past when you walk in there. It certainly has the old-school look and feel and it makes you feel, like this is what basketball should be.”

The national exposure that the broadcast brought to Butler is the pinnacle of success that both the basketball team and the university has achieved in recent years, Freeman said.

“For them to select us, I think it kind of shows what everything that we’ve done over the last 25 years,“ Freeman said. “It’s not the start, it’s the culmination of a lot of things that have gone right.”

Sports injuries can be a scary thing for athletes, family and fans.

The Butler community realized this when standout senior transfer Rotnei Clarke flew headfirst into the base of a hoop in a win against Dayton on Jan. 12.

Clarke was fouled hard by Flyers defender Matt Derenbecker and hit the basket, suffering a neck sprain. He was taken off  the court on a stretcher after nearly eight minutes in front of a packed arena and a national TV audience on the NBC Sports Network.

The entire country heard him  tell trainer Ryan Galloy and team doctor, Tom Fisher, “I can’t move.”

Doctors told Clarke not to move after he said he felt numb.

This was all heard on national television, and this didn’t sit well with Butler officials.

The university filed a complaint with the Atlantic 10  conference and the NBC Sports Network because fans watching the broadcast knew more about his status than his family and team did.

Galloy said he wasn’t paying attention to the cameras at the time but later learned about the situation.

“I thought it was rather unorthodox that they recorded everything,” Galloy said.

Jim McGrath, Butler sports information director, learned about the situation when Fisher contacted him after returning to Indianapolis. McGrath forwarded Fisher’s concerns to A-10 officials, who, in turn, contacted the NBC Sports Network.

Drew Dickerson, A-10 director of communications and media relations, said they contacted the network, as well as every institution in the conference.

“We contacted the NBC Sports Network, and they apologized,” Dickerson said. “They assured to contact production teams.”

Dickerson said each institution’s game management personnel was instructed on the importance of managing TV crew during games.

Normally during an injury in any sort of game, cameras will focus on an injured player but not record sound.

McGrath said NBC was in agreement that the coverage went too far and it should have backed down on the audio coverage.

Fisher’s main goal was to make sure something like this never happens again, McGrath said.

Analyst Jay Bilas said it’s a “hard sell” to convince him that television shouldn’t cover an event as it’s happening live.

“(This is) something that everybody should talk about and decide what’s the right thing to do because those are important issues that need to be discussed in a serious manner,” Bilas said.

McGrath also said this is an important issue in the world of sports.

“It raises an interesting question,” McGrath said. “In a public place, where is the line drawn that the public is not allowed to find out what is going on?”

Clarke said he doesn’t think much of the controversy but understands the situation.

“I was just in the moment and worried about and thinking about my health at that point,” Clarke said. “It was a little bit of invasion of privacy, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Clarke is ruled out for tonight’s game at La Salle but is expected to return Saturday night against Temple.

“I’ve progressed daily,” Clarke said. “I think I’m doing well and ahead of schedule.”

Clarke said he wasn’t feeling pain the day before the Gonzaga game, and he was able to get in the gym and take a few shots.

Tonight’s game is televised on WNDY, and Saturday night’s game will be on ESPN2. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

In NCAA Division I men’s basketball, many programs have likely come to accept that if Butler’s squad makes the championship tournament, it will be a dangerous and unpredictable force.

No matter who the Bulldogs play come tourney time, they can almost always guarantee a nail-biting affair.

Butler has established its relevance with years of success on the nation’s highest stage.

But this season’s team has established something that could be considered just as important.

This team is making Butler a scary school to face in the regular season.

Imagine you’re looking at your team’s schedule for the new season. There are the games that don’t really stick out and games that make fans say, “That should be a good game.”

But there’s a third category.

“This could be trouble.”

Personally, I saw the Indiana and Gonzaga games in this light. I believed they would be fantastic contests, but as a fan I was equally as prepared for a loss as for a victory.

This season’s Bulldogs have turned Butler into one of those teams, whether they know it or not.

They have proven they can beat other teams in a variety of ways and under numerous sets of circumstances.

Not to mention they have done so in rip-your-heart-out fashion, from the opposition’s perspective.

It’s hard to imagine Marquette, Indiana and Gonzaga players feeling very good after their last-second losses to Butler.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few looked exhausted and beleaguered after Saturday’s 64-63 Butler win. He looked like a man who had pulled out all the stops, who knew his team was on the cusp of a strong victory.

Butler ripped the rug out from under Few and his Bulldogs.

Few should know this story better than most. His mid-major program has beaten the big boys and forced them to take notice: you’d better not schedule us if you want a guaranteed victory.

It all starts with Butler coach Brad Stevens.

The man must have at least one android or monk as a parent. He was the calmest individual on the Hinkle Fieldhouse floor after Saturday’s win when many coaches would have been going bonkers.

But this is how he operates his program.

He has a way to simplify everything.

“It’s not like it’s doomsday,” Stevens said of trailing by a point with 3.5 seconds left and the ball going the wrong way. “Just go play (and) figure it out.”

This attitude trickles down.Sophomore guard and recent hero Roosevelt Jones is a soft-spoken man. But his description of the game-winning play against Gonzaga oozes of Stevens-talk.

“Just making a basketball play,” he said.

Freshman guard Kellen Dunham on replacing injured leading scorer Rotnei Clarke?

“I just tried to contribute as much as I could.”

Nothing intimidates these Bulldogs. Stevens has built a mid-major monster on that idea.

It’s a simple concept that has created a complex team. And one that will provide a scare on any schedule down the road.

The Butler men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 12 games after a 62-47 win over Richmond Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs (15-2, 3-0) were not hindered by the absence of senior guard Rotnei Clarke who sprained his neck in Saturday’s game against Dayton.

“We had to focus on the game, and I didn’t have any question that we would do that,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Sometimes when you lose a guy, it heightens your focus a little bit.”

Freshman guard Kellen Dunham started in Clarke’s place and scored 11 points in 31 minutes.

Without Clarke’s outside shooting, Butler was able to exploit the Spiders’ (11-7, 1-2) defenders inside and did so successfully.

Richmond was significantly out-rebounded by Butler, with the Bulldogs grabbing 53 rebounds to Richmond’s 20.

20 of Butler’s 53 rebounds were grabbed off the offensive glass.

Senior center Andrew Smith took advantage of the team’s inside presence and scored a game-high 15 points and added seven rebounds.

“Without Rotnei, we lose one of our shooters, so we focused on going inside a little bit more,” Smith said. “But it doesn’t really change what we did a whole lot.”

The Bulldogs held the Spiders to just 21 first half points and 28.6 percent shooting from the field as Butler pulled out to a 33-21 halftime lead.

Richmond was down by as many as 20 points in the second half before making a brief 9-0 run to cut the lead to nine with 8:23 remaining.

However, this offensive burst came too little too late for the Spiders as Butler’s defense held Richmond to a season-low 47 points and a season-low field goal percentage of 32.7 percent.

Sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones led the team with 12 rebounds and also scored 10 points on the way to recording a double double.

Sophomore forward Kameron Woods scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds in the win.

Sophomore guard Alex Barlow spent much of the game playing point guard in Clarke’s absence and finished the game with five points and five rebounds.

Showing it was not completely dependent on senior guard Rotnei Clarke, the Butler men’s basketball team stormed past IUPUI 87-55 yesterday.

Clarke did not score until the 8:37 mark of the first half, but the Bulldogs (6-2) had already built a 26-6 lead.

Butler’s defense stymied the Jaguars (3-7), as it took them more than nine minutes to get past the two-point mark.

“Obviously I thought we were strong offensively the majority of the game,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought we were really good defensively the first 13 minutes of the game.”

Five different Bulldogs connected from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes, including senior center Andrew Smith, who hit his second of the season.

Two 3-point baskets by junior forward Erik Fromm on back-to-back possessions midway through the half brought the crowd to its feet.

“In our system, our forwards are open a lot, especially with Rotnei and Kellen and Chase all very capable shooters,” Fromm said. “Part of being prepared to shoot the wide open shots is getting in the gym.”

Butler carried a 52-21 advantage into the locker room behind 12 points each from Clarke and freshman guard Kellen Dunham.

The Bulldogs shot 60 percent from the field and 3-point line in the first half. The Jaguars shot a respectable 41 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, but only junior forward Donovan Gibbs had more than five points.

“Not to be too obvious, but the start was not what we had in the cards,” IUPUI coach Todd Howard said. “I was very pleased with our second half. I thought, to battle the way we did, guys competed.”

In the second half, Butler outscored IUPUI by just one point, but the Jaguars were never able to truly threaten the Bulldogs’ lead.

“I thought we had two good days of practice,” Stevens said.

Butler finished with five players in double figures and 11 players with at least two points.

Clarke and Dunham each tallied a game-high 17 points. Smith added 11 points, while Fromm and junior forward Khyle Marshall both recorded 10 points.

Dunham actually came off the bench in the first half, as Stevens opted to start sophomore guard Alex Barlow instead.

“We talked about that with Kellen and obviously his minutes aren’t going to deviate,” Stevens said. “We said, ‘let’s see if this will be a better fit for us.’”

While Butler outrebounded IUPUI 29-21, Smith, Marshall and sophomore forward Roosevelt Jones combined for just one board.

Gibbs and junior center Mitchell Patton led the Jaguars with 10 points apiece. Gibbs also tallied a team-high six rebounds and three assists.

Butler will now prepare for two consecutive games against Big 10 opponents. The first will see the Bulldogs travel to Northwestern Saturday.

The Wildcats (7-2) are coming off a stunning 74-70 victory over Baylor on the road earlier this week.

“Watched the whole game,” Stevens said. “I watched a little bit more of that than I usually do so that I have a good feel when I talk to the team.”