The Butler women’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss to Saint Louis on Sunday.

Photo by Reid Bruner

The Bulldogs (5-11, 2-1) received victories from sophomore Gabrielle Rubenstein at No. 3 singles and junior Brittany Farmer at No. 4 singles.

The Billikens (9-8) swept the remainder of the singles matches and took two of three doubles matches.

On Saturday, Butler grabbed its second win in Horizon League play this season, defeating Detroit 5-2.

The Bulldogs received wins in the top two and bottom two singles matches. The team also won two of three doubles matches against the Titans (4-9, 1-2).

Senior Cam Thompson and sophomores Caroline Hedrick, Stephanie McLoughlin and Angelina Qin had singles wins for Butler.

The Bulldogs will continue their season Saturday at Wright State.

The Butler men’s tennis team fell to Detroit 4-3 in a Horizon League match Saturday.

Photo by Marcy Thornsberry

Freshmen Austin Woldmoe and Tommy Marx collected victories in singles action for the Bulldogs (3-14, 2-1).

Woldmoe defeated Detroit senior Nick Tolomei 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and Marx grabbed a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory against Detroit junior Alex Latosinsky at No. 2 singles.

While the Bulldogs won the doubles point by taking two of the three matches, the Titans (6-11, 1-2) won the other four singles matches to get past Butler.

In a non-conference match later that day, Butler fell 4-3 to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Last season, the Jaguars (8-13) beat the Bulldogs for the first time in the program’s history.

With the victory Saturday, IUPUI defeated Butler in two consecutive matches for the first time ever.

The outcome of the match against the Jaguars was similar to that of the match against Detroit.

The Bulldogs took the doubles point again, managing to win all three matches this time around.

For the second time that day, however, Butler was held to two singles victories.

Last Thursday the Bulldogs left Ball State with a 6-1 loss to the Cardinals (14-7).

Butler will travel to Wright State Saturday looking for its third win in league play.

In recent weeks, reports from ESPN and CBS led many to believe that Butler may switch athletic conferences within the next few years.

Butler could make the transition from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 conference and replace departing Temple.

The Owls of Temple are currently part of the A-10 in all sports except football.

For football, Temple is an associate member of the Mid-American Conference.

Temple is joining the Big East next season for football and all other sports the following year.

According to reports, Butler may likely be the team to fill the spot left by Temple in the A-10.

Butler would bring all of its athletic teams to the A-10 except for football, which is a member of the Pioneer Football League.

The change would go into effect beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.

Other schools that ESPN and CBS consider to be candidates for filling the A-10 vacancy are Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason.

If the crossover is made, Butler would be the second-smallest university in the league.

Butler would have more students than only St. Bonaventure, which has an enrollment of approximately 2,400.

Butler’s athletic programs would compete against schools with more than 20,000 students, such as Charlotte, George Washington University and the Massachusetts.

However, most of the schools in the A-10 have between 6,000 and 15,000 students.

The Butler athletics department declined to comment on conference affiliation or changes, other than Associate Athletic Director Jim McGrath saying that “we are members of the Horizon League.”

The move would likely benefit Butler’s men’s basketball team, which competed in back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011.

This season, the A-10 placed four teams in the NCAA tournament—Xavier, St. Bonaventure, Temple and Saint Louis. The Horizon League sent only Detroit to the Big Dance.

The Bulldogs would see an increase in competition and would have a traditional conference rival in Xavier.

Senior guard Rotnei Clarke has experience playing in a collegiate athletic conference more prominent than the Horizon League.

Clarke transferred from Arkansas—a member of the Southeastern Conference—last year and sat out this season with a year of eligibility remaining.

“It’s a cool thing being able to play in a power conference,” Clarke said.

The A-10 is not nearly as big as the SEC, but the A-10 tends to draw more attention from major media outlets—specifically ESPN—than the Horizon League.

Clarke said the media exposure he experienced during his time in the SEC was a good experience.

Clarke will graduate from Butler prior to any of Butler’s teams competing in A-10 play, but he said he thinks the men’s basketball team would still measure up in the new conference if they moved.

“I feel like we would compete in the A-10 for sure. No doubt about it,” Clarke said.

Like the men’s basketball team, the other squads would see an increase in competition but not necessarily unfamiliar opponents.

Men’s basketball, women’s soccer, baseball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis all played or will already play at least one A-10 team during this academic school year.

Baseball coach Steve Farley said both Xavier and Dayton, two teams from the A-10 that Butler has faced or will face this season, were in the conference when he took his current job more than 20 years ago.

Farley  also said he would be OK with the new competition, but he is wary of the way the conference is spread out.

“Fifteen-hour bus rides to places like Massachusetts, Rhode Island and upstate New York don’t excite me that much,” Farley said.

Volleyball coach Sharon Clark said she is not familiar with the A-10 but thinks it would be a little tougher from a traveling aspect as well.

As for football, scholarships are available for players in the A-10 but not in the PFL.

Reports indicate that if Butler jumped to the A-10, its football team would remain in the PFL.

The Butler women’s tennis team split a pair of Horizon League matches over the weekend, topping Valparaiso and falling to Illinois-Chicago.

The Flames (9-3, 2-0) won eight of nine matches en route to a 7-0 victory over the Bulldogs (4-11, 1-1) on Sunday.

Sophomores Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrielle Rubenstein led the team in the loss, winning 8-7 at No. 1 doubles.

Butler had more success at Valparaiso (0-3, 4-7) on Saturday, winning 7-0.

Sophomore Caroline Hedrick, returning from a foot injury, won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

Hedrick also teamed with junior Brittany Farmer in a win at No. 2 doubles.

The Bulldogs won all six singles matches and all three doubles bouts.

Butler will host conference opponent Detroit on Friday at 2 p.m.

For the first time in six years, the Butler men’s basketball team will not appear in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

Needing to win the Horizon League tournament for an automatic bid, the Bulldogs instead were knocked out by a 65-46 loss to Valparaiso in the semifinals Saturday night.

Photo by Chris Goff

The Bulldogs (20-14) will become just the fifth team since 1985 to miss the NCAA tournament after playing in the national championship game the previous year.

Coach Brad Stevens said Butler would accept a potential bid to the NIT or, more likely, the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament or the College Basketball Invitational.

“It’s still an honor,” Stevens said. “It’s not what you set out to do or strived to do, but we’re not an NCAA-tournament team. Our overall success this year is not worthy.”

Valparaiso junior forward Ryan Broekhoff helped deal a final blow to Butler’s résumé with 19 points and 16 rebounds before a near-capacity crowd in the top-seeded Crusaders’ home arena.

No. 5 seed Butler entered the game having won seven of its last eight. The Bulldogs lost for a third time this season to the Crusaders (22-10), who moved on to face Detroit for a bid to the NCAA tournament.

“Any team that’s the age we are is going to be inconsistent,” Stevens said. “We played like a green, young team [Saturday].”

Detroit defeated Valparaiso 70-50 last night in the conference championship game, which Butler won the past two seasons.

“It’ll be different,” senior guard Ronald Nored said. “Regardless of where we play, we’ll go out there and play as hard and as well as we can.”

Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins kept the Bulldogs within striking distance until midway through the second half with 18 points. Sophomore forward Erik Fromm had 12 points and six rebounds.

No other Butler player had more than four points. The Bulldogs shot 33.3 percent from the field after starting the game 4 of 18.

Junior center Kevin Van Wijk and junior point guard Erik Buggs contributed 11 points apiece for the Crusaders, who shot 53.5 percent from the field.

Butler led 7-2 about three minutes into the game after Hopkins rattled home a jumper.

Valparaiso then went on a 17-1 run over the next 7:25 and never relinquished the lead.

Stevens dealt with a shortage of players he could rely on for offense.

Starters Nored, junior center Andrew Smith, sophomore forward Khyle Marshall and freshman forward Roosevelt Jones combined for eight points in 94 minutes of playing time.

“They really struggled,” Stevens said.  “I don’t know why.”

The Crusaders dominated the glass by a 39-22 margin, which helped them to a 31-24 lead at the end of the first half. In the opening 20 minutes, 11 of Valparaiso’s 14 field goals were either layups or tip-ins.

Broekhoff, the conference player of the year, wouldn’t allow Butler to come back.

“He was the best player on the floor by far,” Stevens said. “You’ve got to be incredibly tough to win in an environment like this. We were thoroughly outplayed.”

The Bulldogs fell behind by as many as 21 in a game that reminded some of their 71-59 loss in the regular season finale at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

“The two frontline guys [Van Wijk and Broekhoff] killed us again,” Stevens said. “We really struggled to score in and around the paint again. It’s a loud gym.”

The Crusaders remembered the result from Feb. 24 when they raced out to an 18-4 lead.

“We were quietly confident we could repeat what happened,” Broekhoff said.

Butler’s lopsided defeat came on the heels of its victory over Milwaukee the day before.

The Bulldogs led the whole game in a 71-49 rout of the Panthers (20-13) Friday night.

Marshall and Jones each scored 17 points, and Smith added eight.

Over the weekend, Nored became Butler’s all-time record-holder for assists in a single season, passing Mike Green with 180 thus far.

A Horizon League official said he expects Butler’s postseason status to be resolved by the evening of March 12 at the latest.

The Butler softball team grabbed two wins in a four-game series against three teams in Evansville last weekend.

The Bulldogs (2-4) took control early in their final game of the weekend, defeating host Evansville 3-2.

Butler tallied two runs in the first inning and added another in the third inning to capture the victory.

Junior pitcher Jenny Esparza recorded 12 strikeouts and senior third baseman Lauren McNulty and senior catcher Mallory Winters each had two hits in the game.

On Sunday Butler played its second game against Missouri-Kansas City but lost 1-0 in eight innings.

Senior pitchers Leah Bry and Breanna Fisher combined to hold the Kangaroos (6-4) to four hits on the day, but UMKC scored the only run of the game after a throwing error by the Bulldogs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

In the first game between the teams, two Kangaroo pitchers combined to hold the Bulldogs scoreless on five hits in a 2-0 win for UMKC.

Esparza took the tough-luck loss for Butler, allowing five hits and three walks while striking out nine.

The Bulldogs started the weekend strong with a decisive 8-0 win over Detroit.

Bry recorded a one-hit shutout and was supported by 10 hits.

The Bulldogs will travel to Arkansas to play in the Woo Pig Classic this weekend.

The Butler men’s basketball team knows it will be playing Wright State in the opening round of the Horizon League tournament on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs (17-13, 11-7) are likely aware that they will need to get off to a better start against the Raiders (13-18, 7-11) than they did against Valparaiso on Friday.

“I really didn’t mind our energy or effort,” coach Brad Stevens said after Butler’s 71-59 loss to the league-champion Crusaders. “We can’t give away plays if we want to continue playing.

“We know that moving forward, and I don’t think it’s a huge secret.”

The Bulldogs did not record a field goal against the Crusaders until just after the 11-minute mark in the first half.

The result was a 10-point deficit at halftime that Butler was never able to overcome.

Butler needed a victory against Valparaiso to secure the No. 2 seed and a bye through the first two rounds of the upcoming conference tournament.

Now, instead of getting that bye, the Bulldogs will be taking on the Raiders as the No. 5 seed.

“We can’t change the result of what happened in this game,” sophomore forward Khyle Marshall said. “We’re just going to come back and practice as hard as we can, get better and look forward to the tournament.”

While Stevens said he would be scoreboard watching after the loss to Valparaiso, he added that he would specifically be watching the games of Butler’s most likely opponents in the first round of the tournament.

The rest of the Horizon League made sure that Butler paid for its loss, as Cleveland State, Detroit and Wisconsin-Milwaukee all won their weekend contests and surpassed the Bulldogs in the standings.

Wright State, the No. 8 seed, received a date with Butler after all was said and done.

The Bulldogs were victorious in both of the two regular season games between the teams this season.

In the contest at Wright State on Jan. 6, Butler pulled out a 63-62 victory thanks to a late free throw by senior guard Ronald Nored.

Nored, Marshall and junior center Andrew Smith all scored double-digit points, with Smith’s 19 leading the way.

They were all outdone by Wright State junior guard Julius Mays, who posted 24 points.

The second game between the teams took place on Feb. 2 and saw a 64-53 Butler win.

Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Wright State junior forward Armond Battle recorded 18.

Mays has provided the Raiders with much of their offensive firepower this season.

For a team that averages the second fewest points in the league, Mays is the only player averaging more than 10 points per game. He also leads the team in free throw shooting and is second in 3-point shooting.

While Butler will have to focus on containing Mays, the Bulldogs will also need to work on their offensive output. The 59 points against Valparaiso was the team’s lowest total in a loss since a 53-42 defeat at Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Jan. 26.

The team is “not dwelling” on its showing at Valparaiso, though, and is “ready for the tournament,” Marshall said.

Butler will not have the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the tournament for the first time since the 2005-06 season, meaning the Bulldogs will have to win four games in eight days in order to capture the title.

This is not something Butler is unfamiliar with, though.

“It’s hard to get to the Final Four, too,” Stevens said.

The magic of Butler University exists on and off the court, and that is why this school is special.

I did not find out about Butler, nor did I apply here, because of basketball fame.  The university sent me a letter, and my mother pushed me to look into the school.

I fell in love with Butler not because of what I saw at Hinkle Fieldhouse but because of what I saw in the campus as a whole.

If the Butler men’s basketball team does not find a way into the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, everything will be OK.

There is much to look forward to next season, and there is, after all, more to this school than what happens at Hinkle.

After wins against Youngstown State, Cleveland State, Loyola of Chicago and Indiana State, the Bulldogs seem to have their February mojo working in full force.

But is it too late?  I believe so.

The team has struggled with consistency for much of the season, losing games to Evansville, Valparaiso and Ball State, as well as a pair against Detroit.

After last night’s victory over Illinois-Chicago, a victory against Valparaiso on Friday would give the team a 19-12 record in the regular season.

Hopefully that can propel the team to one of the top two seeds in the Horizon League tournament.

The Bulldogs will then need to win the conference tournament to have a hope of returning to March Madness. I do not see that happening.

Despite what happens with the remainder of this season, the program has a bright future.

Coach Brad Stevens has one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters in senior transfer Rotnei Clarke, who will play his final year of eligibility for the Bulldogs next season.

Stevens also has a solid recruiting class, staring 6-foot-5 shooting guard Kellen Dunham, coming to campus next season.

I expect that these two will provide effective outside shooting—something that the team has been lacking this season.

More than anything that will be seen in Hinkle over the next few years, I find comfort in the fact that even without the two deep runs in the tournament, Butler would still be the fantastic school it is today.

Butler students are blessed to attend such an amazing school.  While the school has garnered fame from basketball, but without a good background, it would not mean much.

The Butler men’s basketball team headed into Super Bowl weekend looking to get out of a logjam in the middle of the Horizon League standings.

The Bulldogs (13-12, 7-6) were unable to do so, splitting their two-game homestand this weekend against Wright State and Detroit.

Playing before a sold-out crowd at Hinkle Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon, Butler made a late-game surge but ultimately fell to visiting Detroit 65-61.

The Bulldogs had not lost to the Titans (13-12, 7-6) at home since 1999 and had won 10 straight against Detroit before January’s loss at

Photo by Reid Bruner

Calihan Hall.

Sophomore guard and reigning Horizon League Player of the Week Ray McCallum Jr. led Detroit with 20 points and four rebounds.

“I thought Ray played like the pre-season player of the year today,” coach Brad Stevens said.

Butler freshman forward Roosevelt Jones put up his second career double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, tying a career-high in both categories.

“I thought Roosevelt was terrific, and [he] continues to play like one of the better newcomers around,” Stevens said.

The Bulldogs were without sophomore forward Khyle Marshall, who suffered a concussion in practice Friday.

To make matters worse, senior guard Ronald Nored spent most of the first half in the locker room after suffering a broken tooth after diving for a loose ball.

Nored would later return and tie his career-high mark of nine assists.

The Bulldogs trailed 28-27 at the half after the two sides battled back and forth during each possession in the opening 20 minutes.

Ultimately the 18 turnovers forced by the Detroit defense proved too much for Butler to overcome.

“When we’re on our game, we’re able to pressure and force turnovers,” Detroit coach Ray McCallum said. “We want to get out and score in transition.”

Butler junior center Andrew Smith was the team’s leading scorer with 18 points, while sophomore forward Erik Fromm finished with 10 points.

“Overall, I liked our effort,” Stevens said. “But I thought a few guys played timid.

“We stopped some of our drives short when I thought we could have kept going and dished to the other side or finished the play.”

On Thursday, Butler took the lead early against Wright State and never looked back, winning 64-53.

The Bulldogs shot 62 percent from the field in the first half and went to halftime with a 35-26 lead over the Raiders (11-14, 6-7).

Butler sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins led the way with 13 points while Jones picked up 11 rebounds.

Photo by Reid Bruner

Fromm came off the bench and made four out of his five field goal attempts—including two from 3-point range—to finish with 10 points.

The Bulldogs finished the game with 21 points off the bench.

“Moving forward, I think consistency is the key for us and if we can get more players to be more consistent and comfortable I think that’s really positive,” Fromm said.

Butler will head to Ohio to take on Youngstown State Thursday night before facing off against Horizon League-leading Cleveland State on Saturday.

In a game against the Penguins (13-10, 8-5) at home on Jan. 15, the Bulldogs came away with a 71-55 victory.

At the end of the contest, Butler was 10-9 while Youngstown State was 9-8. Both teams also held 4-3 records in the conference.

Since then, the Bulldogs have played .500 basketball while the Penguins have lost just one league game.

Likewise, the Vikings (20-4, 10-2) of Cleveland State have only gotten better since facing Butler on Jan. 13.

Cleveland State left Hinkle with a 76-69 win that night and has gone on to win five more Horizon League contests, giving them a half-game lead over Valparaiso in the league.

The Butler men’s soccer team remained in control of its Horizon League tournament fate with a 3-1 victory over Detroit on Saturday.

Three different players scored for the Bulldogs (7-7-2, 2-3-1), and they kept the Titans (5-10-1, 1-5-1) off the scoreboard until the 86th minute in what proved to be a crucial conference win.

With the victory, Butler remains tied for sixth place in the conference standings with Illinois-Chicago.
Butler struck early against Detroit when sophomore forward Austin Oldham scored on a free kick in the 13th minute.

It would not take long for the Bulldogs to add an insurance goal.

Freshman forward Chad Rigg received the pass from Oldham on the left side and fired it past Titan sophomore goalkeeper Anthony Shepherd.

It was Rigg’s first collegiate goal and gave Butler a 2-0 lead just less than 20 minutes into the game.

In the 43rd minute, Butler redshirt freshman defenseman Brandon Fricke received a red card, meaning he had to sit out the rest of the match, and the Bulldogs were forced to play with only 10 men in the second half.

“It was unfortunate because [Fricke] has been playing really well lately,” coach Paul Snape said.

Freshman midfielder Zach Steinberger added a goal in the 78th minute to all but seal the game.

Oldham and Rigg led Butler with three shots each, while sophomore  goalkeeper Jon Dawson recorded six saves in net for the Bulldogs.

“We are confident in anyone who plays defender or goalkeeper,” Dawson said. “I was seeing the ball well, and our defenders were giving me windows so I could see.”

The win came three days after Butler fell to Cleveland State 2-1 at the Butler Bowl.

The Vikings (8-8-1, 4-2-1) scored two goals in a 12-minute span and shut Butler’s offense down to pick up the win.

Butler will take on Valparaiso on Wednesday and Wright State on Saturday. The latter match is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Butler Bowl.

Butler will need to maintain a top-six standing in the conference in order to play in the Horizon League tournament.

“Everything that we have prepared for has got us in this position right now,” Snape said.  “If everything comes together, I totally believe we can win both games.”

The Cleveland State Vikings (9-5-3, 5-0-1) and the Wright State Raiders (8-6-2, 4-2-1) are currently first and second in the Horizon League, respectively.