Butler and Xavier split their 2025-2026 season series 1-1. Photo by Andrew Buckley.

OWEN PRISCOTT | STAFF REPORTER | opriscott@butler.edu 

A sold-out crowd packed Hinkle Fieldhouse on Feb. 21 as Butler hosted Xavier, with the Dawg Pound roaring from tipoff to the final buzzer. The atmosphere itself carried all the usual signs of a classic college basketball rivalry — energy, emotion and postseason-like intensity. However, beyond the passion and the sold-out seats, the question remains: why is this matchup labeled a rivalry when the grounds behind that label still feel undetermined?

To give some background, when Butler joined the Big East in 2013, matchups with Xavier were quickly framed as a natural, regional rivalry. Both are small, private Midwestern universities, sharing similar basketball identities and are just a two-hour trip down Interstate 74 from each other. In fact, the schools were reunited from their days in the Midwestern City Conference — now the Horizon League — together from 1979-95. 

Now in a power conference, Butler had no reason to continue to market former Horizon League rivalries like Loyola Chicago, Wright State and Milwaukee. 

Yet, more than a decade later, the rivalry label feels more promotional than authentic. 

Think of the best rivalries in college basketball: Duke vs. North Carolina, Louisville vs. Kentucky and even Indiana vs. Purdue. Those rivalries are built on mutual intensity and emotional investment — elements that have been absent or uneven in the case of Butler and Xavier. 

For some fans, the rivalry is real — just not in its current state. 

A large Butler fan known on X as Butler Basketball Guru — who also co-hosts The Bulldog Bark Podcast — said the intensity depends heavily on generation. He pointed to the 2009 “water fountain game” as a flashpoint that fueled hate for fans who experienced both programs at their respective peaks. 

“If two fan bases don’t like each other, that’s what makes a rivalry,” Guru said. “[Xavier fans] can call us ‘little brother’ all they want, but they still don’t like us, and we don’t like them.”

That perspective, however, comes with nuance. Xavier’s identity is long tied to its city. The Crosstown Shootout against the University of Cincinnati is a rivalry embedded within one city — with just three miles between campuses — and is layered with decades of history. Butler does not have that equivalent.

Ian Krueger, a senior finance major and vice president of operations for Dawg Pound, laid out the reality for Butler fans.

“[It is a rivalry] because having a rival is important,” Krueger said. “Xavier has a natural rival in Cincinnati. We don’t have one, and we need one.”

Krueger described the Xavier matchup as consistently one of the most meaningful home games on the schedule, even with ranked opponents and strong out-of-conference foes coming to Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Nolan Hamilton, a senior sports media and strategic communication double major and president of Dawg Pound, pointed to attendance as evidence.

“There’s a reason there has been one sellout this year, and it was Xavier,” Hamilton said. 

Still, both acknowledged that the rivalry is complicated — particularly due to Butler’s on-court struggles in recent years. When performance dips, so does the weight of any matchup.

“If your basketball team sucks, the games lose value,” Krueger said. “But I think it’s pretty hard for [the Xavier game] to lose as much value.”

Competitive balance remains the missing piece of the puzzle. When the two teams met on Feb. 21, Butler held a 14-13 record, while Xavier was right at .500 at 13-13. In recent seasons, however, the trajectories of the two programs have not always mirrored one another — particularly in March. 

The all-time numbers further complicate the rivalry narrative. Xavier holds a commanding 50-27 advantage in the series, a gap that dismisses any idea of sustained back-and-forth between the schools. While individual games have carried intensity — like the “water fountain game” and Butler’s 2023 upset and court storm — the broader numbers tell a story of Musketeer control.

While Butler has struggled to regain a consistent footing in the Big East, Xavier has remained relevant on the national stage, including multiple NCAA tournament appearances over the past five years — even earning a three seed in the 2023 tournament. 

In some corners of Xavier’s fan base, that gap has turned into open dismissal. For Muskie fans, Butler has begun to feel less like a measuring stick and more like just another conference opponent on the schedule — especially in years when the Musketeers have larger aspirations than the Dawgs. 

A Xavier fan on X who goes by RealKYMuskie wrote, “It could be a matter of life or death, and Butler fans would choose death over accepting the fact that Xavier-Butler isn’t a rivalry. We don’t care about you. Butler is, quite literally, one of the least attractive home games for us in conference. No one gets excited for Butler.”

Former Xavier guard Edmond Sumner echoed a similar feeling. 

“What’s the beef with Butler?” Sumner wrote on X. “I never understood that one. Asked a couple of Butler guys I’m cool with and they didn’t really know either. I don’t know, it always felt like a forced rivalry. It was always hostile in Hinkle.” 

The comments reflect what many Xavier fans describe as a “little brother” dynamic — one side insisting the rivalry is real, the other downplaying it. 

Rivalries are at their strongest when both sides have something tangible to play for. 

Butler Guru acknowledged that reality, even while defending the rivalry. 

“If the teams are good, it will go right back [to being a relevant rivalry],” Guru said. “Rivalries aren’t fun when the teams just aren’t good, you’re playing for nothing other than pride.”

In other words, animosity alone is not enough. Stakes matter. Games in late February that impact conference seeding or NCAA tournament résumés carry different weight than games between two programs currently on the College Basketball Crown bubble. 

Krueger echoed that sentiment from a student’s perspective.

“I think both teams need sustained success,” Krueger said. “Maybe a track record of splitting [games].”

Hamilton pointed to the coaching carousel as something that could spark a fire between the two schools. 

“[Xavier is] where [Butler head coach Thad] Matta coached before,” Hamilton said. “Butler and Xavier are also the same schools, pretty much, just in different cities.”

Another coach in that conversation is current Miami University coach Travis Steele, a Butler graduate who was head man at Xavier from 2018-22.

Until the aforementioned sustained success happens, the buy-in will continue to feel uneven. Butler students may circle the Xavier game on the calendar. Dawg Pound may pack Hinkle Fieldhouse. But if one — or both — of the schools are centered on rebuilding, the emotional stakes will never fully align, simply due to Butler being what Guru described as a “1B” rival to Xavier. 

That does not mean this matchup lacks tension. It does not mean there is no history. It simply means that in its current state, Butler and Xavier resembles a rivalry more in marketing than in practice. 

In college basketball, perception can only carry a rivalry so far before results have to match it.