Butler Post Game Thread

[amishboy]

Hurley needs to live in the moment. Stop talking about going for three straight. Stop talking about being the best coach in the sport. Stop talking about the refs giving respect to the defending back-to-back champs. And stop talking about looking at your championship rings after losses. Focus on getting this very flawed team into the NCAA tournament and in a position where maybe they can make some noise.

This doesn't look like a team that is well coached right now. Do I think Danny is a great coach? Of course I do. But he's not showing it right now. He needs to focus on fixing this and forget about the past.

The national media and the rest of college basketball would love to bury us. They'll forget about our back-to-back championships in no time. Focus on the present.

You nailed it, but left out one thing:

WE need to live in the moment, and to stop talking about going for three straight!

Okay, AK is back, but Diarra, Ball, Johnson, and McNeeley are just nowhere near the equivalent of Newton, Castle, Spencer, and Clingan.

Diarra and Ball have reached their ceiling, and we can’t expect more of them. The transfers, Reed and Mahaney, have been, at best, inconsistent, and the other two sophs, Stewart and Ross, still aren’t ready for big roles.

So let’s just swallow our disappointment and appreciate whatever this year’s team manages to accomplish.

 

[RuffRuff]

Hurley star pupil = All American and 59th pick in the NBA draft

This board and I have very different opinions of Tristan Newton but that’s okay. I’m hoping Hurley has better star pupils to show off his development with in the future.

This sophomore class is a great chance to do that because they’ll be here for more than 2 years. Develop these very talented young men that trusted in your coaching enough to come here. Please do not give up on them to grab a transfer guy someone else already coached up.

Don’t think it’s as straight forward as just developing players into something special. The putty has to be there - right now it’s very questionable whether it is in a couple of guys as there are aspects to their game that look really off, and not coachable. Would be a tough call for Hurley.

 

[3rdbass]

Hurley star pupil = All American and 59th pick in the NBA draft

This board and I have very different opinions of Tristan Newton but that’s okay. I’m hoping Hurley has better star pupils to show off his development with in the future.

This sophomore class is a great chance to do that because they’ll be here for more than 2 years. Develop these very talented young men that trusted in your coaching enough to come here. Please do not give up on them to grab a transfer guy someone else already coached up.

You really are putting Tristen Newton down because he isn't an impactful NBA player? Ugh. I would love to have T-Newt on this team now. We would be a lot better team. He became a great College player.

 

[superjohn]

Not a lot of positive to take from this one other than the W in the book. And confirmation that Solo is one helluva a 3pt shooter.

What is perplexing is this: a team is supposed to look less clueless the further you go into a year, not more clueless. On a team and individual level. The Mahaneys, Reeds, Ross’, just about all the starters on defense, look as lost as ever. We have been waiting for these incremental glimpses, and they’re not happening. Not sure the development arc with many of these players is going to be overly dynamic this season, other than maybe McNeeley.

That presser felt defeated, and this result followed.

Bulletproof = amazing players.

Hopefully the light bulb goes off and chemistry harmonizes with McNeeley back, but boy it’s a lot to put on one guy.

Expectation reset, just have to enjoy the ride. Xavier here we come, gulp.

There won't be any more to put on Liam's shoulders than what he was giving us before the injury. He naturally gives us things on the court and with his personality that nobody else on this team gives us and everyone else can go back to their regular roles. Hass will still handle the ball a ton but Liam will help supplement that. AK will go back to being an awesome connector who gets a lot of open looks from three and cuts for layups. Solo will be hounded less than he's being hounded currently, Stewart will go back to his role off the bench but will hopefully be better equipped because of his time starting, and Ross will be playing less. The shooting, handling, driving Liam brings is all natural to him...he's a pro. The energy and passion he'll bring is also natural for him, he's our emotional leader already because that's how he's wired.

 

[JMick]

You really are putting Tristen Newton down because he isn't an impactful NBA player? Ugh.

He's just on one tonight. His posts make no sense.

 

[3rdbass]

He's just on one tonight. His posts make no sense.

Yeah calling Diarra a player we an trust at the end of the shot clock made no sense too. Diarra scares me every time the shot clock is winding down.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

You really are putting Tristen Newton down because he isn't an impactful NBA player? Ugh. I would love to have T-Newt on this team now. We would be a lot better team. He became a great College player.

No that’s not the reason. But he was drafted there for a reason. I don’t care to have a Newton conversation because it’d sound harsh and the board wouldn’t be that receptive anyways.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Yeah calling Diarra a player we an trust at the end of the shot clock made no sense too. Diarra scares me every time the shot clock is winding down.

I’m not saying Diarra is good at the end of the shot clock. But it’s obvious that’s what we trust him to do because he has the ball almost every single time it happens.

I don’t know why we don’t give Solo the ball more at the end of games

 

[amishboy]

Missing on Mahaney really killed this roster construction. It’s insane how we need 11 screens to create even a possibility of getting downhill.

Also the defense isn’t getting better, it’ll be marginally better with Liam, but he’s no Jackson Jr or Castle, the wings just give the least resistance I’ve ever seen on a Hurley coached team.

Yeah, there’s still time for Mahaney to salvage the season, but he’s made me appreciate guys like Spencer and Newton even more.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Butler has been losing close games all season. They are an older, skilled team that doesn't have the athleticism to win consistently at this level. They have some good non-conference wins. They don't suck. UConn is missing its best player, and is going to have to grind out some games while he is out. Most teams in college basketball would take a dip if their best player was out for an extended period.

There was a lot UConn could do better, and this crew has some pretty severe self-destructive impulses, but they are paying hard and pulling these games out for the most part.

 

[bendm]

Samson should never ever touch the ball on the last possession of the game unless he’s catching it directly above the rim for an alley oop

 

[WhereistheDove?]

There won't be any more to put on Liam's shoulders than what he was giving us before the injury. He naturally gives us things on the court and with his personality that nobody else on this team gives us and everyone else can go back to their regular roles. Hass will still handle the ball a ton but Liam will help supplement that. AK will go back to being an awesome connector who gets a lot of open looks from three and cuts for layups. Solo will be be hounded less than he's being hounded currently, Stewart will go back to his role off the bench but will hopefully be better equipped becuase of his time starting, and Ross will be playing less. The shooting, handling, driving Liam brings is all natural to him...he's a pro. The energy and passion he'll bring is also natural for him, he's our emotional leader already because that's how he's wired.

We have no one that can come close to replicating the amount of defensive gravity Liam draws with the ball in his hands. We just plainly don’t have another guy that can consistently get into the lane off the bounce and is a both a strong scoring and playmaking threat once he’s there. The way opposing defenses have to play Liam opens up so much for the more complementary guys like Ball, Karaban, and Samson.

 

[Waquoit]

Right now I'd say the players are generally likeable but this team isn't easy as a fan. Collectively the players do a lot to make things hard on themselves and Hurley seems to be coaching like he did in 2021-2022. Let's other teams get runs and kill momentum UConn builds.

I think we're a bit lacking on offense without McNeeley. It's those walkabouts that take it's toll.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Just got back from the game.

Scrolling through this thread, can’t believe there isn’t more mention of the refs.

That was probably the worst whistle we’ve gotten all year.

Ton of no-calls and whistle swallowing in Butler’s favor all game long.

The amount of clutching, grabbing, bumping, moving screens that they were able to get away with was breathtaking.

Unreal what a biased whistle we’ve get.


That being said, Liam can’t get back in the court soon enough. This offense can’t do jack crap without him on the court.

 

[RuffRuff]

I wouldn’t count Ross out after his first season of getting playing time.

Focus especially is just a confidence and experience thing.

For the life of me I want to see what Hurley does in this kid. He is just goofy and all over the place out there. When he’s not jumping out of his shoes at pumps hes throwing some wild shot up. It sometimes looks like he just started playing basketball two years ago, and he has some of the weirdest body language. The first round pick context Dan Hurley was dishing was comical.

 

[JMick]

Just got back from the game.

Scrolling through this thread, can’t believe there isn’t more mention of the refs.

That was probably the worst whistle we’ve gotten all year.

Ton of no-calls and whistle swallowing in Butler’s favor all game long.

The amount of clutching, grabbing, bumping, moving screens that they were able to get away with was breathtaking.

Unreal what a biased whistle we’ve get.


That being said, Liam can’t get back in the court soon enough. This offense can’t do jack crap without him on the court.

We aren't allowed to move without the ball this year. It's been like that all season. Teams know they'll get away with it and it's the best way to stop us.

 

[ucp990411]

This is the epitome of being a brat. Have some damn class man. I don’t care how right you think you are you don’t say stuff like this.

Did Coach K, Pop, etc. ever say stuff like this?

Man I’m a Michigan fan and Jim Harbaugh went to a Super Bowl in the NFL and never got remotely to saying stuff like this when Big Ten refs were bending him over when he first got there.

Coach K had a reputation of being the most foul mouthed coach in the business. Just the networks anointed him and never showed it. Ever wonder why the cameras at Cameron are behind the benches and not facing them?

 

[mauconnfan]

Man, it’s disappointing that only Diarra and Karaban are the only guys trusted to make plays with the ball in the final seconds.

Even more amazing they’d trust HD to continue do this because it’s rarely successful. Not sure the thinking going on between in bounding the ball late and running offense after killing clock. I do know it’s ugly!

 

[JMick]

Even more amazing they’d trust HD to do do because it’s rarely successful. Not sure the thinking going on between in bounding the ball late and running offense after killing clock. I do know it’s ugly!

Karaban hasn't been any better, unfortunately.

 

[navery12]

Did they go to Creighton v DePaul? Or something else? Just curious. Never heard of a streaming service doing that.

Yeah it cut off and jumped to Creighton and DePaul live. I started it a little late and had to pause a few times to take the dog out, but usually that's not an issue

 

[Mike Honcho]

I figured this was how the game was gonna go after they immediately allowed that 15pt lead to get to single digits, I've never seen a team's whole operation just completely disintegrate when going up dbl digits. I'm gonna keep harping on it but this is why I hated that nonsense Dan Hurley pulled vs Georgetown, for a team still trying to figure things out and key guys in need of live reps, the last thing they needed was for the coach to disconnect the controller after 32 minutes of game time.

Really well stated. 100% agreed.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

For the life of me I want to see what Hurley does in this kid. He is just goofy and all over the place out there. When he’s not jumping out of his shoes at pumps hes throwing some wild shot up. It sometimes looks like he just started playing basketball two years ago, and he has some of the weirdest body language. The first round pick context Dan Hurley was dishing was comical.

it’s not just Hurley. NBA scouts invited him to camp over the summer. The putty is there for him and others in the sophomore class. They just have to keep getting experience and coached in the right way.

If we give up on Nowell already that would be going into year 8 without a PG that he’s identified, recruited, and developed out of HS on his own.

At this point I’m having serious worries on Hurley being able to develop guards on his own in general.

 

[Marat]

L

Just got back from the game.

Scrolling through this thread, can’t believe there isn’t more mention of the refs.

That was probably the worst whistle we’ve gotten all year.

Ton of no-calls and whistle swallowing in Butler’s favor all game long.

The amount of clutching, grabbing, bumping, moving screens that they were able to get away with was breathtaking.

Unreal what a biased whistle we’ve get.


That being said, Liam can’t get back in the court soon enough. This offense can’t do jack crap without him on the court.

This is exactly what Hurley was complaining about in the post game presser. He was pissex that refs were not calling the grabbing on our cuts preventing freedom of movement. That prevents our guys from getting good looks.

 

[TheHorde]

You really are putting Tristen Newton down because he isn't an impactful NBA player? Ugh. I would love to have T-Newt on this team now. We would be a lot better team. He became a great College player.

Think about the level of rise it took for him to go from a very nice player in a middle of the road conference to a first team All American. He’s just one example of many guys that got better here over the past 6 years. But he wasn’t a highly heralded recruit either. There’s no argument to be made saying well Hurley got a guy that was already headed to the league. No sir.

 

[AntG168]

it’s not just Hurley. NBA scouts invited him to camp over the summer. The putty is there for him and others in the sophomore class. They just have to keep getting experience and coached in the right way.

If we give up on Nowell already that would be going into year 8 without a PG that he’s identified, recruited, and developed out of HS on his own.

At this point I’m having serious worries on Hurley being able to develop guards on his own in general.

Stephon Castle plays majority PG minutes for the SA Spurs. Can you stop now? My lord.