Butler Postgame Thread

[dennismenace]

Wrong.

I've hardly said anything negative about them all season, don't lump me into the negative crowd, but they didn't play well. It's ok to be honest without it being a negative. I said it's good that we won, I watched the whole game and rooted for them. But they didn't play high level defense and frankly for most of the game they didn't play high level offense either.

I'm not Ruff Ruff claiming every team is better than us, I'm talking about THIS game. They got almost any shot they wanted and they aren't that good. There wasn't tons of energy. We were generally sloppy. But I'm happy they got a 10 point W and I'm thrilled they kept pace in the win column.

Agreed. Not sure why and won't speculate who or what is to blame. But they need to get this figured out amongst the staff with open minded discussion and planning what changes they can bring to this group. They do not look like they play smart or are well prepared or both. Tons of physical talent.

 

[Edward Sargent]

The idea that we shouldn't have recruited Braylon Mullins is so absurd I don't even know where to begin with countering that point

It looked to me that Mullins was cooking in the first half and Matt’s made an adjustment in the second half by moving his best defensive player over. That opened up things for Solo. Tarris and Silas were finding shooters with Tarris near triple double game

 

[imno1]

I thought for sure the challenge was going to blow up in our face again. Once again they were correct that it was out off Butler, but I was supremely confident, and ultimately very wrong, that they would call the foul on Reibe. Am I confusing the rule, could they have switched to a foul on Reibe?

I think only flagrants but no common fouls

 

[uconngb]

The idea that we shouldn't have recruited Braylon Mullins is so absurd I don't even know where to begin with countering that point

It's impossible to counter idiocy

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Looks like Butler only dropped to 74, which I kind of expected given that a loss to UConn less than the spread shouldn't have hurt them much. So it's another Quad 1 win for the good guys.

Maybe our coaching staff and team are even smarter than we give them credit for...win, but win by just enough that it improves our KenPom metrics AND keeps the win as a Q1 NET win.

Tremendous. 5-D level chess while we're all here playing checkers!

 

[JustbrewitMan]

The idea that we shouldn't have recruited Braylon Mullins is so absurd I don't even know where to begin with countering that point

Getting more and more evidence that RuffRuff is an AI bot that brings forth slop on many occasions. It's not "his" fault.

 

[freescooter]

You don’t just recruit guys because they are good. Depends on what other options were out there. He is an excellent player. When you recruit you look at talent, potential, need and his interestin you. You would have liked Boozer, too, but he was going to Duke so you don’t spend a lot of time on it. But recruiting always depends on lots of factors. Of course you would want to recruit Mullins but what if he always wanted to go to IU? Or bought the line that the NBE is a mid major. That’s the way it goes in recruiting.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The idea that we shouldn't have recruited Braylon Mullins is so absurd I don't even know where to begin with countering that point

Is it more or less absurd than athleticism - no matter how you choose to spell it - being at the core of the back to back teams?

For a guy who seems to do nothing in life but consume college basketball content and then post about it there are some strange takes.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I think only flagrants but no common fouls

Thanks, figured I was messing up the rule.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Steph was in a terrible HS class, apples & oranges:

List of frosh this year based on PPG per 36, only draft prospects. He's 16 here, but you can add kids that aren't draft prospects this year like Acaden Lewis & Nigel James, others as well.

A kid like Tounde could have been a really nice fit in bringing in that athlete we are sorely missing. This team is simply missing athletecism. Not sure why Hurley has completely abandoned that profile since it was at the core of his B2B.

• AJ Dybantsa — 26.9 ppg
• Darryn Peterson — 26.6 ppg
• Cameron Boozer — 25.2 ppg
• Ebuka Okorie — 23.9 ppg
• Caleb Wilson — 22.8 ppg
• Darius Acuff — 22.1 ppg
• Mikel Brown Jr. — 21.7 ppg
• Nate Ament — 21.0 ppg
• Tounde Yessoufou — 21.0 ppg
• Keaton Wagler — 20.2 ppg
• Brayden Burries — 19.7 ppg
• Meleek Thomas — 19.6 ppg
• Kingston Flemings — 19.2 ppg
• Hannes Steinbach — 18.8 ppg
• Koa Peat — 18.5 ppg
• Braylon Mullins — 16.2 ppg
• Amari Allen — 14.8 ppg
• Chris Cenac Jr. — 14.1 ppg

This is silly. We always have a balanced scoring effort. The last time we had a guy average even 18 ppg was in 17/18 with Jalen Adams.

If we had more than one competent ball handler right now, everyone’s stats would be more impressive.

Braylon is averaging 12 on 47-38-81 splits. He is keyed on now and takes a lot of tough shots. NBA will be way more wide open and he will be a flamethrower.

 

[cullaville]

A negative that continues to be a negative, inbounds plays. Just not sure why we can't figure it out

No knock against Alex but does it seem that it is more of an issue when he is inbounding than other players?

 

[Icehawk]

I know I am guilty of “what about this bench player” but… why not try Millender instead of Smith? Hell, Koroma at the 4? We don’t need him backing up the 5 really now that the fouling issue seems better.

Mullins is great, full stop.

 

[JungleLobo]

Maybe our coaching staff and team are even smarter than we give them credit for...win, but win by just enough that it improves our KenPom metrics AND keeps the win as a Q1 NET win.

Tremendous. 5-D level chess while we're all here playing checkers!

They moved from Defense 3 on Bart & KPom to 7.

No knock against Alex but does it seem that it is more of an issue when he is inbounding than other players?

It’s the weakest area of his game. He runs north to south and then calls timeout.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Probably won't be tomorrow when Butler falls below 75 in the NET. Hopefully they can get back into the top 75.

Butler still 74 as of this morning. Also of note, PC is 76. If they can get/stay top 75, our road win there is another Q1.

 

[Palatine]

Our pick and roll defense was awful especially in the first half. It improved when we sagged off off and clogged the middle. But this needs to be fixed ASAP.

The 12 point spurt in the second half was like a nuclear bomb. Beautiful basketball. Everyone contributed. When we play like that we are bullet proof.

 

[jibsey]

I know I am guilty of “what about this bench player” but… why not try Millender instead of Smith? Hell, Koroma at the 4? We don’t need him backing up the 5 really now that the fouling issue seems better.

Mullins is great, full stop.

The one thing about Smith is that he does make open 3’s when needed to. Can Millender?
Also I’m not sure Millender is any better a ball handler.

 

[Icehawk]

The one thing about Smith is that he does make open 3’s when needed to. Can Millender?
Also I’m not sure Millender is any better a ball handler.

Good point and we haven’t seen a ton of Millender play - I just don’t like the ball pounding and the drives into guys 6” taller that Smith can’t convert. It may be a grass is greener thing but I can’t help but wonder.

 

[RuffRuff]

I know I am guilty of “what about this bench player” but… why not try Millender instead of Smith? Hell, Koroma at the 4? We don’t need him backing up the 5 really now that the fouling issue seems better.

Mullins is great, full stop.

No one said Mullins isn't great. It's that Hurley has drifted towards this over abundance of shooter profiles, completely abandoning having any athleticism. Our incoming HS recruits are below the rim athletes. We opted for the best "shooter" of this past years class, when our 2 and 4 are limited to that profile. Bringing in kids like Furphy and now recruiting Pierce. Mahaney. Hurley may as well be Gene Hackman.

 

[uconnfan68]

I have one serious concern with this team.

Malachi Smith.

He shouldn't be inbounding under our basket, at the very least.

 

[Husky68]

No one said Mullins isn't great. It's that Hurley has drifted towards this over abundance of shooter profiles, completely abandoning having any athleticism. Our incoming HS recruits are below the rim athletes. We opted for the best "shooter" of this past years class, when our 2 and 4 are limited to that profile. Bringing in kids like Furphy and not recruiting Pierce. Mahaney. Hurley may as well be Gene Hackman.

You can't be that bad of a judge of ability "completely abandoning having any athleticism" as relates to Mullins is actually pretty bad take, kid has serious hops and quickness.

 

[DisabledVet]

We know we are guaranteed of a postseason. Except for all but a few Big East teams the rest know that their games against us are their season.

 

[uconnfan68]

How? What can we start doing next game to do that? There is no Newt on this team.

Refs could actually make calls on opponents before the 10 minute mark. Surprised they didn't reverse that hold-and-hold call. We get manhandled every game.

 

[RuffRuff]

Refs could actually make calls on opponents before the 10 minute mark. Surprised they didn't reverse that hold-and-hold call. We get manhandled every game.

I’m not sure changing the refs is in our control

 

[uconnfan68]

Lots of talk about lack of production from the bench. This is the time of year young start to skinny down the rotation and send your best 8 out there. Smith and Reibe are not going to get more minutes unless the game script and fouls dictate it. That’s how it works.

Reibe HAS to get time because Reed can't do a full 40 with all that's being asked from him. Need more help rebounding from everyone.