Natalie Butler continues to tear it up

[MilfordHusky]

The accolades continue
Butler Named A-10 Player of the Week for Fifth Time - George Mason University

FIVE times! Yikes! That's outstanding. I gotta get out to Fairfax to see her. Mike, are you available?

 

[HopJim]

People have always had that freedom with Geno. They just didn’t always do it.

Not sure what you are saying. You only play if you play Geno's way. No complaint here based on results but Nat may be the 1% exception.

 

[eebmg]

I think what happened to NB is similar to the current freshman experience. You take top 10 players from HS who are head and shoulders above the rest of their competition and plop them into UConn where they are maybe the 7th or 8th best player and that can do alot to a psyche. It takes real confidence as Geno has said to deal with that and not just simple confidence built from stats. Now that NB finds herself back on a team where she is the best player, she can play freely. For example, why care if you make a mistake at GM when your teammates will more likely launch up a poorer shot. On UConn, if she made a mistake, it could be crippling since
she probably would think that if I passed it back to my teammates, they would do alot more than I could. Yes. Psycho-babble but so what.

It is probably harder than ever to identify true alpha personalities on the recruiting (or transfer) trail since the confidence of today's players seems to be more and more tied to offensive numbers and the historical nature of UConn grows in size every year from what used to be a simple National power to a mythical goliath whose standards can crush even elite players.

 

[Mdoggie]

Not sure what you are saying. You only play if you play Geno's way. No complaint here based on results but Nat may be the 1% exception.

I’m saying that as a coach Geno has always wanted his players to do what they do best. If a player is a great rebounded, shot blocker, shooter, screen setter etc etc.... any coach would want them to do it to the best of their ability. However sometimes under the big lights players have not met the expections.

 

[hoophuskee]

Not sure what you are saying. You only play if you play Geno's way. No complaint here based on results but Nat may be the 1% exception.

What do you mean by 1% exception? Exception to what?

 

[Mainiac]

In limited play tonight due to illness Natalie gets another double double

 

[shizam]

Natalie recently had a 35 point, 20 rebound performance. She also hit the 1,000 point mark. And she leads the nation in rebounding with 14.2 per game. She has led George Mason to a 10-3 record so far.

Merry Christmas, Natalie.

She’s much better than I thought

 

[UConnNick]

Is Butler playing much better this year? Or is simply a matter of her playing against much weaker competition?

Competition can't get much weaker than the AAC!

 

[HopJim]

What do you mean by 1% exception? Exception to what?

Easy to understand. A VERY few players don't react well to Geno's motivation techniques. Geno one of the great coaches of any sport and no issue with him. He has proven process that works. That being said, my opinion is that it didn't work with Nat. No issue with him or her-thrilled she is doing so well.

 

[Plebe]

Competition can't get much weaker than the AAC!

As weak as the AAC seems alongside UConn, it's still in the upper quartile of all D-I conferences.

Try watching sometime the MEAC or the Big South or the SWAC or the Northeast Conference. It gives a whole new appreciation for the AAC.

 

[Mainiac]

As weak as the AAC seems alongside UConn, it's still in the upper quartile of all D-I conferences.

Try watching sometime the MEAC or the Big South or the SWAC or the Northeast Conference. It gives a whole new appreciation for the AAC.

Could not agree more

 

[hoophuskee]

Easy to understand. A VERY few players don't react well to Geno's motivation techniques. Geno one of the great coaches of any sport and no issue with him. He has proven process that works. That being said, my opinion is that it didn't work with Nat. No issue with him or her-thrilled she is doing so well.

So you expect her to be a 1st round pick?

 

[donalddoowop]

For those of you who would like to see Natalie play, George Mason's game with George Washington will be televised on CBSSN, on Sunday, 1-7-18, at 5:00 pm Central Time.

 

[Goodgood]

So you expect her to be a 1st round pick?

If WNBA GM's didn't see her play at UConn the last couple of years, yes and she would certainly be drafted,

 

[hoophuskee]

If WNBA GM's didn't see her play at UConn the last couple of years, yes and she would certainly be drafted,

Let's assume WNBA GM's were not hiding under a rock.

You said she would certainly be drafted -- I'm sure she would too. But -- do you think she'll be drafted 1st round assuming that the gm's weren't hiding under a rock and saw her play the last two years at UCONN?

 

[Goodgood]

If she continues to dominate the way she is doing now, yes, late first round or early second round. She is a totally different player. That was why Geno wanted her coming out of Georgetown. Had she stayed for her 5th year, no. Absolutely not. Not even close.

 

[eebmg]

I will wait until after the CBSNN game on Sunday before any opinion but one thing I am sure of is that she is not Jonquel Jones or Stephanie Dolson

 

[Roger G]

Is Butler playing much better this year? Or is simply a matter of her playing against much weaker competition?

It's a combination. She is certainly trimmer, but getting a lot more minutes against weaker competition is helping. And being the focal point of her team is helping her stats. Nevertheless, if you're leading the nation, no matter where you are playing and who you're playing against, you are doing pretty darn good.

 

[OfanMan]

Most BY’ers are thrilled with Natalie Butler’s great play this year. Count me among them. Today Nat got her 14th consecutive (!) double-double. The George Mason season record for double-doubles is 15. So with 16+ games of Conference play still to come, she’s well on her way to smashing that record to bits. In addition, she’s already 70% of the way to setting a new season rebounding record for the Patriots. In addition, I believe that today’s amazing 28 rebounds broke a 42-year old GM single game record.

On another thread Scoop wrote that “One player can make a big difference”. More than her individual achievements, that’s the kind of difference Natalie Butler is making for George Mason this year.

They haven’t had a winning season or winning Conference record (CAA & A10) in 13 years. They lost their 2nd all-time scorer to graduation in June. Still, they now finished the best OOC record in their history, the longest home winning streak in their history and at 12:3 are well on their way to not only a winning season, but possibly (I’d say probably) the most wins in a season in their history (22+). They’re over halfway there with at least 16 games to go. We’ll soon see how GM handles the likes of Duquesne, Dayton and Fordham but I think this year thanks to Natalie they’re going to have their best season in a long, long time.

It’s great that she’s found a school where her grad school studies dovetail with a basketball team that could really use what she has and what she learned at UConn. What an amazing difference this lovely woman is making at George Mason. Go Nat!

 

[Plebe]

Most BY’ers are thrilled with Natalie Butler’s great play this year. Count me among them. Today Nat got her 14th consecutive (!) double-double. The George Mason season record for double-doubles is 15. So with 16+ games of Conference play still to come, she’s well on her way to smashing that record to bits. In addition, she’s already 70% of the way to setting a new season rebounding record for the Patriots. In addition, I believe that today’s amazing 28 rebounds broke a 42-year old GM single game record.

On another thread Scoop wrote that “One player can make a big difference”. More than her individual achievements, that’s the kind of difference Natalie Butler is making for George Mason this year.

They haven’t had a winning season or winning Conference record (CAA & A10) in 13 years. They lost their 2nd all-time scorer to graduation in June. Still, they now finished the best OOC record in their history, the longest home winning streak in their history and at 12:3 are well on their way to not only a winning season, but possibly (I’d say probably) the most wins in a season in their history (22+). They’re over halfway there with at least 16 games to go. We’ll soon see how GM handles the likes of Duquesne, Dayton and Fordham but I think this year thanks to Natalie they’re going to have their best season in a long, long time.

It’s great that she’s found a school where her grad school studies dovetail with a basketball team that could really use what she has and what she learned at UConn. What an amazing difference this lovely woman is making at George Mason. Go Nat!

28 rebounds is a huge number. Way to go Natalie. Thanks for all of those background stats on the GM program.

The A-10 is not a good conference on the whole, but the three teams you mention are probably the front-runners. Here are the Massey rankings:
60. Duquesne
71. Dayton
80. Fordham
114. George Washington
117. George Mason
126. Saint Louis
161. St. Joseph's
212. Davidson
218. Richmond
221. La Salle
222. St. Bonaventure
249. UMass
274. VCU
304. Rhode Island

GM's ranking of #117 is a more than 100-spot improvement over its ranking last year (#229).

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Perhaps her pro prospects will depend on George Mason's getting into the tournament, and then on how she performs in the one or two games GM could play.

 

[jimazee]

She will likely be drafted by someone and then be evaluated by/with the pros. If its first or fifth round won't much matter.

 

[Roger G]

She will likely be drafted by someone and then be evaluated by/with the pros. If its first or fifth round won't much matter.

It would matter if it were fifth round. There is none. Very few third rounders even stick with a team, since the league is so small. But she should be taken in the late first round. Then, as you say, the evaluation will take place and she will sink or swim.

 

[bballnut90]

It would matter if it were fifth round. There is none. Very few third rounders even stick with a team, since the league is so small. But she should be taken in the late first round. Then, as you say, the evaluation will take place and she will sink or swim.

There are way too many good players ahead of Natalie for her to be a 1st round pick or even a 2nd rounder. If she gets picked, my guess is it will be in the 3rd round. This should be one of the strongest draft classes in years and Butler has great numbers but is playing against dreadful competition. She put up similar numbers her freshman year (13.9 points and 13.4 rebounds) in the same conference, and that didn't translate to success when she played at a better program and faced better competition.

She's now back in that conference and is having similar results, which is great for her, but it doesn't showcase any performances against quality opponents for WNBA GMs to critique since she's playing against bunny teams. The one quality she did play against was Michigan, and she put up 13/9 which is well below her season averages. I'm guessing she's much better than she showed at Connecticut, but I don't think any GM has her on their radar for a top 20 pick.

 

[HopJim]

There are way too many good players ahead of Natalie for her to be a 1st round pick or even a 2nd rounder. If she gets picked, my guess is it will be in the 3rd round. This should be one of the strongest draft classes in years and Butler has great numbers but is playing against dreadful competition. She put up similar numbers her freshman year (13.9 points and 13.4 rebounds) in the same conference, and that didn't translate to success when she played at a better program and faced better competition.

She's now back in that conference and is having similar results, which is great for her, but it doesn't showcase any performances against quality opponents for WNBA GMs to critique since she's playing against bunny teams. The one quality she did play against was Michigan, and she put up 13/9 which is well below her season averages. I'm guessing she's much better than she showed at Connecticut, but I don't think any GM has her on their radar for a top 20 pick.

Not sure what her goals are but since international basketball may pay more, suspect she will be earning a good living overseas next year. Even in high school, you don't hear about 28 rebound games.