Butler - Not a Cinderella, Gang of Evil Stepsisters

[American X]

School of Hard Blocks
Butler Thrives on the Basketball Court by Fouling—Without Fouling

The story of Butler, the tiny Indiana school whose men's basketball team waltzed in glass slippers to the NCAA championship game in 2010 and again in 2011, is already one of the sport's classic fairy tales. Another carriage awaits this March: The Bulldogs have been ranked in the top 25 since mid-December.

But the twist here is that when you analyze the game tapes, Butler starts to look less like Cinderella and more like a gang of evil stepsisters—assuming those stepsisters had spent some time in the gym working out with the heavy bag.

The Butler Bulldogs are known as bullies. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323978104578332540900800374.html?K EYWORDS=butler)

[smileyy]

Some of the best Xavier teams did much the same thing -- using their superior strength conditioning to bump and bruise and batter the other teams into fatigue down the stretch. I love it.

[GoMuskies]

Sometimes fouls are called jump balls. And lead to clocks breaking. And water fountains being pulled out of walls.

[XUFan09]

Some of the best Xavier teams did much the same thing -- using their superior strength conditioning to bump and bruise and batter the other teams into fatigue down the stretch. I love it.

Agreed. This year's team is a good example of that. I remember JRob for called for a couple bumping fouls in the last game, and my thought was, "Really? Cause we've been doing thall season."

[danaandvictory]

Been saying this for a long time and it's not meant as a backhanded compliment. They play the game the way it is called now and have been fabulously successful.

[JTG]

Been saying this for a long time and it's not meant as a backhanded compliment. They play the game the way it is called now and have been fabulously successful.

It works even better when your team looks like a bunch of choirboys. Howard was one of the dirtiest players ever, and perfected flopping. And got away with it all the time..

[Masterofreality]

It works even better when your team looks like a bunch of choirboys. Howard was one of the dirtiest players ever, and perfected flopping. And got away with it all the time..

Worse than Howard was Hayward. That guy was a cheap shot artist of the first order with a baby face.

Any review of the clock game tapes clearly show a two handed throw down of Jordan Crawford out of bounds under the basket and no ref call despite one guy standing right there.

I hate Hayward to this day....and evermore.

[PMI]

Sometimes fouls are called jump balls. And lead to clocks breaking. And water fountains being pulled out of walls.

This has been proven accurate.

[Xavier]

Worse than Howard was Hayward. That guy was a cheap shot artist of the first order with a baby face.

Any review of the clock game tapes clearly show a two handed throw down of Jordan Crawford out of bounds under the basket and no ref call despite one guy standing right there.

I hate Hayward to this day....and evermore.

I would have loved to have Hawrard at Xavier. (Wasn't it down to X and Butler?) He was great at what he did. Everyone hated him yet he was still solid.

[danaandvictory]

I would have loved to have Hawrard at Xavier. (Wasn't it down to X and Butler?) He was great at what he did. Everyone hated him yet he was still solid.

That was Matt Howard. Gordon Hayward had no other D-I offers and went to Butler because his sister was on the tennis team. That was a recruiting coup along the lines of XU finding a skinny center out in Brown County a few decades ago.

[American X]

Embracing Old School, The 2013 NCAA Tournament, Circa 1939 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323415304578370713160532092.html?m od=WSJ_hpp_sections_sports)

The nugget:

"The weight room for No. 6-seed Butler looks like a scene out of the 1920s."

Because the weight room IS out of the 1920s!