Dunham works on game

[Muskie]

Link (http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/butler/2014/06/23/broader-abroad-butlers-kellen-dunham-working-expand-game/11260579/)

He certainly could be. He is coming off a season in which he was seventh in the league in scoring (16.4 ppg) and became just the fifth Bulldog in program history to score 500 points or more as a sophomore.
He hit a 3-pointer in 29 of the team's 31 games, and tied a Bulldog record by draining his first seven from long range in a March win over Seton Hall. As Dunham went, so did Butler.
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Article tries to make the case that Dunham could have a McDermott type break out year. I like Dunham alot (so would most people on this board if he played for X), but McDermott?

[GoMuskies]

I think Dunham is a very, very good player. He just needs a lot of help.

[ArizonaXUGrad]

Getting bigger wouldn't hurt but getting Jones back from injury will help him a lot as defenses can't focus just on him.

They still don't have a decent PG.

[mistabeecee41]

I think Dunham is a very, very good player. He just needs a lot of help.

Agreed. Simply put - if he's the best player on your team, you're not going to be very good. If he had a penetrating guard, a legit post option and was the 3rd option? His efficiency numbers would skyrockets and I wouldn't want to play that team.

[PMI]

I think Dunham is a good player with the potential to be very good, but I did not like the way he played/the way Butler used him last year at all. The amount of bad shots he took would make Josh Smith blush, and he seemed to have always had the green light to do so. I know the rest of the team was pretty bad and he was leaned on to provide most of its offense, so e probably pressed too much. But he still developed some really bad habits in my opinion. Plus he has never impressed me defensively. In other words, he can be a 20 ppg scorer, but he's got a LOT to learn in order to be the right kind of player for a winning team. If he's going to remain a volume shooter who never has a shot he doesn't like, I don't see Butler being all that much better than they were this year.

[Irishdawg]

Little late to the party on this, but a lot of you are correct in your thinking. Dunham is a good player, but his best fit would be as the 3rd scoring option on a team, not the only scoring option on a team that was as offensively challenged as Butler was (and IMO, probably still will be this season). He was also the only guy on the team that could create his own shot, but he isn't great at it, so that's part of the reason that he was so inefficient last season.

He does still have a lot to learn in terms of how he can score. For instance, if teams are going to stick smaller guards like Dee Davis on him, I'd want him to be able to go on the block and take advantage of that. The stuff about him being in the same league as McDermott is a little ridiculous.

I also agree that he could really use an explosive point guard that can create for him to get him better looks, but I do think Barlow is a decent point guard. Offensively, he really just doesn't turn the ball over, he can hit some open looks too, but he's not a creator. Defensively though, he's one of the better guards in the league, so in my book he's at least a solid guy to have, just not necessarily what they need since Woods and Jones are also so defensive-centric.

I do see Butler as a better team this season. I don't think they're leaps and bounds ahead of where they were, but I do think their freshmen (who aren't elite recruits, but I think will be solid guys) will play a fair amount, which will help down the road. The biggest thing to me is at least in terms of bulk, Butler is actually going to look like a Big East team when they take the court with their additions this offseason and if Dunham really is up near 200 lbs now. So while I don't expect the skill to necessarily be better, I don't expect them to get beat up and pushed around as much this season.

[Milhouse]

Yeah Butler was hit with the perfect storm last year. Had Jones been able to play they'd probably have won nearly half a dozen more games and been at the very least an NIT team.

Really hoping the Butler X game in Indy is a Saturday/Sunday this year as that's such an easy drive.