Throughout the entire 2011-2012 season, I have been able to hold my composure. I have been able to grit my teeth through awful game after awful game. I have been able to comfort myself in the fact that Brad Stevens, the coach who always finds a way to win, was still at the helm. But for some reason, Thursday night’s loss to UWM changed all that.
Following yet another unbearable game in which Butler shot 28 percent, I found myself turning to my wife and proclaiming – “This is the worst basketball game I have seen in my entire life!”
To which she calmly replied before going back to her book – “You have said that about every Butler game this year!”
James Haarsma led UWM to victory on Thursday night . (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
It has been that kind of a season.
Butler, a team that has been known for its Indiana bred sharp-shooters and ability to find ways to win, finds itself in 5th place and two games behind in a Horizon League it has dominated the past 5 years. A team that has been to back-to-back National Championship games; a team that was receiving votes in the preseason poll; a team that despite the return of three veterans and the most promising coach in the country, keeps losing games it shouldn’t.
I, like many, thought the struggles would eventually work itself out. I believed that the law-of-averages meant that Butler would eventually click on offense and begin to mold into the team they have traditionally become in the second half of the past few seasons. And I, like many, was wrong.
All the optimism, all the positive ways I could spin the story was derailed in the embarrassing loss to UWM, where Butler even managed to hold the home team to another season low – 53 points.
Dating back to the 2007-2008 season through the UConn game last March, Butler was 55-6 when holding teams under 60 points. This year? 8-2.
It seems pretty logical that holding a team under 60 points will make it that much easier to win the game. The problem is that Butler has turned the table on itself this year and has now played 10 games this season where the Bulldogs have failed to score 60 points on offense. Its record in those 10 games – just 5-5.
In fact, following the UWM game, Butler is now averaging just 63 points per game – only three points off the threshold that must leave opposing teams drooling. Everyone knows that it doesn’t matter if an opposing team scores 10 points, if you only score 9.
What many in the media are beginning to call uncharacteristic, sure looks to be a characteristic of this Bulldog team. What many fans and analysts refer to as a shooting slump, looks much more like a team who never had the touch in the first place.
Chase Stigall, a player who many would categorize as a three-point specialist without hesitation, is shooting only 30.2-percent from beyond the mark this season. And despite many attributing the recent inaccuracy to a “shooting-slump,” a quick look at the statistics argues otherwise. Over the past three seasons, Stigall’s career shooting percentage from beyond the ark rests at just 31-percent from 216 attempts. And yet, the player not known for his defense or ball handling is averaging 26.6 minutes a game.
Andrew Smith, a 6-10 center who was supposed to dominate the inside and score easily over Horizon League competition, looks more comfortable shooting threes and finger rolling layups.
Brad Stevens, a mastermind coach who is known for developing a team out of previously overlooked players, has still yet to identify and put his faith in a core group of players to play themselves out of a rut.
The list could go on and on, but the question remains – will anything change?
The Bulldogs held a players-other meeting following the final whistle in Milwaukee with the hope that they could address the “slump” and overcome it.
The good news is that the 2011-2012 season is anything but over and the optimistic outlook could still yet unfold. The task, however, is now greater than ever before because unlike the last few years, this Butler team is not surprising anyone.
Last year was mostly terrible too.
Brad Stevens has uglied-up Butler basketball by ignoring offense. It’s gotten to the point where they are literally one of the worst offensive teams in the country.
You have more faith than I if you actually believe theyll permanently attach Stigall to the bench next year with so many better minutes at his position.
You’ve got to be kidding me trying to compare this Butler team to last year’s team. Last year there were actually players who could step up and make shots (Mack, Howard, Vanzant). And last year was certainly ugly at times (when we lost the 3 in a row) but the team picked it up and didn’t lose the rest of the season until the championship game. Butler’s 10th loss last year came in the championship. This year’s 10th loss came two months sooner. Can only hope that Rotnei Clarke and the incoming freshmen know how to shoot the ball.
I think we know that Clarke can come in and shoot well, and Dunham should at a minimum be a solid 3 point specialist. Add that to what I would expect to be improvement for the freshmen that have had huge roles all season, and Marshall finally wakes up; and I think we will be pretty solid next year.
I didn’t have high expectations for this year… I guess I’m a little numb to all of this. Its frustrating, but not so much…
Well written…and frustration is justified. The biggest problem with this team (and Please understand that I love the Dawgs) has been apparent since November: this team simply does not have a single good shooter. Oh sure, there are the other things like Andrew’s passive play and the whole team’s inability to finish inside, but either a kid is a good shooter or he isn’t, and it ain’t gonna change in mid-season. I really think that Rotnei and Kellen will loosen things up inside next season, and it looks like CH-D has the potential to be a scoring point guard. Even so, the returning bigs really need to dedicate themselves to getting better over the summer. I wish them luck in doing just that.
And they continue to lose. I thought Stevens was a top coach in the country? It he was, he could guide these mediocre players through the Horizon League. Water has found its level.