Butler Has It's Bite Back

Prior to entering the Big East, Butler lost its Wonder Boy Head Coach, Brad Stevens to the NBA. The Bulldogs hired former player, Brandon Miller to take over. Miller was without top player, Roosevelt Jones who would injure his knee before the season. After a 4-14 season in league play, Coach Miller took a leave of absence that ultimately lead to Chris Holtmann taking over.

Well, flash forward to now and Butler is only 1/2 game out in the Big East with a showdown at home against Villanova this Saturday. They're no longer a scrappy underdog, but a program on the rise and playing the basketball that took them to two Final Fours.

Butler is currently 18th in KenPom, with the 55th best O and 16th best D. Butler is one of the better rebounding teams in the nation. They're 38th in offensive rebounding % and 24th in defensive rebounding %. The 'dogs get after it on the glass. Teams have an effective fg% of 45.6% against them. They do a good job defending the 3. Opponents are only making 28.6% against them, which is 10th best in the nation.

They aren't as good on offense. They have an effective fg% of 49.4%, which is about average. As you might expect, they protect the ball well. They have a turnover % of 16.7%, 38th best in the nation. They are a poor free throw shooting team, however. They only make 67%, which is 241st in the nation. That's an area of concern and they do an adequate job getting to the line.

They don't have a Gordon Hayward on the roster but they have a bunch of good college players. The aforementioned Jones has bounced back nicely from injury and scores 13 ppg. He is one of the bad FT shooters, though, making only 58% and he gets to the line at a decent clip. The leading scorer is sharpshooter, Kellen Dunham who scores 16.7 ppg. He shoots 42 from 3 and is 86% from the line. They've also been getting nice production from So. Andrew Charbascz in the paint. Sr. Kam Woods is the teams best rebounder but another poor FT shooter. Alex Barlow is arguably the heart and soul of the team. He's the player opponents fans hate but he's the guy diving all over the court, making timely steals, etc.

Butler beat North Carolina at Atlantis. They've got losses to Indiana, Oklahoma and at Tennessee, so nothing too egregious. All other losses have come in conference against likely tournament teams.

They're not a Final 4 team but they are capable of the Sweet 16. I wasn't a big believer before the season but their play has shown they're a team not to take lightly.