Butler, the hL and other conferences

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IndyStar.com Sports State Colleges

March 5, 2007


Butler fits in Horizon despite challenges
Bulldogs have been left out of NCAA tourney in past because of league's '1-bid' reputation

By David Woods
[e-mail]

Doug Elgin, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference, attended Southern Illinois' basketball game Feb. 17 against Butler and found himself examining Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Schools on the move

Four schools that changed basketball conferences:
• St. Louis -- Belonged to Missouri Valley Conference from 1937-38 through 1973-74, with the exception of a few seasons. Has belonged to Metro, Midwestern City (now the Horizon), Great Midwest, Conference USA and are currently in the Atlantic 10. Billikens were in NCAA Tournament three times in 1990s but haven't been selected since winning C-USA tourney in 2000.
• UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) -- Made NCAA field eight times between 1982 and 1990 out of Sun Belt. Has been selected for NCAAs once (1994) out of the Great Midwest and four times out of Conference USA, reaching the Sweet Sixteen in 2004.
• Richmond -- Made NCAA field six times between 1984 and 1998 out of Colonial Athletic Association, reaching Sweet Sixteen in 1988. Moved to Atlantic 10 for 2001-02 season and has made the field once (2004).
• Tulsa -- Belonged to Valley from 1934-35 through 1995-96. Moved to Western Athletic Conference in 1996-97, then to Conference USA in 2005-06 to accommodate football program. Tulsa has maintained strong basketball program, making NCAA field 12 times since 1982, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2000.

Butler at Wright State
9 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN

"It was interesting to sit there looking at the banners and realize that 10 years ago, they had just a handful of NCAA Tournament opportunities," Elgin said of the Bulldogs.
Since 1997, Butler has five NCAA trips out of the Horizon League. Before that, its lone appearance was in 1962.
That is a cautionary tale for those who might say Butler is in the wrong league. It is an issue because, for the third time in six seasons, Butler has a resume worthy of an NCAA at-large spot.
The 18th-ranked Bulldogs (27-5) can make it moot by beating Wright State (22-9) in Tuesday's league championship at Dayton, Ohio. The winner earns an automatic bid.
Every projection puts Butler in the NCAA field, irrespective of Tuesday's outcome. Butler has twice been 25-5 on Selection Sunday. It secured a spot in 2003 after its omission in 2002.
Yet the Horizon is viewed as a one-bid league. Only once in the past eight seasons -- Butler in 2003 -- has a team other than the league's tourney champ gotten an NCAA berth.
So should Butler get out? Stay in? Start a new league?
Stay in, says ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, who coached at Detroit in the 1970s when the school was an independent. Detroit is now a Horizon member. Vitale said the Horizon has credibility -- Butler, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Detroit have combined to win eight NCAA Tournament games in the past decade -- and that the Bulldogs are well positioned.

"They've got some quality programs in that league," Vitale said. "I think they (Butler) have got a perfect setting, I really do."
Athletic director Barry Collier said Butler is not actively looking for a new conference. He said geography and public/private mix -- Valparaiso in 2007-08 will give the Horizon a fourth private school out of 10 -- are favorable.

It's more than basketball, Collier said, although basketball has seemingly benefited.

"We can be a Top 25 team and a Top 10 team," he said. "Those things have happened, and had never happened before."
Butler is a charter member of a league born in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference. The league has changed names twice and membership many times.

Previous basketball members featured Marquette (now in the Big East) along with Xavier, Dayton and St. Louis (all Atlantic 10).
The Horizon has been relatively stable since the 1995-96 season. The only school to leave since then was Northern Illinois, and the only ones to join were Youngstown State and Valpo.
Jon LeCrone, commissioner of the Horizon, said "people would be surprised" by some schools that have sought to join the league. He did not identify them.

"Sometimes you get caught in this thinking that 'another league can make us better.' That is absolutely not always the case," LeCrone said. "Schools build leagues. Leagues don't always build schools."

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