Congrats to Butler

[cincyraider]

The Final four... Congrats to Butler! This has to change everything... raises the bar for the league and for WSU... The Horizon League has just arrived on the national college basketball scene. This has to raise perception for WSU basketball as well as every member institution of the Horizon league. Should pay off in terms of recruiting and prestige. Ultimately that is good for WSU.

[Retired Coach]

This does nothing for WSU. This helps Butler's perception. Did you watch the game? They didn't mention the HL once that I can remember.

[Big D]

Mar 27, 2010 18:43:57 GMT -5 cincyraider said:

The Final four... Congrats to Butler! This has to change everything... raises the bar for the league and for WSU... The Horizon League has just arrived on the national college basketball scene. This has to raise perception for WSU basketball as well as every member institution of the Horizon league. Should pay off in terms of recruiting and prestige. Ultimately that is good for WSU.

I guess you didn't know a member of the HL has already won a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

[Rush the Court]

Mar 27, 2010 21:29:24 GMT -5 Retired Coach said:

This does nothing for WSU. This helps Butler's perception. Did you watch the game? They didn't mention the HL once that I can remember.

It does provide us with a nice paycheck, but that is about it. It just makes it harder to recruit against them in the future.

[BasketBallJones]

Loyola's 1963 Chanpionship is one game I remember well. They beat Cincinnati on a tip in at the buzzer. Most people on this board probably weren't even born yet when this game happened.

[Glory Days]

Besides a bigger NCAA pay check, this doesn't really help us. We need to make a name for ourself with our own success. Four straight 20 win seasons has been a nice start. Now we need to get back to the dance and we are going to need to upgrade our schedule enough to give us a legit chance for at large considerations. We cannot put all of our eggs into winning the HL tournament.

This is an important few months for WSU hoops. We need to finish out our 2010 class with an impact recruit. We need to finish out our 2010 schedule and upgrade it enough to get us into at large consideration. We need to start on our 2011 recruiting class and build upon a strong 2010 class.

[cincyraider]

I think this will help everyone in the Horizon League in terms of perception, recruiting and scheduling. WSU should benefit indirectly from these. I also think it will make for a better conference. Butler has raised the bar again. Everyone in the Horizon will have to adjust and raise the level of their programs to compete with them.

[Retired Coach]

Mar 28, 2010 9:33:50 GMT -5 cincyraider said:

I think this will help everyone in the Horizon League in terms of perception, recruiting and scheduling. WSU should benefit indirectly from these.

Ask George Mason and the CAA if their trip to the final 4 helped them in any of those categories. Because it didn't.

[BasketBallJones]

You guys maybe right about Butler's run to the Final 4 not helping the HL, but it sure will help Butler in their recruiting. George Mason was find of a fluke, but Butler has been winning games and making runs in the NCAA tourney starting about 10 years ago. They have 4 of their 5 starter's back, so they could have a better team next year than they do now. That can only help their recruiting. The only negative thing for Butler's future that I see is who will take over as their Head Coach when Stevens get hired away for big $$$$.

[mrose]

Sure it will help. George Mason isn't an accurate comparison at all--GMU was a one shot deal. St. Mary's has steadily improved the last few years to keep up with Gonzaga and SMC was a sweet 16 team this year. Butler and the Zags are solid programs (have been for years) and if you want to keep pace with those teams you'll improve too. A high tide doesn't just raise one boat in the harbor it raises all boats.

[Willie]

Mar 29, 2010 13:38:27 GMT -5 mrose said:

Sure it will help. George Mason isn't an accurate comparison at all--GMU was a one shot deal. St. Mary's has steadily improved the last few years to keep up with Gonzaga and SMC was a sweet 16 team this year. Butler and the Zags are solid programs (have been for years) and if you want to keep pace with those teams you'll improve too. A high tide doesn't just raise one boat in the harbor it raises all boats.

This is basketball, not osmosis. You don't get better because a team from your conference got better. This doesn't help us. If we make a run in the post season next year, that would help us. Right now, everyone looks at the HL as a 1 trick pony. Butler's run to the final 4 just reinforces that perception.

[Retired Coach]

Mar 29, 2010 13:38:27 GMT -5 mrose said:

St. Mary's has steadily improved the last few years to keep up with Gonzaga

Thanks for proving my point. 95% of the country doesn't know who is in the West Coast Conference. They all know who Gonzaga is because of their post season success, but most people don't know what conference they play in. St Mary's is just starting to put the WCC on the map because they are also starting to have some consistent post season success of their own. The key is that it's more than 1 team having success. Until someone besides Butler steps up and has some consistent post season success from the HL, we will just be known as Butler's conference.

[ohiopirate]

Here's a little taste of what the media has to say about us:

Butler is no Cinderella

Butler is irresistibly charming. Humble roots, old-school style, iconic fieldhouse, baby-faced coach: What else to want in an underdog?

That the Bulldogs are the first team since UCLA in 1972 to make a Final Four in their home city (Indianapolis) only compounds their appeal.

But let’s be clear. Butler is no George Mason-type interloper. The Bulldogs are good, darn good, and have been for more than a decade.

Sure, Butler hails from the Horizon League, the members of which only its commissioner, former ACC assistant Jon LeCrone, can recite. Yes, their homecourt, Hinkle Fieldhouse, was showcased in “Hoosiers.” And yes, their offense occasionally appears designed by Gene Hackman’s Norman Dale.

But coach Brad Stevens’ team was No. 11 in the preseason Associated Press poll and has been ranked for most the season. The Bulldogs (32-4) enter Saturday’s Final Four semifinal against Michigan State on a 24-game winning streak and would have made the NCAA field even had they stumbled in the Horizon tournament. They defeated Ohio State and Xavier during the regular season and lost close encounters with Clemson and Georgetown.

Given those credentials, it was no surprise to see Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, Matt Howard and friends seeded fifth in the West Regional. Nor was it shocking to see them advance past UTEP, Murray State, top-seeded Syracuse and second-seeded Kansas State.

Butler is seeded higher than past Final Four teams such as Virginia in 1984, Michigan’s Fab Five in ’92, and North Carolina and Wisconsin in 2000. Why, the Bulldogs are a higher seed than the 1985 and ’88 national champions, Villanova and Kansas.

Now consider Butler’s recent NCAA past. This is the program’s ninth tournament appearance in 14 years, and under former coach Todd Lickliter, the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2003, defeating Mississippi State and Louisville, and 2007, besting Old Dominion and Maryland.

Stevens guided Butler to the second round in 2008, and last year the Bulldogs dropped a stirring first-round game to LSU.

So spare us the Cinderella label.

George Mason, conversely, was a No. 11 seed in 2006 that had never won an NCAA tournament game. The Patriots lost in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals and were a controversial at-large selection before defeating Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut to make the Final Four in Indy, where they fell to eventual champion Florida.

Speaking of the Gators, our first in-person look at Butler came at the 2000 NCAA first round in Winston-Salem, N.C., as the Bulldogs lost 69-68 to Florida on Mike Miller’s buzzer-beating layup in overtime. That Florida squad then defeated Illinois, Duke, Oklahoma State and North Carolina before losing the national title game to Michigan State.

A year later, Butler trounced Wake Forest in the first round, its first NCAA tournament victory since 1962. The Bulldogs have been national players since.

But never quite like this.

Oh, and just in case you’re curious: Butler’s Horizon League brethren are Wright State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cleveland State, Valparaiso, Detroit, Loyola of Chicago, Illinois-Chicago and Youngstown State.

If you already knew that, proceed immediately to counseling.

weblogs.dailypress.com/sports/teelblog/2010/03/butler_is_no_cinderella.html

[OG Raiderfan]

Mar 29, 2010 20:43:29 GMT -5 @gmoore62 said:

That's a pretty fair summary of the HL. They did leave out CSU last year & a few other sweet 16 runs but it's been sporadic & similar to GMU's one hit wonder. BU hadn't had a tourny win in almost 40 years when they won in 2001. However, they've consistenly been in & for the most part won regularly in the tourny. Remember folks, our University is just 40 or so years old. We've made baby steps but are only 4 years in to what BB is trying to build. Let's be happy as long as we are showing progress. I wasn't sure when the season ended that we had progressed but was basing it on our record. Looking back I can see progress & we have our best recruiting class (on paper) ever coming in next year. Let's give it a few more years before we continue with the gloom & doom. Outside of not recruiting anythng resembling a post player I'm pretty happy with the direction of the team.

I don't see any doom and gloom posts here. Just a bunch of fans stating that WSU needs to build it's own success and not worry about what Butler is doing.

FYI, AJ Pacher is a 6-9 Center and he is listed as the 3rd best center in Ohio by Rivals.

[cincyraider]

I disagree. Butler to the Final Four is good for WSU. Yeah we need to help ourselves by making it to the tournament that is a given, but Butler's success raises the bar in the Horizon league. You have to go through them to get into the tournament. It means that we have to recruit players who can beat their players. So does everyone else in the conference. That improves the conference. Its not osmosis its competition.