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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 22:25:35 GMT -5
Post by Bomber on Dec 8, 2007 22:25:35 GMT -5
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 22:37:14 GMT -5
Post by Jazzfan on Dec 8, 2007 22:37:14 GMT -5
Wright State Upsets No. 13 Butler 43-42 Dec. 8, 2007 FAIRBORN, Ohio (AP) -Wright State stopped Butler by stopping A.J. Graves. Scottie Wilson and Todd Brown both scored 10 points to lead Wright State to a 43-42 upset over No. 13 Butler on Saturday night, the Bulldogs' first loss of the season. Butler (8-1, 1-1 Horizon League) had a last chance at the win, but Graves missed a 3-point attempt from the top of the key with three seconds left. Wright State (3-2, 1-1) used tenacious defense and balanced scoring to beat the Bulldogs. Julian Betko had 14 points to lead Butler, which shot 32 percent from the field (16-for-50). Graves, who was averaging 16.6 points a game, was held to six on 2-for-11 shooting and he missed all six of his 3-point attempts. "You know how good that guy is," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said of Graves. "If you play him like a regular guy, he's going to kill you. He's going to beat you up bad." Brownell said the Raiders paid close attention to Graves, probably more than some other teams do. "You also have to be lucky that the guy doesn't make some open shots. It's not like he didn't have any open shots," Brownell said. "To our credit, we made it hard on him." Down 32-30 with 14:28 to play, Butler went on a 10-1 run behind Betko and Matt Howard, taking a 40-33 lead with 9:23 to go. Wilson stopped the run with a 3-pointer and then hit another, bringing Wright State within one with 6:22 left. "Scottie's two 3s were huge," Brownell said. "Scottie's kind of been that way for us. He's gotten us double figures every night." The teams traded baskets, and Wright State took the 43-42 lead at 1:45 left on a driving, left-handed layup by Will Graham. Wilson stole the ball on the next possession, but Butler got it back when Betko stole the ball from Vaughn Duggins with 20 seconds remaining. Butler looked for an open shot, but couldn't find it, forcing Graves to launch the 3-point attempt. Time ran out as both teams scrambled for the rebound. Wright State often double-teamed Graves and forced him to pass. Betko made up for some of Graves' usual production, hitting four 3-pointers. But the Raiders were able to put the clamps on Howard, who had 20 points in Butler's 53-46 victory over Detroit on Thursday. The freshman center, subbing for the injured Pete Campbell, had five points. "It was a hard-fought game between two good hard-nosed, defensive-minded teams," first-year Butler coach Brad Stevens said. Stevens said Wright State always plays hard. "Our guys understand that coming into places, you have to be able to play with confidence," he said. Stevens said his team will have to rebound from the loss. "You're not measured on necessarily one piece of adversity," he said. "You are measured on how you respond." Wright State students stormed the court following the Raiders' victory, jumping up and down in a sea of white balloons. butlersports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120807aaa.html
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 22:42:00 GMT -5
Post by Raiderfan on Dec 8, 2007 22:42:00 GMT -5
That was fun. The only thing better then beating Butler was being able to share that moment with my sons. They were going crazy and high fiving each other............priceless!
How in the world do you only score 43 pts and still beat a team the caliber of Butler? Our defense was mind boggling. Butler only shot 32% from the field ( 16-50 ).
Just some observations:
- Scottie was HUGE tonight! We're down 7 late in the game and the man steps up and nails two 3's................nuts, just nuts. Scottie was perfect from the field ( 4-4 & 2-2 on 3's). He was also the 2nd leading rebounder with 5.
- Todd had a "solid" stat line. 10pts, 4-8 from the field, 1-1 from the 3's, 6 rbs ( lead the team) , 2 assist, only 1 T.O., and 3 steals. He didn't force anything tonight and played some serious "D".
- Will had a nice game. 3-6 from the field and 3 steals. What I was glad to see was that he was being more aggressive on offense and getting some dribble penetration. Will is not a jump shooter, his strength is taking the ball to the rake.
- Vaughn has to be exhausted after chasing Graves all night. Vaughn SHUT HIM DOWN! Just for good measure he chipped in 8 pts.
- BB basically only played 7 players. Gavin played 2 minutes and then Troy & JDG both played major minutes off the bench.
This wins puts us right back in the thick of things and positioned us well to compete for one of the top spots in the league.
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 22:47:24 GMT -5
Post by Raider Fanatic on Dec 8, 2007 22:47:24 GMT -5
I just wanted to add a huge thank you to the students that organized all of the student events the last few days. You gave us a great home court advantage tonight. I wish the alums would have shown up as well. 7,000 is a nice turnout, but we should have had more for the #13 ranked team in the country.
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 22:50:52 GMT -5
Post by nybuckeye on Dec 8, 2007 22:50:52 GMT -5
Butler fans are a bunch of classless assholes. I didn't really care for the picture Willie put in his post this morning, but I completely support it tonight. If you read through the thread you'll see that most of the posts are actually complimentary to WSU and there are just a few idiots doing what idiots do. I don't see any reason to paint Butler fans with a broad brush; every board has its share of fools posting nonsense. As for the game, great win. I hope the fan support continues to grow. I thought the student section was great tonight and hope they continue to come out and support the team while classes are out of session for winter break. We can certainly use them Tuesday night.
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 23:03:06 GMT -5
Post by 86grad on Dec 8, 2007 23:03:06 GMT -5
Green and Graves had 0 points in the 2nd half. A true defensive shutdown!
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 23:03:20 GMT -5
Post by Big D on Dec 8, 2007 23:03:20 GMT -5
I really enjoy rooting for this team. We are so well coached and have so many players that can step up and have a big game for us. I still think we have a great deal of growing to do this season before we can consider ourselves legit contenders, but I am going to enjoy the ride.
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 23:39:55 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Dec 8, 2007 23:39:55 GMT -5
Wright State, UD pull off big upsetsBy Marc Katz Staff Writer Sunday, December 09, 2007 FAIRBORN — Butler took the last shot, but Wright State had the corresponding defense Saturday night to cap a rare one-city, two-team success over a pair of Top 25 teams. Earlier in the day, UD won at No. 14 Louisville. Then Wright State made a final stop in a defense-dominated 43-42 victory over the No. 13 Bulldogs in front of 6,981 fans at the Nutter Center. Wright State broke a two-game losing streak to go 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Horizon League, while Butler lost for the first time in nine games and is 1-1 vs. Ohio teams. Last Saturday, the Bulldogs beat Ohio State. Butler's A.J. Graves, his team's leading scorer most nights, was held to six points, and his final 3-point shot with Vaughn Duggins and Scottie Wilson denying him a good look, did not come close with about four seconds left. The game ended with players from both sides scrumming for the rebound under the basket. It was enough to entice students to pour out of the stands to embrace the Raiders, although not as many as last season when WSU beat Butler here for the Horizon League tournament championship. "I'd rather win that way (on defense) than for us to hit a last-second shot," WSU coach Brad Brownell said. In two straight losses, the Raiders had allowed more than 70 points, and Butler entered the game averaging almost that many. John David Gardner hit a 3-point shot to end the first half, 28-27, in Wright State's favor, but Butler built up a 40-33 lead with 9:19 to play before two 3-point Scottie Wilson baskets closed most of that gap. Wright State didn't regain the lead until Will Graham's across-the-lane-driving left-handed layup banked in with 1:44 to play. It was the last basket of the game. "It shows what we're capable of," Graham said. "We didn't want our offense dictate our defense. Everyone in the gym knew Graves was going to take that last shot. We had to stop him." Wright State did. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/12/08/ddn120907wsubb.html
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Butler
Dec 8, 2007 23:41:34 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Dec 8, 2007 23:41:34 GMT -5
Game all about ball controlBy Marc Katz Sunday, December 09, 2007 FAIRBORN — Wright State coach Brad Brownell is one of those guys who believes defense wins games, but he doesn't take much of the credit when it does. "We're a decent offensive team, but most nights we're not going to win on offense," Brownell said after WSU's 43-42 victory over No. 13 Butler Saturday night at the Nutter Center. "This game was a little more ball control. The possessions were down. We did a great job holding them to 32 percent shooting. That proved our defense was better. We didn't all of the sudden magically get better in one day with a great practice. Brad Brownell is not Bob Knight or John Wooden." Butler's A.J. Graves is no Michael Jordan, either, at least in the Nutter Center. Graves, Butler's leading scorer with nearly 17 points a game, was held to six, and made none of his six 3-point shots. Over his last four games at the Nutter Center (one in the Horizon League tournament against Loyola), Graves is 3-for-28 from the 3-point line. No excuses from ButlerButler coach Brad Stevens never mentioned one of his leading scorers, Pete Campbell, didn't play for the second straight game because of a sprained knee. Brownell did mention Campbell, saying it was tough to play with such a scorer out of the lineup. Brownell also mentioned the Raiders were at home and the last time they played at Butler — in the first of three games between the teams last season — Butler won 73-42. "It's hard to win on the road," Brownell said. "That's why Butler is so good. They've been able to win on the road. The crowd jumps up and screams, 'Hey, we need a stop.' The players sometimes listen to their peers more than their coach. They must be trying to get a date with some of those peers, do you think?" Todd passes offBrownell said he called a play for Todd Brown to take a shot the last time the Raiders had the ball, just before the final turnover with just more than 20 seconds left. "We set up a play for Todd," Brownell said. "He had it, he didn't take it, and from there, things kind of broke down. That's where we're looking for a little better direction. We need Todd Brown to take that shot. I want him to take it unless they run an army at him." Edwards takes a bowBill Edwards was in the stands and took a bow near the 15th anniversary of his school record 45 points — Dec. 12, 1992, vs. Morehead State. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/12/08/ddn120907wsunotes.html
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Butler
Dec 9, 2007 8:34:29 GMT -5
Post by Retired Coach on Dec 9, 2007 8:34:29 GMT -5
December 9, 2007 Butler can't overcome dry spellBy David Woods DAYTON, Ohio -- Butler's offense has disappeared, and so has its unbeaten record in college basketball. Wright State held Butler to two points over the final nine minutes and defeated the No. 13 Bulldogs 43-42 before a crowd of 6,981 Saturday night. The winning basket was a layup by Will Graham with 1 minute, 45 seconds left. No one scored thereafter. Although deflating to a team that won the Great Alaska Shootout and beat Ohio State, Butler's defeat shouldn't have been astounding. Wright State is 7-0 against Butler in the past seven meetings at the Nutter Center. Now Butler (8-1, 1-1) will look for four weeks at Horizon League standings that have Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago sharing the lead at 2-0. Butler's next league game is Jan. 5 against Valpo. The Raiders held Butler guards A.J. Graves and Mike Green to six points each. With four seconds left, Graves missed a 3-pointer that would have reversed the outcome. "Part of our game plan is to guard him as hard as humanly possible," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said. "We, probably more than teams in the BCS conferences, know how good that guy is. "If you guard him like a regular guy, he's going to kill you." Graves was 0-of-6 on 3s. He is 0-of-11 from the arc in the past two games, and 3-of-28 in the past four games at the Nutter Center (including a league tournament game against Loyola). Vaughn Duggins, a sophomore from Pendleton, Ind., drew the assignment of guarding Graves most of the night. "We just need to figure out something to do on the offensive end," Graves said. "That's on our coaches as well as on our players. "We're the ones out there playing. We need to set better screens, move the ball. We'll look at it. This isn't going to get us down." The Raiders were similarly effective in defending Green. He was visibly frustrated on occasions in which he drove to the basket, missed shots and did not draw a foul. Despite the rough-and-tumble, there were just 12 fouls by Butler and 11 by Wright State. "I guess I wasn't going hard enough," Green said. "I don't miss many layups, as you know. I got a couple of layups that didn't even touch the rim. Just go back and work on my layups, I guess." First-year coach Brad Stevens, whose defeat was his first, and Butler players conceded that league opponents' familiarity with the Bulldogs can make it hard to score. Moreover, Wright State's Scottie Wilson said the Raiders didn't do anything differently to prepare for Butler than they did last season. Graves and Green will have better days ahead, Stevens said. "I've got all the faith in the world in them," Stevens said. Julian Betko was 4-of-6 on 3s and led Butler with 14 points. It was the first time in 35 games he had scored more than eight. Butler limited Wright State to five points in the opening 12 minutes of the second half. A 10-1 run featuring three rebound baskets pushed the Bulldogs to their biggest lead, 40-33, with 9:24 left. Betko stole the ball from Duggins with 21 seconds left, and Butler called timeout. Betko couldn't control the rebound on Graves' final miss. "I told our guys you're not measured on one piece of adversity," Stevens said. "You're measured on how you respond to it." www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071209/SPORTS06/712090365/1247/SPORTS
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Butler
Dec 9, 2007 11:10:35 GMT -5
Post by Raiderdog on Dec 9, 2007 11:10:35 GMT -5
Man, that was fun last night! Great win by our guys. Loved the effort and hustle and flat out determination. You think the coaches wanted this one pretty bad...??!! Played what, 7 guys? Great job staff and players.
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Butler
Dec 9, 2007 13:40:03 GMT -5
Post by Glory Days on Dec 9, 2007 13:40:03 GMT -5
Random thoughts from last nights game.................. --I really like this team. Not just the starters. I like our bench and the guys that are not even able to play this year. (The AP picture of Pressley and Duggins hugging after the game shows you how tight this team really is.) --Jordan needs to play more minutes. The defense is so much better when the big guy is on the court. I was impressed with his ability to stay out of foul trouble last night. --Scottie Wilson has really developed into a player. He had some great games last year, but he was never consistent. Wilson is having a great senior year. --Vaughn Duggins doesn't get 1/100 of the credit he deserves for the great defense he plays. Everyone is talking about Butler's poor shooting. No one is talking about Duggins' in your face defense that shut them down. --Todd Brown played under control last night and didn't try to be our hero. I love Brown, but he has tried to do more than he is capable of the last few games. When Todd plays within himself, he is one of the best players on the court. -- JDG is a stud in the making. He is an all around great player in the same mold as VD. I only wish that he would become a little more selfish and look for his own shot a little more often. --Troy Tabler is impressing me more and more. He has a good shot and good basketball insticts. His shots are going to start falling and he is going to end up being a player in this league. It was great seeing Bill Edwards in the stands. I hope WSU's victory has inspired him to push his son into looking at our Raiders a little bit more. It will break my heart to see Bill Jr in a Miami or UD uniform in 2 years.
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Butler
Dec 9, 2007 23:05:29 GMT -5
Post by Raiderfan on Dec 9, 2007 23:05:29 GMT -5
Random thoughts from last nights game.................. --I really like this team. Not just the starters. I like our bench and the guys that are not even able to play this year. (The AP picture of Pressley and Duggins hugging after the game shows you how tight this team really is.) --Jordan needs to play more minutes. The defense is so much better when the big guy is on the court. I was impressed with his ability to stay out of foul trouble last night. --Scottie Wilson has really developed into a player. He had some great games last year, but he was never consistent. Wilson is having a great senior year. --Vaughn Duggins doesn't get 1/100 of the credit he deserves for the great defense he plays. Everyone is talking about Butler's poor shooting. No one is talking about Duggins' in your face defense that shut them down. --Todd Brown played under control last night and didn't try to be our hero. I love Brown, but he has tried to do more than he is capable of the last few games. When Todd plays within himself, he is one of the best players on the court. -- JDG is a stud in the making. He is an all around great player in the same mold as VD. I only wish that he would become a little more selfish and look for his own shot a little more often. --Troy Tabler is impressing me more and more. He has a good shot and good basketball insticts. His shots are going to start falling and he is going to end up being a player in this league. It was great seeing Bill Edwards in the stands. I hope WSU's victory has inspired him to push his son into looking at our Raiders a little bit more. It will break my heart to see Bill Jr in a Miami or UD uniform in 2 years. Very well said Rebel!!!! I agree that with JAP in the game we are a MUCH better rebounding team. When we have BOTH JAP & Scottie on the floor at the same time we are and even better rebounding team. Vaughn has another brutal assignment Tues. with the Ruffin kid. You know the coaches really ask a lot of VD. Not only do they ask him to score but they always seem to put him on the other teams best player. I don't care how good you are that is a very difficult thing to do game after game. I'm with you on Gardner. As the season progresses he is only going to get better and better. I feel that as JDG progresses we as a team will mirror that growth and get better and better. I say that because he is a point guard and the pt guard position is so critical in basketball.
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Butler
Dec 10, 2007 7:11:07 GMT -5
Post by Raider Country on Dec 10, 2007 7:11:07 GMT -5
Brownell making excuses for the other teamBy Marc Katz Staff writer Sunday, December 09, 2007 FAIRBORN — Okay, I get it. Brad Brownell is going to make all the excuses he can — for the other team. When he was asked recently to compare his victory over Marist at home last season and the loss at Marist this season, he graciously pointed out not only were his Wright State Raiders at home last year, but that Marist was without NBA guard prospect Jared Jordan. When surprising Valparaiso came in and knocked off the Raiders last Thursday, Brownell pointed out how good Valpo was. Then Saturday, after the Raiders survived to beat Butler 43-42, Brownell — not Butler coach Brad Stevens — pointed out Butler played without starter Pete Campbell, out with a sprained knee. "In fairness to Butler, I think they're still learning to play without Pete Campbell," Brownell said. "That's an added plus for us. I think you've got to give their kids a lot of credit to find a way to play and compete. We were fortunate in that way. Any time you take a big shooter and scorer out of the lineup, it makes it a bit easier, but our attention to detail was better. Our energy was better." Okay, while Campbell is a known commodity, it's not like Wright State has not had injury adversity. The Raiders have been counting on 6-9 transfer Ronnie Thomas, 6-4 transfer John David Gardner and 6-8 junior college transfer Gavin Horne this season, and all three have had injuries that slowed their progress. Thomas and Gardner didn't get much practice time last season during their transfer semesters due to previous injuries. Then Thomas broke his foot and had to sit out the first three games of this season. He played some against Valparaiso, but is still short of game shape. Because of his foot injury, Gardner hasn't played much in two years. He's beginning to show evidence of what kind of player he can be, with five points and a couple of rebounds against Butler. His foot, though, probably isn't yet 100 percent. Horne is also a little behind because of infected blisters on his feet. It will take more than five games — the number the Raiders have already played — to figure out just where this team is going. Butler got a glimpse of what it could be like for Wright State, and Stevens, who is in his first season as head coach, is not surprised. "It's always a tough, physical game," Stephens said. "I'll have to look at the tape to find out why we weren't able to score. They've always played hard. Not just for Brad. Paul Biancardi, Ed Schilling. They always play hard. "Our guys understand you've got to be able to perform on the road because it's a difficult thing to do. We're going to have better days than this and they're going to have better days than they had on Thursday (a loss to Valparaiso). It's not losing. It's how you rebound from it. "They lost on Thursday night and they rebounded because they're a tough program. They're a tough team. That's what tough teams do. You're not measured on one piece of adversity. You're measured on how you respond to it." Now WSU will have to respond to a victory, and it won't be easy. The next two games — both at home — are against Bradley Tuesday and Miami on Saturday. Those games complete a five-game stretch against teams that likely all will have winning records this season. www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/12/09/ddn121007raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-121007
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Butler
Dec 10, 2007 23:44:39 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2007 23:44:39 GMT -5
video1.washingtontimes.com/d1scourse/2007/12/top_40_countdown_5.htmlThe Washington Times * Butler falls down to No. 19, but a team like the Bulldogs is bound to get themselves into a few first-to-45-wins clunkers like Saturday's loss to Wright State. And in case anyone forgot, Wright State coach Brad Brownell (formerly of UNC Wilmington) knows what he's doing.
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