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Ok, ok....so I know there are a couple threads already saying we should be like Butler...but I think this needs to be exposed........
butler is a fine, fine team, and in no way is anything here meant to dis on Butler or bring them down....they have done a good job in recent years.
Here is the quote that prompted my effort to put this argument to rest...
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintLouBrave22
... Butler's players are just as young as we are.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Reynolds
The comparable private-school BU in Indianapolis starts three freshmen and a sophomore and is breezing..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk Wessler
three freshmen and two sophomores playing the majority of Butler's minutes
(which of course is not true....FULL TIME starter Will Veasley and one of their most used players is a junior)
Now the facts...........
1) Bradley's TWO most senior players are BOTH injured and not playing (Sam Singh and Andrew Warren), and the guy with the most career minutes and the highest returning scoring average (Warren) hasn't played all year and isn't likely to....while the most experienced returning guard available (Sam Maniscalco) has also been hobbled by injury this season.
Butler has absolutely no such losses or injuries whatsoever to deal with.
2) Both Butler and Bradley have FIVE players averaging more than 20 minutes per game or more....so both team rely heavily on just 5-6 players.
BUT BU has had to deal with significant injuries to one of their main five (Maniscalco) and two of their other significant players (Egolf & Singh) .....none of Butler's have, PLUS...Bradley has also lost for the season two guys who would have been starters (Egolf, Warren)!
3) Butler's lineup has one guy starting who has been a Butler regular and who has been averaging 15 mpg for 3 years now...Bradley is going exclusively with 1st & 2nd year guys, and guys like Sam Singh who have virtually never played before.
4) their starting center (Matt Howard) played full time last season and started nearly every game last year and this year...
We don't have even ONE single guy who had ever previously started even ONE single game at center or even at any position in college basketball now playing post positions.....so no doubt Butler has TONS more experience in the paint.
5) Butler's first two guys off the bench (Avery Jukes and Zach Hahn) are a junior and a sophomore, who both have significant experience from the past year or two.
Bradley comes off the bench with Taylor Brown, Darian Norris, and even Anthony Thompson, not one of which has ever seen a D-I floor before this season.
6) as noted elsewhere, recruiting is always easier if you sit right in the middle of a city of 1 million, and one of the Top 25 TV markets, and if the other midmajors instate provide no real competition to recruiting.
Bradley simply does not have any of those blessing...so we just have to do the best we can with what we have.
AND, I believe, recruiting has been as strong as every with numerous 2-3 Star recruits, more players of that caliber in the past 2-3 years than in the previous 2-3 decades.
7) lastly, BU does have help coming in the form of Wilkins, Prosser, Knezevic, Harris....good recruiting and fine players already committed and/or signed.
Butler has only one player committed and signed for the future...so time will tell........
I have gathered a bunch of excuses and I'm seriously wondering if anyone can top them. So; give me your best shot tell me why JL said this is the best group he has ever coached and let everyone know he was going to compete for the valley. BB was returning to carver and fan excitment was going to be at an all time high. The only oversites i recognize is defence and then of course scoring, making a jumper here and there. Just give me a list of excuses and you too can make the all loser team. One excuse gets you in and two or more you'll start...
butler is a fine, fine team, and in no way is anything here meant to dis on Butler or bring them down....they have done a good job in recent years.
Here is the quote that prompted my effort to put this argument to rest...
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintLouBrave22
... Butler's players are just as young as we are.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Reynolds
The comparable private-school BU in Indianapolis starts three freshmen and a sophomore and is breezing..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk Wessler
three freshmen and two sophomores playing the majority of Butler's minutes
(which of course is not true....FULL TIME starter Will Veasley and one of their most used players is a junior)
Now the facts...........
1) Bradley's TWO most senior players are BOTH injured and not playing (Sam Singh and Andrew Warren), and the guy with the most career minutes and the highest returning scoring average (Warren) hasn't played all year and isn't likely to....while the most experienced returning guard available (Sam Maniscalco) has also been hobbled by injury this season.
Butler has absolutely no such losses or injuries whatsoever to deal with.
2) Both Butler and Bradley have FIVE players averaging more than 20 minutes per game or more....so both team rely heavily on just 5-6 players.
BUT BU has had to deal with significant injuries to one of their main five (Maniscalco) and two of their other significant players (Egolf & Singh) .....none of Butler's have, PLUS...Bradley has also lost for the season two guys who would have been starters (Egolf, Warren)!
3) Butler's lineup has one guy starting who has been a Butler regular and who has been averaging 15 mpg for 3 years now...Bradley is going exclusively with 1st & 2nd year guys, and guys like Sam Singh who have virtually never played before.
4) their starting center (Matt Howard) played full time last season and started nearly every game last year and this year...
We don't have even ONE single guy who had ever previously started even ONE single game at center or even at any position in college basketball now playing post positions.....so no doubt Butler has TONS more experience in the paint.
5) Butler's first two guys off the bench (Avery Jukes and Zach Hahn) are a junior and a sophomore, who both have significant experience from the past year or two.
Bradley comes off the bench with Taylor Brown, Darian Norris, and even Anthony Thompson, not one of which has ever seen a D-I floor before this season.
6) as noted elsewhere, recruiting is always easier if you sit right in the middle of a city of 1 million, and one of the Top 25 TV markets, and if the other midmajors instate provide no real competition to recruiting.
Bradley simply does not have any of those blessing...so we just have to do the best we can with what we have.
AND, I believe, recruiting has been as strong as every with numerous 2-3 Star recruits, more players of that caliber in the past 2-3 years than in the previous 2-3 decades.
7) lastly, BU does have help coming in the form of Wilkins, Prosser, Knezevic, Harris....good recruiting and fine players already committed and/or signed.
Butler has only one player committed and signed for the future...so time will tell........
I have gathered a bunch of excuses and I'm seriously wondering if anyone can top them. So; give me your best shot tell me why JL said this is the best group he has ever coached and let everyone know he was going to compete for the valley. BB was returning to carver and fan excitment was going to be at an all time high. The only oversites i recognize is defence and then of course scoring, making a jumper here and there. Just give me a list of excuses and you too can make the all loser team. One excuse gets you in and two or more you'll start...
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