Does Butler look like he's put on some muscle mass since the season began? I recall him being "slighter" early on. He didn't look slight tonight.
Bummer for Fulce on the break away at the end of the game. :P
Hats off to Butler for a very solid line off the bench. Loving that mid-range jumper we saw a little of tonight and as always great hustle for boards.
I left with about a minute and half left - what happened to Fulce????
He had a break-away dunk. Didn't count as he didn't quite beat the buzzer.
Quote from: AZWarrior on February 14, 2009, 10:14:38 PM
Does Butler look like he's put on some muscle mass since the season began? I recall him being "slighter" early on. He didn't look slight tonight.
Bummer for Fulce on the break away at the end of the game. :P
That is because St. John's does not have a lot of muscle on them. butler will look a lot weaker when we play Pitt.
Quote from: bilsu on February 14, 2009, 11:40:55 PM
That is because St. John's does not have a lot of muscle on them. butler will look a lot weaker when we play Pitt.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I've seen a 6' 6" "freshmen" come in to MU and out-rebound everyone on the team per minute and we're questioning his toughness? His height is an issue, but he's being asked to play out of position.
Butler has done a great job for his role this season. He's getting better every game, is becoming a bit of a presence on the boards and if he knocks down FTs, then he's doing exactly what is needed of him.
Butler is definitely improving as he gets more minutes. He has been a great asset coming off the bench, playing 3 different positions.
I believe that his natural position is the 2 guard. He will need to get in the weight room in the off season and develop his upper body strength. It does seem that he does not always finish well when his shot is challenged down low, and with more upper body strength, that should change. He gets to the FT line plenty when he is challenged though and has done pretty well at the FT line.
I would like to see him shoot mote 3's. he seems to defer to McNeal on 3's when they are in together, and when McNeal is not hitting those, Butler should be developing that more.
Does anybody know what his 3 point shooting% was last year in JC?
Quote from: avid1010 on February 15, 2009, 09:51:08 AM
Maybe I'm missing something, but I've seen a 6' 6" "freshmen" come in to MU and out-rebound everyone on the team per minute and we're questioning his toughness? His height is an issue, but he's being asked to play out of position.
He's not a Freshmen.
Quote from: schubert33 on February 15, 2009, 10:42:33 AM
He's not a Freshmen.
Not in terms of class, but in terms of age he really should be part of the freshman class. He enrolled in the JUCO at 17, and is actually only 3 months older than Otule.
Butler is developing well - he has a knack of knowing where the ball will be for rebounds, has a very pure stroke- it is beautiful, and I'm happy he took thise mid-range humpers - we need him gdoing that. I thought he was good at 3's in JUCO - don't know for sure. And his defense is so much better than it was in the beginning of the year. He is feeling a part of the team, and I think our starters are more comfortable with him now too. And he comes in and spells a variety of players/ positions - so kudos to Buzz and the sataff, and to Jimmie for his hard work.
He is fun to watch.
Quote from: willie warrior on February 15, 2009, 10:15:19 AM
I believe that his natural position is the 2 guard.
While I agree that Butler looks better each time out and is a big asset off of the bench, I think he is a 3, pure and simple. Does a passable job at the 4 for this team, but I can't picture him as a 2.
Butler will start next year at the 3.
Quote from: bilsu on February 15, 2009, 01:21:24 PM
Butler will start next year at the 3.
Your asuming that Maymon, and Otule won't start. I think that Otule will stard at center, Maymon at 4, Lazar at his natural position small forward. Then you will have Jr. at point, and a bunch of guys fighting it out at the 2. I think it would be awesome to have guys like Williams, Butler, and an improved Fulce coming off the bench!
Quote from: schubert33 on February 15, 2009, 10:42:33 AM
He's not a Freshmen.
That's what the quotation marks were for...it's his first year of D1 ball and he's young.
I'd love to see him improve to the point that he could play the 2, but I'm not seeing that right now. I'm a firm believer that you need 2-3 guys that can handle the ball very well on the court at the same time. I'm sure Bma can tell us what he played/was able to do in JUCO.
After watching Otule play, if you can call it that last night and if he is the starting center next year, the team will struggle. I am going to enjoy the last games of this year with a passion.
There seems to be an unwritten consensus that Otule will start next year. That is interesting because Hazel is the guy that actually gets minutes. Right now Hazel has the upperhand.
Quote from: avid1010 on February 15, 2009, 04:14:21 PM
That's what the quotation marks were for...it's his first year of D1 ball and he's young.
I'd love to see him improve to the point that he could play the 2, but I'm not seeing that right now. I'm a firm believer that you need 2-3 guys that can handle the ball very well on the court at the same time. I'm sure Bma can tell us what he played/was able to do in JUCO.
I think we aren't really seeing Butler's true game this year, because all the things everyone says that they don't see in him are things he did very well at Tyler. He plays the 4 or 5 now, but he was a true combo guard last year. He started at the 2, but played a ton of point in Tyler's offense...and in fact in crunch time he was the primary ball handler.
As a shooting guard, he was not the type we've seen around here before. He was occasionally a slasher but he's not very fast. He shot 40+% from beyond the arc, but attempted fewer than 50 threes the entire year. What we saw last night was what he did a lot of last year. 12-18 foot jump shots, coming off pull ups, swing passes and curls. And he did it very well, 18+PPG, and at least one game in the high 40s.
Having said that, who knows what spending a year at the 4/5 has done to his guard skills. I think he can play the 2 in the future, but spending that time in the post has an effect on the ball handling. The shot still appears to be there, and hopefully he's working on his range, but who knows. I don't think I've ever seen a player make the transition from guard to post player to guard in a career, and Butler would be doing it in 3 consecutive seasons.
Quote from: DomJamesToTheBasket on February 15, 2009, 04:35:51 PM
There seems to be an unwritten consensus that Otule will start next year. That is interesting because Hazel is the guy that actually gets minutes. Right now Hazel has the upperhand.
Outle is hurt and Hazel is transferring.
Deshonte Riley will start at the 5 next year.
Who exactly are the "bunch of guys fighting it out at the 2?" Unless we sign someone in the spring who is of equal or greater talent to Buycks, Dwight wins the job almost by default.
Buyckes could end up starting at point, but I believe it will be Cadougan at point and Buyckes at the two. Butler and Hayward at forwards. That leaves the center position with several posibilities. I will not include Riley since he is not yet committed. We have Otule, Hazel, McMorrow and Rosboro(sp). I am going to go out on a limb here and put McMorrow at the center position. After watching an hour long special on Madison Memorial's basketball team, which showed a lot of game footage of Maymon and Vander Blue(sp) I am not that impressed with Maymon. He will struggle as a freshmen. Williams coach says he plays inside in high school and will have to learn how to play defense to play the two or three in college. Both Maymon and Williams will have a lot to learn as freshmen and given Buzz's demand for not making mistakes on defense they will see a lot of bench time. The team will be talented, but because of youth and inexperienced will finish in the bottom quarter of the Big East next year. And yes people will miss James next year once they see how many turnovers a freshmen point guard has in prime time.
Quote from: bilsu on February 15, 2009, 10:33:58 PM
Buyckes could end up starting at point, but I believe it will be Cadougan at point and Buyckes at the two. Butler and Hayward at forwards. That leaves the center position with several posibilities. I will not include Riley since he is not yet committed. We have Otule, Hazel, McMorrow and Rosboro(sp). I am going to go out on a limb here and put McMorrow at the center position. After watching an hour long special on Madison Memorial's basketball team, which showed a lot of game footage of Maymon and Vander Blue(sp) I am not that impressed with Maymon. He will struggle as a freshmen. Williams coach says he plays inside in high school and will have to learn how to play defense to play the two or three in college. Both Maymon and Williams will have a lot to learn as freshmen and given Buzz's demand for not making mistakes on defense they will see a lot of bench time. The team will be talented, but because of youth and inexperienced will finish in the bottom quarter of the Big East next year. And yes people will miss James next year once they see how many turnovers a freshmen point guard has in prime time.
That must have been a bad hour. Good thing his recruiting wasn't summed up in one hour. The guy has definitely risen on the national radar. I couldn't disagree more. He has the body to make an immediate impact, and the game to go with it. I hope you are wrong, because MU definitely needs impact from Cadougan and Maymon next year.
Butler has been a great addition. The problem the last two years is that we had to go to the bench to get a 3-point shooter in the game in Fitz or Cube, and when we did we lost a driver. Now, with Wes and Jerel joining Lazar as good 3-point shooters we have 3 guys who can put it up behind the arc or drive, much tougher to cover. And now that we always have 1 to 3 three-point shooters on the court, Butler can come in and do the other things we need like helping on the boards.