Sizing Up the Butler Bulldogs

[Hungry Jack]

Talk about a buzzkill. I open up the roster, and whom do I find but that Irritant Patrick McCaffery. I thought we were done with him.

He's playing well for Butler, getting 33 mpg and shooting 50% from 3 for 14.1 ppg. He rebounds a bit and doesn't turn the ball over. His dad probably beat him any time he turned it over in middle school.

Butler gets most of its offense from its 3 minute-gobbling forwards: McCaffery, Pierre Brooks (33 mpg, 16 ppg) and Jahmyl Telfort (33 mpg, 15.2 ppg). That's 3 guys taking up 100 minutes, which is half of the total team minutes in regulation time (unless there is a penalty kill and some guy sits for 2 minutes).

They have a center with the delicious basketball name of Andre Screen, who averages 6.2 ppg on only 16 mpg, but also pulls in 6.2 rebounds.

So this is going to be an interesting matchup between our Barnelli monster and their guys. Brooks is 6'6" 240, but he appears to spend more time outside (he's shooting 50% from 3 while taking 5 3s per game). Telfort spends his time closer to the basket.

The other Bulldog getting starter minutes is another guy with a great name, Finley Bizjack. That's his real name. Ask his parents. He's more a distributor/rebounder type, averaging 8.8 ppg, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 28 mpg.

G Kolby King (18 mpg) and and Augusto Cassia (17 mpg) round out the main rotation. Cassia is from Brazil but loves central Indiana because Brazil does not have a Culvers.

This will be an interesting game. I think we match up fairly well. They don't have a mobile center for Matt to chase around. I like our combination of size and athleticism (Mullins and Gelo) on the wings. But we will have to do a better job of guarding the perimeter.

 

[GatoLouco]

Excellent write up. As usual. I was afraid you were going to miss the chance for some global commentary on the boy from Ipanema.

Butler opened the season with Screen as a starter. He is way less mobile than Matt. They have since moved to a smaller lineup. McCaffrey is tall, Brooks and Telfort are fairly athletic, they can hang.

They play similar to us in the sense they kind of give up any inside game. Movement on the outside to try to create something. Problem is that none of them is a great slasher. They are going to struggle in BE play.

Thad Matta looks like a monkey on acid on the sidelines. It is weird seeing it live. The whole dynamic of the coaches is weird. There are points all 4 of them are standing up barking something at someone. I have no idea how the players are supposed to understand who to listen to. Matta dresses in black pants and shirt, with a piece of paper in his back pocket, his 3 assistants all dressed the same way with the same piece of paper in the back pocket.

Also, live, older McCaffrey offspring has what appear to be an exceptionally large head.

So there's my write up, 1/2 basketball, 1/2 rant.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Sounds like the most interesting part of the game may be watching the Butler bench.

 

[SmellyCat]

Finley Bizjack is an all-timer name. Sounds like something Key and Peele came up with before they really went crazy with construction noises and Fudge and all that.

 

[EagerFan]

My family has some history at Butler and my brother tends to follow them. We talked about the game and both agree it will depend a lot on how well NU takes away the three from Butler. Given the height of their shooters and our system of leaving a shooter open in the corner, I think we may be in trouble defensively.

edit: I dunno if this has been mentioned, but Matta played for Butler before getting started there as an assistant and later head coach.

edit dos: McCaffery's older brother, Connor, is currently an assistant head coach at Butler. This I did not know until today.

 

[catcrazy]

Pierre Brooks in an MSU transfer right? I think we recruited him out of hospital

 

[EagerFan]

traumatic brain injury led him to MSU instead?