Butler Team Spotlight

Intro: Representing Butler University in Division I men’s basketball is the Butler men’s basketball team. The regular season started out with a series of wins, but they managed to pick up a few losses in the later stages, which had fans worried about their chances for a bid to make the Division I basketball tournament in March. Fortunately, the players put in the work in their last game with a massive second half, and that puts them into consideration for an at-large bid into the tournament. Hopefully, they can pull off another win going into the quarter-finals of the Big East tournament, and go all the way for another conference tournament title.

Past Performances

Though the Butler university team are only a mid-major team, they managed to make a bit of a name for themselves back in the 90s. They were ranked in most media polls for all but a few weeks from 2006 to 2012, and have competed in every post-season tournament since 1997, except for 3 times in 2004, 2005 and 2014. They hold 7 Conference tournament champion titles and have been conference regular-season champions 18 times. After playing one season in the Atlantic 10 conference, Butler University moved to the realigned Big East conference for the 2013-14 season. They didn’t perform too well in their first season in this conference, finishing 9th overall with a record of 14-17, which was their first losing record since 2005. In the following season, despite being picked to finish 7th in the conference, went on to tie for 2nd place. In 2010 they were the runner-up to Duke in the Division I men’s basketball tournament in March, defeating Michigan State in the round of four. With only 4500 students enrolled at Butler University, they are the smallest school to ever take part in a national championship game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The team managed to make it to the championship game again in the following year after defeating VCU in the round of four and then losing to Connecticut in the championship game. Making the final game in 2011 made Butler University the first mid-major school to reach the championship game in consecutive seasons since 1979. They are also the only team from Indiana ever to reach back-to-back championship games. The team has had a good history of placing in the Division I men’s basketball tournament in March – they were runner-up for 2 years in a row, they made the round of four 2 years in a row, the round of eight 2 years in a row, the round of sixteen 6 times, and they have been to the round of 32 11 times. In total, they have made 16 March Division I basketball tournament appearances.

Meet the Team and Know Who to Watch

The Butler basketball roster that will be representing Butler University in the post-season tournament, and the March Division I tournament if they get a bid, include: 0 Campbell Donovan – G 1 Jordan Tucker – F 2 Aaron Thompson – G 3 Kamar Baldwin – G 4 Khalif Battle – G 10 Bryce Nze – F 20 Henry Baddley – G/F 21 Derrik Smits – C 22 Sean McDermott – G 24 Markeese Hastings – F 25 Christian David – F 30 Mike Parker – F 33 Bryce Golden – F John-Michael Mulloy – F/C The Butler's basketball roster for the 2019-20 season is crammed with individual talent, potential, high scorers and brilliant defensive line guards that they often rely on to carry them through games. While everyone on the team does their best to put up impressive stats all season long, there are a few players that stand out as a cut above the rest in terms of overall stats and consistency. The player that stands out the most from the rest of the Butler University team this season is Kamar Baldwin. The senior guard currently leads the team in average points per game with 16.2 and average steals per game with 1.1. Kamar also averages 4.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 turnovers per game, making him invaluable in the lineup. He recently scored a career-high of 36 points in their victory on Sunday 8 March, where he single-handedly brought Butler the win in spectacular fashion with a buzzer-beater 3-point field goal at the end of the game to bring the final score to 79-76. Baldwin will surely be key to Butler University receiving a bid to the Division I men’s basketball tournament this March if he keeps up this stellar performance. Sean McDermott is another star player off the Butler basketball roster this year that has also had a ton of impact in bringing about wins this season. With an average of 11.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 86.8% free throw accuracy per game, McDermott working alongside Baldwin could spell trouble for the defence of any opposing teams they play. Other notable players from the team’s squad this year include Bryce Nze who leads the team in average rebounds per game with 6.5 and average blocks per game with 0.7. Another notable player is Aaron Thompson, who leads the team in average assists per game with 4.8. This Butler University basketball team roster is looking pretty good this season, despite the disappointing performance they put up in the later stages of their conference regular season. Keep an eye out for them to receive an at-large bid to the March Division I men’s basketball tournament this year.

Recent and Upcoming Games

The team started off the conference regular season with a 9-game win streak, which looked to set the tone for the games to come and set Butler up with a shot at the conference regular-season championship. After a loss in their 10th game of the season, they went on to win the next 6 games before the slump in their season began to take hold. On January 16 they lost to Seton Hall 78-70, and then DePaul took a game off them 79-66 and a third consecutive loss came against the current leaders in the Big East conference who beat them 76-61. The streak of wins was now over for the team and their season started to turn a bit rough. The top end of the Big East conference is quite tough, and Butler University is one of the smallest schools in Division I men’s basketball, so it is hard to expect a perfect season. Things took a turn for the worse closer to the end of the regular season, and at the start of the Big East conference tournament when the team dropped a game to the Georgetown University team who currently sit 8th, 3 positions below Butler, in the Big East conference rankings. This was followed by another loss to Seton, and then another to Creighton – which ended with a devastating finishing score of 81-59. There is still something to play for though, and fans don’t need to be too worried just yet. After Baldwin bailed the team out in the second half of their game against Xavier University to take home the win, they are still up for consideration for a bid to the March Division I men’s basketball tournament. The recent defeat of Xavier, and Baldwin’s epic buzzer-beater, put Butler into the quarter-finals of the Big East tournament. Next to play on the Butler basketball schedule for the tournament Providence College. In their last encounter during the regular season Providence took the win, but this time the Butler University team are out for revenge, and there are more than just bragging rights at stake for this one.

A Few Numbers to Sum Up

Let’s just do a quick summary of why the Butler men’s college basketball team shouldn’t be counted out just yet as a viable pick for your bracket this March in the Division I men’s basketball tournament: March Division I men’s basketball tournament: • Tournament runner-up – 2 • Tournament round of four teams – 2 • Tournament round of eight teams – 2 • Tournament round of 16 teams – 6 • Tournament round of 32 teams – 11 • Tournament appearances – 16 Conference play: • Conference tournament champions: 7 • Conference regular-season champions: 18 If you are excited for the Division I men’s basketball tournament this March, and you have your eye set on little sports betting during the tournament, then don’t discount the Butler University team just yet. They have a great mix of talented and motivated players, who have proven that they can pull out wins under serious pressure. If you want to play along with the tournament, then why not play online at BetMGM? With us, you get access to online sports betting on all the major sporting events of the year.