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  1. #1
    Senior Moderator American X's Avatar
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    Butler - Not a Cinderella, Gang of Evil Stepsisters

    School of Hard Blocks
    Butler Thrives on the Basketball Court by Fouling—Without Fouling


    The story of Butler, the tiny Indiana school whose men's basketball team waltzed in glass slippers to the NCAA championship game in 2010 and again in 2011, is already one of the sport's classic fairy tales. Another carriage awaits this March: The Bulldogs have been ranked in the top 25 since mid-December.

    But the twist here is that when you analyze the game tapes, Butler starts to look less like Cinderella and more like a gang of evil stepsisters—assuming those stepsisters had spent some time in the gym working out with the heavy bag.

    The Butler Bulldogs are known as bullies.
    "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."

  2. #2
    Junior
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    Some of the best Xavier teams did much the same thing -- using their superior strength conditioning to bump and bruise and batter the other teams into fatigue down the stretch. I love it.

  3. #3
    Supporting Member GoMuskies's Avatar
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    Sometimes fouls are called jump balls. And lead to clocks breaking. And water fountains being pulled out of walls.

  4. #4
    All-Conference XUFan09's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smileyy View Post
    Some of the best Xavier teams did much the same thing -- using their superior strength conditioning to bump and bruise and batter the other teams into fatigue down the stretch. I love it.
    Agreed. This year's team is a good example of that. I remember JRob for called for a couple bumping fouls in the last game, and my thought was, "Really? Cause we've been doing thall season."

  5. #5
    Been saying this for a long time and it's not meant as a backhanded compliment. They play the game the way it is called now and have been fabulously successful.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by danaandvictory View Post
    Been saying this for a long time and it's not meant as a backhanded compliment. They play the game the way it is called now and have been fabulously successful.
    It works even better when your team looks like a bunch of choirboys. Howard was one of the dirtiest players ever, and perfected flopping. And got away with it all the time..

  7. #7
    Hall of Famer Masterofreality's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JTG View Post
    It works even better when your team looks like a bunch of choirboys. Howard was one of the dirtiest players ever, and perfected flopping. And got away with it all the time..
    Worse than Howard was Hayward. That guy was a cheap shot artist of the first order with a baby face.

    Any review of the clock game tapes clearly show a two handed throw down of Jordan Crawford out of bounds under the basket and no ref call despite one guy standing right there.

    I hate Hayward to this day....and evermore.
    "I Got CHAMPIONS in that Lockerroom!" -Stanley Burrell

  8. #8
    Senior PMI's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoMuskies View Post
    Sometimes fouls are called jump balls. And lead to clocks breaking. And water fountains being pulled out of walls.
    This has been proven accurate.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Masterofreality View Post
    Worse than Howard was Hayward. That guy was a cheap shot artist of the first order with a baby face.

    Any review of the clock game tapes clearly show a two handed throw down of Jordan Crawford out of bounds under the basket and no ref call despite one guy standing right there.

    I hate Hayward to this day....and evermore.
    I would have loved to have Hawrard at Xavier. (Wasn't it down to X and Butler?) He was great at what he did. Everyone hated him yet he was still solid.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Xavier View Post
    I would have loved to have Hawrard at Xavier. (Wasn't it down to X and Butler?) He was great at what he did. Everyone hated him yet he was still solid.
    That was Matt Howard. Gordon Hayward had no other D-I offers and went to Butler because his sister was on the tennis team. That was a recruiting coup along the lines of XU finding a skinny center out in Brown County a few decades ago.

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