Nov. 30, 2006
By Bryan Armen Graham
CSTV.com
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BRYAN GRAHAM
Bryan is a basketball editor for CSTV.com and contributes on a regular weekly basis. |
Before much longer, the pundits might stop looking for this year's George Mason and start the search for next year's Butler.
Six days removed from their stunning four-game run to the NIT Season Tip-Off championship, the No. 18 Bulldogs have collected eight wins in eight tries and ascended into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2001-02. Half of those victories have come against opponents from BCS schools.
A team tabbed for no better than sixth in the Horizon League has thrived thanks to an equal-opportunity perimeter offense that sees six members of its upperclassmen-heavy rotation average a couple buckets a game. In the title game victory over Gonzaga, four different Butler players connected on 3-pointers during the first 10 minutes while the team staked a 43-29 halftime lead.
"They play basketball the right way," said Bulldogs coach Mark Few following his team's 79-71 loss to the Bulldogs in the title game Friday night. "They share it, they move it, and when the right guy's open he takes the shot."
The Bulldogs may not rely on a singular star. But when the team has needed a big play, it's been 6-foot-1, 160-pound junior A.J. Graves who has answered the call.
After incinerating Notre Dame for 28 points on 8-for-15 shooting from beyond the arc in the Midwest Regional semifinal, Graves converted a three-pointer off the backboard with five seconds remaining to finish Indiana and propel the Bulldogs to Madison Square Garden. There, Graves scored 41 points over two nights to garner Tournament MVP honors.
Not bad for a kid from Switz City, a tiny Indiana town of just 300 people.
With his NIT heroics, Graves has emerged as the face of the Butler story during the season's first three weeks. But longtime supporters of the program have been familiar with the wiry guard and his family for some time. Both of his older brothers -- Matthew and Andrew -- played for the Bulldogs under Barry Collier between 1994 and 2000, serving as team captains during their senior seasons and participating in three NCAA tournaments.
"My brothers paved the way for me and they got our name out there," Graves said. "I guess it should be a lot of pressure but I don't feel that."
While Graves enjoys the attention his pedigree has garnered, the unassuming guard downplays the buzz and prefers to keep his focus on the next game. That even-tempered demeanor trickles down to his teammates -- when the buzzer sounded on Butler's championship-clinching upset of the Zags, the on-court celebration was tamer than one would expect from a so-called Cinderella.
"When it comes down to it, the [family] name is going to be taken away and it's just going to be me left out there with my team," Graves said. "That's how we've been approaching the whole season. I'd like to say that's good because it's been working for us so far. We didn't take things too excited when we beat IU -- we enjoyed the night and moved on.
"We've got the whole season ahead of us and we've just got to keep moving forward."
Point of Emphasis
Those that caught the consolation game of the Season Tip-Off between Tennessee and North Carolina on Friday afternoon got to see the application of a new point of emphasis concerning "excessive or severe" contact.
The Volunteers had put down four consecutive 3-pointers to close their deficit to 13 points around the 12-minute mark of the second half when Tyler Hansbrough came up with a turnover and beat Tennessee's JeJuan Smith to the goal. But the 6-foot-2 Smith attempted to block the shot anyway, and the result was a foul that looked worse in real time than on the replay.
Referee Doug Shows issued a flagrant personal foul and Smith was immediately ejected.
Following Carolina's convincing victory, crew chief Joe Lindsay issued a clarification through Jim O'Connell of the Associated Press saying that a flagrant personal is called if the referee determines that contact against an airborne player is either excessive or severe -- and any flagrant personal means an automatic ejection.
"Hansbrough is a great player, he went to the foul line 15 times. He had 45 `and-ones' last year where he made the basket,"
"But I don't know the rule well enough either," Williams admitted.
My two cents: I don't know if Smith is ejected if that's not the best player in the country on the receiving end. At any rate, this point of emphasis will be something to keep an eye on as the year presses forward.
Trivia Bag
Only once in history has a school played in the national championship games in basketball and football during the same school year -- a rare accomplishment which Ohio State has designs on matching during the 2006-07 academic calendar. Which school was it? (Answer below.)
Circle The Date
Dec. 2: No. 18 Georgetown vs. No. 11 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Durham, N.C.)
The last time Georgetown (4-2) took down the nation's No. 1 team -- prior to last season's 87-84 coup over top-ranked Duke at the MCI Center -- a coach named Thompson and a long-limbed kid named Ewing took center stage.
That was 1985, when the second-ranked Hoyas clipped top-ranked St. John's in a late-February showdown at Madison Square Garden.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III (son of that John) and incoming transfer Patrick Ewing, Jr. (son of that Pat) will look to repeat last season's masterpiece against Duke (6-1) in the lion's den. And why not? The Hoyas might have lost Brandon Bowman to graduation but return frontcourt Jeff Green and 7-foot-2 shot-swatter Roy Hibbert, who is pacing the Hoyas with 12.2 points and 3.2 blocked shots per night. Ashanti Cook is gone, but returned are Jonathan Wallace and Jessie Sapp, who are combining to average 21.7 points out of the backcourt.
Everybody is chipping in for the Blue Devils, who have eight players averaging five points or more. Healthy at last, DeMarcus Nelson leads the team with 14.3 points while adding 5.4 rebounds. But its Duke's four-man freshman class -- Jon Scheyer (10.0 ppg), Brian Zoubek (8.1 ppg), Lance Thomas (8.1 ppg) and Gerald Henderson (6.0 ppg) -- that will continue to provide this unit with the requisite depth to compete with any team in the country.
Duke would seem to have the edge playing this revenge game at Cameron -- but with Georgetown coming off a tough home loss to Oregon on Wednesday, the Hoyas have no excuses for a let-down.
Trivia Answer
Oklahoma's football team lost to Miami (Fla.) in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1988, while its basketball team lost to Kansas in the national championship game in Kansas City on Apr. 4, 1988.
Milli-Grahams
· North Carolina's Wayne Ellington knows how to celebrate his birthday in style. The Philly product turned 19 on Wednesday night, and celebrated with a career-high 19 points -- one for every candle on the cake -- in his side's thrilling 98-89 victory over top-ranked Ohio State.
· Christmas has come a month early on North Broad Street. After Temple sophomore Dionte Christmas scored 12 points in a season-opening loss to Kent State and set a new career high with 23 points in a loss to Buffalo, the combo guard exploded for 27 points on 8-of-12 from the floor to help Fran Dunphy nab his first victory as coach of the Owls on Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center: a 77-54 victory over Rutgers.
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