NCAA BB  EAST REGION

         FINAL IN OT         1ST 2ND 1OT     TOTAL
                             --- --- ---     -----
         BUTLER (12)          29  31   8       68
         FLORIDA (5)          31  29   9       69    FINAL IN OT

 HIGH SCORERS:  BUTLER - ANDREW GRAVES 20, SCOTT ROBISCH 14,
                JOEL CORNETTE 11
                FLORIDA - MIKE MILLER 16, KENYAN WEAKS 13,
                UDONIS HASLEM 10

 HIGH REBOUND:  BUTLER - SCOTT ROBISCH 7, MIKE MARSHALL 7
                FLORIDA - MIKE MILLER 13, DONNELL HARVEY 7

 HIGH ASSISTS:  BUTLER - THOMAS JACKSON 8, FIVE PLAYERS WITH 1
                FLORIDA - BRENT WRIGHT 3, TWO PLAYERS WITH 2

          ATT:  14,252
                                                                        

Box Score

BUTLER (68)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Marshall        38   2-9   3-5   4-7  0  5    7
Hainje          18   0-2   2-2   2-5  1  5    2
Robisch         29   5-8   4-4   3-7  1  2   14
Jackson         37  3-12   1-2   1-5  8  2    7
Jordan          29  3-10   0-2   0-1  1  1    7
Graves          32   4-9   8-9   0-4  1  2   20
Cornette        36  5-10   1-2   3-5  1  4   11
Archey           6   0-1   0-0   1-3  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         225 22-61 19-26 14-37 13 21   68
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.361, FT-.731. 3-Point Goals:
5-16, .313 (Jackson 0-4, Jordan 1-4, Graves 4-7,
Archey 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4
(Cornette 3, Marshall). Turnovers: 15 (Jackson 8,
Archey, Cornette, Graves, Hainje, Jordan,
Marshall, Robisch). Steals: 8 (Cornette 2, Graves
2, Marshall 2, Hainje, Jackson).

FLORIDA (69)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Wright          35   1-7   0-0   3-5  3  1    2
Miller          36  6-17   2-2  5-13  2  0   16
Haslem          20   4-9   2-3   2-3  0  5   10
Dupay           24   3-6   0-0   0-2  1  1    6
Hamilton        16   0-0   0-1   1-2  1  1    0
Weaks           30  6-11   0-0   2-5  1  2   13
Nelson          20   1-3   1-2   0-2  2  2    4
Harvey          21   3-7   3-6   5-7  1  5    9
Bonner          14   3-6   0-0   1-1  0  2    6
Parker           9   1-3   0-0   0-2  0  2    3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         225 28-69  8-14 19-42 11 21   69
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.406, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
5-23, .217 (Wright 0-2, Miller 2-8, Dupay 0-2,
Weaks 1-4, Nelson 1-2, Bonner 0-3, Parker 1-2).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 7 (Miller 2,
Haslem 2, Harvey 2, Wright). Turnovers: 17
(Haslem 4, Dupay 3, Nelson 3, Hamilton 2, Wright
2, Harvey, Miller, Weaks). Steals: 8 (Weaks 3,
Miller 2, Hamilton, Harvey, Nelson).
_______________________________________
Butler             29   31    8  -   68
Florida            31   29    9  -   69
_______________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 14,252. Officials: Tom
Rucker, Paul Janssen, Bill Vinovich.
                                                                        

DAVE'S POSTGAME ANALYSIS

We left a rain-soaked Hinkle Fieldhouse at about 9 am on Thursday. The bus ride was filled with crossword puzzles, naps, and a couple of videos: the movie Hoosiers, and a tape of our conference tournament finals victory. The band/cheerleader bus had the added bonus of getting pulled over by an obviously bored West Virginia state trooper. We finally pulled into Clemmons, NC, to the Ramada Inn at about 9 pm. I retired to my room, and was happy to end the evening a perfect 16/16 on one of my predicted brackets.

Up and at 'em Friday morning, I headed to the brunch that was provided for us. Athletics Director John Parry assured us that Coach Collier had the troops ready for the challenge before them. Soon, we were on our way to the Lawrence Joel Veteran's Memorial Coliseum to watch Penn/Illinois, then Butler/Florida. It was a bad weekend for the driver of the band/cheerleader bus, because he took a wrong turn (or 2) at Albuquerque and turned our 10 minute trip into a 30 minute fiasco. When we finally arrived at the LJVMC, we had missed a good portion of the opening game. Illinois was fairly dominant, although Penn managed to scrap back in thanks in large part to Michael Jordan. After what seemed to be an interminable final 5 minutes, game one was over, and the Bulldogs took the floor.

We came out pretty tight, and didn't play Butler basketball for the first few minutes. But we eventually settled down and played our game. I was immediately impressed at how we didn't back down from the Gators at all, matching them bump for bump. I knew we wouldn't be intimidated, but would we be able to dictate tempo? As the minutes went by, I saw that we indeed would win the battle of conflicting styles. Florida was forced into a half court game, which was tops on our (long) list of "things we gotta do to win". Things stayed pretty even throughout the first half, but Florida made a run at the end of the half to pull out to a 31-29 lead. I hoped we could continue to keep it close, and avoid a Florida run that seemed almost inevitable. But it never came.

The second half was much like the first, back and forth with neither team maintaining much of an advantage on the scoreboard. But with every second that ticked by, you could feel an upset brewing. The crowd sensed it, and became more and more pro-Butler as the game went on. We pulled out to a 56-49 lead with about 4 minutes to go, but the Gators chiseled it away. The stage was sent for the Cinderella story to be written: the game was tied, Butler had the ball for the final play of regulation. LaVall Jordan, Butler's leading scorer, had a good look at a 15-footer to win the game, but it rattled out. On to overtime...

Twice during the 5 minutes of overtime, the Dawgs jumped out to a 3 point lead. Andrew Graves hit a HUGE 3-pointer from way downtown for the latter of those 2 leads. But once again, Florida clawed its way back in. Down by one, Florida fouled Jordan with 8.1 to play. At 83% on the year, Jordan was a good bet to put this game away. Had I known then what I know now about the week 'Vall had, I may have tempered my expectations a bit. But as the fates would have it, both free throws rimmed out, and Florida snagged the rebound. What happened next will be burned into my brain forever, a bad nightmare that I just can't shake. Teddy Dupay brought the ball up the court. He got it to Miller, a future NBA draft pick, on the left side beyond the 3-point arc. He took the ball in to the free throw line on the dribble and took the shot that would decide the game. It was almost like the movies, where that last shot seems to hang in the air forever, the crowd gets silent, and time almost stands still. When the ball hit the bottom of the net, I felt like I'd been shot. I hit the floor immediately in disbelief. As I lay there, the PA announcer mentioned that they were reviewing the final play to see if he shot it before the buzzer. I knew he had, so there wasn't much to be nervous about. Later, it was mentioned to me that Thomas Jackson drew what appeared to be a charge on the play. I didn't even see Jackson in the play, and after seeing the replay, it's best that the call wasn't made. It hurt to know that these guys had worked so hard and come so far from the 8-7 team I watched in January, gave a bigger and more talented team all it could handle for 44 minutes and 59 seconds, only to see it end on a buzzer-beater. My hat is off to Florida--they were taken out of their game, and still did enough things to win.

Much was made of the officiating for the game. I certainly had a choice word or 2 for Tom Rucker and company, but THE REFEREES DIDN'T (and DON'T EVER) DECIDE THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME. The best way I can describe it is "consistently inconsistent": they let damn near EVERYTHING go underneath, but called a lot of touch fouls up top. They called it that way for/against both teams. The Florida/Illinois game was called exactly the same way on Sunday. Both teams got away with a lot of stuff. There are many reasons why Butler came up short, and none of them have to do with the refs:

*SHOOTING PERCENTAGE--Florida held us to 36% for the game, and held 4 of our starters (minus Robisch) to a combined 8-33 (24%). They forced us to take a lot of bad shots early, and also forced us into a couple of 35-second shot clock violations.
*TURNOVERS--Thomas Jackson's phenomenal 15 assist/2 turnover effort against Detroit was followed by an 8 assist/8 turnover game against the Gators. The Florida press forced us to make a lot of ill-advised passes. We also tried to be a little too fancy a couple of times--Jackson had an alley-oop pass attempt intercepted, when a simple bounce pass would have resulted in an easy 2 points.
*FREE THROWS DOWN THE STRETCH--Our Achilles' heel during the season was far from problematic in the first half (9-10), and not overly terrible in the second 20 minutes (7-10). But we went 3-6 in overtime, and all 6 were attempted by our guards.
*REBOUNDING--Florida outrebounded us 42-37, and got 19 offensive boards which led to a ton of 2nd chance points.

I don't want to sound overly negative, because once I had the chance to reflect on the game, it really was a positive experience. I had a blast in Winston-Salem. We took the #11 team in the nation down to the wire, and with a little luck could have knocked them out. We played OUR style of basketball, and refused to be pulled into a run-and-gun game. We represented our conference, city, state, and university quite well, and made a name for ourselves. Andrew Graves went out with one of the best performances of his career, scoring 20 points, including 4-7 from 3-point range. Scott Robisch also played well, scoring 14 points and pulling down 7 rebounds. Mike Marshall fouled out, but not before having a 7-&-7 (points and rebounds, that is) along with a 3-5 effort from the free throw line. Joel Cornette, who we're all hoping inherits Marshall's tenacity, played a great game off the bench with 11 points, 5 boards, and a couple of blocks.

Finally, I'd like to write a little bit about LaVall Jordan. It wasn't until the bus trip home on Saturday that I realized what he had been through. Selection Sunday afternoon, he went home to Albion, MI, to visit his great aunt. She had raised him from age 3 up to age 16. Around Thanksgiving, she had a stroke, and had been in declining health ever since. They visited, exchanged "I love you"s, and LaVall headed back to Indy to Coach Collier's house for the selection show. That evening, Jetha Jeffers passed away at age 87. Suddenly, the week to come took on a whole new meaning. After practice on Tuesday, 'Vall headed back to Albion for the services. He was able to join the team Thursday night at about 11 pm, roughly 15 hours before the game. He played with a heavy heart, but gave an heroic perfomance all things considered. You are in my thoughts and prayers, 'Vall, and I know you'll bounce back. Bill Benner wrote a nice article in the Star which sums things up better than I can.

All in all, it was a hell of a ride. 23-8...another 20-win season...another post-season appearance...nothing at all to hang one's head about. To Coach Collier: Thanks for sticking around for another year, and I hope you're around for many more. To Mike and Andrew: Thanks for the best 4 years in Butler basketball history. Your contributions will never be forgotten. To the rest of the team: I look forward to seeing where the ride takes us next season. Work hard, practice those free throws, but most of all--HAVE FUN. It has been a pleasure to watch this team grow and mature, and I look forward to another fine season of Butler hoops.