That was a lot more like the "Butler way" that I remember
- Thread starter theboat
- Start date
joshmott123
Well-Known Member
I was thinking the same thing. That style of play is very difficult to watch when the players don't execute.
tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
That was just plain ugly, especially the second half. I had the same thought: this looks like Iowa basketball under the previous regime, except just not as pretty.
hawkinaclownhouse
Well-Known Member
What we saw is exactly what happened at Iowa for 3 years. You can't execute when you are physically and athletically overmatched. If Butler's guard can't beat their man and cause the bigs of the other team to help the offense stalls.
olivecourt
Well-Known Member
You did see them beat Pitt and Florida, right?
I understand Iowa fans complaining about the system because they are still traumatized by the Lickliter era, but to me it was more a matter of historically bad shooting and not making the correct halftime adjustments. Stevens got completely outcoached by Calhoun in the second half. Switching to that zone when they were only down 7 or 8 was absolutely stupefying-- as poorly as they were shooting, they were only a couple of threes away from being back in it and they'd been stopping UConn all night. Once UConn started making easy buckets, it was all over.
I'm also not sure how the anyone can read the game as a referendum on systems and talent when UConn themselves only shot 35% from the floor. There was zero flow for either team. I'm not really sure what the different systems had to do with anything.
DuffMan
Well-Known Member
This is pretty foolish. They executed the offense fine, they just had a horrible, horrible, shooting night. Give some credit to UCONN for being a great defensive team (look at what they did to Kentucky) but Butler missed a ton of layups and bunnies that didn't have anything to do with the "System".
They just looked tight.
hawkinaclownhouse
Well-Known Member
The stat I saw that stood out was Mack was 0-7 while being guarded by Lamb (bigger and more athletic than Mack) 4-8 when guarded by anyone else. And all the shots being blocked by the UCONN bigs (who were more athletic than the Butler bigs) had Howard and company shooting quick and altering their shot to avoid it being blocked.
I won't disagree that one game is not a referendum but the Butler we saw last night with 8 minute scoring draughts, being unable to penetrate a defense, and firing up 3s at the end of shot clocks looked very familiar.
HawkeyeMike23
Banned
Agreed. They still run the same system that Lickliter ran here, although they do play at a slightly faster pace than we did. The last two years they've been lucky enough to have two future NBA players in Hayward and Mack, who can break down the defense and create shots. When Mack can't penetrate the really struggle, Uconn's length bothered them all night. Iowa's offense at the end of Lick's second season when Jake Kelly really came on was very similiar to what Butler has done the last two years.
Hawkeye11en1
Well-Known Member
Iowa hasn't been able to shoot since Luke Recker, it seems. We throw up some HORRIBLE looking shots.
