Butler takes on defending national champion Friday night

Butler does it again, earns trip to St. Louis

Butler is in the Sweet 16 for the second time in five years, advancing to the Edward Jones Dome opposite defending national champion Florida with victories over Old Dominion (57-46 on Thursday) and Maryland (62-59 on Saturday). The fifth-seeded Bulldogs carry a 29-6 ledger into Friday's showdown, setting a Horizon League record with their 29th victory of the season against the Terrapins.

Butler was picked to finish sixth in the Horizon League by voters in the circuit's preseason poll, but quickly exceeded those expectations by winning the NIT Season Tip-Off championship in November. The Bulldogs knocked off in-state rivals Notre Dame (71-69) and Indiana (60-55) at Conseco Fieldhouse to advance to Madison Square Garden, and sustained that momentum in the national spotlight with victories over two more NCAA Championship entries in Tennessee (56-44) and Gonzaga (79-71).

The Bulldogs entered the national rankings the following week, beginning an unprecedented run for the League. Butler raced to a 23-2 record in early February to become the first team in loop history to reach the top ten (tenth in the AP writers' poll, ninth according to the ESPN/USA Today coaches' canvass).

BU struggled a bit down the stretch, dropping four of its final eight games before the NCAA tournament, including the League Championship final at Wright State (63-55) in a battle of the League's regular-season co-champions. Butler also fell to Southern Illinois (65-61) in the marquee match-up of the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event, snapping a 22-game homecourt winning streak which was among the longest in the nation. But with a nine-day lay-off before last Thursday's contest versus Old Dominion, Butler was able to re-gain its energy in time for the "Big Dance."

Junior guard A.J. Graves led the Bulldogs to the NIT Season Tip-Off title, winning the Most Valuable Player award at that tournament. Graves subsequently landed on the First-Team All-League unit, currently standing fourth on the League scoring charts at 17.1 points per contest. He has missed only seven of 150 free-throw attempts, ranking second in the nation (behind Gonzaga's Derek Raivio) with a .953 mark at the charity stripe. Graves also leads the League with 97 three-point field goals so far in 2006-07, one of five statistical categories in which he rates among the League's top ten performers.

Graves led the Bulldogs with 18 points Thursday and had a team-high 19 points including two key three-pointers versus Maryland.

Junior guard Mike Green made a dramatic impact on the program after transferring from Towson University. Green captured the League's Newcomer of the Year honor for his efforts, bringing per-game rates of 13.9 points, 4.03 assists and 6.0 to St. Louis. The set-up rate is second only to UW-Green Bay's Ryan Evanochko among Horizon League players, while his rebound count is eighth-best in the circuit. The steady veteran leads the team with four double-doubles this season, including a 14-point, ten-rebound effort against Old Dominion.

Senior forward Brandon Crone adds 11.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. The six-foot-six Crone is one of six Bulldogs to make at least 20 three-pointers, hitting 51 treys so far this year while also averaging just over two assists per outing. Crone scored 13 points versus Maryland and also made two critical defensive plays in the final minute to preserve that victory---drawing a charge on D.J. Strawberry with 41 seconds left and deflecting a pass on Maryland's final desperation attempt.

Senior forward Brian Ligon and junior forward Julian Betko round out the starting five. Ligon---the tallest starter at six-foot-seven---averages only 18.8 minutes per contest, the fewest among the opening quintet. He averages 3.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per outing but has been efficient in his work at the offensive end, shooting 56 percent (45-of-80) from the floor. The senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., collected four rebounds Thursday and five more in a 22-minute stint against the Terrapins.

Betko, a transfer from Clemson University, provides 4.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He earned All-Tournament honors at the NIT Season Tip-Off, scoring 15 points versus Tennessee and 13 against Gonzaga. Betko scored seven points Sunday, two days after receiving a medical redshirt season from the NCAA. He missed most of two seasons with a knee injury before joining the Bulldog program last year.

Perhaps the most underrated player on the BU roster is junior forward Pete Campbell. With attention focused on Graves and Green, Campbell set a Horizon League record by shooting 58.1 percent from three-point range in loop play. He had averaged just 2.8 points per game through December 31, but has taken a key role since the start of the New Year with his 13 points per contest. Campbell has made 68 of 121 three-point attempts (56.2 percent) since January 1 and is at 51.3 percent for the season.

Campbell had three triples in a 92-second span Thursday, sparking a 17-0 run to put Butler in control versus Old Dominion. His trey with 15:37 left Saturday put Butler ahead 37-36 and the Bulldogs never trailed after that point. He also capped a 13-1 Bulldog flurry with a three-pointer just before intermission, giving BU its biggest lead of the game (31-20).

Sideline boss Todd Lickliter won League Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row. Lickliter owns a 131-60 record in six seasons at BU since taking over after Thad Matta was named head coach at Xavier and subsequently joined Ohio State. This is the third time a Lickliter-led Bulldog team has won 25 or more games, as his 2002-03 squad registered a school-record 27-6 mark and the 2001-02 team finished 26-6.