Butler, Wright State carry Horizon League banner into NCAA Championship
March 11, 2007
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Indianapolis, Ind. -- For the first time in four years, the Horizon League has two entries in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Regular-season co-champions Butler University and Wright State University represent the League at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y., with the fifth-seeded Bulldogs of BU opening Midwest Region play Thursday versus 12th seed Old Dominion University (24-8). Wright State (23-9), which earned the automatic berth by defeating Butler 60-55 in the final of the Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship last Tuesday (March 6), carries a No. 14 seed into its West Regional game Thursday versus third seed University of Pittsburgh (27-7).
Butler enters the national summit with a 27-6 overall record, including a 13-3 League ledger. The Bulldogs were picked to finish sixth in the League's preseason poll, but gained national attention in November by winning the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament. Butler opened with victories over in-state rivals University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, then knocked off top-25 teams University of Tennessee and Gonzaga University to claim the crown.
Butler quickly moved into the top 25 on its own, and subsequently became the first team in Horizon League history to enter the national top ten when the AP voters installed BU as their No. 10 team and the ESPN/USAToday coaches' poll voters put Butler ninth in their rankings. Coach Todd Lickliter's Bulldogs rank seventh among the national leaders in scoring defense---holding opponents to 57.2 points per game---and top the NCAA Division I charts with an average of 9.4 turnovers per contest.
Butler also rates near the top of the list in scoring margin (17th nationally at plus-11.3 points per game) and free-throw percentage (sixth at .763), and became the first team in League history to lead the circuit in both scoring offense (69.4 points per game) and scoring defense (54.9) in loop play during the same season.
On an individual basis, junior guard A.J. Graves ranks second in the nation with his 95.8 free-throw percentage, missing only six of 143 attempts this year. Graves earned First-Team All-League honors and ranks fifth in the circuit at 17.0 points per contest. Backcourt mate Mike Green was the League's Newcomer of the Year, leading the team in rebounding (5.8 per game, eighth on the loop charts) and assists (second in the League at 4.03 per contest). Green also averages 14.1 points per game.
Butler is in the national tournament for the sixth time in the last 11 years, and the seventh overall. The Bulldogs reached the Sweet 16 in their last appearance, defeating fifth-seeded Mississippi State (47-46) and fourth seed Louisville (79-71) as a 12th seed before falling (65-54) to top seed Oklahoma in 2003.
Wright State brings a 23-9 mark into the tourney, winning 18 of its last 21 games since Dec. 28. The Raiders claimed their first-ever Horizon League title by sharing the regular-season crown and then defeating Butler in front of 10,686 fans at the Ervin J. Nutter Center on Tuesday night. WSU's 13 League victories are the most since the school joined the circuit in 1994.
Wright State is making only its second appearance in the Division I Championship. The first came in 1993 when the Raiders captured the Mid-Continent Conference crown, only to receive a No. 16 seed. Top seed Indiana ended WSU's dream run quickly with a 97-54 victory in the opening round of the national summit.
The Raiders rank second in the League defensively, allowing only 61.6 points per contest, and boast the League's Player of the Year in senior guard DaShaun Wood. The Detroit, Mich., native, a candidade for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, ranks among the League's top five players in eight different statistical categories, leading the circuit in both scoring (19.8 points per game) and steals (1.88 per contest) while standing fourth in assists (3.88 per contest) and fourth with a .886 free-throw percentage. Freshman guards Vaughn Duggins and Todd Brown have combined to provide 18 points per game. Both first-year collegians were members of the League's All-Newcomer Team this season.
Wright State's 23 victories are the most by a Raider squad since the school moved to Division I in 1987-88. WSU was the Division II national champion in 1983--finishing 28-4 that year---but had not won more than 18 games in a season since the 1992-93 campaign.
Raider coach Brad Brownell is in the NCAA tournament for the third time in the last five years. He led UNC Wilmington to the national summit in 2003 and 2006 before taking over in Dayton last summer. In five years as a head coach, Brownell is averaging more than 21 wins per season (106-49 career ledger). The Raider sideline boss received District 10 Coach of the Year honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches last week.
The Horizon League is one of 12 conferences with multiple teams in the Field of 65. The Atlantic Coast Conference has seven entries, with the Big East, Pacific-10 and Big Ten conferences each having six and the Southeastern Conference placing five teams in the field. The Big 12 Conference landed four teams in the national summit, with the Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Atlantic 10, and Western Athletic Conferences matching the Horizon League and the Colonial Athletic Association as two-team circuits.
The League last had multiple NCAA entries in 2003, when Butler gained an at-large berth alongside loop champion UW-Milwaukee. The Bulldogs reached the Sweet 16 that year and finished 27-6. The League placed three teams in the 1998 summit, with Detroit and UIC joining champion Butler in the "Big Dance."
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The pairings for the NCAA Championship can be found in the PDF version of this release.
