When you've got Butler basketball questions there is a short list of people who have ALL the answers. David Woods is on that list. Mr. Woods was kind enough to answer some of our questions from left coast. Showing us a little California Love.
What makes this team different than the #9 seed that lost to a similarly athletic LSU team in the first round last year?
This Butler team has another season of experience. It was incomprehensible, really, that a Butler team starting three freshmen could make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection a year ago. This is a more mature team now, and not as dependent on 3-point shooting — but probably will need to make 3s to advance in this tournament.
Does this Butler team have the highest ceiling of any Butler tournament team you've covered?
Not necessarily. The 30-4 team of 2008 might have had a chance to make a Final Four run. Losing to Tennessee in overtime in the second round — the earliest two 30-game winners had ever met — was hardly a disgrace. And that team was much more experienced than this one.
With Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard playing so well down the stretch, is it fair to say this team will go as far as Gordon Hayward takes them?
That is a fair statement. Butler needs Hayward to perform like he is the best player on the floor because he usually will be.
What do you see as the keystone matchup in this game?
Probably Derrick Caracter vs. Matt Howard. If that is a standoff, Butler can win. If Howard gets in foul trouble, that's a problem. If Caracter gets in foul trouble, UTEP just brings in 6-foot-11, 280-pound Claude Britten (5.0 ppg) off the bench.
What were you thinking during the last Bracketology release that had Butler facing Illinois in the first round?
I was hoping for that pairing for two reasons. One, it would mean Illinois, my alma mater, would have made it into the field. And two, it would have been fun talking to Champaign media outlets about the Bulldogs and my "Butler Way" book. I wish Butler/Illinois were an annual game, as it was for many years when Tony Hinkle was the Bulldogs' coach.
We'd like to thank Mr. Woods again for giving HLN some of his time. So now I'll tell you to read his blog and buy his book.
Seriously. Do it.
