Men's Basketball Preview - Part 5: Butler

Oct. 25, 2005

Bulldogs Have Healthy Expectations For 2005-06
Butler squad returns all five starters from a year ago

Look for Butler head coach Todd Lickliter to give a nod to the famed Indianapolis medical community if the current Bulldogs reach the level of success that he expects. Four key performers for the Bulldogs underwent major surgeries in the past year, and their return could hold the answer to Butler's 2005-06 hopes.

"We had a rare number of injuries last year," noted Lickliter, who suffered through his first losing season as a head coach in 2004-05.

"Brandon (Polk) and A. J. (Graves) played the entire season with injuries, and we lost Brian (Ligon) during the league season. Julian (Betko) never played at all last year."

Polk, a 6-6 forward who emerged as one of the top players in the Horizon League, was forced to wear a shoulder harness all season to stabilize his injured shoulder, while Graves, a 6-1 guard who was one of the top freshmen in the league, played the entire season with a foot injury. Both players had corrective surgery after the season.

Ligon, a 6-7, 245-pound center, suffered his second knee injury in as many seasons and was sidelined for Butler's final four games. He underwent his second knee surgery after the 2004-05 campaign ended.

Betko, a 6-5 transfer from Clemson, had knee surgery before the season and spent the 2004-05 season watching from the sidelines.

All four put in hours of extra work on rehabilitation after their surgeries. All four passed their preseason conditioning tests. And all four were in action at Butler's first official 2005-06 practice on Oct. 15.

"I feel like they've inspired us," stated Lickliter. "When you see all of the hours and hard work that they've put in, it shows a real desire to play. It's hard not to be inspired when you see the level of effort and dedication they've shown."

The Bulldogs will need a healthy roster in 2005-06. Lickliter has a 12-player squad, including two ineligible transfers. Three players from last year's squad - Nick Brooks, Jamie Smalligan and Gary Patterson - transferred to other schools after the season, and 2004-05 redshirt Jeff James did not return to Butler. But the fifth-year Butler coach doesn't see squad numbers as a problem.

"Squad size would be a problem if you didn't have the numbers for practice, which we do. The other side of a smaller squad is that every player gets more repetitions and more practice time. That can be a positive," noted Lickliter.

For the first time in his young coaching career, Lickliter will begin a season with the same starting lineup that ended the previous campaign. Butler returns all five players who started the final ten games a year ago. That quintet led the Bulldogs to six wins in the final nine regular season games, including victories over league regular season runner-up UW-Green Bay, league tournament runner-up Detroit and defending league champ UIC.

More importantly, the Butler coach has three seniors in his regular rotation, a situation the Bulldogs haven't had since 2002-03 when they advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship!

Leading the returnees is Polk, who earned team Most Valuable Player honors while topping the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding a year ago. He led the Horizon League in field goal shooting and finished ninth in the circuit in scoring, while earning all-league and league all-newcomer recognition. He also led the Bulldogs in number of games scoring in double-figures (22), including 18 straight twin-digit efforts to end the season, and he averaged 23.5 points and 7.3 rebounds over Butler's last four contests! The talented forward, who joined the Bulldogs after two highly-successful seasons at Redlands Community College, finished the season with the most points (382) by a first-year Butler player since 1979-80.

"Brandon had a terrific season, even though he was hampered by the shoulder injury. I think the surgery is going to allow him to rebound and defend at a higher level than what he could last year," noted Lickliter.

Butler's other two seniors, guards Avery Sheets and Bruce Horan, are the lone remaining holdovers from the Bulldogs' "Sweet 16" team of 2002-03. The 6-0 Sheets has played in every Butler game for the past three seasons, and he's been in the starting lineup in 56 games over the past two campaigns. Last year, he led the Bulldogs in assists and topped the Horizon League in assist/turnover ratio. He finished as the team's fourth-leading scorer, while winding up second on the team in three-point field goals.

Horan, the team's top long-range shooting threat, will enter his final season at Butler needing just 17 three-pointers to become the Bulldogs' all-time leader in three-point field goals! The 6-3 guard led the Horizon League in three-point field goal shooting, and he ranked second in the league in total three-pointers with 84. He also finished as Butler's third-leading scorer.

Also returning to the Bulldogs's back court is 6-1 sophomore A. J. Graves, who finished his first season as Butler's second-leading scorer and as the top freshman point producer in the league. He had the fifth-highest freshman scoring total in Butler history with 312 points (11.1 ppg), and he posted one of the "Top 20" freshman single game scoring totals in the nation with a career-high 29 points in Butler's victory over Ball State. He finished as the top free throw shooter in the league, posting the second-highest single season free throw percentage (.919) in Butler history!

Butler's fifth returning regular, 6-6 junior Brandon Crone, started 22 games and finished as Butler's second-leading rebounder last season. He scored in double-figures in four of Butler's final six games, including a career-high 20 points in Butler's victory over defending league champ UIC.

Ligon is the most experienced of Butler's remaining players, and his return adds size and strength to the Bulldogs' front court. The powerful forward was in Butler's starting lineup when he suffered a season-ending knee injury as a freshman, and he was the Bulldogs' top player off the bench last season when a second knee injury sidelined him for the year. He's played in 43 games in two years. The other two returning Butler players are Betko and 6-7 sophomore Drew Streicher. Betko transferred to Butler from Clemson, where he played in every game as a freshman. Streicher, a former walk-on who earned a full scholarship, played in 19 games for the Bulldogs a year ago.

Lickliter added four new players to the Bulldogs' roster last spring and two will be eligible this season. Junior Marcus Nellems, a versatile 6-4 performer, started every game for two consecutive years at Marshalltown Community College, where he led the team in three-point field goals. The former Fort Wayne Northrop player is expected to give the Bulldogs added strength at both ends of the floor. Also on hand is 6-1 walk-on Ben Slaton, who averaged 19.0 points at Columbus East High School last year. The Bulldogs will have to wait until next season for the services of 6-7 Pete Campbell, who transferred from IPFW, and 6-0 Mike Green, who came to Butler from Towson. Campbell was the second-leading scorer at IPFW and was named the NCAA Division I All-Independent Newcomer of the Year last season. Green was a two-year starting guard at Towson, where he finished as the team's second-leading scorer in back-to-back seasons.

Story provided by Butler University Office of Sports Information