Men's Basketball Release #22 - Year-End Review

April 9, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Bulldogs make history with 30 victories
Butler became the first school in Horizon League history to record 30 victories in a single season. The Bulldogs' 81-61 triumph over South Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Championship pushed BU to a 30-3 record before a 76-71 overtime loss to Tennessee two days later ended Butler's season.

The Bulldogs were one of only nine teams in the nation to win 30 or more games this season (see the list on page 2), and only five schools have won more games than Butler (59-11) during the last two years.

First-year head coach Brad Stevens guided the Bulldogs to a 16-2 League record, tying the loop victory standard established by Green Bay in 1995-96. Butler dropped road contests at Wright State (43-42) and Cleveland State (56-52) in League play, with its four losses this season coming by a combined 17 points.

New year, new look for Butler in 2008-09
Butler will have to replace five graduating seniors, including the League's Player of the Year in guard Mike Green. The Philadelphia native was the only player to rank among the League's top ten in scoring (seventh at 14.6 points per game), rebounding (eighth with 6.5 caroms per contest) and assists (a loop-best 5.06 per outing). He was one of only eight players in the nation to lead his team in all three categories, and he also ranked sixth on the League charts with 1.29 steals per game.

Green earned All-America Honorable Mention from the Associated Press and was a candidate for several national awards, including the Bob Cousy Award as the top collegiate point guard as well as the Naismith Award as the nation's top player.

Backcourt mate A.J. Graves was a First-Team All-League selection for the second consecutive year, averaging 13.6 points per contest. He ranks 17th in Horizon League history (and third on the Butler all-time charts) with 1,807 career points, including 303 three-point field goals. The latter number is third on the all-time League list, while Graves is also second with a career free-throw percentage of .900.

Forward Pete Campbell canned a League-high 102 three-pointers this season, shooting 45.7 percent behind the arc. Campbell became only the eighth player in League history to make 100 treys in a season, finishing the year with an average of 11.7 points per game. Campbell set three-point-percentage records overall (.519) and in League play (.581) last season for the Bulldogs.

One familiar face expected to return is forward Matt Howard, who earned the League's Newcomer-of-the-Year honor and Second-Team All-League status. Howard averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as a freshman, reaching the 20-point mark five times this season.

Vikings return to postseason in NIT
Cleveland State made its first postseason appearance in 20 years when the Vikings received a berth in the NIT. CSU, which was picked ninth in the League's preseason poll, tied for second place in the circuit with a 12-6 loop ledger, part of a 23-11 overall mark.

The Vikings reached the final game of the Horizon League Championship for the first time in its 13-year tenure in the circuit before falling to Butler 70-55.

CSU reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 1993-94 and became only the second team in League history to hit that plateau in the season following a 20-loss campaign. (Xavier followed its 8-20 season in 1981-82 with a 22-8 mark the following winter.)

Cleveland State's last postseason appearance came in 1988, the school's second consecutive NIT berth following its lone NCAA Tournament appearance in 1986.

Junior forward J'Nathan Bullock finished sixth in the League in scoring (14.8 points per game) and seventh in rebounding (6.6 per outing) to earn First-Team All-League recognition. He became CSU's first First-Team honoree since Theo Dixon in 2000-01---the last time the Vikings posted a winning record.

Ohio coaches honored
Viking bench boss Gary Waters shared the League's Coach-of-the-Year honor with Wright State's Brad Brownell in 2007-08.Waters directed one of the nation's top turnarounds this season, as the Vikings nearly reversed their 21-10 record from last winter. Cleveland State had compiled a 17-63 mark in League play during the past five seasons before 2007-08 and recorded its best League showing since joining the circuit in 1994. CSU finished 9-5 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League) in both 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Brownell led the Raiders to a 21-10 mark, giving WSU its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since moving to Division I in 1983. Wright State also posted a 12-6 record in League play before falling to Valparaiso in the second round of the Horizon League Championship.

Stealing a page out of the record book
Cleveland State guard Cedric Jackson set a Horizon League single-season record with 88 steals, leading the circuit with a rate of 2.59 per contest. The theft count eclipsed the previous standard of 85, set by Loyola's Keir Rogers in 1989-90.

Jackson also finished second in the League with a rate of 4.94 assists per game and was eighth in scoring at 13.9 points per contest. He earned Second-Team All-League honors as well as spots on the League's All-Newcomer Team and All-Defensive Team.

Crusaders make mark in first season
Valparaiso represented the Horizon League in the College Basketball Invitational, closing the season with a 22-14 overall record. The Crusaders reached the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship after finishing in a four-way tie for fourth place with a 9-9 League ledger.

Valpo defeated Wright State in its first Horizon League contest (71-66 on Dec. 6) and closed the regular season with four consecutive victories to earn that fourth-place tie with Green Bay, UIC and Milwaukee. The Crusaders ended the regular season with another victory over Wright State and duplicated the feat in the second round of the Horizon League Championship.

Senior guard Jarryd Loyd won the League's Sixth Man of the Year award, averaging 12 points and 3.97 assists per game despite starting only one contest this year. He ranked fourth on the circuit's assist charts. Senior forward Shawn Huff led Valpo with 12.6 points per outing, while junior forward Urule Igbavboa added 11 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest.

Valparaiso set a Horizon League single-season record with 330 three-point field goals, including 91 by Huff. The Crusaders eclipsed the mark set last year when Butler canned 321 treys.

Mayo, Duggins to lead cast of returners
UIC junior guard Josh Mayo and Wright State sophomore guard Vaughn Duggins completed the First-Team All-Horizon League honor roll and are the only two members of that quintet to return in 2008-09.

Mayo finished second in the League with his 17.1 points-per-game scoring average---including 34 points versus Bradley on Nov. 10 and 32 against Green Bay on Dec. 8---and ranked seventh in the nation with a .470 rating from three-point range. Mayo canned 94 three-pointers in 2007-08 while also averaging 3.21 assists per game (sixth-best in the League).

Duggins was ninth on the League scoring charts at 13.8 points per game and added 2.74 assists per contest to rank ninth on that loop list. He helped lead the Raiders to 21 victories, including an 11-game winning streak during January and February. Ten of those victories came in League play by a combined 32 points.

Green Bay junior guard Mike Schachtner was a Second-Team All-League pick in 2007-08, finishing third in the League in scoring at 15.8 points per game, including a season-best 34 points at Valparaiso on Jan. 12. He ranked among the League's top ten shooters in all three percentage categories, leading the circuit at the free-throw line (.904) while standing fifth in three-point accuracy (.457) and tenth from the field (.487).

Goode way to finish a career
Detroit senior guard Jon Goode led the League in scoring at 19.3 points per game this season. Goode hit the 20-point mark 15 times---six more than any other League player---despite missing the final four games of the year with a knee injury. He tallied 35 points at UIC on Jan. 19, just two days after a 30-point outburst at Loyola.

Goode was one of six players to join the Horizon League's 1,000-point club this season. Bullock, Mayo, Schachtner, Loyola junior guard J.R. Blount and Youngstown State senior forward John Barber all reached four figures for their careers during the 2007-08 campaign. The list can be found on page 12 of this release.

Goode and Milwaukee senior forward Paige Paulsen earned Second-Team All-League recognition for their efforts this season. Paulsen averaged 13.3 points (12th in the League) and 6.4 rebounds per game this season to pace the Panthers, who finished 9-9 in League contests (14-16 overall) despite having five players leave the program after the start of practice in October.

Postseason honors pour in
Butler senior guards Mike Green and A.J. Graves were two of the 21 players named to the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-America Team, making Butler one of only three schools to boast two honorees on that list, which also includes Davidson guard Jason Richards, Western Kentucky guard Courtney Lee and Virginia Commonwealth guard Eric Maynor.

Davidson's Stephen Curry was not considered for this award after winning a spot on the publication's All-America squad.

Collegeinsider.com also recognized three Horizon League players on its 16-member Freshmen Mid-Major All-America team. Only the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference could claim as many first-year honorees on that list, with Green Bay guard Rahmon Fletcher, Butler forward Matt Howard and Youngstown State guard Vytas Sulskis representing the Horizon League.

Fletcher averaged 10.1 points per game in his debut campaign, shooting a lofty 50.2 percent from the field as the only guard (eighth) among the League's top ten in that category. He also averaged 3.2 assists to finish seventh on the League charts.

Sulskis started 29 of the Penguins' 30 games, averaging nine points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Those numbers increased to 10.7 and 4.9 in League play, enhanced by Sulskis' 38 percent accuracy from three-point range. The native of Lithuania set a YSU freshman record with 46 triples this season.

All three were members of the Horizon League's All-Newcomer Team, along with Cleveland State junior guard Cedric Jackson and Milwaukee freshman guard Deonte Roberts. Roberts started 25 games for the Panthers, averaging seven points and 2.37 assists per outing during his debut campaign.

For more information on the collegeinsider.com awards, log on to www.collegeinsider.com.

Green honored at Final Four
Butler guard Mike Green had a busy Final Four weekend, taking home two of the nation's most prestigious honors.

Green received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as well as the Chip Hilton Award, both presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the weekend's festivities in San Antonio.

The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award is presented annually to the nation's outstanding senior player six feet and under who has excelled both athletically and academically. Green---who was listed at six-foot-one but stands six feet tall without shoes---is the 40th player to win the award, first given to Purdue's Billy Keller in 1969.

The Philadelphia native scored 20 or more points six times this winter, including another 24-point, 13-rebound effort at Milwaukee on Feb. 12 and back-to-back 23-point games versus Virginia Tech and Texas Tech in November to lead Butler to the championship of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout last November. He was the only unanimous selection to the First-Team All-Horizon League quintet. The senior guard also eclipsed Butler's single-season record with 172 assists, closing his two-year Butler career with 996 points and 316 assists.

Green became the second Horizon League player to win the Naismith Award, joining Detroit alumnus Rashad Phillips (2001) in that group. Other previous winners include Wake Forest's Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues (1987), UCLA's Tyus Edney (1995) and Stanford product Brevin Knight (1997).

The Chip Hilton Award honors a Division I graduating senior who demonstrates character, leadership and talent similar to the qualities evident in the 24-book Chip Hilton Sports Series. The books, authored by Clair Bee, enjoyed their first popularity in the late 1940s through the mid-1960s and were updated and re-released by Randy and Cindy Farley to a new generation of readers in 1999. Those books have sold more than a million copies.

Wake Forest standout Tim Duncan won the first Hilton Award in 1997, while other recipients include Duke's Shane Battier (2001), Maryland's Juan Dixon (2002), Connecticut alumnus Emeka Okafor (2004) and Texas A&M product Acie Law IV (2007) as well as Butler's' Brandon Miller (2003), currently an assistant to Bulldog head coach Brad Stevens.

Ramblers' Blount makes history
Loyola junior guard J.R. Blount was one of six players to reach the 1,000-point mark this season (finishing the year with 1,153) and will be one of only four players in that group to return next season---joining Green Bay's Mike Schachtner (1,285), Cleveland State's J'Nathan Bullock (1,238) and UIC's Josh Mayo (1,207) in that group.

Blount ranked fifth in the League in scoring this season at 15.1 points per game, including seven outings of 20 points or more. In the process, he became the first Rambler since Eric Dolezal (1990-93) to average double figures in scoring in each of his first three years with the Loyola program.

20/20/20/20 vision
The Horizon League featured four teams with 20 or more victories in 2007-08, the most in League history. The circuit had three teams hit the 20-win plateau seven times but never got a fourth member of the quartet until this season.

Only seven conferences could claim more than the Horizon League's four 20-win teams, with the 16-team Big East Conference leading the way with nine.

Barber leaves mark on Penguin program
John Barber capped his career at Youngstown State as the first player in school history to record more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 70 blocked shots in a career. Barber finished his career with 1,016 points, 582 rebounds and 71 blocks. He is the 31st player in school history to score more than 1,000 career points.

League's NCAA Tournament run continues
Butler's 81-61 victory over South Alabama was the Bulldogs' 30th win of the season, but also created one other footnote in Horizon League history.

Horizon League teams have posted at least one victory in the "Big Dance" in each of the last four years, the longest run of its kind in circuit annals. Former members Evansville (1989), Dayton (1990) and Xavier (1990, 1991) combined to give the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (later renamed the Horizon League) a three-year run of success. Xavier advanced to the regional semifinals in 1990, while each of the other teams was eliminated in the second round.

Titans to host Final Four in 2009
The college basketball world sets its sights on Ford Field next spring as Detroit serves as host for the Final Four.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, April 4, with the national champion crowned Monday, April 6.

Indianapolis takes center stage the previous weekend as the Horizon League hosts the Midwest Regional semifinals (Friday, March 27) and final (Sunday, March 29). The Horizon League continues its tradition of hosting NCAA championship events, with the Final Four coming to Indianapolis in 2010 and the Women's Final Four at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium in 2011.

Butler and the Horizon League have hosted five Final Fours, with the men's finals in 1980, 1991, 1997 and 2006, and the women's championship in 2005.