A dog-meet-dog showdown
NEW YORK – Good, smart and tough.
It’s a combination that no college basketball coach wants to see in an opponent.
But that’s exactly how Gonzaga’s Mark Few describes the unbeaten and underrated Butler team that will provide the opposition for his Bulldogs in today’s 4 p.m. championship game of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off.
And, yes, you might also throw in one more adjective – deliberate.
Because Few expects Butler (5-0) to throw his Zags (5-0) a major change-of-pace pitch when the two teams square off in Madison Square Garden in a title-game matchup not many saw coming.
“They are really, really good, and really, really smart,” Few said of Butler, which earned its way into the finals by upsetting 22nd-ranked Tennessee 56-44 in Wednesday’s semifinals. “They play like a bunch of smart former Indiana high school players, which most of them are.
“And they have no problem taking their time, taking their time and running their stuff.”
Butler’s deliberate style will stand in stark contrast to the run-and-gun ways of the No. 2-ranked North Carolina team that GU blindsided 82-74 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
“They’re not Princeton, but they’re patient, patient, patient,” Few said of the namesake Bulldogs, who punched their ticket to the Big Apple by upsetting Notre Dame and Indiana in the NIT’s Midwest Regional in Indianapolis. “And that means you have to come in with the mindset of really dialing in and staying focused and not getting frustrated.
“Tennessee got frustrated.”
Butler, playing out of the Horizon League, is a veteran team that starts three seniors and two juniors. With no player on his roster taller than 6-foot-7, coach Todd Lickliter relies on a three-guard lineup that can present major matchup problems on the perimeter – although Gonzaga used four guards quite effectively during stretches of Wednesday night’s game.
According to GU assistant Leon Rice, who is responsible for putting together tonight’s game plan, the Bulldogs’ backcourt trio of A.J. Graves, Mike Green and Julian Betko, a transfer from Clemson, have been “the engine that keeps them running.”
“But they’re all smart, crafty players, who have a great feel for the game,” Rice added. “They’re into tempo, and they execute their stuff and try to frustrate you, which is where their brains come into play.
“They’re just good basketball players.”
Butler averaged only 8.8 turnovers per game last winter, the lowest of any team in the country. And they have taken care of the basketball this year, as well, averaging slightly more than 10.
Those impressive turnover numbers, according to Few, can be attributed to the Bulldogs’ deliberate style of play and the importance Lickliter and his staff place on fundamentals.
“I think this will be a classic kind of battle of two different styles,” Few said. “We like to run, but I know – for the most part – we can execute and be effective in the half-court, too, when we’re dialed in.”
The Zags ran with North Carolina from tip to final buzzer on Wednesday, and did so in a much more effective way than the Tar Heels.
Few expressed no surprise at having to face a lightly-hyped Butler team.
“Todd does a great job at Butler,” he said of Lickliter. “I think they’ve just rolled in, played harder and outplayed everybody thus far – at least in the games I”ve watched.
“I don’t know what (the title game) says. I would just say there are a lot of really good teams out there in college basketball.”
And when asked how he expects his Zags’ matchup against Butler to play out, Few added:
“Hopefully, better than it played out for Tennessee.”