Florida State-Butler Post-Game Wrap-up
LEBANON, Ind. - Sorry this is late. They shut down the internet at Conseco Fieldhouse before I could write an update.
You may have noticed that my dateline has changed. Icy roads forced me to abandon my trip home, so I am now in Lebanon, Ind., which is about halfway between Indianapolis and Lafayette. It's also the home town of Purdue's all-time leading scorer, Rick Mount. It's a good thing Purdue played the first game or they wouldn't have made it home tonight.
But, I digress.
First, a correction on the stats reported earlier. Florida State had 19 turnovers, not 23. Still, it was about a half a dozen too many.
Florida St shot 46.6 percent from the floor (27-for-58), but only 5-for-17 from three-point range. Take that out, and that's 54 percent from two-point distance. FSU killed Butler on the boards, 35-25, including 12 offensive rebounds, but the Bulldogs outscored the Seminoles from the free throw line, 20-9.
A.J. Graves' seven three-pointers is a Wooden Tradition record.
After the game, Butler coach Brad Stevens talked a lot about how his team dealt with losing to Wright State last time out and how they dealt with final exams. Stevens, who doesn't look a day older than his players, said that he expected a good effort from his team because "when final exams are over, there is such a relief, that the players come out with a high energy level."
He also talked about how it was nice to play near home for a change, although he referred incorrectly to this game as a neutral site game. Stevens said that his team traveled a total of 43 hours for its first 10 games, "so it was nice to travel 15 minutes each way, or 20 in the snow."
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton was effusive in his praise for Graves. He said that the 'Noles game plan for defending Graves was to go over the top of the screens and not let him get good looks, but that Graves was too "clever" for them. Hamilton said that Graves "is the best I've ever seen at using ball screens to get open."
Comments
I know you know this, and this is a technicality, but this was WITHOUT QUESTION a neutral site game for Butler. How can you say it wasn't. Yes, the Dawgs are located in Indy, but Conseco is not their home floor.
Again, I know you know this, but when you make a comment that Stevens "referred incorrectly to this game as a neutral site game" it makes me question the accuracy of your RPI ratings if you think otherwise.
Posted by: CA Butler fan | December 18, 2007 05:44 PM
Let me first say as a disclaimer that the RPI is not my creation and that I do not have any say in what is a home game and what is not. That is the NCAA's domain.
The rule is that any game played in your hometown against a team not from there is a home game for you, so in RPI terms, this is a home game for Butler.
Technicality or no, there was nothing neutral about this site. It's 1000 miles from FSU, and 1000 yards from Butler. The crowd was 99% Butler. FSU had fewer fans than players. Conseco is not their regular building, but Butler plays there much more often than FSU does.
This is as much of a home game as Butler can have without playing in Hinkle.
As another aside, the rule in the RPI that makes this a home game is to prevent teams from moving games across town just to skew their ratings and still have every advantage that home teams usually have.
Posted by: Jerry Palm | December 18, 2007 07:29 PM
Thanks for the clarification...that makes complete sense.
But...as I think about this more...the only flaw in that rule I see is an example from last year: when Butler played both IU (in the preseason NIT) and your Boilers (in nonconference) at Conseco. If it was still deemed a "home game" for Butler, despite the fact that IU and Purdue both had thousands more fans at the game, then the rule needs to be tweaked.
Just because Butler is located in Indy, doesn't mean its a home court advantage -- especially when playing IU and Purdue. In fact, its a big disadvantage than playing them at Hinkle.
So for the NCAA's formula to say that those games were technically "home games" last year is not giving Butler enough credit in the NCAA selection process. And a small, mid-major team like Butler needs all the breaks they can get on Selection Sunday.
At least Butler won both those games last year...but would making those wins "neutral" instead of "home" games have increased their seeding in the NCAA's? Who knows?
Now playing Florida State Indy at Conseco??? I completely understand the logic of the home/neutral rule. But not against much larger in-state rivals.
Home or neutral or away, as a Bulldog fan, I will take a win over a BCS conference team no matter where it is!
Posted by: CA Butler fan | December 20, 2007 06:29 PM