The Skinny on the Butler...

BUTLER BULLDOGS

The Butler may not do it in the Madness with the Upset this year, but they will continue to develop this year, and we will see where they're at vs. Indiana tomorrow.

They still have super mid-major coach in Brad Stevens. They have some young talent that overall will be mismatched vs. a "BCS" conference team, but the Steven's defence is solid and their offense is patient. Overall, the Butler Bulldogs are just that, they're a bulldog team that will grind their way to constant improvement throughout this non-conference sked and throughout an improved Horizon Conference sked. As far as the Madness in March? Stay tuned for future Insanity Reports to track their progress.

The Bulldogs are led by SR. PG Ronald Nored. He's starting this season as a distributing guard who is not looking for his shot whatsoever. He's dropping 4-6 dimes per game but he is needed to come out of his shell if the young freshmen and sophomores of Butler are going to develop.

The developing talent includes SOPH. G Chrishawn "Make up your mind, is it Chris or is it Shawn" Hopkins who is capable of 20 point outbursts, but is still young and will have deer-in-the-headlight-itis vs any sort of pressure from a more experienced defender.

SOPH. F Khyle "Don't call me me Minogue" Marshall is a smooth wing who can find the odd drive from the elbow or the wing. Either he can't find his jumper or it's not within the Butler offense, but I haven't seen him utilize it as much as he could.

There is also a smooth wing in FR. Kameron "Don't call me Kirk" Woods. He can turn into a silky smooth scorer later in the year and definitely into his Sophomore and Junior seasons, but he has to gain some much needed l.b's as he will get pushed around in the blocks with those olive oil arms. He's having an alright start to his career with 4 ppg and 4.5 rpg. He will improve these stats once Steven's is more comfortable with upping his minutes.

Closing out the guards is JR. G Chase "Don't call me Milt or Hugo" Stigall who is a chucker. A pure hot and cold chucker from down down. If he gets hot then the Butler will use this to get on a roll, but when he's cold, he will be forcing up shots like Paulsen at last call at the Lamplighter!

The kicker for Butler is JR. C Andrew Smith who is leading the Bulldogs so far at 12 ppg. He is a presence in the pain, but moreso the short corner. He can score and board, but he has a body and game that will get out-muscled by bigger posts such as OSU's Jared Sullinger and Indiana's Cody Zeller.

The Butler is pretty much the Butler, a team that is lacking in UNC/Duke/OSU/etc-like talent but is extremely well coached and after this year's developing season after losing super talents such as Gordan Hayward, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, they will develop into a force, but it's up in the air who else will step up off the bench, there is still a freshmen trio in F Roosevelt "E. Roosevelt" Jones, Wing Andy "Light as a " Smeather and G Jackson "Heeeeee Heeeeee" Aldridge that will have a say into where the Butler will be at come the New Year.

Stay tuned!