Butler's team made a Kansas-like comeback to win their semifinal game tonight in the PIT.
Butler was on the bench to start the game, and when he checked in to the game, he was confident, quick and smooth. I think he hit his first 4 shots from the field with drives to the hoop and outside shots. When he finally missed a shot (a well defended 3), you could hear people in the crowd holding their breath until the ball rimmed off. A+ first half.
Neither his nor his teammates' shots were going in to start the second half. His team was flat-out cold. And it didn't help that the team they played was more physical and the refs weren't calling many fouls at that point. Calathes' shirt was held 5 different times and not once was a foul called -- it's an intentional foul in a real college game. Towards the end of the game, Butler had a nice drive through the trees for a layup, where he hung in the air for a while. That's a move he didn't have a couple years ago.
His team was down by 6 points with about a minute left in the game. Calathes and Butler trapped the point guard just above the 3-point line, Butler swiped low, ran forward, waited for the ball to follow behind him, and then assisted on an easy layup the other way to get the comeback started. I think they scored the last 9 or 10 points of the game to win it. The man he was guarding didn't score a point all night -- in one instance, a bigger player had him posted up under the rim on a defensive switch, and when the player brought the ball down by his hips, Butler blocked it.
Here is the box score from the game. Some of those numbers are not correct -- I remember at least 3 assists from Butler just thinking about it, in addition to more than 1 steal and the aforementioned block. For the opposing team, Forbes had a solid game. Bryant Dunston (Fordham) was the most dominating player of the game -- he made Shaun Pruitt (Illinois) his bitch.
After the game ended, Butler was the only player to come out into the stands. He signed a bunch of autographs for kids, and then made his way over to... Othello Hunter, who apparently had been watching Butler's game. Those guys are a tight group. They slowly walked out together, both signing a lot of autographs.
There were a bunch of NBA and international scouts at the game. Kevin McHale was the most easily recognizable. Hopefully Butler and Othello land somewhere good next year.
