By CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – Amid all the mayhem, all the upsets, surprises and VCU losses, Butler sits alone atop the Atlantic 10 standings with a 4-1 record in conference play. Only league games factor into a team’s seeding for the A-10 tournament in March, so the Bulldogs knew they couldn’t live off […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – Temple’s Anthony Lee left the court with a towel over his face. Rotnei Clarke walked off with a smile on his. A standing ovation from the sellout Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd said it all. Clarke dominated in his return from a severely sprained neck. The senior point guard scored […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS – Roosevelt Jones never had that one extraordinary moment. Until he slipped on a Butler uniform. Until Saturday night, in the first-ever matchup of top-15 teams at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, on an occasion in which the basketball-crazed campus hosted ESPN’s College GameDay. Add yet another memory to Butler’s thrilling […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent A week in, here’s where we stand: four unbeatens, seven winning records and four winless teams. Conference play in the Atlantic 10 has already produced one ultra-entertaining classic (VCU-St. Joe’s), a photo finish (Xavier-St. Bonaventure) and a brilliant individual line (Chaz Williams’ 22 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent Butler has a heck of a frontcourt. Without Rotnei Clarke, that unit becomes front and center. Roosevelt Jones is the best passer on the team and the essence of versatility at small forward. Khyle Marshall remains, as he has been for some time, the most talented guy on the roster. […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent Enthusiasm about the Atlantic 10 is merited. The fun is only getting started. With expanded team blurbs this week, let’s not tarry on the opening comment. Here is IndySportsLegends.com’s Friday serving of A-10 Power Rankings. 1. Butler (13-2) Butler has aced a season many analysts felt would be a bit […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent Going into Atlantic 10 play, Butler has won nine in a row. The last game against New Orleans was far from a masterpiece, but maybe the Bulldogs just wanted to get a rough shooting night out of the way before conference season. Most of the vibes are good ones. Butler’s […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent Finally, all of these teams start to go head-to-head when the Atlantic 10 schedule opens Wednesday night. Each school plays a 16-game slate and will face each opponent once and one twice. It will be the middle of the league that determines how exciting the conference tournament is. The early […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent With conference play less than two weeks away, the Atlantic 10 hierarchy is almost set. Butler, Virginia Commonwealth and Temple more or less clinched spots at the top with strong records and victories over national powers. All three have jumped ahead of Saint Joseph’s for status as conference frontrunner. With […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent A few weeks ago in this space, the point was made that the A-10 probably would see a team rise into the national rankings at some point because of the overall strength of the conference. Butler is that team. The Bulldogs debuted Monday at No. 19 in the AP Top […]
Continue ReadingBy CHRIS GOFF ISL Correspondent The marquee game of Saturday’s Close the Gap Crossroads Classic, Indiana versus Butler, will likely swing on who controls the speed of the game. Indiana plays one of the country’s fastest paces. Conversely, less than 100 teams in Division I average fewer possessions per game than Butler, which prefers to […]
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