Josh Q. Public:You upset me baby, upset me baby. Like being hit by a falling tree. Woman, what you do to me. -BB King
Public Service Announcement: OK, here we go! Just a short one today. Just a short one from the basketball court one today. Butler Basketball. Butler Bulldog Basketball. Can they do this? Do they have a shot? Just what makes that little old ant think he’ll move that rubber tree plant. Anyone knows an ant can’t, move a rubber tree plant. But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes. He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes. In the land of the chalk, the Butler Bulldogs have high hopes. No one can make this ram scram. Couldn’t make ‘em scram from the Pre-Season NIT. In the pre-season NIT, the Bulldogs high hoped Notre Dame. They high hoped Indiana. They high hoped Tennessee and Gonzaga. High hoped themselves all the way to the championship. This team has beaten Purdue in the regular season. They made their way into the top ten and have been ranked among the nation’s top twenty teams since November. Beat number four seed Maryland in the tournament. Moving rubber tree plants left and right. These guys are outta sight. They face the biggest of rubber tree plants tonight.
AJ Graves has high hopes. “That’s fine. They didn’t say we’d win versus Maryland either.” He’s not gettin’ low. He’s not lettin’ go. Why should he? MVP of the NIT Season Tip-Off, he’s the Jimmy Chitwood of this dance. He’s a dancin’ fool. Dancin’ like those other old fools, Emmit, Jerry and Clyde the Glide. Like Myra Fleener always says: ” He’s a real special kid and, and I have high hopes for him.” This kid can shoot. Shoot the lights out. Shot the lights against Old Dominion. Shot the lights out against Maryland. He’s gonna have to shoot the lights again tonight against the Gators if Butler wants to take this thing. If they really want that brass ring. If they really wanna be all that and a chicken wing. I’ve seen you guys can shoot but there’s more to the game than shooting. There’s fundamentals and defense. Welcome to Indiana Basketball. Butler Bulldog basketball. Disciplined basketball. Mike Green is disciplined. He has high hopes. High apple pie in the sky hopes. He was disciplined enough to take the Horizon League’s Newcomer of the Year Award. Disciplined enough to finish as the team’s leading rebounder. As a six foot guard. Disciplined enough to finish as the team’s second-leading scorer. Second team All-League. Playing relentless defense. Dogged defense. Bull Dogged defense. Played Bull Dogged defense against ODU. His Bull Dogged defense along with Graves’ shooting, just shut down the vaunted ODU offense. Shut ‘em down, shut ‘em, shut ‘em down. Public Enemy style. Brandon Crone has high hopes. He’s not feelin’ bad. He’s not feelin’ sad. He’s a Two-time All-State baller from Indiana’s own Frankfort High. Get the papers, get the papers. He set school records for career scoring and rebounding. He was MVP. of the state AAU tournament, which his team won. He was voted Butler’s captain as a sophomore. He had a 27-point outburst in a game against Ohio State last season. But what this guy does. What this guy does all the time is: Go out and get his ten to fifteen points a game. Go out and get his four to seven boards. Play Bull Dogged defense. Play Butler Bull Dogged defense. For Butler to win tonight, they’re going to have to continue that Bull Dogged defense. They’re going to have to continue to hit the threes. The magic number. Don’t forget, Butler set a Horizon League record by making 314 from beyond the arc. They scored thirty-six of their sixty-two points on Downtown Freddie Browns against the Terps. So they can do this. Like they always knew this. They’re playing the defending National Champions tonight. They’re playing the number one seed in the NCAA Tournament tonight. But, all those problems just a toy balloon. They’ll be bursted soon. They’re just bound to go pop. Oops there goes another problem kerplop. Butler Bulldogs Basketball, ladies and gentlemen. Butler Bulldogs basketball.
josh q. public. For the public, by The Public. Irreverent sports opinion from a Bostonian in New York. The one blog to read, when you’re reading more than one. Good to the last drop!