The Butler Grizzlies men’s basketball team season is over, with an overall record of 23-9. It is a disappointing end after losing in the region semifinals 79-76, on...
A look at the Grizzlies’ encouraging basketball season so far
Many students from outside of the United States experience variety of climates in Kansas. As students traveled back to their home countries or around the States for winter break, temperatures began to drop significantly. The team is led by Kyle Fisher, in his fifth year as head coach, along with assistant coaches Marques Townsend in his fourth year and Davon Usher in his second year with the program.
The Grizzlies’ men basketball team is fully determined for a deep post season after having shown glimpses of great play, battling it out with teams ranked ahead of them, like Barton; despite losing 65-61, the game was close.
The team may need to fix some aspects of their game, like being more consistent on the defensive side against better teams on paper and settling for easier shots by perfecting their offensive scheme. They are averaging 72.2 points per game (ppg) versus 62.7 for their opponents; it’s a near 10-point differential, which is good, but not quite good enough if they plan to have playoff success.
The team wil need to dominate on both sides of the ball like the number one ranked team, South Plains College, who are averaging 85.2 and 67.8 splits.
Butler’s leading scorer right now is Jamichael Stillwell with 14.4 points per game. Christian Richardson is leading in blocks with 1.2 blocks per game, and Jason Drake is leading in assists with 3.7 per game. The 14-4 record is a sign to be optimistic, and if the Grizzlies are more consistent against ranked teams their post season should be positive.
On the women’s side, their season started off particularly good with no losses in November or December; they were even ranked in the top 10 nationally. They are led by Mike Helmer in his 16th season and assistant coach Abby Fawcett in her 15th season with the program. Their overall record is 15-3 and they are ranked #18 as of January 25th. They were 9-0 in November, 3-0 in December and are now 3-3 in January. #11 ranked Hutchinson beat them 73-54 their first game back from break. In order to reclaim their ranking, the team will need to return to the philosophy they had before the break.
Their leading scorer is Freddie Wallace, with 20.1 ppg. She is also leading in blocks with 0.9 and Randi Harding is leading in assists with 3.7 per game. As a team, they are averaging 75.7 ppg versus their opponent’s 54.3 ppg. These are great numbers if the team has playoff aspirations, and they just need to get out of the January slump and dominate games as they did in November and December. They beat teams like Dodge City who are now ranked ahead of them, which is a good indication of what level is required for the post season. The women will need to bring their consistency back as they look ahead for the second stretch of this season.
