{"id":349381,"date":"2010-02-22T11:21:41","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T16:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,yhoo:20050301:fantasy,article,yhoo-ept_sports_fantasy_experts-221270:1"},"modified":"2010-02-22T11:21:41","modified_gmt":"2010-02-22T16:21:41","slug":"bracket-big-board-stevens-bulldogs-irresistible-to-kenpom-fanatics-ladies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/349381","title":{"rendered":"Bracket Big Board: Stevens’ Bulldogs irresistible to KenPom fanatics, ladies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bracket Big Board takes into consideration past returns,
\ncurrent performance and expected future gains in determining who should
\nbe included among the field of 65 (31 automatic and 34 at-large bids).
\nEssentially, the Bracket Big Board is a cheat sheet designed for
\namateur bracketologists if they were filling out a Tourney Pick ‘Em ’10<\/a>
\n entry today. The Bracket Big Board is updated every Monday until the
\ndance card is officially unveiled March 14.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>
<\/p>\n

When outwardly muscular mid-majors look in the mirror a
\nreflection of skinny-armed girly men often conveys. Small conference Cinderella
\nhopefuls with hunky records can be very deceiving. <\/p>\n

However, Brad Stevens’ Butler Bulldogs are absolutely
\nshredded. <\/p>\n

Playing home games in a building immortalized by
\n"Hoosiers<\/a>," historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, the perennial darling is once again blazing a trail to
\nanother Horizon conference championship. Unblemished in league play, the
\nBulldogs have ripped off 17 straight wins, a school record. More impressively,
\nthey’ve upended Big Ten titan Ohio
\n St. – sans Evan Turner – Xavier and dismantled a
\nquality Siena
\nsquad in non-conference action. A top five seed is sure
\nto follow. Though Temple, New Mexico and Gonzaga have an argument, the
\n25-win mighty mite has earned the reputation of being college basketball’s deadliest
\n"little guy." Renaming
\nthem the "Fighting Pescis<\/a>" seems appropriate. <\/a> <\/p>\n

Despite playing second fiddle to intrastate powerhouse
\nPurdue, Butler
\ndeserves every accolade. The small liberal arts school has cranked out more
\nwins than any other Indiana
\nbasketball franchise over the past decade. With two Sweet Sixteen appearances
\nand an average of 23.4 wins per year since 2000, its amazing how the program
\nhas maintained a fair level of consistency considering Stevens is its fourth different
\nhead coach in 10 years.   <\/p>\n

Since the Final Four will be held in their backyard in a
\nlittle over a month, the Bulldogs are thinking big. <\/p>\n

Balanced, experienced and battle-tested, Butler is a team to be feared. Interior
\nstalwart Matt Howard, though occasionally plagued by foul trouble, is an
\noutstanding post player. Meanwhile, versatile guards Gordon Hayward and Shelvin
\nMack routinely stuff stat sheets with their excellent all-around play. Glue
\nguys Willie Veasley and Ronald Nored also play critical roles. In terms of
\nchemistry, the Bulldogs are a well-oiled machine. As Siena sideline suit Fran McCaffery remarked
\nafter Saturday’s defeat at Hinkle<\/a>: <\/p>\n

"They’re different than some of the teams we
\nplayed," said McCaffery, whose team previously lost to
\nTemple, Georgia
\nTech and Northern Iowa. "They may very
\nwell be the best in the sense that they really don’t make mistakes. If you’re
\ngoing to beat them you almost have to play the perfect game."<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From a KenPom perspective<\/a>, Butler has made dramatic strides throughout
\nthe season. The tenacious Canines, ranked 27th in defensive efficiency
\nnationally, have yielded just 0.83 points per possession in their past six contests.
\nSince January 21 only one opponent, Wright St.,
\nhas recorded an effective field goal percentage above 44 against them. In a
\nhalfcourt setting, they are no pushover.   <\/p>\n

Offensively, the Bulldogs are equally lethal. They do
\ncontribute minimally from distance, but, due to their attacking nature, they’ve
\ndrawn numerous fouls (BU ranks 17th in FTA\/FGA), netting nearly 75.1 percent of
\ntheir opportunities, the 11th-best conversion rate in the country. Teams that defend,
\nrebound, which Butler
\nalso does well (11th in defensive rebound percentage), and successfully convert at
\nthe line typically are difficult outs in tournament play. <\/p>\n

Based on Butler’s
\nglowing characteristics, the mid-major macho men could flex plenty of muscle in
\nMarch. <\/p>\n

Here are this week’s movers and shakers on the Bracket Big Board:<\/p>\n

<\/a>

\n<\/a>
<\/p>\n

*For games played through Sunday, February 21
*RPI data provided
\nby Rivals<\/a>
*Efficiency
\n stats from kenpom.com<\/a>
<\/strong><\/p>\n

On
\n the Bubble:<\/strong> Connecticut (16-11), Charlotte (18-8), Mississippi St. (19-8), Memphis (20-7), Mississippi (17-9), Minnesota (16-10), South Florida (16-10), Washington (18-9), St. Louis (18-8), Arizona St. (19-8), Notre Dame (17-10)<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dropped
\n Out:<\/strong> Mississippi St., Mississippi, Charlotte, Western Carolina, Pacific, Arkansas St., Belmont <\/p>\n

Conference Breakdown: <\/strong>American
\nEast
\n (1), ACC (7), Atlantic Sun (1), Atlantic 10 (5), Big 12 (7), Big
\nEast (7), Big Sky (1), Big South (1), Big Ten (5), Big West (1),
\nColonial (1), Conference USA (2), Horizon (1), Ivy (1), Metro (1),
\nMid-American (1), Mid-Eastern (1), Missouri Valley (1), Mountain West
\n(4), Northeast (1), Ohio Valley (1), Pac-10 (1), Patriot (1), SEC (3),
\nSouthern (1), Southland (1), SWAC (1), Summit (1), Sun Belt (1), West
\nCoast (2), WAC
\n(1) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bracket Big Board takes into consideration past returns, current performance and expected future gains in determining who should be included among the field of 65 (31 automatic and 34 at-large bids). Essentially, the Bracket Big Board is a cheat sheet designed for amateur bracketologists if they were filling out a Tourney Pick ‘Em ’10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5446,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}