Butler Basketball: What we learned from 2 exhibitions

Butler’s first official game of the 2013-14 season is scheduled for Saturday as the Bulldogs will go head to head against the Pat Knight coached Lamar basketball program.

There already has been two opportunities to look at the current state of this team, though, so we thought we would document the initial thoughts of where this team is right now and perhaps who they could be.

Scoring

Sure, the defensive fire power of Nova Southeastern and DePauw isn’t close to what the Bulldogs will face in the Big East, but the offense looked very good over the two exhibition games in which it averaged 97 points per game and shot 61% and 52% in the two games.

It was safe to say that this offense was clicking on all cylinders and they looked good doing it. And it came collectively too. Four players were in double figures in the first game and three in the second. Outside of Kellen Dunham and maybe Elijah Brown at times, the scoring this season is going to be coming from all sorts of players on this team, so when each of them play like this, it can be a very effective and balanced attack.

Freshmen Debut

This is no doubt a very talented freshman class that the Bulldogs will be throwing to the dogs in the Big East and they looked impressive these past couple of contests. Elijah Brown is the one that stood out the most averaging 14.5 points per game through the two and putting on a very impressive shooting performance against DePauw in the first game.

Nolan Berry showcased some of his offensive talent as well in showing his ability to knock down the jumpshot and going 2-2 from beyond the arc in the games.

Rene Castro figures to be a large part of this program as well and showed why with 11 points in 17 minutes in the first game.

Andrew Chrabascz showed his rebounding ability with four in the first game and five in the second on limited playing time.

Defensive Performance

The numbers weren’t great, forcing 11 and 12 turnovers respectively, but neither team was able to make it out of the 60s as Butler went on for 90+. DePauw was able to put up a 45% shooting performance at Hinkle, which is a pretty impressive number for the visiting team.

This could be the most important part of this team’s performance this season, too as they go up against teams that will be superior when it comes to athleticism.  Butler will usually be the smaller team on the floor so it will have to find ways to be a great defensive team even with the new rules.

Saturday

Butler kicks off the 2013-14 season on Saturday against Lamar at Hinkle. The game tips at 8 PM as Brandon Miller makes his Butler coaching debut.