Saturday, March 5, 2016

March 5th, 2016: Butler at Xavier (Big East tournament)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Tori Schickel's lay-up with 1:32 to go gave Butler their final edge in the first round of the Big East tournament, as the Bulldogs defeated Xavier 48-47. Blaire Langlois had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Butler. Jenna Crittendon had 14 points for Xavier before fouling out.

For blue blobs, tied dance-offs, hustle on the baseline, guarding three-point shooters, turning up the intensity, and rocking out with your tuba out, join your intrepid and caffeinated blogger after the jump.


Good afternoon once more, gentle readers. The preparations for game 2 are underway, as the Musketeers of Xavier and the Bulldogs of Butler take the floor. Their colors are depressingly similar. The Big East really has a bad case of the blues.

What even is this remix of "Rolling in the Deep"? No. I do not approve.

The group around us seems to be leaving, which annoys me as much as their showing up in the first place. It's a double-header, for Pete's sake. I'm never happy, what can I say?

One of the Creighton players came by- I think she has family here. Either that, or she really liked that cup of whatever she was holding.

That awkward moment when you realize you've accidentally sat with the team whose butts you just whooped. Janning, Lamberty, and another Jay just moved up into our row.

Xavier's band is super fresh- they're currently doing an arrangement of "Shut Up and Dance". Both bands have been great.

At halftime, Butler is up 24-15 with a late push. Jenna Crittendon has 11 of the 15 for Xavier. Butler's scoring is a wee tiny bit more balanced, with Blaire Langlois's 11 leading the way.

We get performances from both dance teams at halftime of this one! I give Xavier the edge, but they're both pretty decent.

Best band moment: band collaborations! So far we've had Xavier doing the instrumentals on "Hey Baby" and "Sweet Caroline", with Butler contributing vocals (though "Sweet Caroline" got interrupted by the arrival of the teams).

The shooting in this one has been so bad that the Butler band got tired of doing the "airrrrrrr-baaaaaaalllllll" chant at Xavier. We're up to four, plus one by Butler.

I think it's awfully confident of Georgetown to come watch this game instead of preparing for the 4-5 game tomorrow.

If Xavier's band had pulled out the Shinedown earlier, we would have been rooting for them. That's some seriously hard rock to arrange for marching band. As it was, Butler dodged a couple of bullets on the missed free throws by Ward.

Michelle Weaver played briefly in the second half, but her lack of size was painfully obvious, and she didn't look ready for the postseason. Tori Schickel made plays at the basket and made space for her teammates to work. Nicole Orr showed some intriguing flashes of athleticism around the arc.

Blaire Langlois was the star of the show for the Bulldogs. She scored from all over the floor. More importantly, her team had faith in her to get the job done. Everyone looked to her- at least that was the sense I got from the way they all interacted on the court. Alexa Bailey was very quiet in the first half, but came up with a really nifty steal late in the game (which, granted, was promptly stolen back by Maddison Blackwell, but it was a nice play). Sydney Buck left no real impression, though I think she was involved in some of the Butler defensive pressure in the backcourt.

Belle Obert had some good plays boxing out and getting on the glass. She ensured that her teammates would have room to rebound. Brittany Ward has a lot of athletic moves right at the basket, but she just couldn't finish. If Butler had lost this game, she would have been the goat for missing four straight free throws at the end of the game. I feel like I'm saying this a lot today, but she's a freshman. I think the pressure got to her. She's tough, and she'll get there in the end, but right now she's still clearly a freshman.

Jada Byrd came in for defensive purposes. Anniina Äijänen played briefly in the first half and did nothing of import, which is good, because there are only so many times I can attempt to type an umlaut before I start swearing at the character map. Leah Schafer did a bit of rebounding and screening, which is something I like to see out of posts. Marquia Turner showed some offense in the third quarter, when Xavier started trying to take the game back over. The big girl, Imani Partlow, got a stretch of minutes in the first quarter, but while she was able to get position in the paint, she wasn't able to finish at the rim, and I think Brian Neal got tired of it eventually.

Jenna Crittendon hits threes. She's really good at them. She was able to use her height to her advantage when Butler sent smaller guards at her. They got smart and started doubling her in the second half, and while she was able to get some space, it wasn't enough for her to be effective. That did, however, free up Briana Glover inside- she had a couple of very quick baskets to start the third quarter, and that seemed to give her more confidence down low. Raeshaun Gaffney also seemed to find her feet in the second half, playing with more confidence. She had a fantastic save on the baseline, throwing the ball over her head to get it in to a teammate.

I'm always simultaneously disappointed and self-righteous when players named A*li*yah have bad games- disappointed because they're not living up to the name, and self-righteously satisfied because that just means Aliyyah's better. Aliyah Zantt had a very disappointing game- she had two big baskets back-to-back in the fourth quarter, but that was it. Maddison Blackwell had a nice game defensively, and did a lot of the little things, but went AWOL on defense.

I thought the officiating at the end of the game was a little suspect, but it's probably more damaging to go ahead and make the call that conceivably gives Xavier the game than it is to not make the call and let the game play out.

For most of the night, it seemed like each team was graciously offering the other one the opportunity to get curb-stomped by DePaul in the second round, at DePaul's home arena. The game picked up in the second half, but it was not pretty. The band and the cheering fans more than made up for the lack of execution on the floor.

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