Southern Illinois Salukis (5-0) vs. Butler Bulldogs (1-2), Monday, 12/21, 7:30 PM EST (FS1)

Butler putting the 59 game non-conference home winning streak on the line against the SIU Salukis.

Carbondale best win was Murray State, but still could be a tough test for the Bulldogs.

I am 100% certain that a dog team will win Monday.

The teams have played twice in history, each winning a road game.

In 2007 (06-07 season), #13 Butler hosted #16 Carbondale and SIU won 68-64 (Bracketbuster)
In 2007 (07-08 season), Carbondale hosted Butler and Dawgs won 57-55 Perhaps you remember some kid named AJ Graves...

 

I was at that AJ Graves buzzer beater. It was glorius. I remember a SIU fan sitting courtside who looked like a BeeGee with a leisure suit, weird grey feathered hair and copius gold accessories. He walked out from halftime with a rocks glass full of brown liquor. I'm still not sure he didn't time travel.

 

Ugh god. I’ll never forget Graves shooting like dog poo in that Bracketbuster game. He even missed a FT. Losing that one sucked.

The narrative was that he just had an uncharacteristic off day. That narrative became a recurring theme until I realized he just wasn’t that good of a pure shooter (still one of my favorite players ever at Butler).

Then the next year. Game wasn’t on tv. I was in the team hotel at the Alamo Bowl with my teammates. ESPN fortunately cut in to the end, and when that shot rolled around and went in, I went crazy. My teammates thought I was nuts haha. Good times.

 

Also... sorry I’m out of the loop. When did this game get added to the schedule?

And why THIS YEAR would you schedule a team that can come in here and end our streak? Ugh. I fear the 59 games might end tomorrow.

 

It was added when DePaul had to cancel...middle or so of last week. I'm glad we got to add a game and what should be a good one. I get the streak and all but this team needs run and reps as best as they can so they can get into game shape. It's been obvious so far they are not in 40 minute game sy hape. If we lose I'm fine with it...I just want to see some run. Get into the meat of the BE schedule with good legs.

SIU had a run there where they were pretty good. Been quiet since but look sharp this year. Looking forward to this one. I'll be interested to see where the line comes out.

 

Spent way too much time in Carbondale. Trust me, he was dressed normally for that town.


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Dawgs should be favored. SIU has good record but really weak opponents. Salukis have 5 games in. Dawgs now have 3.

I just hope the Bryce’s figure it out and AT can come back. But the freshmen look solid and it would be a big confidence boost for them to get a solid W


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Butler at -9

 

Just briefly looking at their team and how the minutes are split, it doesn't seem like they put much height on the floor. We need the Bryce Bros to get going here.

It also appears that they can shoot lights out from 3, which makes me more than a bit worried. We aren't defending well this year, especially from outside. If you take out Domask's 4-18 3 pt. shooting this year, the rest of the team is 40-83... Even with him, 44-101 is pretty damn good. Good enough for the 5th best team three point percentage in the country. Shooting damn near 80% from the line as well, 21st in the country. They also average 17 assists per game.

With all that being said, this one could be trouble, especially if we don't have AT running the show and guarding the perimeter.

 

Ah yes, I may or may not have been out in the B Rip the night before and hanging out with AJ good times and bad decisions

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We are going to have to start getting into teams, defensively, vs just trying to stay in front. Everyone has been extremely comfortable with the ball.

Speaking of our defense, anyone know what our defensive system is? Do we run a pack line man? Who else plays defense the same way we do? If we do play a sagging man, is this why we seem to give up so many 3s?

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The freshmen are having trouble getting a little lost and closing out. So...any team we face that can shoot, we're dead. Hell we made IU look like shooters. Gotta figure that out and it will get better with time and when AT comes back.

If the line is truly Butler favored...if it's more than 5 I think I'll run with the Salukis.

 

He was able to go out the night before a big game??

They kept mentioning he was under the weather during the game. That and “first one to 50 wins”

 

Like WMU, they have size and balanced scoring. It should prove to be competitive.

 

No surprise here. Sounds like he'll test it out before the game and see if he can go.

 

LOL yes a large contingent knew why he was "under the weather"

 

I didn't even go to Butler and I'd heard he'd been out drinking basically right after the game was over.

Tonight will be interesting to see - Certainly winnable, but definitely losable too. Really just hope the young guys don't get discouraged with how things are going in terms of record. I guess the one good thing about Jordan being coach was that he's gone through a season like that at Milwaukee and he kept those guys together and fighting. Will need to draw on those experiences this year.

 

AT has been in enough big games that I won't worry if he sits to get healthy. Somebody is going to have to guard David Duke on Wednesday. Hate to say it but I think the freshmen would get torched.

 

If it's an MCL sprain (no tear), he will likely be out 2-3 weeks.

 

Just goes to show you...if you go out, break curfew and get hammered the night before a game, you get to hit a game winning bomb against what was then an OK team.

Cool thing is that because this game was set for FS1 against DePaul we didn't have to scramble to try and get coverage. It should be some good exposure for SIU. So glad they were able to schedule this.