Butler basketball schedule provides plenty of early tests in Thad Matta's return
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INDIANAPOLIS – Butler might have received some relief in its Big East/Big 12 Battle assignment. The first nonleague basketball season of coach Thad Matta's second tenure will be challenging nevertheless.
In a re-pairing of the game sending Butler to its first Final Four, Kansas State will visit Hinkle Fieldhouse in the annual Big East/Big 12 Battle on Nov. 30. Wednesday's announcement was the first for a Butler home opponent.
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Butler should be assigned a Big Ten road opponent for the Gavitt Games. And Butler must find a game to replace the Crossroads Classic, which was discontinued after last season.
Much about the Bulldogs will be revealed during Thanksgiving week at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. The seven other teams in the tournament: BYU, Dayton, Kansas, North Carolina State, USC, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Kansas is defending NCAA champion, and USC, Tennessee and Wisconsin all made the March Madness field.
By November, the Bulldogs will have a revamped lineup that could feature three transfers: center Manny Bates (N.C. State), forward Ali Ali (Akron) and guard Eric Hunter Jr. (Purdue).
A tone was set in LaVall Jordan's final season when the Bulldogs played in the Maui Invitational at Las Vegas. They lost to Houston 70-52 and Texas A&M 57-50, and won their only game over a Division II opponent, Chaminade, 84-51.
Butler finished 14-19.
Kansas State/Butler will match first-year coaches. Longtime Baylor assistant Jerome Tang succeeded Bruce Weber at Kansas State, and Matta replaced Jordan.
Kansas State is coming off a 14-17 season and lost 17-point scorer Nijel Pack of Lawrence Central. Pack transferred to Miami (Fla.).
In March 2010, the Bulldogs beat Kansas State 63-56 in the NCAA West Regional final at Salt Lake City, sending them to the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium. That has been their only meeting.
The two coaches, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Kansas State’s Frank Martin are long gone from their respective schools and, coincidentally, are now in the same state.
Stevens is president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics after coaching them for eight seasons. Martin left Kansas State after 2011-12, coached South Carolina for 11 years (including in the 2017 Final Four) and recently became coach at Massachusetts.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler basketball: Battle 4 Atlantis highlights tough 2022-23 schedule
