Butler basketball senior day is another deflating outcome in a season full of them
INDIANAPOLIS – They have been through it all together, LaVall Jordan and Aaron Thompson have. For five college basketball seasons, through wins and too many losses, Jordan has been the Butler coach and Thompson the point guard.
Jordan called timeout late in Saturday’s game so each senior could receive a separate ovation from the Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd of 8,163. Along the sideline, Jordan drew close to Thompson, hand around the player’s waist, delivering yet another message.
Senior day was deflating because No. 11 Villanova built a 19-point lead and went on to beat Butler 78-59.
It was the fifth straight defeat for the Bulldogs and 18th this season. Ten losses were by 15 or more points. Eighteen are the most losses since Barry Collier went 6-22 in 1989-90, his first season as coach.
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It will be Collier, now athletic director, who will decide Jordan’s fate after a third losing season out of four.
That is for another day — after the Bulldogs (13-18, 6-14) play in next week’s Big East tournament.
They will be seeded No. 9 and oppose No. 8 seed Xavier in New York.
In addressing the crowd afterward, Thompson said:
“I know my time here hasn’t been perfect. It hasn’t been what everybody wanted it to be. Had some obstacles and bad seasons. I just want to say this place is as special as any place I’ve ever been. I know people who would die to come here, be in my position.
“I’m as grateful as anybody in this gym to call himself a Butler Bulldog. Coming into college, I just wanted somewhere I could call home. This place is special to me. Come back five, 10 years from now, like Thomas Jackson and Ron Nored, and be able to call this place home.”
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Thompson had three assists, extending his Butler record to 562 — ahead of Jackson (540) and Nored (497).
It is difficult to be credited with assists on a team that shoots as errantly as Butler does. Until late in the game, the Bulldogs were 2-of-21 on 3-pointers. They started 1-of-11 in falling behind 23-4.
The outcome was effectively decided midway through the first half, although the Bulldogs persevered. Thompson said they let their energy on defense be influenced by all those missed shots, a shortcoming Jordan has cited.
Thompson started his extra pandemic season with a three-game suspension, but that did not rupture the coach/player relationship.
“Coach, I know we ain’t always seeing eye to eye,” he said in his address. “But you’re my guy forever. I’ll love you forever. You’re special to me. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”
Butler did not do enough this season, and everyone from Collier and Jordan on down would acknowledge it.
Villanova coach Jay Wright was relieved to get out of here, considering four losses to Butler in the previous five visits to Hinkle. “Because they’re similar to us in their style of play,” he explained.
Villanova (23-7, 16-4) lost at Butler 73-61 last year because it was 2-of-27 on 3s. This time: 11-of-24.
Jordan said Butler players continue to stay connected, practice hard and search for the best version of themselves.
“We’ve touched it here and there as the season goes on,” he said. “We know that we still have it in us. I think that’s what keeps those guys going.”
They do keep going. Postgame ceremony included statements by two little-used seniors, transfer Ty Groce and walk-on Mike Parker.
Groce: “I want to thank the whole Butler community for making this a year I’ll never forget. Go Dawgs.”
Parker: “This has been the most transformational three years of my life. What makes Butler Butler is the people.”
It is fanciful to envision a run through the Big East tournament replicating Georgetown, which won it as a No. 8 seed last year. But really, for Butler, what else is there? Even the NIT is out of the question.
If there is a mustard seed of hope, it would be:
1, Villanova was practically perfect, and few teams could have beaten Villanova; 2, Chuck Harris scored 19 points, and that’s the Chuck Harris badly needed; 3, Jair Bolden was out with an ankle injury, and he adds firepower if he returns; 4, this was perhaps a March outlier, given Butler played nine winnable February games (and won two).
“We get kind of a fresh slate, clean slate, record-wise,” Thompson said. “I think it will rejuvenate our team energy in terms of how we approach it.”
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler's Aaron Thompson says goodbye to Hinkle in loss to Villanova
