Five Questions for Brad Stevens

Not long into the second half of Butler’s 75-66 loss to Green Bay on Monday night, I got that feeling that usually comes around once or twice a season. You know what I’m talking about. Sitting there watching a weeknight road game, riding an 8-12 game winning streak or so, and things just aren’t going well.

It’s almost as if I mailed in the loss well before it even happened, just to start the process of moving on. I wasn’t, and am still not, upset by the fact that Butler lost … it was more the fashion in which they did so. And what I kind of like about it is that with just one loss, suddenly the regular season conference title is up for grabs. I want to see how this group responds.

Sure, the officiating was again terrible. But you know that going in to it. When was the last time you watched a Horizon League game and thought the crew in stripes did a solid job? Knowing how tight of game they were calling, I was frustrated to see how many stupid fouls Butler gave up in the second half. They’re smarter than that, I think.

Two things that kind of stick out to me at the moment are the point guard situation and the Matt Howard situation. The former is causing serious turnover problems while the latter needs to learn how to stay on the floor and out of foul trouble.

I’m not sitting here and throwing Howard under the bus – what I’m saying is that, he seems to be costing the team by committing one or two stupid fouls a game and having to sit the bench with a cup of coffee. Do you see how the offense struggles when he is not on the floor? This team can’t win in the conference tourney or advance in the real tourney if Howard doesn’t play 30 minutes or more. It’s as simple as that right now.

I do give some credit to Green Bay for playing a solid game, and by no means am I suggesting that after one loss you need to find new ingredients. Just mix the salad for me. What I’m hoping is that this one loss will, most importantly, hammer home some basic things that need to change for the sake of the team. Did anyone else notice Gordon Hayward bringing the ball up the floor a handful of times in the second half? I know I’d like to see that again. I don’t subscribe to the theory that it takes away from what Gordo can do on the offensive end. I do subscribe to the theory of Gordo being able to handle the ball and actually see a standard passing lane, for instance.

Speaking of Gordo, I would be doing a disservice if I failed to mention the reference made on Green Bay TV during the game on Monday night. The color analyst said, without hesitation, “This guy is more versatile than the ShamWow.” I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who caught that.

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve had some questions that have me scratching my head. I think I’ll go ahead and write them here, as if I were providing a list to Brad Stevens and he promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Here we go.

1. How come when Hahn comes in and commits three quick turnovers he gets yanked never to see the floor again, but when Ron Nored does pretty much the same thing, you leave him on the floor most of the time? And honestly, do you think either one of them is helping the team right now? I’m not biased against them, I promise, so be honest.

2. Why don’t you ever put your hands on Shelvin Mack’s shoulders, look him in the eye, kind of shake him a little bit and say … “Shelvin! Shoot the damn ball more!”

3. Why don’t you ever do the same thing, except say “less” to a handful of other guys?

4. Why don’t you wear tennis shoes every game? That was a good look for you.

5. Have you considered sitting down in a room alone with Gordo, Mack and Howard, and saying this one sentence to them: “Guys, all I’m asking you to do is take about 80 percent of our shots every game”?

I could come up with more, but I’ll leave it at that for now. Maybe I’ll start doing a weekly “Five Questions for Brad Stevens” bit. Yeah that sounds good. I’m out of town next week but I’ll still be writing twice, so enjoy your first weekend of hell without football. Cheers.