INDIANAPOLIS — Butler might have received some relief in his Big East/Big 12 Battle assignment. The first non-league basketball season of Coach Thad Matta’s second term will be a tough one nonetheless.
In a new game pairing 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 home opponent of Butler.
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Butler is expected to be assigned an opponent on the road to the Big Ten for the Gavitt Games. And Butler needs to find a game to replace the Crossroads Classic, which was discontinued after last season.
Much of the Bulldogs will be revealed over Thanksgiving week during Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. The other seven teams in the tournament: BYU, Dayton, Kansas, North Carolina State, USC, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Kansas is the defending NCAA champion, and USC, Tennessee and Wisconsin have all been in March Madness.
By November, the Bulldogs will have a revamped roster that could feature three transfers: center Manny Bates (NC State), forward Ali Ali (Akron) and guard Eric Hunter Jr. (Purdue).
The tone was set during LaVall Jordan’s final season when the Bulldogs played at the Maui Invitational in Las Vegas. They lost to Houston 70-52 and Texas A&M 57-50, and won their only game against Division II opponent Chaminade 84-51.
Butler finished 14-19.
Kansas State/Butler will face the freshman coaches. Longtime Baylor assistant Jerome Tang took over for 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 to Lawrence Central. Pack transferred to Miami (Fla.).
In March 2010, the Bulldogs defeated Kansas State 63-56 in the NCAA West Regional Finals in Salt Lake City, sending them to the National Semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was their only meeting.
Both coaches, Brad Stevens of Butler and Frank Martin of Kansas State 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 the 2017 Final Four) and recently took over as Massachusetts coach.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
