Dawgs vs. Vikes

Already been a great day of hoops watching and now time to follow my Dawgs as they look to advance to the championship game against Cleveland State. This game concerns me mainly because Butler swept the regular season games against the Vikings and Norris Cole has been tearing it up of late for CSU.

Dawgs control the tip

nice ball movement backdoor cut by smith pass from Howard and Smith is fouled. Fake and then go up son for the layup and foul or has the kids say these days "and 1"

CSU has no one who can stop Smith it's deja vu from the first meeting at Hinkle back in January

Stigall has come up huge these last few games - a 3 to give the Dawgs the lead

Cole only has 12

Khyle Marshall and Andrew Smith are/will be Butler versions of old Pacers Dale and Antonio Davis

ESPN3 again being choppy tonight!

Under 16:00 first half media timeout; Dawgs up four. ESPN3 -UGH! From what I can see the Dawgs are playing well and the defense is there.

Amazing no choppiness when ESPN3 goes to commercial!

Yeah Stevens looks like that young professor with the glasses look.

You know as this season continued everytime they show the fade away jumper and the halfcourt heave from Hayward I still think had he went straight up instead of fading away we are saying Butler Bulldogs National Champs

Stigall obviously has been working on the Steve Alford All American workout like all New Castle kids do

unfortunately the Steve Alford All American workout didn't stress defense

yep Khyle didn't get there; catch the ball and then make your move

there are times when I hate having the bye the other team always has that one game under its belt and is used to the atmpsphere and situation

already CSU in the bonus - outrage!

Shawn get under your feet; suddenly we are settling for the first shot on a touch beyond the arc! Tied at 12 at the under 12:00 media

it simply amazes me the video so clear when ESPN3 goes to commercials!

Howard drains a 3

MOVE YOUR FEET ON DEFENSE! Even the Fabulous Rueff Boys mentioned that just now!

Nored doing the smart thing and giving the ball up to Mack on the wing. Now sink these Shelvin

Dear Andrew Smith - please work on your spin dribble post move this summer!

Nored getting the ball out on the break and finding the wings! Love his guidance of the break so far tonight

Chase Stigall is playing the best I have seen him play

Nice spin around move Andrew - someone on the bench must be reading my blog or Graves and I are on the same wave length again

help-side defense has been a weakness ALL season

the Bulldogs are just outhustling and being more aggressive RIGHT now. Chance to put this game out of reach after this CLEVELAND STATE timeout

when are we ever going to get over quicker on defense

under 4:00 media timeout - Dawgs up nine; Cleveland State ball after the timeout; a run here could put the game out of reach

great we had the chance to put them away and instead the Vikes came roaring back!

sustained the run and played CSU even to finish the half; Nored's jumper off the elbow was nice; couple of adjustments defensively I think will be made at halftime. One key thing I noticed we gotta get back on defense as well; that one basket was too easy.

start of second half UGH! ESPN3!

Memo to friends at the Horizon League - re work your TV deals to get both semifinals on TV LIVE for future tournaments

why are we trying to be a run-n-gun team again?

bounce passes!

Can tell this is one of those games where I am going to wear the hat backward the entire time it looks like.

here's a concept - let's set up the half court offense and run something and get a good shot

good defensive stand there now let's get a good shot here

Vanzant's going to feel that in the morning;

we have to stop Tim Karnczyc if we are going to win this game; I think the one look they showed of Brad after Matt Howar'd errant pass summed up my thoughts about this team in January.

That took some major nerve but glad Vanzant's 3 went in

I think tired legs beginning to show for the Vikings; Vanzant shooting 3 from the line after the timeout as he was fouled by Cole

FREE THROWS!

the under 8:00 media timeout and the Dawgs up 10; but WOW! it's been some of the good and the ugly of this season all rolled up into one.

Coles got loose!

Great straight up D by Smith and then Dawgs come down in transition and Howard goes strong for a basket and is fouled

here comes the press and we are getting outhustled toward the end of the game again

What is it with the Dawgs not being able to finish off teams this season;

we don't need 3s right now; run the clock and get good shots! CSU has the mo right now

why are we having so much trouble with the press!

Vanzant though is playing with some ice in those veins!

huge back to back 3s by SV and now Smith going to the line after a solid defensive stop

12-19 from the free throw line isn't going to get it done and then a stupid foul

Howard going inside just like Fabulous Rueff Boy Luke likes to see him do

3s? Why? We don't need them - we don't need to go four-corner offense but working the clock would be nice

gotta protect the ball but at least they got back to play defense and not give up the easy 2

Smith can't get faked out that easily on an out of bounds play

Cole now with 22

ESPN3 - I can't even tell what the score is but I do think Butler is ahead

Vikes out of TOs; now we just need to take care of the ball here in the final 61 seconds

UGH again freezing up and Missed like four plays hope the SEC deal is worth it ESPN!

Ladies and gentlemen - Matt Howard doing his Curly Neal impersonation

GAME OVER Dawgs win! Dawgs WIN! Now Valpo get it done so we can play at Hinkle on Tuesday night

Oh one more thing - is that Kid or Play that Cole is trying to look like?