College basketball returns to Indianapolis on Monday when Butler hosts Missouri State, with the Bulldogs hoping to get back into the conversation atop the Big East.
Last season, head coach Thad Matta improved Butler in his second season at the helm, giving Bulldog fans their first winning season since the 2019-20 campaign. However, it didn’t end with a berth in the NCAA Tournament, with the Bulldogs instead losing in the first round of the NIT.
Now, Matta returns his two top scorers, Pierre Brooks and Jahmyl Telfort, and adds Patrick McCaffery from Iowa, an experienced big who helps a Butler roster that was smaller last season.
“Patrick has been tremendous since the day he’s stepped on campus, and you know he is a true vet of college basketball, there’s no question about that,” Matta said. “He brings a great IQ, a great understanding of how to play and it permeates throughout our team.”
As for Missouri State, the Bears are hoping they return to their form from 2011 when they won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship — and they brought back the coach who got them there in Cuonzo Martin.
After his 2011 departure for Tennessee and stints at Cal and Missouri that followed, Martin comes back to the conference to instill a mentality of consistency in his Bears roster.
“The next step for us is not so much getting consumed with shooting, shooting, shooting. Move that ball and make plays,” Martin said. “We can’t get out of character. When you get up 12 points, know how you got up to 12 points and get to 15.”
Martin has an uphill climb in his first season, losing Missouri State’s top scorer from last season, Alston Mason, to Arizona State.
The roster is full of new names from the transfer portal, including Martin’s son Chase Martin. While he didn’t make any starts for Purdue, the guard will play for his dad for the first time in his NCAA career, hoping to bring Missouri State back to where it was the last time Martin coached the Bears.
–Field Level Media
