Butler Basketball: Takeaways from victory over Western Michigan

Thompson: 21.0 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 4.0 Ast

Aaron Thompson looks different. Different in a good way.

In his career-high 21-point performance he impressed in just about every area. He made 8-11 free throws, knocked down his only 3-point attempt, and was 5-8 from 2-point range- finishing through contact better than Butler fans have seen to date.

Like Bolden, this is not something to expect every game. Butler won’t be good if it’s what they have to rely on, but the fact that he proved he can do it shows that the senior means business this season and is not interested in leading this program through a rebuild.

Given the obvious importance of Thompson, one of the keys this season is him staying on the floor. He logged 38 minutes Wednesday night, committing only two fouls, and showed no ill-effects from a wrist injury that has hampered him in the last 18 months.

The only two fouls statistic is hugely underrated in this case. Thompson committed the 5th most fouls in the Big East a season ago, due to his aggressive style of defense, and when in foul trouble last year Butler missed its best ball handler and defender. Thompson’s win share in the season opener was 2x better than anyone else on the Bulldog’s roster, so in effect, he won this game for Butler.

If Thompson can continue this type of offensive production and a couple other guys around him can get going, which he will help in with his distribution abilities, this can be a really good team.