Butler Basketball: Analyzing impact of Manny Bates transfer

Butler Basketball scored a big win in the transfer portal, landing former North Carolina State Wolfpack big man Manny Bates.

If Thad Matta is going to get Butler Basketball back to the Big Dance quickly, he’s going to need some reinforcements. He received a big one last week, courtesy of former North Carolina State Wolfpack big man Manny Bates.

The graduate transfer is a beastly interior defender. Standing tall at 6-foot-11, Bates blocked 147 shots during his time with the Wolfpack, ranking fourth in program history. Most impressive is that he reached that mark in only two seasons.

A healthy Bates should reveal himself as the best shot-blocker in Butler’s history. The record for blocks in a season at the program is 64. Bates exceeded that total his first season and matched it his second year.

Bates has no shooting game on the perimeter, but he’s also perfectly consistent from close range. He hit 64.7 percent of his field goals in his first two years, which would’ve easily set the Wolfpack’s career program mark if he had made enough shots to be eligible. His 64.1 percent mark as a sophomore was the best qualifying mark in school history.

The fit at Butler could be special from a coaching perspective, as Matta has brought in his former pupil, Greg Oden, as an assistant coach. Oden is one of the most dominant big men of all time, a great person to instill tips into Bates.

Of course, it’s fair to wonder what Butler will get out of Bates this season. He played in one game last season, suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in the first minute of the season. Presumably, Bates will have had enough time to recover by the time the 2022-23 season starts, but with such a significant injury, it’s hard to say.

Butler won’t have to rely too extensively on Bates if they don’t need to, though. The team has reeled in another big man in Georgia State transfer Jalen Thomas. Combined, they could form one of the most intimidating big man duos in the country and in Bulldogs history.

Butler has also brought in a few other significant transfers in wing Ali Ali and guard Eric Hunter Jr. Most of the team is back from last year, meaning the team’s combination of new talent and continuity – despite a new coach – could propel Butler back to the postseason.

Last year’s team struggled to a 14-19 record, including 6-14 in Big East play. The Bulldogs managed to win a game in the Big East Tournament, but their season ended at the hands of Providence in the tournament’s quarterfinals.

There were some hopeful signs, though. That loss to Providence in the Big East Tournament was close, a four-point defeat. The Bulldogs also boasted wins at Oklahoma, against a ranked Marquette team, and a clobbering of Creighton, expected to be one of the best teams in the nation next year.

There are things for the Bulldogs to build off of, especially with most of the key contributors back in the fold, plus another one in returning coach Matta. While retreads don’t always work out on the coaching front, Matta will be motivated to restore glory to his former team, though it’s worth noting his one-year success came in the conference that predated the Horizon League.

In our way too early power rankings for the Big East, which considered rosters current as of April 24, Butler ranked ninth in the conference. But the Bulldogs have improved immensely in the last two weeks, arguably replacing more than half its starting lineup with new additions.

One of the biggest concerns was the thinness of the frontcourt. With Bates and Thomas in the fold, Matta has flipped a weakness from a strength.

Butler still has a long road back to the NCAA Tournament, but with Manny Bates among those joining the fold, the goal is within reach. A postseason berth should be a certainty.