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Butler Basketball: 2022-23 season preview for the Bulldogs

By Josh Mullenix

The reintroduction of Thad Matta, at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, for his second stint as head coach of the men's basketball program at Butler University.
The reintroduction of Thad Matta, at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, for his second stint as head coach of the men's basketball program at Butler University. /
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Manny Bates North Carolina State University (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Manny Bates North Carolina State University (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /

Schedule overview

The Butler non-conference schedule is usually anchored by four pillars: the Gavitt Games, a Feast Week tournament, the Crossroads Classic, and the Big East-Big 12 Battle. This season, the Bulldogs will participate in three of those four events. They’ll take on a trendy sleeper in the Gavitt Games in Penn State on the road on Nov. 14. Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy return for a potentially dangerous team in Micah Shrewsberry’s second season.

During Thanksgiving, Butler will be in the Battle 4 Atlantis field in the Bahamas. The Bulldogs take on Tennessee in the first round and will play either BYU or USC in their second game. The Volunteers should factor into the SEC regular season race with Zakai Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi, and Josiah-Jordan James all returning to Knoxville.

Depending on how the Bahamas go, the strength of Butler’s resume headed into conference play will likely depend on those three games and, in theory, the Gavitt Games. Butler’s Big East/Big 12 Battle matchup is against Kansas State. The Wildcats are entering an exciting new era with Jerome Tang but will finish towards the bottom of the Big 12 standings in year one.

Throughout the 2010s, Butler was also guaranteed a quality power conference opponent in the Crossroads Classic, a one-day event in Indianapolis with Indiana, Notre Dame, and Purdue. The Bulldogs would play either the Hoosiers or the Boilers every year, but the event came to an end after last season.

The Big East schedule, per usual, is a true round robin with each team playing a home-and-home. The Bulldogs get hit with high-level opponents early in the conference schedule starting with UConn at home and preseason champion Creighton on the road. In the middle of January, Butler will play Villanova, Creighton, UConn, and Providence in consecutive games. That’s four of the top five Big East teams, according to the preseason poll.

The final 20 percent of the schedule is favorable, though. Butler will end the regular season with three games against Georgetown, DePaul, and Marquette at home before ending with Xavier in Cincinnati.