Butler Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Bulldogs

Season Outlook

With the massive roster turnover Butler saw this offseason, many questions still remain about this team and what they’re capable of. Many of those questions will likely remain unanswered throughout the first quarter of the season. There is plenty of all-around talent on the roster, but it remains to be seen how well all the new pieces will gel together on the floor.

This Butler team has been dealt an extremely challenging schedule from start to finish, but with such a challenging schedule comes opportunities for the Bulldogs to pick up many quality wins that will boost their NCAA Tournament resume. The aforementioned early season matchups versus Michigan State, Florida Atlantic, and Texas Tech will almost certainly be three of the most challenging matchups this team will face all year. But should Butler be competitive in – or perhaps win one or more of those matchups, the narrative surrounding Butler will shift dramatically.

By the time the Bulldogs begin Big East play, they will already be battle tested, which could be a blessing in disguise considering the Big East is loaded this year. Teams such as Marquette, Creighton, and defending champion UConn all look poised to compete for the National Championship, while teams such as St. John’s and UConn have significantly upgraded their rosters and look poised to return to the big dance. With such a deep conference, a win in any conference game will be important and likely be a “quality win.”

If the new roster is not to be on the same page as one another come time for Big East play, Butler could easily finish last place in the Big East with five or fewer conference wins and see another wave of offseason roster changes – and possibly more.

But if everyone on the team is on the same page and clicking on both sides of the ball? Butler could certainly find themselves in the top five in the final Big East standings with 11-12 conference wins while likely earning a five or six seed in the NCAA tournament – or maybe even higher depending on the outcome of their crucial non-conference games.

In the past two seasons, Butler has had nearly identical results, with a 6-14 record in conference play enroute to ninth place Big East finish, only finishing ahead of DePaul and Georgetown both years. While Butler did manage to defeat a top 25 opponent at home in both years, the team struggled to perform on the road, with the team’s only road wins coming against none other than DePaul and Georgetown.

All things considered, the “most likely” outcome for the Bulldogs this season is something of a similar result to the past two seasons, with Butler finishing in eighth or ninth place in the final Big East standings with roughly six or seven conference wins, including another home win against a top 25 opponent.

While this would not enough to earn the Dawgs a March Madness bid, it could be enough for Butler to make an appearance in the NIT or another postseason tournament given the depth of the Big East from top to bottom in addition to the many strong out-of-conference opponents the team will face.