• Graves is in his ninth season as an assistant at his
alma mater, the 2010 and 2011 National
Championship runner-up.
• Widely respected in the coaching fraternity, Graves was
recognized as one of the "Top 10" Mid-Major Assistants by
FoxSports.com in the spring of 2008 and also chosen No. 2 on the
CollegeInsider.com list of "Top 25" Mid-Major Assistants in
2009.
• During his playing days at Butler, Graves was a four-year
basketball letterwinner and the third leading scorer for the
Bulldogs in 1996-97, while helping Butler to a conference
championship and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 35
years.
Diary Series: Matthew Graves, Assoc. Head Coach - Butler
They say “Time flies when you are having fun” and even though I would say the month of November wasn’t always fun it sure went by quickly. We are currently (4-4) and about to finish the non-conference portion of the schedule with Xavier, @Ball State, Purdue (neutral), @Gonzaga and @ Stanford. In the locker room, we have a sign that states, “Consistency is the Mark of A Champion”. We believe, no matter the circumstance, that you can consistently bring an attitude of how can we get better everyday.
Obviously, it is easier said than done but championship teams find ways to improve on a daily basis. This team is still much a work in progress from finding the right starting line-up (4- different ones so far), rotations and continuing to define/establish roles that will hopefully lead to the success that everyone wants which is an opportunity to play in March Madness.
One player that I want to write about who exemplifies this consistent approach that we strive to instill in each of our players, but especially the young ones, is Garrett Butcher. Garrett is a senior captain that has battled numerous injuries throughout his career but hasn’t once let it affect how he approaches helping this team continue to get better everyday. His knees are so bad that he is limited in every practice plus takes additional days off every week. However, when it is time for him to play, Garrett has made great contributions from guarding Anthony Hill last year in the conference championship game or grabbing five offensive rebounds and scoring six points vs. Old Dominion in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament. His leadership and approach are invaluable to the success of our program not only this year but for the future as he is instilling the same work ethic and attitude that was passed along to him from older players of past Butler teams.
So as we head into a tough final stretch of games before Christmas, it is our belief that the consistency in approach shown by our team, along with the player leadership of a person like Garrett Butcher will allow us to continue to build and prepare as we head into the new year working to compete for a championship in March.
* * *
