Chris Holtmann does not do B.S. He doesn't walk into a press conference after a dispiriting 76-67 loss to Creighton, giving Butler its first back-to-back home losses in three years, and try to soft-pedal his team's recent struggles. This was Holtmann unplugged, honest and angry and determined more than ever to figure out what's gone wrong, and how to make it right again.
I asked him if these last two losses, during which Georgetown and Creighton shot the lights out at Hinkle, represented an anomaly, or if he has deep concerns about the state of his team.
I might as well have put the ball on a tee.
"Yeah, we've been atrocious," he said. "Atrocious. How can you not have concerns given the numbers. (Creighton was) 9-of-13 from 3, finished 13-of-21. We can't guard inside the line, can't guard outside the line, can't keep some teams off the glass, can't keep some teams off the free throw line, can't defend in transition, can't keep the ball in front."
He paused. He was steaming.
"Guys have career nights on us," he continued. "Their best players have big nights on us. Average players have great nights on us. I think we've been spotty in our play the last month and I obviously have to do a much better job. I think we need better leadership. And hopefully if I do a better job and we get better leadership, we'll be able to play better."
There was more.
"This was similar to Georgetown: Never once did I feel like we were defending with any kind of purpose – at all," Holtmann said. "I never felt like it in the Georgetown game, never in the Creighton game. And as much film as we showed them, as much as we harped on it – it's disappointing."
Watching Butler struggle defensively this past week, it's like the Bulldogs are utterly unrecognizable. They came into the game third in the Big East in points allowed, third in field-goal defense and second in 3-point defense.
Yeah, well, not any more.
Georgetown just made shots, crazy shots, all kinds of shots, and you thought, "Well, maybe it was just one of those nights." Creighton was a bit different: They got any and every look at the basket they wanted, from the outside, in the paint, everywhere. It was a clinical dismantling, and Creighton did it after losing two of its last three and having lost its all-world point guard, Maurice Watson, to an ACL injury.
Honestly, it was one of the worst defensive efforts, especially at home, that most of us could remember during the Holtmann era.
"We've got great kids and they've got it (leadership) in them," Holtmann said. "I think we've had great moments of leadership this year, great moments. I just think from our seniors, we need more out of that group. I've got to do a better job giving them opportunities to do that. I go back to last year's group, everybody was panicking when we were 3-6 (in Big East play). I never panicked because I knew we had Kellen Dunham, Rosie Jones and Austin Etherington. All they cared about was winning and I knew we were going to improve and get better every day. And in February and March, that really showed itself. We've got guys who may be in different roles, but they have some leadership ability and we've got to pull it out of them."
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Defensively, they were awful. And offensively, their best players struggled badly. Andrew Chrabascz was 3-of-13 and scored six points. Kelan Martin was 5-of-12 and scored 11 points (although he did have eight rebounds). Kamar Baldwin was 6-of-14 from the field. Kethan Savage was 2 of 7. Creighton shot 56 percent from the field, and 60 percent from 3, while the Dawgs shot 41 percent and 26 percent from three.
And that's your ballgame.
If you're looking for excuses, and Holtmann most certainly was not, this was Butler's seventh game in 20 days, and now the team has a week off before road games at Marquette and Providence. Still, something essential has to happen during this week of practice, and that's a restoration of Butler's once-stingy defensive disposition and the return of something resembling leadership.
The sky isn't falling, but all is not necessarily well with Butler basketball these days. And nobody knows that better than their head coach. The Dawgs are at a crossroads. History says they will find their way, but watching them this past week, that feels like a tough case to make.
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