While Freddie Owens and the UW basketball team were turning heads in Spokane, Wash. this past weekend, a piece of the team’s future was making a name for himself right here in Madison.
Brian Butch, Appleton West’s seven-foot anchor in the paint and UW’s most highly touted recruit since Sam Okey, scored a WIAA single-game tournament-record 45 points in the Terrors’ 81-66 victory over Milwaukee Custer Thursday.
West’s imposing big man would finish the game with one of the most impressive lines in tournament history, as he connected on 14 of his 23 shots from the field, knocked down all but three of his 17 free throws, pulled down 14 rebounds and actually had more three point baskets (two) than dunks (one).
“I think a lot of people underestimate Brian (Butch). They look at the stats and all-American this-and-that, but I don’t think they understand how good he is until they get on the court with him,” Appleton West head coach Greg Hartjes said following the game. “I felt we had a pretty good mismatch with Brian and whoever was guarding him. Offensively, without a doubt, that was what we were going to do.”
Butch’s teams’ victory over Custer set up a matchup with the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes Friday. And once again, Butch did not disappoint.
Despite being double, triple and at times, even quadruple teamed, he was still able to put up a game high 29 points and grab 12 rebounds as West easily upended the outsized Abes 58-44.
The game left Butch just 28 points shy of the three-game tournament scoring record of 102, which was set in 1961 by Waukesha’s Roy Birk.
Birk’s record stayed intact, however, as Butch was held to just 20 points in the Terrors’ championship game with the Milwaukee King Generals Saturday night.
Due to some early foul trouble, West’s towering center was limited to just 12 minutes and four points in the first half and wasn’t able to play as physically as he would have liked in the game’s final two stanzas.
“They just pushed, pushed, pushed, and when I got two fouls I couldn’t push back,” Butch said. “That’s all they (King) were doing was pushing. That’s the game of basketball. That’s how it was last night. I just wasn’t in foul trouble last night.”
King, whose undefeated record included a 58-48 victory over West earlier this season, utilized their speed and depth defensively as they pressured the West backcourt players the length of the floor for the entire game.
This strategy not only forced the Terror guards into a number of turnovers but also limited the number of touches Butch received on the block.
“It played into their favor,” Hartjes said of King’s pressure. “We play five, six, maybe seven … and we weren’t as careful with the basketball as we should have been. We weren’t able to get into our offense and down to Brian (Butch) as much as we would have liked. Perhaps it was the fatigue, because they threw so many bodies at us.”
Although Butch’s prep career is over, he has the size, ability and athleticism to be an instant contributor for the Badgers next season.
One of his greatest assets, which he demonstrated this weekend, is his ability to handle and pass the basketball. He has a knack for sensing where the double team is coming from, and he is aware of where his teammates are on the floor at all times.
Before committing to UW last fall, he had received invitations from Arizona, North Carolina, Kansas and a number of other elite teams in the nation. In the end it was UW that was rewarded the victor.
Badger fans will get their first opportunity to see the team’s future big man play on a national stage when Butch competes in the annual McDonald’s All-American game March 28.
Butch, who will become just the fourth Wisconsin representative in the game’s history, will be playing with and against the best high school basketball players in the country.
Ideally, Badger fans will watch Kirk Penney and UW advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament Thursday and then see their future center reject a would-be LeBron James’ jumper into the fourth row of Cleveland’s Gund Arena on ESPN; in a perfect world, anyway.
