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April 8, 2003

SWEET SEASON: Butler's remarkable run in the NCAA Tournament came to an end in Albany, N.Y., with a 65-54 loss to top-seeded Oklahoma in the semifinals of the East Regional, but the setback didn't diminish one of the brightest chapters in Butler basketball history! The Bulldogs compiled a 27-6 record, breaking the school mark for victories for the third consecutive season, and captured a fourth straight Horizon League regular season championship. Butler finished runner-up in the Horizon League Tournament and then earned the school's first NCAA Tournament at-large bid since the expansion of the field to 65 teams. The #12-seeded Bulldogs emerged as the tournament's true "bracket-buster" with upsets of #5-seed Mississippi State, 47-46, and #4-seed Louisville, 79-71, in the First and Second Rounds of the East Regional in Birmingham, Ala. Those two victories earned Butler its first trip to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament since 1962.

Butler recorded back-to-back NCAA Tournament wins for the first time in school history.

WINNING WAYS: Butler posted more than 20 regular season wins for the second consecutive year and for the second time in school history! The Bulldogs set a Horizon League record with 25 regular season victories a year ago. LUCKY SEVEN: Butler's bid to the 2003 NCAA Tournament moved the Bulldogs into post-season play for the seventh consecutive year. The Bulldogs played in the NCAA Tournament in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001, and in the NIT in 1999 and 2002. Butler has a league record seven straight 20-win seasons!

Butler has a league-high seven NCAA Tournament appearances.

DOUBLE PLAY: Butler's upsets of #20 Mississippi State and #14 Louisville were the Bulldogs' first back-to-back wins over teams ranked in the "Top 25." The last Butler win over a "Top 25" team came at #21 Ball State, 75-66, on Dec. 19, 2001. The Bulldogs are 3-1 against "Top 25" teams in two seasons under head coach Todd Lickliter.

FOUR OF A KIND: The Bulldogs recorded a Horizon League record fourth consecutive regular season championship in 2002-03. In the 24-year history of the league, only one other school (Xavier) had posted back-to-back outright regular season titles, and no other school had posted three straight outright crowns. (Xavier won three straight titles from 1993 to 1995, but shared the 1993 crown with Evansville) Butler leads the current Horizon League membership with nine regular season and league tournament championships.

TITLE TRAIL: A loss at Loyola on Feb. 13, dropped Butler from first place in the Horizon League standings for the first time since Jan. 9, and left the Bulldogs chasing UW-Milwaukee for the final two weeks of the league race. Butler caught and passed the Panthers by winning six consecutive games, including three on the road. The Bulldogs won five games in 10 days to end the regular season.

PERFECT DOZEN: The Bulldogs' win over UW-Milwaukee in the regular season finale gave Butler a 12-0 record at home for 2002-03. It's the second time in the past four seasons that the Bulldogs finished with an unbeaten record in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler is 49-3 (.942) in Hinkle Fieldhouse over the past four seasons.

ELITE COMPANY: Only three schools in the NCAA Division I boast a better winning percentage than Butler since Jan. 1, 2001! Duke (81-14, .853) leads the pack followed by Kansas (78-17, .821 - one game remaining this season). Gonzaga (71-16, .816) is third, followed by Butler (70-16, .814). FIRST CLASS: Butler's 2002-03 seniors - Darnell Archey, Joel Cornette, Lewis Curry, Brandon Miller, Mike Moore and Rob Walls - have earned the title as the most successful class in Butler basketball history! Archey, Cornette, Curry and Moore each played four seasons, and they contributed to 100 Butler wins. They are the first players in Horizon League history to play on four straight league regular season championship teams, and they've contributed to Butler records for wins in a season (27, 2002-03), wins in consecutive seasons (53, 2001-03), wins in three consecutive seasons (77, 2000-03) and wins in four consecutive seasons (100, 1999-03)! Miller and Walls played three seasons at Butler and they helped the Bulldogs to the three highest single season win totals in school history! Butler's seniors played for three different coaches and still recorded the top four season win totals in school history. They won two in-season tournament championships, two Horizon League tournament titles and made four post-season tournament appearances.

Butler is 100-28 (.781) over the past four seasons.

GRAND PERFORMERS: Seniors Brandon Miller and Joel Cornette both joined Butler's 1,000-point club in 2002-03. Miller became only the eighth player in Butler history to tally 1,000 points in three seasons, and he finished his career in 23rd place on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring list with 1,121 points. Cornette wound up in 26th place with 1,100 career points. Senior Darnell Archey narrowly missed the 1,000-point club, finishing with 985 career points.

BOARDING PASS: Senior Joel Cornette climbed into the "Top 10" on Butler's all-time rebounding list during 2002-03. The 6-9 center led the Bulldogs on the season with a 6.5 average and moved into seventh place on Butler's all-time list with 712 career rebounds. STRAIGHT SHOOTERS: Senior Darnell Archey and junior Duane Lightfoot both etched their name in the Butler's record book. Archey set a single season mark for free throw percentage (.973), missing just twice in 74 attempts! But he didn't have enough free throws made to qualify for league or national rankings. Lightfoot did lead the Horizon League in field goal shooting, and he set a school single season mark for field goal percentage (.657). Senior Brandon Miller finished second in the Horizon League in free throw shooting (.816).

THREE FOR TWO: Former high school teammates Darnell Archey and Brandon Miller finished as the top two three-point field goal shooters in Butler basketball history. Archey led the Bulldogs with 78 three-pointers in 2002-03 and finished his career with an all-time Butler record 217 three-point field goals. His 78 three-pointers were the fourth-highest single season total in Butler history. Miller had 57 three-point goals in 2002-03 and 189 for his Butler career.

FAMILIAR FIVE: For the third consecutive season, Butler went through its schedule without changing its starting lineup! Seniors Brandon Miller, Darnell Archey, Joel Cornette and Lewis Curry and junior Mike Monserez started all 33 games for the Bulldogs in 2002-03. Miller and Cornette also started every game in the previous two seasons.

BULLDOG BITS:

*Butler finished eighth in the NCAA Division I in winning percentage (.818) in 2002-03. Only six teams had more wins than the Bulldogs.

*The Bulldogs have won more conference games over the past five seasons than any other Horizon League team. Butler is 61-14 in league play since the start of the 1999 conference campaign.

*Butler is the first team in league history to record 10 conference wins in five consecutive seasons.

*The Bulldogs led the Horizon League in team scoring defense (60.2) for a fourth consecutive season. Butler ranked 13th in the NCAA Division I.

*Butler ranked fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (10.7).

*The Bulldogs ranked 11th in the NCAA Division I in three-point field goal percentage (.392) and 19th in Division I in three-point field goals per game (8.3). Butler led the Horizon League in three-point field goals per game.

*Butler led the Horizon League in home attendance for a second straight year.

*Head coach Todd Lickliter tied Butler Hall of Fame coach Paul D. "Tony" Hinkle for most post-season wins by a Butler coach. Both coaches guided the Bulldogs to three post-season wins.

*Todd Lickliter already stands sixth on Butler's all-time list for coaching wins (53). He's second in 20-win seasons (2).

*Seniors Brandon Miller and Joel Cornette each started 97 consecutive games for the Bulldogs. Miller started every game of his Butler career, while Cornette played in every game of his collegiate career - a school record 128 contests, including 107 as a starter.

*Brandon Miller wound up fifth on Butler's all-time assist chart with 305 career assists.

*Joel Cornette finished fourth on Butler's all-time list for field goal percentage (.544).

NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES:

*Senior Joel Cornette was named to the East Region All-Tournament Team. He was joined on the five-player squad by Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse, Hakim Warrick of Syracuse, Ebi Ere of Oklahoma and Marquis Daniels of Auburn. Anthony was named the East Region's Most Outstanding Player.

*Junior Mike Monserez had a career-high nine assists and just one turnover in Butler's upset of Louisville. The nine assists were the most by a Butler player this year, breaking the previous mark of eight set by Monserez against Ball State.

*Joel Cornette led the Bulldogs in scoring in the NCAA Tournament with a 14.7 average for the three games. He tallied nine points against Mississippi State, 14 against Louisville and 21 against Oklahoma. Senior Darnell Archey averaged 13.3 points in the three games, while junior Duane Lightfoot checked in with an 11.7 average.

*The 26 points scored by Darnell Archey against Louisville were the most by a Butler player this season. It was also the highest point total ever by a Butler player in NCAA Tournament play!

*The eight three-point field goals by Darnell Archey against Louisville tied the second-highest total by a player in an East Region game, one shy of Garde Thompson of Michigan (1987) and Johnny Hemsley of Miami, Fla., (1999).

*Darnell Archey hit 11 of 16 (.688) three-point field goal attempts in the Bulldogs' three NCAA Tournament games. Junior Mike Monserez hit seven of 12 (.583) shots from the three-point arc.

*The Bulldogs held Louisville scoreless for a stretch of 4:44 in the first half and went on a 12-0 run to help overcome a 24-9 deficit. Butler eventually took a 34-33 lead at halftime.

*Senior Brandon Miller lifted Butler to a 47-46 victory over Mississippi State with a running lay-up at 0:06.2 left of the final period. The win marked the ninth time in the past 10 NCAA Tournaments that a #12-seeded team defeated a #5-seeded team.

*Butler's 47 points against Mississippi State were the fewest scored by the Bulldogs in 2002-03.

MAYBE YOU MISSED THIS: Joel Cornette never led the Bulldogs in scoring in any of his four seasons at Butler, but he did finish his career as the school's all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament play! The 6-9 center scored 71 points in six NCAA Tournament contests, capped by his 21-point performance against top-seeded Oklahoma in his final NCAA appearance. Cornette made his NCAA Tournament debut against Florida as a freshman, and he wound up being named CBS "Player of the Game" after scoring 11 points, grabbing five rebounds and adding three blocked shots in a reserve role. He scored 12 points against national runner-up Arizona as a sophomore, and he posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Butler's upset of #14 Louisville this year. Cornette also left his mark on the National Invitation Tournament, posting career-highs of 14 rebounds and seven assists against Bowling Green in the first round of last year's NIT!