Butler gives proof 7 seed may be low

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Tennessee isn’t the only men’s basketball team here that’s upset with its NCAA tournament seeding.

And the Volunteers weren’t the team that kept stating their case Friday afternoon.

Butler throttled South Alabama 81-61, and it was nowhere near that close.

The Bulldogs — ranked No. 11 in the latest Associated Press poll but just the No. 7 seed in the East Region — led 72-45 in the final six minutes. They made six of their first seven long-range attempts in the second half and 15 of their first 25 in the game.

Senior forward Pete Campbell went 8-for-10 from behind the arc in 20 minutes off the bench to lead Butler with 26 points. Senior point guard A.J. Graves hit four treys in his 18 points for the Bulldogs, who finished 15-for-28 on 3s.

“We can definitely shoot it,” Mike Green said. “And once one person starts firing, there’s nothing else to do but join the party. We had a big party.”

The Bulldogs (30-3) carved up the same South Alabama team that beat Mississippi State at home and lost to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt on the road by a combined six points. The Jaguars won 84-67 over UT-Chattanooga.

San Diego, which upset Connecticut in a first-round NCAA game Friday, fell 77-55 to South Alabama (26-7) one day before the Jaguars manhandled the Mocs.

“A lot of those 3-point shots that they made, we were right on them,” South Alabama coach Ron Arrow said. “When you have five seniors that have worked together and got to the tournament, and as many victories and as many tough teams that they have been able to play in getting to where they are today ... they’re going to go a long way in this tournament.”

Butler hasn’t come out of nowhere, which made its NCAA seeing even more surprising. The Bulldogs have a No. 17 RPI rating, according to RealTimeRPI.com. The nucleus from Butler’s Sweet 16 team — which nearly upset national champion Florida — returned this season and avoided a major hangover.

The Bulldogs and baby-faced first-year coach Brad Stevens generally say the right things about their selection day surprise, but several of them hinted at frustration.

“It’s a little motivating when you first see it,” Green said. “My feeling was, ‘I can’t wait to get on the court.’ I’m sure that was everybody else’s feelings, too.

“At the same time, though, you have to beat good teams anyway. And we don’t want it easy. We want to beat good teams.”

Campbell hesitated before carefully saying he thought a No. 4, 5 or 6 seeding would have been “fair.”

“I don’t like commenting on that, but ... that’s probably about the range I would have guessed,” Campbell said. “But one thing Coach Stevens has always told us is to not worry about the number next to your name. Everybody’s got to win the same amount of games to win this tournament, and everybody’s going to face a good team in every round.

“Getting whatever seed, I think it just motivated us a little bit more, and I think it heightened our focus.”

And it ensured a second-round game that many thought wouldn’t be possible until the tournament’s second weekend. It ensured that two of the nation’s best offenses will share the court in a game that will often feature 10 players with a green light to shoot anywhere inside 20 feet.

“If they're a 2 seed, there are four pretty good teams out there that are 1 seeds, and we’ll have to be at our very best on Sunday to compete,” Stevens said.

And if there are 24 teams better than Butler, this tournament should see a fabulous finish.