Doyel: Brad Stevens shows up, but Dawgs don't

Brad Stevens was back. Back for his first game at Hinkle Fieldhouse since he was coaching Butler, leading the Bulldogs to consecutive appearances in the national championship game. The coach of the Boston Celtics dutifully put on one of the white Butler T-shirts waiting at every seat in the building – This Is Our House, it said – over the shirt he wore to the game. A Butler golf shirt.

“We’re emotionally invested in one program,” Stevens was saying after the game. “Where are the Bulldogs? That’s the first thing we ask when it’s the All-Star break.”

Oh, did you want to read about the actual game? Fine, but there’s not much to say. Xavier’s a lot better than Butler, and the final score – No. 5 Xavier 74, Butler 57 – reflected that.

Xavier came into Butler’s house, played in front of Gov. Mike Pence and fan favorite Alex Barlow and the biggest Butler crowd of the season – a crowd that had been lined up for hours outside in 15-degree weather – and brutally confronted Butler with its postseason mortality. The Bulldogs’ RPI was 57 entering the game, putting them on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble, and before the Big East tournament they have just one more chance to make a major leap: Feb. 20 at No. 2 (RPI) Villanova.

Insider: Butler looks out of its league in loss to No. 5 Xavier

Brad Stevens, talking like a fan as much as a coach, was preaching optimism:

“It’s not about peaking on Feb. 13,” he was saying.

Around the Big East, this is what other coaches are saying: They can’t believe Butler has done what it has done this season. Won at Seton Hall, beaten Georgetown by 11 at Hinkle, taken Providence to the brink on the road. Butler has talent, but not the kind that should be able to beat the best teams in the Big East. Second-year Butler coach Chris Holtmann, who inherited much of this roster and loves the kids in his locker room, isn’t about to dignify that observation by confirming it.

“That’s for other people to judge,” he said, but look at that non-answer and remember this saying:

A question unanswered is an answer unheard.

You hearing me? Good. Now, back to the best part of Saturday, better even than the part where the Butler student came out of the Dawg Pound for the halfcourt shooting contest and made it, winning a year’s worth of food from a local sandwich shop. This guy celebrated by taking a running leap at the rim, grabbing it and doing a chin-up before running back to midcourt, flopping onto his back and making imaginary snow angels while the crowd roared.

Then Xavier went on a 10-2 run to make it 66-48.

So anyway, back to the best part of Saturday: Brad Stevens’ return. The NBA coach is so humble, so normal, he stayed in a hotel because “I didn’t want to be a burden” to anybody and then he sat 20 rows up. And when the scoreboard camera focused on him, he put the focus on Butler by using his hands to pop out the slogan on his Bulldogs T-shirt:

This Is Our House.

In a way, it’s his house. The $36 million renovation to Hinkle Fieldhouse? He paid for that. Well, his Butler basketball team – the only revenue sport on campus – paid for it by reaching the NCAA title games in 2010 and ’11, generating a small fortune for the small school. He was here when the blueprints were being drawn up, and this was his first look at the new digs. He and his wife, Tracy, sat in two of the thousands of new chair-back seats, many of which replaced what had been bleachers.

“It was great to see it come to fruition,” Stevens was saying after the game while his 10-year-old son, Brady, played nearby with a buddy. Down another hall, Stevens’ 6-year-old girl, Kinsley, was playing with her best friend forever, Avery Lewis, daughter of Butler assistant Michael Lewis.

Butler is the place Brad Stevens left, but not really. His wife is on the Butler Board of Trustees, his kids were wearing Butler gear – Brady in a Butler shirt, Kinsley in a Butler shirt and cheerleading skirt – and someday, their father hopes, he’ll be the proud parent of a couple of Butler students.

“Both say they’re going to Butler,” he says. “We’ll see. Have to work on academics – right, buddy?”

Stevens was talking to Brady. In another room, Holtmann was noting that Stevens had actually wondered if he should come to this game. He didn’t want to be a distraction, Stevens had said. Holtmann, as gently as he could, said stop with that nonsense and come to the game. Stevens visited the locker room afterward.

“Wish we could have performed better,” Holtmann said.

It wasn’t for lack of effort, although, well, maybe it was. Xavier shot 65.4 percent from the floor in the first half and was 8-for-11 on 3-pointers, and finished the game at 56.9 percent overall. Holtmann saw something wrong from the first media timeout, telling his team to play “with more effort, juice, purpose defensively,” and also to move the ball more on offense.

“We mentioned … how that stuff needed to improve,” Holtmann said. “And when it doesn’t, that (blowout loss) is what happens.”

Here’s what happened: Butler had two players, Kelan Martin (12) and Roosevelt Jones (10), grab 22 of its first 26 rebounds. Martin and Jones didn’t shoot well – 12-of-31 combined – but they were attacking. The rest of the Butler lineup? Listless. Butler had just four steals. Got to the foul line eight times. Couldn’t rebound. Didn’t defend. Listless.

The biggest, rowdiest crowd of the season was leaving with 4 minutes left, and soon this was the sound bouncing around renovated Hinkle:

“Let’s go X! Let’s go X!”

A few minutes later it was over and Hinkle was emptying and Stevens was standing outside the Butler locker room reminiscing about conversations he’s had with another former Butler coach, Thad Matta. Twenty years from now, they’ve told each other, they’re going to move back to Indianapolis and get season tickets at Hinkle and root for Butler.

Most of the time, they’ll see a better game than the one Saturday.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel