Little Lewis a big part of Butler’s success
When he was a 5-10, 140-pound freshman-tobe at Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville, N.C., Butler point guard Tyler Lewis had Division 1 scholarship offers from Auburn, UNC-Charlotte and Virginia Tech.
By his sophomore year, he had committed to play in the ACC for North Carolina State.
Now two months away from his 24th birthday, Lewis is near the end of a circuitous journey that began in Statesville, N.C., and ended in Indianapolis with stops in between at FCDS in Lewisville, Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., and NC State in Raleigh.
The shortest player left in the Milwaukee subregional, Lewis runs the show for the Bulldogs (24-8) and could be a big factor in handling Middle Tennessee State’s 1-3-1 defense when the teams meet in a second-round game at 6:10 p.m. Saturday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“You probably don’t see many 5-10 short white guys doing what I’m doing,” Lewis said Friday. “But I have a lot of heart. I love the game of basketball. I value every day that I can play the game.”
In a 76-64 first-round victory over Winthrop on Thursday, Lewis had nine points on 3 of 5 shooting and eight assists. Some of his passes were so good they left Butler teammates wide open for layups or dunks.
In 23 minutes, he only had one turnover.
“He’s as good a passer as anybody in college basketball at the point guard position,” Middle Tennessee State coach Kermit Davis said. “His assist-toturnover ratio (4 to 1) is terrific. I’m a huge fan. I’ve watched him from afar for a long time.
“After you really start watching game after game like (we did) last night and today, you have a great appreciation of his toughness and just his ability to find guys at the right time.”
Lewis, still 5-10 but listed at 170 pounds, only averages 22 minutes a game mostly because he’s a defensive liability against bigger guards.
The Blue Raiders (31-4) have a lot of length and they use it to smother opposing offenses with their multiple defenses, the most stifling at times the 1-3-1.
They used it in combination with a 2-3 zone and man-to-man to shut out Minnesota point guard Nate Mason on 0 of 5 shooting in their 74-62 victory over the Gophers in the first round. And they’re going to use it Saturday to try to trap the Bulldogs in the half court and cause panic.
Lewis’ brother, Colby, an assistant at UNC-Charlotte, gets to see MTSU twice a year. He has seen other point guards struggle to handle their switching defenses but believes Tyler can be the difference in Butler handling it.
“He’ll do a good job of reading the defense,” he said. “Their staff will have a good game plan to attack anything Middle Tennessee State does. Tyler is smart. He will be able to read the defense and get guys the ball in the right spots.”
Lewis, who averages 6.2 points and 4.0 assists per game, will be playing in his 132nd game Saturday. If everything goes right, his path will lead him on to No. 133 and beyond.
Sticking around: Earlier this week, a column by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports highlighted the unstable nature of the coaching profession. Wetzel’s subject, Florida Gulf Coast assistant Tom Abatemarco, is on his 21st job since 1974.
Such mobility is especially common at the lower levels of college basketball, where up-andcoming coaches pay their dues along the way. Stay for a couple of years, add the school to your résumé, move on.
But Davis has done things differently. He arrived in Murfreesboro at the age of 42. He’s still there 15 years later.
“If you come to Murfreesboro, the quality of life is terrific,” Davis said Friday. “And I’ve raised both of my daughters there. I’m probably one of the most fortunate guys (because) I’ve only had two athletics directors. … I have the same president that hired me 15 years ago. And the quality of life is as good as it is.”
Lower bowl seat drivers: They don’t compare in numbers to the Iowa State fans who showed up to cheer their team, but don’t let MTSU’s crowd fool you. They can be heard loud and clear.
In fact, they have plenty of advice to offer as was the case during the first-round victory over Minnesota. But it’s just to show they care.
“I consider all of the Blue Raider Nation my family,” senior forward Reggie Upshaw Jr. said. “Whenever anybody is trying to yell out instructions or anything like that, you know it’s all for the best. They just want to see us win.
“Everybody thinks they’re a coach while they’re watching the games and know what the best thing to do is.”
Final Four prediction: It wasn’t Middle Tennessee State that was predicting it would go to the Final Four.
It was Butler coach Chris Holtmann, who gushed over them so much you would have thought he was Bill Belichick talking about the New England Patriots’ next opponent.
“Really? Wow,” Blue Raiders guard Edward Walters said. “We don’t want to look too far ahead. We want to take it one game at a time, but as a team, we really do think that we can make some noise in this tournament and win a lot of games.”