Latrobe grad Butler pillar at Holy Cross
The Holy Cross men’s basketball program announced Tuesday that it will miss the Patriot League postseason tournament due to COVID-19 concerns, which could mark the end of Austin Butler’s career in a Crusaders uniform. Up until this point, Butler’s sole focus remained on closing out his senior season on a high note — the No. 8 Crusaders were primed to take on Loyola (Md.) in the first round of the tournament.
But his plans for next season — whether it is returning to Worcester, Mass., for his extra year of eligibility, transferring elsewhere or taking a shot at professional basketball — remain undecided.
Looking back on his career, if Butler could spare a word of advice to the freshman version of himself, his message would be simple: embrace adversity. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but with knowing what he knows now, Butler would make sure his younger self was ready for the volatility that lies ahead. After four years, the Latrobe native is a walking embodiment of loyalty and perseverance — two traits that have become far from the norm within college basketball’s cultural revolving door of player transfers.
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” said Butler. “I’ve learned that with the adversity part of it, you can’t control what happens. You can only control how you respond and what you do with it.”
From an unexpected coaching change that caused six members of Butler’s original recruiting class to leave the program, to the team’s 3-29 record in 2019-20 that led to eight more player departures, to two major shoulder injuries — the latter of which could’ve derailed his career — and then leading a team with six freshmen through an unprecedented season amid a surging pandemic … it’s safe to say that Butler has been no stranger to challenges during his time at Holy Cross.
Through it all, though, he’s still standing, still producing at a high level, still the same kid from Latrobe who was a Post-GazetteFabulous Five selection and could drop 40 on a WPIAL opponent on any given night.
Nothing has changed about Butler but the circumstances that surround him.
“That just speaks volumes to who he is,” said sophomore guard Ryan Wade. “He always has the right intentions. He’s always one of those guys who’s going to lead by example. He’s always doing the extra stuff he needs to do.”
It started after his sophomore season. Butler was a couple hours into his 500-mile drive home from Worcester for the summer when his cell phone rang. On the other end of the line was Brett Nelson, a former associate head coach at Marquette who had just been hired by Holy Cross following the retirement of former coach Bill Carmody. News of Nelson’s hiring broke earlier that day, so the call was somewhat expected. The timing of it, however, caught Butler by surprise.
“Within the hour, every player on our team had gotten a call from him,” said Butler. “[He was] asking about us, about our families, telling us about him. Early on, that was something very important to me.”
Butler was weighing his options between staying at Holy Cross or entering the NCAA’s transferportal. After speaking with Nelson, he immediately dialed his parents and relayed the details of the conversation. He had a tough decision to make, one that would ultimately dictate his future in the game of basketball. After giving it some more thought, Butler was one hour outside of Latrobe when he called his parents back. His mind was made up.
“I told them I was staying,” said Butler, who was one of two players from his recruiting class who elected not to transfer. “I trusted [Nelson]. I wanted to go through this experience. I wanted to do this.”
With the decision behind him, Butler’s focus shifted toward an ongoing shoulder injury that had plagued him for the entirety of his sophomore season. After initially starting as minor shoulder pain, the injury worsened, rendering Butler unable to raise his right arm over his head during the Patriot League tournament. He later found out he was playing with a torn labrum. Following surgery, and despite a new coach, new system and team full of new faces, Butler still came back strong as a junior — posting averages of 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steal per-game over 30 starts and 1,029 total minutes played.
Except there was one problem: the pain was still there. In fact, it was slightly different. And getting worse.
“My numbers were fine. Everything was good and it wasn’t affecting my play that much, but it was more [of a] mental [thing], knowing it didn’t feel good at all,” said Butler. “People said, ‘Oh, you’re still recovering.’ But I knew my body. Something wasn’t right.”
In March 2020, Butler returned home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and told his parents about the new, ongoing symptoms — pain and weakness throughout his arm, tingling sensations, hand swelling and numbness. On May 14, he saw Dr. Michael Singh, co-director of the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute Aortic Center. Butler was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), which refers to symptoms caused by neurovascular compression at the thoracic outlet region between the neck and shoulder where blood vessels and nerves travel to the upper extremities. The compression can be due to soft tissue or bone anomalies.
Although it’s more commonly found in baseball, TOS can pose a significant threat on a basketball player’s range of motion and shooting form. Orlando Magic guard Markelle Fultz, the first pick in the 2017 NBA draft, missed 131 games over his first two NBA seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers largely due to symptoms from TOS.
“[Singh] was pretty sure it was just going to require rehab, but then we did an ultrasoundand found out my top rib was cutting off a vein, which was blocking blood flow to my right shoulder, forearm and hand,” said Butler. “There was a blockage of blood flow, and then I also had some blood clots up toward my right shoulder andchest area.”
In late May, after the blood clots had dissolved, Butler underwent an intensive vascular surgery at UPMC Shadyside to remove his top right rib and some surrounding cartilage, which would help alleviate pressure from the trapped vein.
“It was scary for sure, not knowing much about the surgery,” he said. “There’s still a lot of unknown answers about it. There’s not really a cure for it. The surgery is just to make it feel better and monitor it. It wasn’t an easy surgery either. It was risky. They were working around a lot of veins and arteries.”
Butler returned to practice five months post-surgery before Holy Cross’ 2020-21 season. In the time since, he has started all 16 games this season, thanks in large part to a meticulous rehab regime that begins more than two hours before tip-off with soft tissue exercises, heating treatments, massages and stretching. His lifting routine has changed, as well, with an increased focus on more technical and rotational exercises that can help strengthen the smaller muscles around the area.
Butler’s improved health directly correlates to his heightened level of play this season. He’s averaging a career-high 16 points and 8.8 rebounds per game — the latter ranking second among Patriot League rebounders on 50% (98-198) shooting from the field and 46% (34-56) on 3pointers. In his last outing, he scored a career-high 30 points in an 86-75 win against Boston University on Feb. 24.
“I think this is the first time in his career where he’s been 100% healthy,” said Nelson. “It has allowed him to have the type of season that he’s having from a playing standpoint. His decision-making has gotten a lot better. Conceptually, on defense, he has really taken some steps forward and improved as a defender on and off the ball.
“He’s a tough competitor. That’s been evident to me from Day 1. He’s an everyday guy who leads by action with how hard he competes and how hard he plays. What you see in the games is how he is in practice every day.”
Regardless of the path he takes next season, Butler’s legacy at Holy Cross will remain unscathed. Whenever adversity struck, he came back swinging.
“I gave it my all,” he said. “I stayed loyal. I trusted the process, and I’ll be graduating from Holy Cross. That’s something I’ll always be proud of.”