Willie Veasley News

The Butler Bulldogs, shown here in last yeara s Feb. 22 win over Davidson, are ranked No.

Shelvin Mack scored 17 points to help No. 11 Butler take a 64-60 win over Evansville at Roberts Stadium.

Sharaud Curry's 17 points included an 8-for-8 effort from the foul line and a clutch 3-pointer with 1:28 remaining that was the crowning blow in Providence's 76-65 victory over Bucknell in the second round of the World Vision Invitational at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

Butler's basketball program celebrates teams over players. Yet the Bulldogs feature a wall of honor.

Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, as 11th-ranked Butler earned a 73-62 win over Davidson in the regular-season opener for both teams at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

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Gordon Hayward scored 17 points and Willie Veasley added 15 to lead No. 11 Butler to a 73-62 win over Davidson in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Butler coach Brad Stevens said he has seen this Davidson team before. And he doesn't mean the Davidson team that lost to Butler 75-63 nine months ago.

Last season: 26-6, 15-3 Key returnees: F Matt Howard, Jr. ; F Gordon Hayward, So.

Butler always features 3-point shooters, but is downright amazing how many are on this roster.

Dating to last year's exhibitions, Butler point guard Ronald Nored didn't start Sunday for the first time in 35 college basketball games.

Purdue was No. 7 in both preseason college basketball polls released Thursday. No surprise there.

If winning is a guilty pleasure, then Butler definitely did it - by all means. The little private school in Indianapolis continues to confound opponents on the court and experts off it as the Bulldogs keep cranking out wins.

Coach: Brad Stevens . Last season's record: 26-6 overall, 15-3 in Horizon League .

The entire cast is back for an encore performance at Butler , which lost no starters or even non-starters from last year's regular-season Horizon League champions.

Expectations are high as the 2009-2010 Butler Bulldogs look to continue their dominance of the Horizon League and progress further in the NCAA tournament after losing in the first round of the Big Dance last year to LSU, 75-71. The Bulldogs return everyone from last year's squad that went 26-6 and earned a No.

This is obviously not what Butler's Bulldogs had planned in Italy. -- Lose two in a row soon after arrival.

This is obviously not what Butler's Bulldogs had planned in Italy. -- Lose two in a row soon after arrival.

Butler's Gordon Hayward , who was selected for USA Basketball's 19-and-under national team Thursday, was first featured in the sporting press four years ago.