Jared Butler’s NBA Dream Deferred Led to NCAA Greatness
Jared Butler deferred his dream of going to the NBA for a season. So did MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell. And it sure paid off in the end.
Butler, with 22 points and seven assists, was named the most outstanding player of the NCAA Tournament after the Bears surgically dismantled Gonzaga, 86-70, in the national championship game.
Butler was the first player to record those kinds of numbers in a national title game since Carmelo Anthony did it for Syracuse in 2003.
And, to think, it nearly didn’t happen.
Butler, along with Mitchell and Teague, put in for the NBA Draft last year. All three declared early, and all three left the door open to return. Ultimately, all three of them wanted another shot to prove they were the best in college basketball, especially after COVID-19 canceled the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
“Ever a moment I didn’t believe?” Butler said about winning a national title after Monday’s game. “I don’t think so. I think when we all decided to come back, I was like, ‘Yeah, we definitely have a chance to be the best team ever at Baylor, the best team — first team to make it to the Final Four.’”
Butler probably also meant the first Baylor men’s basketball team to win a national championship, too.
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Butler may have been the most outstanding player, but all three guards played a huge role in this drive. Teague ended up averaging 14.6 points per game in the NCAA Tournament, with 19 points in the national championship game.
Mitchell might have had the most well-rounded tournament, if we’re being honest. Along with averaging 13.5 points per game, Mitchell averaged 5.8 assists per game, including a tournament-high 11 assists against Houston. He also averaged more than a steal per game, befitting the national defensive player of the year.
But Butler, the junior from Reserve, Louisiana, who transferred to Baylor days after enrolling at Alabama three years ago, is this group’s shining star. And, late in the NCAA Tournament, he proved it.
He had been tepid from the 3-point line since a 4-for-7 game against Oklahoma State on March 4. For the next six games, Butler was 10-for-37 from the 3-point line, including an awful 1-of-9 against Villanova in the Sweet 16. The Bears are the best 3-point shooting team in the country, and Butler sets the pace. While his teammates picked up that slack, Butler worked to figure out what was wrong with his shot.
“I was struggling the whole tournament, probably until the Final Four,” Butler said. “And as a shooter, like, it’s hard. Like, it just makes the days longer and you think about it all day long. But I knew, like, I couldn’t go the whole tournament and not shoot well.”
The turnaround started against Arkansas in the Elite Eight. There, Butler only shot three 3-pointers, but he made two of them, en route to 14 points.
Then, against Houston in the Final Four, the floodgates opened. He blistered Houston for four 3-pointers in the first half, as he scored all of his 17 points in the first 20 minutes. Baylor didn’t need him to do any more than that in the 78-59 blowout.
Butler was on a tear, having shot 6-for-8 from the 3-point line in the two games leading up Gonzaga. Then, against the Bulldogs, he had his best game of the tournament, scoring 22 points, and going 4-of-9 from the 3-point line. He finished the tournament on a 10-for-17 tear from the 3-point line in the final three games.
“My teammates found me, kept feeding me the ball, telling me to shoot the ball, stuff like that,” Butler said. “I’m glad it came at the right time. I’m glad I was able to shoot the ball well these past few games. That’s about it.”
Next for Butler? Well, it’s probably the NBA Draft. He’s been a projected first-round pick all season. He has two years of eligibility left, but it’s likely he’ll pass it up and head for the NBA. It’s hard to blame him at this point.
He passed on the NBA one year to accomplish one goal with Mitchell, Teague, and the rest of the Bears.
Mission accomplished.
“When you have a goal for that long, we all knew the goal,” Butler said. “Like, everybody knew the mission. And I think everybody sacrificed for it. And I think that’s why we’re here today. And just, whew, so glad that everybody came back. We got the band back and we won, that’s cool. Gotta make a movie out of it.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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