Cardell Butler’s game has always been about elevation.
But during the Big West Tournament last weekend, the gravity-defying guard from the Bay Area elevated his game to new heights giving the Aggies the kind of perimeter scoring threat they’ve been looking for all year long.
“I don’ t know for sure what juiced him up, but gosh, it was nice to see,” Utah State head coach Stew Morrill says of Butler. “He needs to bottle it and tell himself that he can play consistent basketball because he did it for three nights in a row.
“And we need him to do it, certainly in the NCAAs, but his whole senior year. He could be one of the better players in the league if he plays like that.”
Coming into the Big West Tournament, Butler was averaging eight points and 22.2 minutes per games, while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from three-point range. But during the Aggies’ victories over Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and Cal Poly at the Anaheim Convention Center, Butler went 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) from the floor and 4-for-7 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc, while averaging 16.0 points and 33.3 minutes per contest.
Although USU forward Desmond Penigar was named MVP of the tourney, Butler’s inspired play might just be the reason the Aggies are playing No. 6 Kansas in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday rather than trying to gear up for an NIT game.
“He played like a D-I player should play, and I hope he plays like that in the tournament,” Penigar says of Butler. “If he plays like that in the tournament, we’ve got a real good chance to win because he brings a lot of energy to the table and that’s something we really need. We need an extra scorer.”
A transfer from the College of Southern Idaho, Butler started his first season of Division One basketball on the bench as Toraino Johnson’s primary backup at small forward. But a half-dozen games into the season, Morrill started looking for more production at the two-spot than senior guard Ronnie Ross was giving him and also sought to get more playing time for junior forward Chad Evans.
He toyed with the idea of playing Johnson at shooting guard since, as a senior, he felt Johnson could more easily adapt to playing two positions. Morrill, however, decided to go with Butler, and the 6-4 junior started his first Division I basketball game at BYU on Dec. 14.
Although the Aggies lost that game, Butler led the team with 14 points, and he remained in the starting lineup for the next seven games.
But a horrific 0-for-22 shooting drought from three-point range soon led to Ross’ return to the starting five, and although Butler often outplayed Ross off the bench and was on the court at the end of games, Morrill maintained Butler’s reserve status in an effort to maintain some consistency.
Finally, on March 1 against Idaho, Butler regained his starter status, and he’s started five of USU’s last six games, the lone exception being Ross’ start on senior night.
“Cardell got back in the starting lineup and has really taken advantage of it,” Morrill says. “He’s been solid in terms of his work habits and his practice habits, and he’s staying upbeat.
“He has a tendency sometimes when things don’t go right to get a little down, but over the last three weeks to a month, he’s stayed more stable mentally and practiced harder.”
Butler has also shown more maturity since a regrettable incident prior to a loss at Pacific on Jan. 4. There, after being introduced to the crowd at the Spanos Center, he strutted out to half court while drawing his right index finger across his throat in a slashing motion.
He has acknowledged it was a stupid thing to do, and although his teammates are quick to step in when he gets called for a questionable foul, Butler has stayed away from any further trouble on the court. His passion, though, is important to USU’s success, and his dunks — most of which have come on back-door-lob passes from teammates — have inspired the Aggies and their fans on many occasions, while certainly demoralizing an opponent or two.
“Dunks are the main part of my offense,” Butler says. “They get me going and and they get the team and the coaches into it. We just escalate it from there and keep it going.”
In USU’s Big West Tournament-opening victory over Cal State Fullerton, Butler and his teammates caught the Titans napping three different times. He threw down his final slam, which came during a critical moment of the overtime contest, off of a slightly errant pass from point guard Mark Brown that Butler had to stretch for before completing the dunk.
Then, in the championship game against Cal Poly, Butler somehow managed to slam home an alley-oop pass from behind his head.
“It wasn’t supposed to be that way,” Butler admits, then adds with a smile, “but people were getting tired of me doing the same dunk, so I figured why not?”
Butler, who also leads Utah State in free throw percentage at 85.7 percent, attributes his overall success at the tournament to “staying focused and concentrating.”
“I wanted the championship, and I wanted it bad,” he says. “And I knew it was going to take more than just going in there and playing. We had to have good team chemistry, and we did.
“We went out there and played hard for 40 minutes very games, and we didn’t let up.”
And because of that, the Aggies’ prospects against the Jayhawks and their hopes of continued success next season, are looking up, as well.
Not-so-sweet 16 seed
‘The Hard Road to the Big Easy’ video
Printable bracket