By Paul M. Banks and David Kay
When last we saw West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler, it was in one of the most heart-wrenching and iconic moments of the 2010 college basketball Final Four. As he lay on the Lucas Oil Stadium floor clutching his severely injured leg, his controversial coach Bob Huggins hovered over.
Huggie Bear comforted his player, in an extremely close fashion that almost resembled how closely I would like to comfort Megan Fox, if she were lying on the floor, and asked me to pleasantly reassure her.
The Huggins-Butler moment was even immortalized in 2010’s “One Shining Moment.” But what’s next for Butler in the NBA? Will his teammate Devin Ebanks be selected ahead of him?
Will the torn ACL hurt his NBA draft stock?
No one’s questioning his ability and desire. Not only was Da’Sean one of the most iconic players in the greatest NCAA Tournament of all-time, but he’s defined Mountaineer basketball for a whole generation of West Virginia fans. He leaves school as the program’s second all-time leading scorer, behind only Jerry “the Logo” West.
The fact that the 6-7 swingman stayed in school all four years has a lot to do with his success, and his body of work was most impressive during his senior year. He’s the type of player that causes Dickie V. to ejaculate on himself.
“I didn’t have anywhere to go. It wasn’t like I was leaving to go anywhere. It’s a great system,” Da’Sean told the Final Four media about his desire to stay in school.
Butler is mostly known for his “closer” capabilites, his tendency to take, and usually make, the big shot with a steel resolve. He’s the quintessential clutch player.
“I would say that I am a very religious person, and he’s {Jesus- I assume} given me the ability to do what I do, and I trust in Him {the Lord} for giving me the confidence in myself and it carries on, throughout everything else,” Da’Sean said in Indy.
Butler’s biggest assets are his sweet shooting stroke, which consists of a high release that makes it difficult to block, his nice turnaround jump shot, accelerated basketball IQ (especially on defense), good court vision and heightened ability to move well without the ball.
His biggest drawbacks are lack of athleticism, ball-handling and lateral quickness on defense. Although it is pretty much a certainty he will be a second-round pick, due to these shortcomings, some NBA team will take a flyer on Butler and be pleasantly surprised.
Hopefully for him, he’ll follow in Sasha Pavlovic’s footsteps and overcome his lack of athleticism to stay in the league due to a deadly outside shot.
For an in-depth scouting report of Butler go here