1996–97 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team

1996–97 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball
1996–97 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball
MCC tournament champions; MCC regular season champions
NCAA tournament
Conference	Midwestern Collegiate Conference
Record	23–10 (12–4 MCC)
Head coach	Barry Collier (8th season);
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Midwestern Collegiate Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Butler †	12	–	4	.750	23	–	10	.697
Detroit Mercy	11	–	5	.688	16	–	13	.552
Illinois-Chicago	11	–	5	.688	15	–	14	.517
Wisconsin–Green Bay	10	–	6	.625	14	–	14	.500
Loyola–Chicago	7	–	9	.438	12	–	15	.444
Northern Illinois	6	–	10	.375	12	–	15	.444
Cleveland State	6	–	10	.375	9	–	19	.321
Wright State	5	–	11	.313	7	–	20	.259
Wisconsin–Milwaukee	4	–	12	.250	8	–	20	.286

† 1997 MCC tournament winner

The 1996–97 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Butler University in the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Barry Collier, serving in his 8th season at the school. The Bulldogs played their home games at Hinkle Fieldhouse as members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Butler finished first in the MCC regular season standings and won the MCC tournament to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament – the school's first of three NCAA Tournament appearance in a four period under Collier. As No. 14 seed in the Midwest region, the Bulldogs were beaten by No. 3 seed Cincinnati, 86–69^[1] to finish the season with a record of 23–10 (12–4 MCC).

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	11	Andrew Graves	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	Fr
F	22	Mike Marshall	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Fr
F	33	Jon Neuhouser	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jr	Leo-Cedarville, Indiana

Head coach

Barry Collier (Butler)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

^[2] ^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 26, 1996*		at Indiana State	W 70–48	1–0	Hulman Center (7,694) Terre Haute, Indiana
Nov 29, 1996*		vs. Tulane	W 66–63	2–0	Eugene Guerra Sports Complex (800)
Nov 30, 1996*		vs. No. 5 Villanova	L 54–62	2–1	Eugene Guerra Sports Complex (500)
Dec 1, 1996*		at American-Puerto Rico	W 84–69	3–1	Eugene Guerra Sports Complex (600)
Dec 4, 1996*		Anderson (IN)	W 86–47	4–1	Hinkle Fieldhouse (3,121) Indianapolis, Indiana
Dec 7, 1996*		Ball State	L 67–71	4–2	Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,138) Indianapolis, Indiana
Dec 10, 1996*		at Bradley	L 55–67 ^OT	4–3	Carver Arena (8,820) Peoria, Illinois
Dec 14, 1996*		at Evansville	W 61–50	5–3	Roberts Stadium (8,922) Evansville, Indiana
Dec 23, 1996*		at No. 13 Indiana	L 84–89 ^OT	5–4	Assembly Hall (15,358) Bloomington, Indiana
Dec 28, 1996*		at FIU	W 83–67	6–4	Golden Panther Arena (607) Miami, Florida
Dec 30, 1996*		at Florida State	L 68–87	6–5	Donald L. Tucker Center (5,312) Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 2, 1997		at Cleveland State	W 79–60	7–5 (1–0)	Henry J. Goodman Arena (2,168) Cleveland, Ohio
Jan 5, 1997*		Western Kentucky	W 75–73	8–5	Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,210) Indianapolis, Indiana
Jan 9, 1997		at UIC	L 80–82 ^OT	8–6 (1–1)	UIC Pavilion (2,639) Chicago, Illinois
Jan 11, 1997*		Loyola–Chicago	W 89–48	9–6 (2–1)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,009) Indianapolis, Indiana
Jan 16, 1997		Wisconsin–Milwaukee	W 75–59	10–6 (3–1)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (2,255) Indianapolis, Indiana
Jan 18, 1997		Wisconsin–Green Bay	W 50–43	11–6 (4–1)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,219) Indianapolis, Indiana
Jan 20, 1997		at Detroit Mercy	L 54–56 ^OT	11–7 (4–2)	Calihan Hall (1,189) Detroit, Michigan
Jan 23, 1997		at Northern Illinois	W 80–79 ^OT	12–7 (5–2)	Chick Evans Field House (1,918) DeKalb, Illinois
Jan 25, 1997		at Wright State	L 62–65	12–8 (5–3)	Ervin J. Nutter Center (5,367) Fairborn, Ohio
Jan 30, 1997		Cleveland State	W 84–47	13–8 (6–3)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (3,004) Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 1, 1997		Detroit Mercy	W 68–55	14–8 (7–3)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,051) Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 5, 1997*		Marshall	W 84–57	15–8	Hinkle Fieldhouse (2,901) Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 8, 1997		at Loyola–Chicago	W 62–56	16–8 (8–3)	Joseph J. Gentile Center (3,208) Chicago, Illinois
Feb 12, 1997		UIC	W 67–44	17–8 (9–3)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (3,915) Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 15, 1997		at Wisconsin–Milwaukee	W 74–46	18–8 (10–3)	Wisconsin Center Arena (1,147) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 18, 1997		at Wisconsin–Green Bay	L 56–58 ^OT	18–9 (10–4)	Brown County Arena (4,004) Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin
Feb 20, 1997		Northern Illinois	W 64–57	19–9 (11–4)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,153) Indianapolis, Indiana
Feb 22, 1997		Wright State	W 75–57	20–9 (12–4)	Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,036) Indianapolis, Indiana
MCC tournament
Mar 1, 1997*		vs. Wisconsin–Milwaukee Quarterfinals	W 48–36	21–9	Ervin J. Nutter Center (3,795) Dayton, Ohio
Mar 2, 1997*		vs. Wisconsin–Green Bay Semifinals	W 57–52 ^OT	22–9	Ervin J. Nutter Center (4,077) Dayton, Ohio
Mar 4, 1997*		vs. UIC Championship game	W 69–68	23–9	Ervin J. Nutter Center (4,725) Dayton, Ohio
NCAA tournament
Mar 13, 1997*	(14 MW)	vs. (3 MW) No. 10 Cincinnati First round	L 69–86	23–10	Palace of Auburn Hills (21,020) Auburn Hills, Michigan
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Eastern Time.