Story by: Kalon Fullerton - Butler Athletics 

The Butler Grizzlies Men's Basketball team will go into the 2021-22 season looking to build off a 16-7 season that saw the Grizzlies go 10-3 in KJCCC play, good enough for a third place finish in the KJCCC East. 

The Grizzlies will have to look for new leaders to step up, as they look to replace four starters from last year, including first team all conference member Shawn Hopkins, and second team all conference members Noah Thomasson and DeeJuan Pruitt.

Head coach Kyle Fisher will enter his third season at the helm with six freshmen and five transfer players hoping to fill the roles that were vacated by last year's sophomores.  He will also look to return to normalcy this season, coming off a shortened year due to the covid-19 pandemic that saw limited capacity for fans at games. This year, the schedule will be full and the Power Plant will be rocking again, as the Grizzlies will try to defend their impressive home court record of 23-4 during Fisher's tenure.

Returning to the Grizzlies this season will be Treylon Payne who started in all 23 games and averaged 10.2ppg  as a freshman. Also returning is Keyon Thomas who both played in all 23 games last season and averaged 23 minutes per game and contributed 8.4 points per game for the Grizzlies. Also returning this year will be Isaiah Williams, who shot 56% on the year and 40% from three. He will look for expanded minutes after a year where he averaged 6.1 points per game.  RJ McGarthy also returns for Butler having seen action in 15 games as a freshman. The Grizzlies will also get an added boost from the return of Marque English, who played for Butler in 2019 and was an All-KJCCC selection as a freshman and is returning after a one year spell at Northern Colorado, as well as Shawn Warrior and Jaden Okon who will play for Butler after playing for conference rivals during the shortened season last year. The Grizzlies also got a division 1 transfer in the form of Caleb Golden, who comes to the team after a year at Tarleton State. 

"It's probably one of the deepest teams we've ever had," Coach Fisher said. "We've got a number of guys who are experienced and older and that will certainly pay off during the season."

That experience will be tested quickly, as the Grizzlies will start off the season at home against Tabor College JV and then come back with two games at Indian Hills in Iowa. Butler will be on the road against Marshalltown, and then come right back with a game against Indian Hills, who were picked 2nd in the nation in the preseason NJCAA rankings.

"It's going to be a great challenge. I wanted to challenge this team," said Fisher. "We're going to have to get off the bus and play one of the top teams in the country, and that's exactly what we have to do when we get into conference play."

Conference play will come with it's own challenges, as the Grizzlies finished third in the league last season, finishing behind Coffeyville and Cowley, who went on to play for the national title game. Two of Butler's Jayhawk Conference opponents are ranked in the top 10 in the preseason poll, with defending national champions Coffeyville at 7th and Dodge City at 10th.

"It's exciting to play in this league, it's certainly challenging to play in this league," commented Fisher. "It doesn't get any better than this league, that's been proven over the last two or three years." 

When asked about his team's strengths headed into the new season, coach Fisher pointed to his team's competitiveness.

"This is the most competitive team we've had. I think we have some hard playing, competitive guys all across the board. Our two forwards, Marque English and Isaiah Williams, they play with great pace, they play hard every day. And adding a guy like Caleb Golden, who is experienced and plays really hard, that's really going to bring us that energy and help us down the stretch.

"If we can sustain it, that's a huge part of winning a championship, is having that competitive mindset every single day."

Butler starts the season at home on November 1st vs Tabor College at 7:00pm in the Power Plant in El Dorado, KS. To get tickets click - HERE