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Howard quietly putting Butler on his back

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Jeff Goodman

Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. Check out his Yardbarker blog. MORE>>
 
Updated Oct 27, 2009 12:10 AM ET
     
 

INDIANAPOLIS

He was the Horizon League Player of the Year for a team ranked in the top 25 nearly the entire season. But an invite never arrived to wear the red, white and blue while his two younger Butler teammates represented their country overseas this past summer.

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Most would be jealous, envious and frustrated when teammate Gordon Hayward came back from New Zealand all decked out in USA Basketball gear. Not Bulldogs junior big man Matt Howard. You've got to understand. Howard is a rare breed who doesn't pay attention to perception. He went against the norm when he chose to play at Butler over Big Ten programs because it fit his game and his personality. "I'm from IU (Indiana) country," Howard said. "People in my town don't see Indianapolis basketball and in their mind, they thought I was ready to go to the NBA. They were saying, 'Why is this guy going to Butler?' "I was just glad I was able to see past that. Because I couldn't find a better fit personally." The league's coaches, despite the unrelenting praise heaped on Hayward since the middle of last season, voted Howard as the Preseason Player of the Year just last week. Howard, also an academic All-American who sports a 3.7 GPA, couldn't care less. "Whether he gets the attention or not, he's going to play just as hard," Butler coach Brad Stevens said. "Matt's not one to be incentivized by attention. He just goes." Howard has been the one constant in Butler's rise to prominence nationally. When he committed to former coach Todd Lickliter and Stevens (then an assistant with the program) back in August of 2006, it gave Butler a measure of respect and credibility. Sure, the Bulldogs were coming off an NIT berth. However, Lickliter & Co. had finished sixth and seventh in the league the previous two seasons. But Howard has been the key cog the last two years while Butler has established itself as one of the elite mid-major programs in the nation. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Howard went out and averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds as a freshman on a team that won 30 games. Last season, the Bulldogs were supposed to be in major rebuilding mode after Stevens lost his starting backcourt of A.J. Graves and Mike Green, along with two other starters. They weren't just supposed to fall off the national radar, but even those in the league felt as though Stevens wouldn't be able to sustain the level Bulldogs fans had become accustomed to — and Butler was picked to finish sixth in the league in the preseason poll. But Howard was even better, averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 boards per game as Butler shocked the nation by dominating the Horizon League once again and winning 26 more games to advance to the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive season. "He's a beast and is incredibly underrated," said Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, a fellow Indiana native who has gone up against Howard on multiple occasions. "He plays the right way. He plays hard and is very, very talented." While Howard remained home in Indiana over the summer, Hayward and scoring guard Shelvin Mack were both out in New Zealand, starring for the under-19 U.S. team that wound up winning the World Basketball Championships. "Honestly, if there's a player in the country that doesn't pay attention to all that stuff, it's him," Stevens said. "I think he loves them and was just proud of what they did. "He's the ultimate teammate. Howard learned as one of 10 kids growing up in Connersville, Ind., which is a little more than an hour from Indianapolis. He had four older brothers who used to beat the you-know-what out of him, which explains his relentless playing style. It also helps explain his unselfishness. "To be honest, I don't think Shelvin and I going to New Zealand phased him at all," Hayward said. "He just doesn't worry about any of that. He just goes out, plays and lets his actions speak for him." "I have a really hard time taking things personally," Howard explained. "That's just my nature. To be honest, Gordon and Shelvin playing for the U.S. team didn't bother me. I was happy for them, and I think it was good for Butler."
Howard is hopeful that Hayward and Mack's summer experience, along with the team's overseas trip late in the summer, will continue to keep the program at a high level. With the addition of 6-foot-11 freshman Andrew Smith, Howard is also optimistic that he can move to his natural position at power forward and work on his face-up skills — something he hasn't been able to do since he was a little kid. "It's something I've really never done before," he said. "But if you look at me and break down my body, I'm really not built for the five-position. But it's something I've always done. "I hope I get that chance." If it doesn't happen, Howard won't utter a word or complain to his coach like so many spoiled kids do nowadays. He'll just go after the next rebound with a similar style that earned guys like Tyler Hansbrough and Luke Harangody accolades the past few years. Yet he never seems to get his due. "That stuff doesn't matter to me," Howard said. It's no act, either.
Tagged: North Carolina, Butler, Purdue, Texas-Pan American, Notre Dame, Howard, Indiana

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