Austin Butler Rookie of the Week

congratulations, austin! his performance was outstanding and i loved seeing the energy he brought throughout the game on both ends of the floor (literally hitting the floor for loose balls/saving balls from oob violations).


butler's physical strength, energy, and fiery emotion remind me of one of our relatively recent greats, jared curry. we've been lacking in toughness the past few years, and just like curry, toughness is definitely among butler's many attributes that i like in his game.

amen. butler's football experience also likely contributes to his toughness. i always loved playing with/coaching basketball players that also played football as they usually brought some of the physical style of play and aggressiveness from the field to the court.

i'm hoping that as butler gets more minutes, he can help us resolve our current rebounding woes. he is certainly not afraid to get a body on an opponent and that's one of the biggest keys (along with anticipation/positioning) in effective rebounding.

The Curry comparison is a great compliment! EFG72's comparison to Brian Reale fits too imo. Hopefully someday when we offer up names for the All Tough/Intensity team, there will be a spot for AB there with Curry, Reale, Keith Hockstein and Andrew Keister! Congrats Austin!

Now - hopefully one of the others can take their turn in the coming weeks.

Dave, Don’t forget the toughest, in your face, HC hoops player I have ever seen. Hard to believe it is coming up on 40 years since he played. Great quote by him regarding playing Adrian Dantley, All American.

I am referring to Mike Vicens. The 180 degree dunk at the 1977 ECAC Tournament against Providence in Hartford was EPIC! 

I am hoping that we will see AB on the all “eggs” team.

Wait on that captainship ! only saw him play Keith Hochstein and Ed Siudut one on one long after his NBA days, but his legend demands that Togo be on any tough list
Togo told me that Mike and Keith were the toughest Crusaders he has seen.

Congratulations for Austin!  Would love to see him and Caleb alternately pull down a few more ROWs the rest of the season. Maybe have one or two others grab one off too.

I think there were two (or more?) separate incidents. I was at a game when Mike was playing and older brother Coco came out of the stands.  Then there's the later incident when Mike, having graduated, came out of the stands himself. 

When was the first one?  I don't recall the brother coming out of the stands. Was it at Hart (or Auditorium freshman year)? I definitely remember the BC game the year after Mike graduated when he was finishing up his second bachelors degree at WPI

from one who never had the pleasure of watching vicens, i would do just about anything to get my hands on some game tape of him (or fight tape, for that matter) as he sounds like my dream player and a brother from a different mother. the stories of he and coco coming out of the stands are legendary.

has vicens been spotted at any hc games in recent years? i seem to remember he might have moved to puerto rico? i would personally fund a trip to worcester for motivational speech about toughness and "kicking the sheet" out of anyone who tries to push us around down low/on the boards. only half kidding about that

Yes - I think he lives in Shrewsbury.  I think he was at the Harvard game this year.  He normally shows up for about 4-5 games a year.

Some of us who are local, know each other's secret identity, and generally sit near the section formally known as Section F, meet late in the summer for adult beverages and purple talk.  A couple of years ago, Mike was coming into the same restaurant we were at and he popped over, said "hello" and shared a couple of stories.

The game he came out of the stands was televised regionally.  There is definitely tape on that game because portions of the game (not the fight) show up in the 30 for 30 on BC.

A few months ago NCAAM was on an old tape quest and got his hands on some.  He might have thoughts on how to find tape

Mike's son Marcel played at St Dominic's on LI in the late 90s.
He was a 5'11 version of Mike

I will always remember a game in the Aud (74-75 season, last one there) when Michael was getting a bit physical with the opponent of the night..HC's point guard, Joe Carbelera, as he was bringing the ball up court shouted at a volume that could easily be heard by everyone in the building "Michael be good!!" Michael always took a "hard" foul on the guy he was guarding early in the game, many times scaring the beegeezus out of him...One game that stands out in my mind was against Georgetown..Mike, on a drive to the hoop, planted his foot in the chest of the defender! The kid stayed at half-court on D the rest of the time he was on the court! He didn't see much more action that night!