Lamont Butler does not want to settle for a brilliant moment in a final stage of Four.
The guy who did the Timbres whistle Send the state of San Diego to the NCAA 2023 tournament championship
He has his new teammates believing that he also addresses the semifinal confrontation of the region of the Western media Kentucky No. 3 with the sown No. 2 Tennessee (29-7) on Friday in Indianapolis.
“I will say that from the first day our approach was to win a national championship,” Butler said. “The expectation here in Kentucky is to win. And we have a lot of winners here, and we want to continue that tradition.”
This Kentucky team is a bit different from any other in its historical history, so the Experience of the Butler tournament with the state of San Diego has been essentially.
Kentucky (24-11) did not return to a single player who scored a point for the Wildcats last season. New coach Mark Pope essentially He built a list from scratch. Nine transfers had to get used to playing together.
Butler emerged as the group leader. Kentucky teammate, Andrew Carr, made it reference before the tournament when he joked He referred to Butler as “Lamarch.”
The Wildcats admire him in part because they know what he has achieved. The 6 -foot and 2 -inch guard is making its fifth consecutive appearance in the tournament. Your sweater when time expired In a semifinal of the NCAA 2023 he gave the state of San Diego a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic, sending the Aztecs to a championship game. Lost to Uconn.
“Most of us talk about what happened to us,” Pope said. “We talk about what happened to us. And the champions, the winners talk about what they made to happen. It’s just the truth. It’s true.
“Lamont Butler is spending all his life talking about what makes it happen, and that is the heart of a champion. And time does not spend talking about what happened to him. He talks about all the things they do. When you have a guy like that that leads to your team like that, it is quite special.”
Pope told a story last summer when he was on the road recruiting and the team had planned something for a player who was going through a difficult family situation: “I called to verify with that player and see how the day was, and he had discarded all the plans because Lamont picked it up and spent the day together. And Lamont did it because that is who he is. He takes care of him.”
Butler said he even knew for that time that this Kentucky team was able to build a race similar to what his San Diego state team did two years ago, and perhaps doing even more.
“I hoped we were in a good position since the summer to win a national championship,” Butler said before the NCAA tournament. “That is in our mind. That’s what we are going to do.”
Butler averages 11.1 points and 4.3 assists, career maximums in both categories, despite dealing with a left shoulder injury dating from mid -January that cost him six games. He hurt him again in the Tournament of the Southeast Conference and did not play in a loss in the quarterfinals against Alabama.
Butler returned for a 76-57 Victoria de la NCAA de First Ronda About Troy and did not score at all, but still contributed in many other ways that had a qualification of more than plus-22. Butler, who has been using an orthopedic device on the shoulder, had 14 points and five assists in a 84-75 Second Round Triumph About Illinois.
“It’s really a dog,” said Kentucky Guard, Otega Oweh. “Go out with an arm and give everything. He is playing defense, and besides that, he is taking us to our offensive. When you have someone who is doing that, just drip. You just want to go out and fight for him too.”
Butler had three of Kentucky’s 14 robberies against Illinois. After the game, Kentucky’s guard, Koby Brea, had a simple explanation of why the Wildcats could force Illinois to so many ball losses.
“We have Lamont Butler as chief of defense,” Brea said. “So I feel that for any team, when you see you pick you up, you have to put something in your stomach, some nerves or something.”
Butler scares his opponents while calming his teammates. It is providing the presence of this team full of necessary transfers while trying to take Kentucky to the Final Four for the first time in a decade.
“I think everyone is hungry this year,” Butler said. “I feel that many of us come from smaller schools or different places and we could compete in one of the best schools in history. We all wanted me to remind us here.”
Butler was already going to be remembered for that shot he hit two years ago. Now he is creating a completely new set of memories while using a different uniform.
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