# 2008–09 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Butler University in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Brad Stevens, serving his 2nd year. The Bulldogs played their home games at the Hinkle Fieldhouse, which has a capacity of approximately 10,000.
The Bulldogs won the 2009 Horizon League Men's Basketball Regular Season Championship and received an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, earning a 9 seed in the South Region. They fell to 8 seed LSU .

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| October 30* 7:00 pm | | Marian | W 61–31 | | Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| November 8* 7:00 pm | | Oakland City | W 91–52 | | Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 15* 8:05 pm | | at Drake | W 58–48 | 1–0 | Knapp Center (6,012) Des Moines, IA |
| November 19* 7:00 pm | | Ball State | W 64–55 | 2–0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,056) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 22* 2:00 pm | | Indiana University South Bend | W 87–33 | 3–0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (3,444) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 26* 7:00 pm | | at Northwestern | W 57–53 | 4–0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,727) Indianapolis, IN |
| November 29* 2:00 pm | | Evansville | W 75–59 | 5–0 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,708) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 4 8:00 pm | | at Cleveland State | W 50–48 | 6–0 (1–0) | Wolstein Center (2,604) Cleveland, OH |
| December 6 7:05 pm | | at Youngstown State | W 79–71 | 7–0 (2–0) | Beeghly Center (2,657) Youngstown, OH |
| December 10* 8:05 pm | | at Bradley | W 87–75 | 8–0 | Carver Arena (9,366) Peoria, IL |
| December 13* 12:00 pm | | at No. 21 Ohio State | L 51–54 | 8–1 | Jerome Schottenstein Center (13,976) Columbus, OH |
| December 20* 2:00 pm | | Florida Gulf Coast | W 73–53 | 9–1 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,358) Indianapolis, IN |
| December 23* 7:00 pm | | at No. 12 Xavier | W 74–65 | 10–1 | Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH |
| December 30* 7:00 pm | | UAB | W 72–68 | 11–1 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,141) Indianapolis, IN |
| Horizon League Play ||||||
| January 3 8:05 pm | | at Valparaiso | W 75–62 | 12–1 (3–0) | Athletics–Recreation Center (4,737) Valparaiso, IN |
| January 8 7:00 pm | No. 20 | Wright State | W 64–48 | 13–1 (4–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (4,773) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 10 2:00 pm | No. 20 | Detroit | W 54–50 | 14–1 (5–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,652) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 15 8:00 pm | No. 18 | at Loyola–Chicago | W 78–55 | 15–1 (6–0) | Joseph J. Gentile Center (3,229) Chicago, IL |
| January 17 2:00 | No. 18 | at Illinois-Chicago | W 59–52 | 16–1 (7–0) | UIC Pavilion (5,844) Chicago, IL |
| January 22 7:00 pm | No. 17 | Green Bay | W 68–59 | 17–1 (8–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,355) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 24 2:00 pm | No. 17 | Milwaukee | W 78–48 | 18–1 (9–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,418) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 30 7:00 pm | No. 13 | Valparaiso | W 59–51 | 19–1 (10–0) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,623) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 2 8:00 pm | No. 11 | at Green Bay | L 66–75 | 19–2 (10–1) | Resch Center (6,978) Green Bay, WI |
| February 5 8:05 pm | No. 11 | at Detroit | W 66–61 | 20–2 (11–1) | Calihan Hall (2,289) Detroit, MI |
| February 7 7:00 pm | No. 11 | at Wright State | W 69–51 | 21–2 (12–1) | Nutter Center (9,735) Dayton, OH |
| February 13 7:00 pm | No. 15 | Illinois-Chicago | W 80–61 | 22–2 (13–1) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,137) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 15 2:00 pm | No. 15 | Loyola–Chicago | L 67–71 | 22–3 (13–2) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,680) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 18 8:00 pm | No. 22 | at Milwaukee | L 60–63 | 22–4 (13–3) | U.S. Cellular Arena (5,026) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 21* 12:00 pm | No. 22 | at Davidson | W 75–63 | 23–4 | John M. Belk Arena (5,223) Davidson, NC |
| February 26 7:00 pm | No. 23 | Youngstown State | W 78–57 | 24–4 (14–3) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,048) Indianapolis, IN |
| February 28 12:00 pm | No. 23 | Cleveland State | W 58–56 | 25–4 (15–3) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (8,549) Indianapolis, IN |
| Horizon League tournament ||||||
| March 7 7:00 pm | (1) No. 22 | (4) Wright State Horizon League Semifinal | W 62–57 | 26–4 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (6,477) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 10 9:00 pm | (1) No. 17 | (3) Cleveland State Horizon League Championship | L 54–57 | 26–5 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (5,107) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 19* 12:00 pm, CBS | (9 S) No. 23 | at vs. (8 S) No. 20 LSU Round of 64 | L 71–75 | 26–6 (15–3) | Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South Region. All times are in Eastern Time.. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking Movement Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | WK 17 | Wk 18 | Final |
| AP | RV | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 21 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 16 | 22 | 22 |
| Coaches | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 20 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 23 | 25 |