Winthrop will face Butler in NCAA Tournament

Winthrop basketball coach Pat Kelsey spent a day last summer talking X’s and O’s with Butler University coach Chris Holtmann.

Each may regret the experience.

A nice crowd gathered at Winthrop Coliseum Sunday night learned that the 13-seeded Eagles will face No. 4 seed Butler on Thursday in the tournament’s first round at 1:30 p.m. EST.

“It was intense, real intense,” senior Roderick Perkins said about the NCAA Tournament Selection Show experience. “I didn’t know we’d have to wait that long to hear our name called. But, Milwaukee. Butler. That’s the only thing on my mind right now.”

“Every time the 3 or the 4 seed would pop up my heart started beating fast and there were a couple sort of near-misses,” said Kelsey. “But to see our name pop up was a real special feeling.”

Winthrop finished the regular season 26-6, winning the Big South title for the first time since 2010. The Eagles won a Division I-best 12 road games and booked their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years with a 17-point win over Campbell on March 5 in Rock Hill. Winthrop is making its 10th all-time NCAA appearance.

Butler lost in the first round of the Big East tournament to Xavier, finishing the regular season 23-8. The Bulldogs won 12 games in a very deep league, beating overall top seed Villanova twice, and Chris Holtmann’s team was rewarded with a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance and its highest ever seed. Holtmann and Kelsey crossed coaching paths when the former was Gardner-Webb’s head coach before leaving to take an assistant position at Butler under Brad Stevens in 2013, before becoming the head man in 2014.

The announcement drew a grin from Winthrop senior Joshua Davenport. He played with Butler sophomore center Nate Fowler in high school at Cincinnati’s Moeller. But Davenport still didn’t know much about the Eagles’ first round opponent.

“I’ve seen them play a couple of times just because of him,” he said. “But I think we have a good chance because of our preparation and our team has bought in. We have the mindset that we’re gonna go up there and win.”

Winthrop’s 13 seed was the program’s second highest, after the 2006-07 team, which was awarded an 11 seed. The winner of Winthrop-Butler will face the winner of fifth-seeded Minnesota and 12th-seeded East Tennessee State Saturday.

“I went into the locker room to address our guys and they’re ready to get started preparing,” Kelsey said. “The jubilation was the other day when we won the championship and cut the nets down. They’re a hungry bunch and ready to get to work.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Winthrop will face Butler in NCAA Tournament."