Media Day Notes
 
NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Conference announced preseason women's basketball awards today at Madison Square Garden. UConn received 10 first place votes in the coaches' poll to take the top spot. The Huskies also took home Preseason Player of the Year (Paige Bueckers) and Preseason Freshman of the Year (Azzi Fudd) honors. Butler was picked 11th in the preseason poll.
 
Team Motto "26"
"The 2021-22 roster is a mix of eight returners and eight newcomers," Head Coach Kurt Godlevske stated. "Therefore, our staff wanted to define our mission and purpose early in the season. That way everyone has a clear understanding of their individual role, and what we expect from them in order to contribute to this team. It has been 26 years since the Butler women's basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament. We will recognize "26" with everything we do this year. Our team will understand why every single day is important and why what we do is important. The members of our 1996 team that reached the tournament connected with our current student-athletes to share some thoughts, ideas and stories from their historic season. It was impactful. Their messages were powerful. Don't just say you will do something. Do it today. Those types of concepts will be motivating our team and "26" is also a reminder that we can make it to the postseason."
 
2021-22 Team Goal
"We want to finish in the top four of our league," Godlevske explained. "That will give us a chance to get into the NCAA tournament, and at the end of the day that is our ultimate goal."
 
Butler Defense
"As a defense, we don't want to give up anything easy," Godlevske said. "That's our goal every possession. No layups, no easy shots, and limit the opponent to one shot per possession."
 
Style of Play
"On offense we will use the same type of offensive philosophy, but the structure of it will be different," Godlevske mentioned. "We are now at a point where we recruit to benefit our system. For a while we were focused on finding the best players, and we were lucky to find some really good ones. So we took on a system that fit them. Now we have created an identity and we recruit to that identity."
 
2021-22 Schedule
"We want to challenge our players during the non-conference season to prepare us for BIG EAST action," Godlevske stated. "We will see some opponents early in the year that feature different playing styles and we will matchup against some in-state rivals to give women's college basketball fans an opportunity to see our talent. The non-conference schedule is so important. We hope we are ready to go once BIG EAST basketball starts up and equally as important; we hope we are injury-free and playing with confidence. Each week will be unique with a different test in front of us."
 
Bulldog Bits
- Butler will open the 2021-22 season by hosting Indiana on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
- BU scored a season-high 86 points to upset #25 DePaul in the 2020-21 regular season finale.
- Butler scored 68 points in the setback to UConn at Hinkle Fieldhouse, marking the most points scored against the Huskies by any BIG EAST team.
- Butler averaged 57.2 points per game last season, but hit their stride late in the year to average 72.4 points over their final five games.
- BU hit seven 3-point field goals per game last year, the fifth-best average in the BIG EAST.
- Emilia Sexton shot 42 percent from 3-point range last year, posting the third-best percentage of any player in the BIG EAST.
- Genesis Parker made two 3-pointers per game on average to rank fifth in the BIG EAST.
- Butler will host Providence this year on FS1. The game will be played on Jan. 2 at 12 PM.
 
Fresh Start                                                                                
Butler's roster was limited during the 2020-21 campaign due to multiple injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs postponed or canceled eight contests including the season opener and four-straight from Dec. 12-22. Genesis Parker and Tenley Dowell were also playing limited minutes due to injuries, although Dowell was the only student-athlete to appear in all 20 contests for BU.
 
Toure Returns to Action                                                                                     
Oumou Toure missed the entire 2020-21 season with an injury. The year prior, Toure made the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team by averaging 9.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and a league-best 2.3 steals per game. She ranked ninth in the conference in blocked shots (1.0), 14th in rebounding and 29th in scoring.
 
Welcome To Butler                                                                                              
The Butler coaching staff welcomes eight newcomers to the 2021-22 roster this season. Celena Taborn (Furman), Kendall Wingler (Eastern Kentucky), and Kate Tanner (Miles CC) will join freshmen Madison Royal-Davis, Trinity White, Zoe Jackson, Alex Richard and Sydney Jaynes.
 
McKinney to Indianapolis                                                                                  
McKinney, Texas is nearly 900 miles away from Indianapolis, Ind., yet the Bulldogs have two freshmen on the roster from the Dallas suburb. Zoe Jackson and Trinity White left the Lone Star state to become Bulldogs. Jackson was a four-year starter at Allen H.S. that averaged 18 ppg. White averaged 11 points and six boards at McKinney H.S.
 
Johnson Joins Coaching Staff                                                              
Gabby Johnson joined the Butler coaching staff this off-season. Johnson has coached at Valparaiso, Dominican University, Northern Kentucky and Thomas More. She also played basketball at Thomas More.
 
2020-21 Roster Breakdown                                                                 
Two graduate students, three seniors, one junior, three sophomores and seven freshmen make up the 2020-21 roster. These student-athletes travel to Indianapolis from eight different states. The 'Dawgs also have a player from Quebec City, Canada and Melbourne Australia!
 
Indiana All-Star                                                                                      
2021 Indiana All-Star Sydney Jaynes will join the Bulldogs after a fantastic high school career at Trinity Lutheran. She is the sixth Indiana All-Star to attend Butler since Coach Godlevske's arrival in 2014-15.
 
10 More!                                                                                                                
Kurt Godlevske has recorded 90 wins at Butler since taking over the program in 2014-15. That total ranks him fourth all-time at BU, 10 shy of 100, and 25 back from June Olkowksi who sits in third place all-time with 114 wins from 1993-1999.
 
Butler Drops DePaul                                                                             
The highlight of the 2020-21 season came in the regular season finale when Butler defeated DePaul for the first time in program history. The Bulldogs went to Chicago to claim an 86-81 victory at Wintrust Arena. BU shot 54 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range. They shared the ball by recording 17 assists on 33 made field goals and also won the points in the paint battle 42-34.
 
Parker Puts Up Points                                                                           
Genesis Parker scored in double figures 11 times last year. She made her season debut at Providence on Jan. 7 and would score 10+ points in Butler's next seven-straight games. Parker led BU in scoring seven times. She scored a season-high 18 points in three different games (vs. DePaul, vs. Xavier, vs. UConn).
 
Sexton's a Shooter                                                                                              
18 of Emilia Sexton's 21 made field goals in 2020-21 were made from 3-point range. She hit three 3-pointers in her season debut at Michigan and matched that effort again near the end of the year with three more at DePaul.
 
Seize the Opportunity                                                                          
Butler brings in five true freshmen this year, but only return 36.5 percent of last year's scoring. The newcomers will have an opportunity to fill the void and compete for minutes right away to begin their collegiate careers.
 
Inside Out                                                                                                              
Butler brought in an experienced post player this off-season in graduate transfer Celena Taborn. During her four-year career at Furman, Taborn scored 1,234 points and pulled down 591 rebounds. All eight BU returners combine for 1,200 career points so her presence on the offensive end of the floor will be a welcomed addition.
 
Hello Hinkle                                                                                                          
Butler will play seven of their nine non-conference games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season. The first road test of the season will send BU downtown to play IUPUI at The Jungle. The Bulldogs will also play at Illinois in December. Highlighting the home slate will be three contests against in-state rivals. Butler will host Indiana in the season opener, face Ball State six days later, and end the non-conference portion of the schedule with a matchup against Evansville.
 
BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year
Paige Bueckers, Connecticut, So. Guard*
 
BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year
Azzi Fudd, Connecticut, Fr. Guard*
 
Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Christyn Williams, Connecticut, Sr., G*
Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Connecticut, Sr., F
Aailyah Edwards, Connecticut, So., F
Sonya Morris, DePaul, Sr., G*
Lexi Held, DePaul, Sr., G
Lauren Van Kleunen, Marquette, Gr., F
Leilani Correa, St. John's, Jr., G*
Andra Espinoza-Hunter, Seton Hall, Gr., G/F
Lauren Park-Lane, Seton Hall, Jr., G*
Maddy Siegrist, Villanova, Jr., F*
*unanimous selection
 
BIG EAST Preseason Poll Results
Team (First-Place Votes)
1) UConn (10)    100
2) DePaul (1)      90
3) Seton Hall      80
4) Marquette     74
5) Villanova       62
6) Creighton      54
7) St. John's       51
8) Providence    32
9) Georgetown  27
10) Xavier           18
11) Butler           17