Two for Tuesday

This edition of the two-fer focuses on the two jewels of the Midwest, Marquette point guard Dominic James and the nationally-ranked Butler Bulldogs of the Horizon League.

Before I go on, let me say that Matt "Fuego" Carroll has ranted and raved about this guy since he donned a Marquette jersey at the beginning of last season. It was only last week when James smoked perennial powerhouse Duke for 25 points and 7 dimes. Last night, James once again demonstrated his ability to take over games in a 65-62 thriller against Valparaiso. James scored the team's final 18 points, including a three-pointer with 3 seconds left that decided the contest. He might just outdo Ronald Steele after all this year.

The second is the Butler Bulldogs (7-0, 19th in AP; 18th in ESPN/USA Today). In a very unlikely preseason NIT final, Butler won the Bulldog derby over Gonzaga. They are led by sharpshooter A.J. Graves, who leads the team in points with 19.7 per contest. The mystery to the success is not in the record, but in how Butler is winning all of its games when being outshot (41.4% to 40.8%) and outrebounded (33 to 31). Thus far, Butler has compensated for its poor shooting by averaging 10 turnovers per game and shooting over 80 percent from the free throw stripe.