University of Massachusets Athletics
The Butler Is Doing It For UMass
November 18, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2002
Jen Butler grew up in Brooklyn. But she was no basketball brat.
On the contrary, the big girl from the Big Apple ran a little track in the winters and played some softball in the summers. Nothing serious, though. And nothing at all with hoops.
"I've always been tall," the 6-foot-3 Butler said. "But basketball is something I didn't really think about it. It just didn't interest me."
That changed in 1996, when she went to Atlanta for the Olympics, saw a few games at the Georgia Dome and decided that it was a sport she wanted to try.
The high school junior found she kind of liked it, and she wasn't half bad, either. So began a career that has turned Butler into what she is now - one of the top post players in the Atlantic 10.
"I just picked up a ball," she said. "The rest is history."
What she did, in truth, was go get the ball. She rebounded it, and she stole it, in large part because she didn't really shoot it.
But she wanted to learn. So she transferred schools - from Brooklyn's Murrow High School, which didn't have a sports program, to Manhattan's Murry Bergtraum - and she joined the Blazers' basketball team.
Murry coach Ed Grezinsky saw it right away. Just like former Minutewoman coach Joanie O'Brien. And just like current UMass boss Marnie Dacko.
"She's an incredible rebounder," said Dacko, who took over for O'Brien last spring. "She really moves very fluidly in the paint and she has arms that just don't end. She should probably get a double-double every game."
Which is kind of what she did in high school. Butler averaged 16 points and 16 rebounds a night as a senior captain, helping MBHS to a 24-0 record and the PSAL championship and earning first team All-City honors from the New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News.
All this while she was still learning how to even play the game.
"My senior year of high school and freshman year of college is when everything started to come together," she said. "I came here, and Coach (O'Brien) started teaching me the basics."
She did, after all, have a lot to learn. And she left the fastpaced city and came up to Amherst to continue a suddenly and surprisingly promising career in basketball.
Butler worked on her shots in and around the paint - even easy layups and chippies - and she worked on her conditioning and fitness.
Always, though - always, always, always - she rebounded.
As a freshman, Butler started 26 of 28 games for the Minutewomen, working her way to A-10 All-Rookie recognition.
She led the team in rebounding (10.5 per) and steals (53) - hustle stats - and was second in blocks. Her nightly clip on the boards was good for No. 18 in the national stats.
At the Dartmouth Invitational, near the end of December, she recorded 26 points and 43 rebounds in just two games, winning the event's MVP award.
All in all, she grabbed double-digit rebounds in 16 games as a rookie, including one, on Dec. 29 against William & Mary, in which she had a school-record 25 rebounds, including 17 on the offensive glass.
Defenses started keying in on her more the following year, but Butler still managed to average 9.6 rebounds an outing - and 13.4 in league games. She had 22 caroms against Fordham.
A third team preseason All-Conference selection as a sophomore, she ended up with 11 double-doubles and even a triple-double: 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals in the season opener against Charlotte.
Last year - her junior season - was no different. Butler started all 30 games and averaged 13.2 points and 11.8 boards. She earned second team All-Atlantic 10 honors a year ago, and was the only player in the league to average a double-double for the season. Butler, who was also named to the Atlantic 10's All-Defensive team, ranked fifth nationally in rebounding.
Butler heads into her senior UMass campaign with a 1,001 career points, a school-record 916 career rebounds, and 41 career double-doubles. A first team preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection, no returning NCAA Division I player snagged more rebounds a year ago than Butler, who hauled down 353 boards.
"I don't know what it is," Dacko said when asked about her star's rebounding acumen. "That's a good question. Maybe it's her lack of playing the game for very long.
"I've only worked out with her a few times, but I'm really looking forward to having the opportunity to work out with her and trying to develop those skills."
Ditto for Butler.
She's shifted her focus to adding new pieces to her overall game - things that she'll need to try to make a go at it in the WNBA or in a professional league somewhere overseas - and there are plenty of areas in which she can improve.
"I've been working on my ball-handling a lot and my dribbling and a lot of shooting," Butler said heading into her fourth and final year in Amherst. "I think it's coming along."
All in an effort to help the Minutewomen improve on last year's 12-18 record and semifinal ousting at the A-10 Tournament.
Butler is also a captain this year - along with fellow senior Nekole Smith - and she's taking that role seriously. She wants to help Dacko turn the UMass women into a winner.
"Change is always good," Butler explained. "That's something Nekole and I have been saying to the rest of the team. We're trying to keep the team together and everybody in line."
And she's doing that by example more than anything else.
"Jen's very quiet," Dacko said. "She's still shy on the court with the new coaching staff. In some respects, I think she's been taken back by the change, but she plays in pain, she's one of the strongest kids we have, and she works hard."
But that's nothing new. She's been doing that since the summer of 1996 - ever since she saw Cynthia Cooper and Rebecca Lobo help the Stars and Stripes win the gold in Atlanta.
"There are always things I can do to help the team out," Butler said. "I need to stay healthy, first of all, but I just want to help my team in any way I can.
"I think I need to do a better job at the free throw line. Whatever I have to do. Everyone's main goal is to have a winning season and a good run in the A-10."