Flames score big with transfer

BUTTELL COMES FROM TEXAS TECH TO UIC

(6/8/06)

The UIC Flames have pulled a major coup in landing Jeremy Buttell from Texas Tech.

Buttell (pictured), a 6-foot-7, 238-pound power forward from a Dallas suburb, will have three years of eligibility after deciding to transfer to UIC. He will sit out the 2006-07 season due to NCAA transfer regulations.

"Jeremy is a tremendous athlete and we are happy to have someone with his talents here at UIC," Flames coach Jimmy Collins said. "He has a very high skill level and will fit right into our style of play."

Flames assistant coach Dave Donnelly was closely involved in bringing the Colleyville (Texas) native to Chicago.

Buttell played in 19 games, including one start, as a freshman, with the Red Raiders under coach Bobby Knight. He averaged 1.3 points and 1.4 rebounds playing just over five minutes per contest.

He scored a career high of nine points in nine minutes against Syracuse on Nov. 17. He started the next night against Wake Forest and played 10 minutes, scoring two points, grabbing three rebounds. He also played 16 minutes against Texas-Pan American and tallied seven points and three rebounds.

Buttell was a star at Colleyville Heritage High, earning First-Team All-State honors in his senior season. He was the District 5-5A Offensive MVP, averaging 17.5 points and a district-best 11.9 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the field. He had a 21-point, 20-rebound game against North Crowley.

He also earned First-Team All-State honors as a junior, averaging 17.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per outing. As a sophomore, he averaged 13.1 points and 7.9 boards and was the MVP of his district.

Buttell is a dominating interior presence, but he also has the ability to hit mid-range and perimeter jumpers. He is a tenacious rebounder and can use both hands to score in traffic.

Buttell is no stranger to playing ball in Illinois as Colleyville participated in the 2003 Pekin Christmas Tournament. Colleyville finished second and lost to Jamarcus Ellis and Westinghouse in the title despite Buttell’s 22 points. Buttell also played AAU games in Illinois.

While in high school, Buttell was pursued by Stanford, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Arizona State, New Mexico, Iowa, Northwestern, Penn State, Utah, Virginia Tech, Texas Christian and several Ivy League schools.

Schools like Texas, Arizona, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, Houston, Tulane and Arizona State, were also after Buttell, who also pitched at Colleyville and showed a 90-m.p.h. fastball.

TEAM AWARDS: The coaching staff held an intimate awards ceremony recently to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of the team this past season.

The 16-15 record may have been disappointing, but there were some shining moments. Senior forward Justin Bowen (pictured) received the MVP and the Field Goal Percentage awards.

Versatile sophomore forward Othyus Jeffers collected the Assists Leader and Rebounding Leader honors.

Josh Mayo, who led the nation’s freshman in free-throw percentage for much of the season, received the Free-Throw Percentage award.

Junior forward Danijel Zoric earned the Most Improved Player award for his late-season surge, and junior forward Jovan Stefanov received the team's Citizenship award.

SCHEDULE NEWS: Whoosh! recently learned a great deal about UIC’s non-conference schedule for the upcoming season.

The marquee game so far is the Dec. 9 United Center contest with Illinois. UIC played the Fighting Illini there three seasons ago, but lost 75-60.

The Flames will also participate in a round-robin exempt tournament at the brand-new Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, which is tentatively scheduled to culminate during Thanksgiving weekend. UIC will tentatively open the tournament with road games against Bradley and Miami (Ohio) before going to the Sears Center to play two unannounced foes. Illinois is also in the tournament, but will not meet the Flames. The tournament field is not yet complete.

In addition, UIC will also play road contests against Northern Illinois, Penn, Davidson and Mississippi. The Flames will get a home game from Ohio Valley champion Murray State as a result of the Bracket Buster pairing this past February.

“We’re still working on getting home games,” said Dave Donnelly, who also works closely with scheduling. “We thought last year’s schedule was tough, but now we have to return some of those games.”

In other schedule news, the third game in the Georgia Tech series will likely be pushed back one season to the 2007-08 season. The contract was a 2-for-1 deal that started in Chicago in the 2004-05 season.

STILL COMING: WhooshNet! is still working on some stories for the upcoming weeks. We’ll take a look at former Flame Kenny Williams in his new job as the head coach of the Chicago Rockstars of the ABA. … Also, we’ll have part 3 of the season in-review with a quick look ahead at next season.