Man in the middle delivering
Without fanfare – blame Rodney Stuckey for that – Paul Butorac has become a force, that necessary inside presence for the Eastern Washington basketball team.
Then again, maybe it’s the arrival of the sensational freshman that has allowed the rail-thin junior known as Booty to become one of the best big men in the Big Sky Conference.
While Stuckey is the buzz of the Big Sky, Butorac is averaging 9.9 points on 59 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 1.62 blocks for the 6-10 Eagles, but in three conference games he’s shooting 75 percent and averaging 16.3 points.
There is an obvious on-court connection between Stuckey and Butorac, and Butorac is quick to credit the high-scoring freshman for the open lanes and perfect passes that have led to his 18 dunks.
“He’s so much fun,” Butorac said. “The guy gets the ball and I’ll be wide open because the whole team is looking at him. He can go 100 miles per hour down the floor and hit me with a wide-open, no-look pass. I’ll be, ‘Holy cow, I can’t believe he just passed that to me.’ Some of the things he does on the floor are amazing.”
But to tie Butorac’s improvement to Stuckey’s arrival short-changes Butorac.
“It’s just a tribute to his work ethic,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “We talk to our guys about grinding, having a consistency to their effort, and Paul has that. He’s a veteran, four years in the program, and he understands that work ethic better. His play is indicative of the hard work he’s put in. He’s an all-conference caliber player.”
It wasn’t always that way, even when Butorac was dominating the Great Northern League for Medical Lake.
“I knew I could play,” he said. “I wasn’t really getting the looks I thought I deserved. I had to prove myself. Everybody thought I was too small, too skinny.”
Despite averaging 20.8 points and 12.3 rebounds as a senior to earn his second league MVP award, Eastern was one of the few schools to call on him because he only had 180 pounds (he claims) on his 6-foot-9 frame.
“I used to come up and play with the guys after school,” he said. “It shook me up quite a bit. It wasn’t easy to score, it wasn’t easy to rebound. It was a tough transition.
“All those big guys I had to play against every day in practice showed me the ropes. I found out what college basketball was really like. It’s nothing like high school. You get banged around quite a bit, I wasn’t ready for that.”
That’s what senior captain Deuce Smith, a junior college transfers, remembers.
“Personally I’m just proud of him,” Smith said. “As a player, I’ve seen him mature. When I came on my recruiting trip he was a skinny little freshman with the funny tattoos – but I think they’re cool tattoos.”
After redshirting, Butorac was a key reserve. He had a few starts, including two in the Eagles’ NCAA Tournament season. Along the way he grew an inch, gained 30 pounds (he claims), added a tattoo after each season and became a crowd favorite for his energy off the bench.
But he has really blossomed as a starter, a role he enjoys.
“It’s a lot different starting,” the criminal justice major said. “Some people say there is more pressure when you start. For me it’s the opposite. I know my role – I know what I’ve got to do when I’m out there. I’m out there to start that spark from the get-go, I don’t have to be relied on to come into the game and bring that energy. It’s kind of a relaxing feeling for me to be able to do that right out of the gate. … The confidence just came with time.”
Smith said, “He’s got a bigger role now. He’s a lot more vocal this year. His competitive fire has always been there. … He can get a big block or a left-handed dunk down the lane that really gets our momentum going.”
Butorac’s momentum has been building and shows no sign of letting up.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “My family and friends are 10 minutes away. There’s nothing more that I could want. I’m right here, I’m home.”