To the media, the fans and the greater Badger nation, he is known as the Polar Bear. To his teammates, he is one of the pillars of leadership and experience they all lean on for support. To his coaches, he is a key contributor on both sides of the ball as well as a teacher and role model for the young understudies on the team.
[We] expect, with all the experience he's had, for him to keep teaching those younger guys little things about what we do and how we do things,"" UW assistant coach Howard Moore said. ""[He gives] them the indication of, 'Hey, I've started at this point and now I'm here because I've worked at it, I've persevered.'""
His name is Brian Butch, and his basketball career to this point has been a tumultuous journey with many ups and downs. But in this, his senior season as a forward for the Wisconsin men's basketball team, he has one last opportunity to cap his academic years off with a conference title and a run for the national championship.
Coming out of high school, Butch had more accolades and all-American honors than just about any prep basketball player to ever come out of the state of Wisconsin. A first-team Parade All-American and member of the McDonald's All-American West team, Butch could have more or less landed a spot on any collegiate roster in the NCAA. But the Appleton, Wis. native ultimately chose to stay close to home because UW-Madison offered everything he wanted in a college program.
""I thought it was a great system, I thought the campus was great and I thought the coaches and players around me were great.""
Unfortunately for Butch, his transition from high school to college was not very smooth. He redshirted his freshman year to bulk up and become an expert in the Wisconsin system with a great deal of guidance from teammate Mike Wilkinson. His hard work paid off, as he was given playing time in 27 games during his inaugural season on the court, but a bad case of infectious mononucleosis sidelined him for six games and limited him to only 35 combined minutes in the last eight games of the 2004-05 season.
More health issues continued to plague Butch, as an ankle injury in his sophomore year limited his mobility and kept the star forward from reaching his full potential, which drew criticism from the media and some fans. Pressure to perform at the level he demonstrated in high school began to mount, but Butch took it all in stride and placed the burden of playing better squarely on his own shoulders.
""He's always just looked at it as, 'Ã _ came in and there was a lot said and a lot done, but at the same time, I've still got a job to do,'"" Moore said of Butch's response to the pressure. ""He's always worried about right now as opposed to what's been said and what's been done. He's really matured in a lot of ways and it shows in his play.""
Again Butch took to the floor his junior year in an effort to live up to his former status. He earned a .475 field goal percentage and ranked among the Big Ten's best in rebounding during a 2006-07 season that set numerous records for the program and captured a great deal of attention on the national stage. However, Butch fell victim to injury yet again when he suffered a dislocated elbow in a gut-wrenching loss to conference rival Ohio State near the end of the regular season - a blow that cost the team a valuable asset on the team and possibly contributed to their early demise in the 2007 NCAA tournament.
""It's frustrating any time you have injury [or] sickness,"" Butch said. ""The redshirt year, I thought I did what I needed to do to get out and play - and I [did], but I got sick. And sophomore year I had an ankle injury. And then junior year, everyone knows about the elbow. It's been three years where I haven't been able to put everything together. That's frustrating, [but] as a player you just try to make the best of it.""
Butch has remained healthy in his final year as a Badger and has been piecing together a statistically successful year. Although many analysts across the country thought little of Wisconsin's potential to rank among the NCAA elite, Butch has helped his team knock out its opponents one by one, including making a game winning field goal on Wednesday against Indiana.
""The goals are [to] take them game by game,"" Butch said. ""It sounds cliché, but for us, each game is as important as the next one. If you get caught looking ahead, you lose a game. There's a slip up you can't have. Hopefully we're, at the end, competing for the Big Ten title, which is everyone's goal. And from there on we're just playing basketball and seeing how far we can go.""
In addition to his leadership role on the team, Butch has been playing the part of teacher as well, bringing up the next generation of big men on the Badger squad by leading by example - young teammates like freshmen J.P Gavinski, Keaton Nankivil and Jon Leuer.
""Obviously, with him being around here for five years, he knows a lot. He knows the ropes, and he's definitely pointed some things out to me that have benefited my game,"" Leuer said.
With a handful of conference games, a Big Ten tournament and a NCAA postseason bid on the horizon, Butch will try to leave Wisconsin with the same fanfare that he had when he entered the program - and maybe even some titles to go with it.
""I think he's done some great things for us this year and we've still got a long way to go,"" Moore said. ""There's a lot more to see coming from Brian Butch.""
