Butler Selected to Preseason First Team, Buckeyes Tabbed Third – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Jamar Butler, a senior guard on the Ohio State men’s basketball team, was selected by a 22-member media voting panel to the 2007-08 Preseason All-Big Ten Team, the Big Ten Conference announced Sunday.
Ohio State was picked to finish third behind Indiana and preseason favorite Michigan State. The Buckeyes are the two-time defending outright Big Ten regular-season champions and the defending league tournament title holders.
Butler, a Lima, Ohio, native, directed the Buckeyes from the point guard position as a sophomore before moving over to the No. 2 guard spot a season ago when Ohio State finished with a school record 35 victories on its way to the NCAA title game in April.
Over the last three seasons, Butler has played in 102 games, starting 81, for the Buckeyes. He is on pace to become the next Ohio State 1,000 point career scorer with 759 entering his final year of eligibility. He is among Ohio State’s Top 10 in career assists (No. 9/360) and 3-point field goals made (No. 8/138).
Butler is the lone returning starter for the second-consecutive season. He will lead a team with just four returning contributors and seven newcomers (five true freshmen and two transfers).
Ohio State opens its exhibition season at 7 p.m. Wednesday at home in Value City Arena against Ashland. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
The 2007-08 regular season begins Nov. 12-13 in the opening rounds of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. Ohio State will host the early rounds and will face Wisconsin-Green Bay at 9 p.m. Nov. 12 at Value City Arena. That game will be televised by ESPN2.
