As the Butler Bulldogs prepare for Sunday’s Big East game against conference leader Villanova, their thoughts are not confined to basketball. Coach Chris Holtmann said Friday that the team regularly discusses the condition of former player Andrew Smith, who has fought cancer for two years.
“Because it’s a whole lot more important than going out here,” he said before a Friday practice at Hinkle Fieldhouse. “It’s life stuff that I think our guys … I don’t think you go through something like that and ignore it.
“He has been in our team’s thoughts and prayers. So it’s really been every day, I think, we have thought about it, talked about it in some cases.