Making Amends

Connecticut star forward Caron Butler is an admitted neat freak. He likes his pants pressed and his work space clean. He’s what you would call a perfectionist and it bothers him greatly that teammate and roommate Taliek Brown could be such a slob.

Where did Butler learn these valued lessons in etiquette?

“Corrections, man,” he said Saturday with a laugh.

“Corrections,” as in jail.

It was a long time ago and it’s a long story. Butler’s young life, in fact, has been a series of corrections.

There were dark times when Butler spent dark days in solitary confinement, pondering the indiscretions of his youth.

Today, though, Butler has blossomed into the next flower of Connecticut basketball, following a linear trail from Ray Allen to Richard Hamilton.

Butler, a 21-year-old sophomore, is nothing like the bad boy he used to be. Rather, he is Connecticut’s unquestioned star and team leader, the guy all other Husky players lean on.

Once selfish and self-absorbed, Butler is now so selfless his coach, Jim Calhoun, sometimes has to beg him to be more assertive.

Calhoun tells him, “You need to dominate a game, go on an 8-0 stretch of just you.”

Butler is getting the message. Last week, against North Carolina State, he scored 34 points in the Huskies’ second-round NCAA tournament victory. His stock soars with every step he takes in the tournament. He was the Big East player of the year and averages 20 points and 7.5 rebounds.

Butler has also become a disciple of Connecticut hoops. He stays in contact with Allen and Hamilton and is proud to carry their torch.

“They’ve been a great inspiration,” Butler said Saturday. “You want to leave a legacy like those guys did. This is history in the making now. I want to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys, and the only way you can do that is win.”

Allen and Hamilton know Butler is the next big deal at Connecticut and make sure he knows it, too.

Earlier this year, after a distasteful loss at Rutgers, Butler looked up from his locker stool to see Ray Allen staring him down. Allen told Butler this could not stand, that Butler had to take over the team.

Since, Butler has carried the Huskies and has not shied from the responsibility. “I want to carry this team on my back,” Butler said.

It did not matter that he was a sophomore. At 6 feet 7, Butler is a player with immense skills, NBA skills, lottery-pick skills. Yet, Butler feels the need to contribute his part to Connecticut’s growing basketball lore.

A few days ago, he received words of encouragement from Hamilton, the silky-smooth forward who led Connecticut to the 1999 national title.

“Keep it rolling,” Hamilton told Butler.

Butler is doing his level best.

If Connecticut beats Maryland today and advances to the Final Four in Atlanta, Butler will have gone from Big House to Big House in a strange circle of redemption.

Once, Butler screwed up. Big time. He was 15, living in Wisconsin, and got caught at high school in possession of cocaine and a gun. At first, Butler got tossed into a jail with other adults. After six months, he was transferred to a juvenile facility, where Butler promptly got in a fight and spent 15 days in solitary confinement.

After Butler was released, no school wanted to touch him. While his mother, Mattie, fought desperately to find her son a second chance, Caron flipped hamburgers at Burger King.

He started hanging out with a different crowd, though, a better crowd, and hooked on with the local Amateur Athletic Union team in Racine. Butler eventually got enrolled at Park High and became an all-state player in 1996.

From there, he went to play for Max Good at Maine Central Institute, a prep school noted for churning out Division I players.

Good was a tough disciplinarian, just what Butler needed, right?

Yet, when Good picked Butler up at the airport, he almost put the player back on the plane. Butler was staring off into space, appearing to be totally disinterested.

Butler says now he was only scared.

“All I saw was a lot of trees,” he recalled Saturday. “Coach Good, he was a pain in the butt, he said, ‘I don’t need you here.’ I think he was trying to test me.”

Butler stayed two years and became the latest prep sensation to emerge from MCI.

Butler chose to attend Connecticut, where he and Calhoun clicked from the start.

“I think I’m in his office more than anyone,” Butler said.

His relationship? “It’s more like father and son,” he said.

Butler doesn’t shy from his troubled past, patiently answering questions in waves.

“I hope I can be a role model for players who have gone through some of the same situations I’ve gone through,” Butler said. “I want to show I’m a real classy kid. I’m trying to prove that. What happened to me happened when I was 12, 13 and 14. I got caught for the things I did. I’ve given my debt to society, that shouldn’t be mentioned any more.”

Butler is trying to put his past where it belongs.

“I turned around eight years ago,” he said. “That’s done.”

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Butler’s Doing It

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