Butler seeking staying power

In the latest why-aren’t-we-surprised-anymore feat by a mid-major, Butler won the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off last week by beating a Gonzaga team that had just upset No. 2 North Carolina.

But if you want to understand one reason it is difficult for a mid-major to sustain success the way Duke or Arizona does, consider this:

What do Butler Coach Todd Lickliter, Ohio State Coach Thad Matta, and Butler Athletic Director Barry Collier have in common?

They’ve all been the coach at Butler.

Two of the three parlayed success there into bigger coaching jobs. Now, in a twist, it’s Collier’s job to try to keep Lickliter at Butler after Collier returned to Butler as A.D. after six seasons as Nebraska’s coach.

“If other schools don’t want him, I’d be a little concerned,” Collier said. “I’ve always seen that as a win-win situation.”

Butler has certainly had its moments before, but this NIT run wasn’t exactly expected.

Lickliter’s team was picked to finish sixth in the Horizon League, and he scheduled a game against Kent State in Indianapolis less than 24 hours after the NIT title game in New York -- a game he obviously didn’t think he’d be coaching.

Instead, a jubilant but exhausted Butler team returned to Hinkle Fieldhouse at 3 a.m. Saturday and then held off Kent State in double overtime that night, 83-80.

The Bulldogs’ 7-0 start earned them a No. 19 ranking in the Associated Press poll, their first ranking since the 2001-2002 season.

With victories over Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga, Butler has all but clinched an NCAA tournament at-large spot before December, though it’s worth remembering that in 2002 the school was snubbed despite a 25-5 record and a victory over Indiana after it was upset in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.

“There was a fairly loud outcry. I think we’re past that,” said Collier, who by then was coach at Nebraska, where he went 89-91 in six seasons.

The star of this Butler team has been 6-foot-1 junior guard A.J. Graves, who is averaging 19.7 points and had 26 against Gonzaga. The surprise has been Mike Green, another 6-1 guard, who is averaging 12.9 points and 4.3 assists.

“I remember having a conversation with Coach Lickliter the first day of practice, and saying, ‘I like the skill, I like the intelligence. I wonder how tough they’re going to be,’ ” Collier said. “That question has been answered.”

Collier took Butler to the NCAA tournament three times during his 11 seasons as coach. Matta guided the Bulldogs to the second round in 2001, and then jumped to Xavier after only one year as coach. Lickliter, in his sixth season, took the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 in 2003 and it looks as if he’ll have them back in the tournament again this season.

Collier probably cringed when he heard Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl call Lickliter -- whom Pearl competed against when he was at Wisconsin Milwaukee -- an “offensive genius” before playing Butler in the NIT.

That’s because Collier’s job at Butler once was getting the players. Now a big part of it is keeping the coach.

Who’s No. 1?

Some voters hesitant to pick UCLA as the new No. 1 after Florida’s overtime loss to Kansas -- maybe it was the memory of that 73-57 Gators victory over the Bruins in the NCAA title game -- chose Pittsburgh or Ohio State instead.

Matta’s Ohio State team is No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, and No. 3 in the AP poll.

Both could change in a hurry if Ohio State doesn’t fare well at North Carolina tonight.

“You look at all these ‘upsets’ right now, the majority of them are at neutral sites,” Matta said. “We’re going to their home court.”

If Ohio State were to win, though, there would be the potential for the same school to be No. 1 in the AP football and basketball polls.

Matta said he and football Coach Jim Tressel haven’t discussed such things.

“I like his positioning a lot better because the season’s almost over and they’ve only got one game to play,” Matta said. “But I still say, you know, we don’t have Greg Oden. I think our program can continue to get better.”

Oden, Ohio State’s 7-1 freshman, is expected to make his debut by early January after recovering from wrist surgery.

“Everything is going as planned,” Matta said. “He is getting a little more active every day in practice.

“There is no question he is -- I don’t want to say down, but a better word is anxious -- to get out there and play. He’s been very diligent in his work ethic and rehab.”

Fellow freshmen Daequan Cook and Mike Conley Jr. have helped the Buckeyes to a 6-0 start without Oden. Cook is the leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 17.8 points and seven rebounds, and Conley is averaging 6.3 assists.

Among friends

Pete Newell is one of Bob Knight’s close coaching friends, and when Texas Tech plays Stanford on Sunday in the Pete Newell Challenge in San Jose, Newell will present him with a career achievement award.

“I’m very happy to have Bobby be the recipient, and I’m very happy to know he’s proud of it,” Newell said. “Sometimes you don’t know if he goes for those things. He usually doesn’t.”

Newell isn’t an apologist for all of Knight’s incidents over the years, but he is concerned one part of the coach will be overlooked as Knight ticks off the final six victories he needs to break Dean Smith’s record of 879.

“The way I look at it, no coach has communicated with as many young coaches and shared his knowledge of the game, which is really second to none, as Bobby has,” said Newell, 91. “In a lot of these clinics, a lot of people don’t share their knowledge. You get a lot of jokes and all that, but they don’t get down to what you teach and how you teach it.”

robyn.norwood@latimes.com