Photo Courtesy of Butler Men’s Basketball
As the 2024-2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball season comes to an end, players from all over are committing, transferring and declaring for the NBA draft. With the way college sports have changed with NIL and years of eligibility, it can be a lot for fans to keep track of. If there is any team to keep track of this season it is the Butler Bulldogs. Butler is coming off of a 14-19 season and just recently falling to the Boise State Broncos in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown. The Bulldogs are looking to make a major comeback this season by adding key returners, the highest ranked recruiting class in program history, and commitments from three highly sought after transfers.
Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Jalen Jackson has recently signed to join the Dawgs this upcoming season after an outstanding junior year. Jackson averaged 19.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assist per game while shooting 48.4% from the field. Jackson created some major buzz in this season after his 27 point performance against Michigan and a 31 point performance against Penn State. Jackson is a 6’2” athletic guard that loves scoring at the rim and finding open looks for his teammates with an 18% assist rate. Jackson is a great addition to this offense to replace some of the graduating offensive talent in Jahmyl Telfort and Pierre Brooks II. Another great portal addition is 6 ‘5 ” guard Yame Butler from Drexel University. Yame is using his fifth year of eligibility after coming off a really solid season for the Dragons. There Yame put up 13.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while also shooting 36.5% from behind the arc. His strong frame will really help out this team on both ends of the floor.
A key returner for Butler is Jaime Kaiser Jr. who unfortunately had to sit at the entirety of the 2024-2025 season due to an injury. Kaiser is a sophomore transfer from the University of Maryland where he put up 4.4 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. Coming out of highschool Kaiser was a 4-star recruit from the prestigious IMG Academy and a ESPN Top 100 recruit. Kaiser looks to show Bulldogs fans what they missed out on this year with his scoring ability and suffocating defense. Another key returner for the Bulldogs is guard Finley Bizjack, who made a big jump from his freshman season with the Dawgs. Bizjack shot 42.8% from deep which was a key factor in this Butler offense. Bizjack had a slow start to the year but really turned it around scoring 14.3 points per game in his last 17 games. Bizjack will offer much-needed veteran experience being his third year in the Big East conference.
With a lot of experienced transfers and returners to this Dawg’s team, the highly-rated freshman group will have a lot to learn from. One of the most highly anticipated freshmen is 4-star recruit and Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, Jack McCafferey. McCafferey offers great length and versatility to this Dawgs team standing at 6’8”. Lawrence North High School’s all time-leading scorer and 4-star recruit Azavier Robinson will be joining the Bulldogs this season. Robinson is a very offensive minded guard that brings a lot of athleticism to this backcourt. The incoming freshman class will also include 3 separate 3-star recruits in Jackson Keith, Colt Langdon, and Efeosa Oliogu to finalize the large and talented freshman class.
Fans have a lot to be excited about in regards to this Butler Basketball team for the upcoming 2025-2026 college season. As the team continues to change they will continue to add the missing pieces to get this team back to the NCAA March Madness tournament after a seven year drought and compete for a National Championship.
