Butler to battle Marquette in Hawaiian tourney

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Butler considers itself one of the marquee college basketball programs in the country and with that comes a responsibility to challenge itself outside of the Bulldogs' Atlantic 10 scheduule this season.

Brad Stevens' squad will certainly do that in the non-conference portion of its season, including a game against Marquette.

Butler will face Marquette in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational on Nov. 19 at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). The game will air on ESPN2.

The Butler-Marquette tilt is on the same side of the bracket as North Carolina-Mississippi State. The other first-round games are Illinois-USC and Texas-Chaminade. The championship game is scheduled for Nov. 21 at 10 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN.

Marquette finished 27-8 last season and ranked No. 10 in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. MU saw its top two scorers, Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder, be selected in the NBA Draft.

Led by sixth-year coach Stevens, Butler enters the 2012-13 season with seven straight seasons with at least 20 wins. Twelve letterwinners return from last season's squad.

nssports@news-sentinel.com