Lamont Butler's shoulder is "feeling better" and he's ready to lead Kentucky on a run

How is Lamont Butler‘s shoulder doing ahead of Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament run? The fifth-year senior kept his injury update short and sweet in today’s press conference.

“It’s feeling better. It’s feeling better.”

That’s very good news for Kentucky. Butler initially injured his shoulder in mid-January and missed six games over two stretches. He suffered a separate injury in the same shoulder during Kentucky’s win over Oklahoma in the second round of the SEC Tournament. He sat out the quarterfinal loss to Alabama, but afterward, Mark Pope said that had Kentucky advanced, Butler may have been able to play in Nashville. On Selection Sunday, Pope confirmed that Butler would be good to go for the NCAA Tournament.

Butler was still wearing the big shoulder brace during Kentucky’s open practice, but otherwise, seemed fine, showing full motion while shooting and going through drills.

“I would say he’s a huge part of what they do,” Troy coach Scott Cross said of Butler. “You know they’re way, way better when he’s out there on the floor, especially defensively with his toughness defending the basketball. So I’m sure that will give them a boost.

“He’s a very good offensive player as well, but I think he kind of gives them the toughness and identity that make them better defensively.”

Not only is Butler Kentucky’s floor general and best defensive player, but he has by far the most NCAA Tournament experience on the team. Butler has played in 11 NCAA Tournament games, most memorably hitting the game-winner to send San Diego State to the Final Four in 2023. He has so much experience that his teammates are calling him “LaMarch,” a nickname he picked up at San Diego State. His advice to his teammates?

“Just have fun with it. It’s a blessing just to be on this stage, to have this opportunity. So really just have fun and play free. Everybody has dreamed of this moment, and to seize this moment, we’ve got to be ourselves, do what we’ve been doing this whole year to get here, and do it at a high rate. We need everybody to be special in their roles.”

While reflecting on the season, Butler said that even when the team first gathered last summer, he knew they were capable of doing something special. He’s excited to get the final part of that journey started.

“I kind of expected us to be in a good position from the summer to go win a National Championship. That’s on our mind. That’s what we’re going to do.”

This Kentucky team is very different than the ones that took the stage at the NCAA Tournament in recent years. Butler said their unique makeup and the adversity they’ve faced this season could be reasons they go further.

“I think everybody is hungry this year. I feel like a lot of us came from smaller schools or different places and we were able to compete at one of the best schools ever. We all wanted to be remembered here. I think everybody has been playing their heart out, playing their butts off.”

“In the tournament, things are going to go wrong. I feel like we’ve done a great job of bouncing back really quick from, say, we lost a game or we had a bad half. Like the next thing that we do is just great. We’ve had a lot of great second halves, a lot of great bounce-back games. I think that’s going to carry over into this tournament.

“We’ve got guys that love each other, play for each other, and know what the Kentucky brand means to them. Kentucky is a winning program, and we want to continue to win for it.”