INDIANAPOLIS – Kamar Baldwin hit the baskets that got Butler back into this game. He hit the 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation that forced overtime. He hit the acrobatic driving layup that gave Butler its first lead in overtime. Alas, that was Butler’s only lead in overtime. The Providence Friars needed overtime to do it, but they finished what they started Tuesday night, beating back the Bulldogs 73-67 in overtime.

In the process, it’s possible Providence finished off Butler’s NCAA tournament hopes. How soft is the 2019 at-large bubble? Soft enough for a Butler team that sits 15-13 overall and 6-9 in the Big East, with three regular-season games and the conference tournament left to play? We’ll see.

That answer is a few weeks away. As far as Kamar Baldwin goes, we’re getting our answer right now, and I’m not sure it’s one you’re ready to hear.

You’re ready only if you’ve been paying close attention, because Baldwin has been doing his thing for Butler after the salad days of Brad Stevens and all those NCAA tournament runs. Baldwin has been at Butler for some nice seasons, don’t get me wrong. The Bulldogs have made NCAA tournament trips in each of this first two years, and perhaps could make another trip in this one, his third. But without the magic of a March Madness moment, is Baldwin getting the attention he deserves?

Are you ready for this?

I’m asking, because this is what I’m saying:

We’re watching an all-time Butler great. Not an all-time great, as in: Let’s name 15 or 20 Butler players, and eventually we’ll get to Kamar Baldwin. No. Not like that.

Like this:

We’re watching one of the five best players in Butler history. That’s what the numbers say, and they’re not muttering under their breath. No, the numbers are shouting about Kamar Baldwin, who is on pace to finish among the top three Bulldogs in career points and steals.

Let me say that again, and let me say it as loudly as the numbers are saying it:

Kamar Baldwin is on pace to finish among the top three Bulldogs in career points and steals!

After this game, when he scored 27 points with six rebounds, three steals and two assists in 42 minutes, I told Baldwin about those numbers. I told him about his pace — the points, the steals. Asked him if he knew. He shook his head: No.

Well? That’s what I’m asking him. Those are facts. What do you think of those facts?

Baldwin, averaging 17.3 points, five rebounds and 3.4 assists, answered in a way you’d expect, if you know Baldwin at all. He’s quiet, humble, his chest sticking out only because it’s huge after an offseason of weightlifting that has this one-time scrawny freshman at a beastly 6-1, 195 pounds. Anyway, this is what he said:

“I’ve played with some great players, and that’s allowed me to score,” Baldwin said, and then he started listing teammates. He went through the seniors on this team, his sophomore team, and his freshman team — Kethan Savage and Andrew Chrabascz, Avery Woodson and Tyler Lewis, even walk-ons Trey Pettus and Steven Bennett. Yes, Baldwin cited Trey Pettus and Steven Bennett, who scored 51 combined points in their careers, among the reasons he is on pace to finish second or third on the Butler career scoring list.

And he is. Second or third, all-time, at Butler. Nuts, right?

Already Baldwin is 20th with 1,387 points, passing Khyle Marshall (1,373) on Tuesday night, and his next bucket will move him past Rylan Hainje (1,388) and into 19th. Next is Jeff Blue in 18th at 1,392, and Keith Greve in 17th at 1,400, and so on.

Big names. And Baldwin is going to blow past them, almost into the top 10 — Jermaine Guice is 10th at 1,607 — with one full season to go. Not to get too bogged down in the numbers, but after scoring 345 points as a freshman, Baldwin scored 548 as a sophomore and, with 494 currently, will have close to 600 this season. Let’s be conservative and put him at “just” 550 points as a senior. That would put his career total at close to 2,100, and so far only three Butler players have topped 2,000: Chad Tucker (2,321), Kelan Martin (2,047) and Darrin Fitzgerald (2,019).

And none of them defended like Baldwin, who already sits in a tie for seventh place — with Rylan Hainje, of all people — with 153 career steals. He’s on pace to smash the Butler career record, shared by Ronald Nored and Thomas Jackson, of 207 steals.

And neither of them scored like Baldwin, who was using his full arsenal against Providence. Bigger by almost 25 pounds since the day he reported to campus as a freshman, Baldwin was going into the lane against a Providence team that puts some seriously NFL-looking players on the court, and he was finishing at the rim. He was hitting 3-pointers with that righteous-looking jumper of his, so much elevation with his legs, so many right angles with his shoulder and elbow and wrist.

Baldwin scored 21 of Butler’s first 49 points, with six in a row that gave the Bulldogs their first lead since the opening minute, but on a night when most of his teammates weren’t shooting well, it wasn’t enough to beat a Providence team going nowhere.

“Baldwin’s one of the best players in the league,” Providence coach Ed Cooley was saying afterward, “if not the country.”

There you go. Two more lists where Baldwin belongs. Where on those lists? It's like his spot among the Butler greats:

Put him somewhere near the top.

Find Star columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.