No. 5 Butler Bulldogs vs. No. 1 Syracuse Orange

No. 5 Bulldogs will be playing the No. 1 seeded Orange this Thursday March 25, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah, tipoff will be 7:05 pm eastern time.

2010-03-23

No. 5 Bulldogs will be playing the No. 1 seeded Orange this Thursday March 25, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah, tipoff will be 7:05 pm eastern time.

Syracuse

The Orange looked very good in their first games of the tournament. Syracuse destroyed Vermont by 23 points and in their next game they defeated Gonzaga by 22 points, something that should not have happened to a decent Gonzaga team. The MVP for the Orange men is Wes Johnson who did all the scoring, 31 points, 14 rebounds, and made 4 out of 6 three point shots. A close second to player of the game is Rautins who added an additional 24 points against the Zags. The Orange men held the Zags to 41.7 percent shooting and only gave up three 3 point shots out of the 21 shot attempts that were thrown up behind the arc by the Zags.

Syracuse averaged 81.6 points per game as well as 19.4 assists per game, second in the country, and shot at 51.7 percent. Don’t forget about their defense because they have only allowed 39.8 shooting percentage from opponents and have only let teams score an average of 66.5 points per game.

Butler

The Butler Bulldogs did not have quite an easy path as the Orange men had, but nonetheless they are in the same position playing for a spot in the Elite 8. In Butler’s first game they entered halftime losing, but turned it around to beat UTEP. In their second game of the weekend they faced a scrappy Murray State, which they had to dig deep to come out victorious. With Matt Howard on the bench in foul trouble for most of the game the Bulldogs had to go to a four guard lineup. Even though Butler won the game they need to address a couple issues before the play Syracuse, for example Murray State was 64.3 percent from the behind the arc.

The Butler Bulldogs averaged 69.8 points per game and also shot 45 percent from the floor, but were horrible at rebounding, ranking 285th in the nation on offensive boards. On defense the Bulldogs only allow their opponents an average of 59.8 points per game and 41.5 percent shooting.

Who and what to bet on?

At www.sportsbook.com the spread is currently in favor of Syracuse at 7.5 points. The Orange men are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 tournament matchups, 5 and 1 against the spread in their last 6 neutral site games and 9 and 2 against the spread in their last 11 nonconference games. Butler on the other hand are 6 and 0 against the spread in their last 6 games as an underdog between 7 and 12.5 points, but they are also 2 and 8 against the spread in their last 10 neutral site games and 1 and 4 against the spread in their last 5 games while playing as underdogs at a neutral site.

Butler should have had an easy time with Murray State, granted they didn’t let them score a lot, but the game was still too close. When they play the Orange men this Thursday they will not be so lucky.

Syracuse -7.5

College Basketball News

Click here to read latest College Basketball news