Thursday, May 17th, 2012
It will be the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs from the Horizon League battling the Michigan St Spartans from the Big Ten conference in a Final Four NCAA Tournament college basketball game on Saturday. Tip off time from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Indiana is scheduled for 6PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by CBS.
The LVSC college basketball odds makers have set the opening point spread in this contest and it was the Butler Bulldogs opening up as 1 ½ point betting favorites with the over under coming in at 125.
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The early money from the NCAA Tournament bettors has been Big Ten conference money, as the Butler Bulldogs are 1 point betting favorites. The total has seen the early movement towards the over, as the game is lined at 126 ½.
Money line gamblers on the side of the favored Butler Bulldogs will find –120 odds with the underdog Michigan St Spartans bringing back +100 to win this game without taking the points on their side.
It will be the first head to head meeting between these schools on Saturday.
The Butler Bulldogs earned their ticket to a Final Four off their 63-56 upset victory against the Kansas St Wildcats from the Big 12 conference. Butler opened up to a 27-20 halftime lead over the Wildcats. It was Kansas St rallying for the 52-51 lead with four minutes remaining but it was Butler that won the end game once again with the 12-4 run for the 7-point victory. The Horizon League champions hit on 45% of their shots and 7 of 15 from the three-point line. The school pulled out another good defensive effort as they limited the Wildcats to just 38% shooting. Kansas St had a poor day at the free throw line making only 7 of 14 from the charity stripe. The mid major schooled out rebounded the big guys by a 36-27 margin. The Bulldogs were fortunate to win despite 20 turnovers on Saturday. Gordon Hayward led Butler with 22 points and 9 rebounds in victory.
The Bulldogs began play in this NCAA Tournament by defeating Conference USA regular season champions UTEP 77-59 as a 2-½ point favorite. In their second round game it was Butler with an outstanding defensive stand in the final seconds to preserve a 54-52 victory against Murray St, champions from the Southern conference. They then faced the number one seeded Syracuse Orange from the Big East and came away with the 63-59 victory in their sweet 16 NCAA Tournament game as a 6 ½ point underdog. The good Butler defense forced Syracuse into committing numerous turnovers in this game and 43.8% shooting.
Michigan St goes to a second straight Final Four off their 70-69 victory against the Tennessee Volunteers as 1 ½ point betting favorites. This was a very close game throughout with Tennessee taking the 41-39 halftime lead. Tennessee missed critical free throws down the stretch and Raymar Morgan hit 1 of 2 with less than 2 seconds remaining to break a 69-69 tie and send the Spartans to Indianapolis. The Spartans made 46% of their free throws and 6 of 18 from the three-point line. Despite Tennessee making 51% of their shots it was their 14 of 21 at the line that sent Bruce Pearl’s team back home to Knoxville. Guard Durrell Summers led the Spartans with 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the field.
The Spartans began play in this NCAA Tournament by holding off the late charge by New Mexico St to win 70-67 as 13 point betting favorites. In round two it was Michigan St with another close win this time beating Maryland 85-83 as 1-½ point underdogs. They shot over 55% in that win against a quality ACC foe. In the regional semifinal the Spartans pulled away with the 59-52 victory against Missouri Valley champions Northern Iowa Panthers as a 1-point favorite. The Spartans played well defensively in the win limiting the Panthers to just 38.6% shooting.
Michigan St will face a huge challenge on the offensive end as the Butler Bulldogs rank 10th in all of college basketball in scoring defense allowing just 59.6 points per game. In the NCAA Tournament Butler has not allowed more than 59 points to any of their four opponents with two heavyweights scheduled in Kansas St and Syracuse and a high potent offense from Conference USA thrown in as well in UTEP. Michigan St is the better rebounding club averaging 38.7 boards a game to Butler’s 32.8. Michigan St has faced a similar half court style team in Northern Iowa and survived that game pulling out the 7-point victory.
Trend: Butler Bulldogs are 5-1 to the under in their past 6 games
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