Butler vs. Michigan State
The college basketball world descends upon Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for this year’s Final Four. It all starts off on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. EDT on CBS when the hometown Bulldogs take on the Spartans for the right to play in the national final.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened this game up with Butler (32-4 straight up, 16-20 against the spread) as a 1 ½-point “chalk” with a total of 125. There hasn’t been much movement on that spread one way or the other, but the total has been bumped up to 126. Bettors looking to Tom Izzo to make it back to the title game can expect plus-105 on the money line (risk $100 to win $105).
Michigan State (28-8 SU, 15-19 ATS) successfully defended its Midwest Regional crown by the Volunteers 70-69 on the strength of Raymar Morgan’s free throw with less than two seconds left in regulation. The Spartans cashed in as two-point underdogs and cashed for a plus-115 return.
Durrell Summers paced the Spartans with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and an assist. Morgan posted 13 points and 10 boards against the Vols, while Draymond Green scored 13 points with a pair of blocked shots.
Prior to dumping the sixth-seeded Vols, the Spartans squeaked by New Mexico State (70-67), beat Maryland (85-83) at the buzzer and controlled Northern Iowa (59-52) in the Sweet 16. Michigan State covered the number in all but the first game against the Aggies where they were a heavy 13-point favorite.
The fact that Izzo has his team back in the Final Four for the second straight year is nothing short of impressive. Consider that this was a region that housed the No. 1 overall seed in Kansas. It also had the Big Ten champion Buckeyes and Big East power Georgetown. So it’s no wonder that all the experts were picking this to be the toughest draw in the entire tournament. But Michigan State was able to avoid all three of those teams en route to Indy. Yet they did make it to this point after losing floor general Kalin Lucas midway through the game against the Terrapins with a torn left Achilles tendon.
The Bulldogs weren’t considered to be much of a threat to emerge out of the West Region this year. They were posted as the fifth-seed in that bracket and facing a sexy upset pick in No. 12 UTEP. Yet Butler found a way to emerge out of that game with a 77-59 win. Brad Stevens’ club also survived against Murray State (54-52) and upset top-seed Syracuse (63-59) to advance to the Elite Eight.
In the regional final, Butler got to take on the No. 2 Wildcats. Kansas State was coming off of an epic double-overtime victory over Xavier, and was listed as a four-point fave to cut down the nets in Salt Lake City.
The Bulldogs took advantage of an opponent that was playing on heavy legs to wrap up their first national semifinal berth with a 63-56 win. They dominated in shooting from the field (46%-39%), beyond the arc (47%-33%), at the free throw line (70%-50%) and won the battle of the boards (36-27).
Butler’s Gordon Hayward led all scorers with 22 points to go along with nine rebounds in a winning effort. Shelvin Mack did his part in the Bulldogs’ win with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. And Ronald Nored proved to be quite the pickpocket with a team-high four steals against K-State to compliment his five rebounds and five assists.
Now the Bulldogs find themselves playing just six miles away from their campus for a right to play in the national final. They’re also foreign territory as a program since this is their first trip to the Final Four. Could that play a factor in how they act in this game? It’s possible, but they also had never been to the Elite Eight before this season either.
The Spartans are no strangers to this stage as they’re entering their second straight Final Four and the sixth in Tom Izzo’s 15 years running the program.
What could be a factor for Butler is the fact they have only played one other game in a football stadium such as this. They wound up losing to the Gators 65-57 in the Midwest Region semifinal back in 2007 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. A plus for gamblers in that game is that the Bulldogs did cover that game as 10 ½-point pups. Michigan State on the other hand, is no stranger to this location as they won and covered against both the Jayhawks and Rick Pitino’s Cardinals in last year’s Midwest Regionals.
One thing that Butler does know how to do is win the tight matchups. The Bulldogs were listed as single-digit favorites 14 times this season; they went 14-0 SU and 8-6 ATS in those contests. The ‘over’ was a big winner as well by going 10-4 in that stretch.
Michigan State has gone just 4-3 SU and ATS in its seven games as an underdog. However, the Spartans have shown up as a stronger wager in this spot recently with a 3-0 SU and ATS run.
The Spartans have been a decent ‘under’ team this year at 15-11-2, but the ‘over’ is 15-12 for Butler. Yet, the Bulldogs have watched the ‘under’ go 7-2 in their last nine games.
Regardless of the winner of this contest, they’ll be an underdog on Monday night. Mike Seba of LVSC has tabbed Duke as a 3 ½-point fave against the ‘Dogs and 4 ½-point favorites over the Spartans. Against the Mountaineers, Butler is a 1 ½-point pup with MSU listed as a 2 ½-point underdog.
The college basketball world descends upon Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for this year’s Final Four. It all starts off on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. EDT on CBS when the hometown Bulldogs take on the Spartans for the right to play in the national final.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened this game up with Butler (32-4 straight up, 16-20 against the spread) as a 1 ½-point “chalk” with a total of 125. There hasn’t been much movement on that spread one way or the other, but the total has been bumped up to 126. Bettors looking to Tom Izzo to make it back to the title game can expect plus-105 on the money line (risk $100 to win $105).
Michigan State (28-8 SU, 15-19 ATS) successfully defended its Midwest Regional crown by the Volunteers 70-69 on the strength of Raymar Morgan’s free throw with less than two seconds left in regulation. The Spartans cashed in as two-point underdogs and cashed for a plus-115 return.
Durrell Summers paced the Spartans with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and an assist. Morgan posted 13 points and 10 boards against the Vols, while Draymond Green scored 13 points with a pair of blocked shots.
Prior to dumping the sixth-seeded Vols, the Spartans squeaked by New Mexico State (70-67), beat Maryland (85-83) at the buzzer and controlled Northern Iowa (59-52) in the Sweet 16. Michigan State covered the number in all but the first game against the Aggies where they were a heavy 13-point favorite.
The fact that Izzo has his team back in the Final Four for the second straight year is nothing short of impressive. Consider that this was a region that housed the No. 1 overall seed in Kansas. It also had the Big Ten champion Buckeyes and Big East power Georgetown. So it’s no wonder that all the experts were picking this to be the toughest draw in the entire tournament. But Michigan State was able to avoid all three of those teams en route to Indy. Yet they did make it to this point after losing floor general Kalin Lucas midway through the game against the Terrapins with a torn left Achilles tendon.
The Bulldogs weren’t considered to be much of a threat to emerge out of the West Region this year. They were posted as the fifth-seed in that bracket and facing a sexy upset pick in No. 12 UTEP. Yet Butler found a way to emerge out of that game with a 77-59 win. Brad Stevens’ club also survived against Murray State (54-52) and upset top-seed Syracuse (63-59) to advance to the Elite Eight.
In the regional final, Butler got to take on the No. 2 Wildcats. Kansas State was coming off of an epic double-overtime victory over Xavier, and was listed as a four-point fave to cut down the nets in Salt Lake City.
The Bulldogs took advantage of an opponent that was playing on heavy legs to wrap up their first national semifinal berth with a 63-56 win. They dominated in shooting from the field (46%-39%), beyond the arc (47%-33%), at the free throw line (70%-50%) and won the battle of the boards (36-27).
Butler’s Gordon Hayward led all scorers with 22 points to go along with nine rebounds in a winning effort. Shelvin Mack did his part in the Bulldogs’ win with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. And Ronald Nored proved to be quite the pickpocket with a team-high four steals against K-State to compliment his five rebounds and five assists.
Now the Bulldogs find themselves playing just six miles away from their campus for a right to play in the national final. They’re also foreign territory as a program since this is their first trip to the Final Four. Could that play a factor in how they act in this game? It’s possible, but they also had never been to the Elite Eight before this season either.
The Spartans are no strangers to this stage as they’re entering their second straight Final Four and the sixth in Tom Izzo’s 15 years running the program.
What could be a factor for Butler is the fact they have only played one other game in a football stadium such as this. They wound up losing to the Gators 65-57 in the Midwest Region semifinal back in 2007 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. A plus for gamblers in that game is that the Bulldogs did cover that game as 10 ½-point pups. Michigan State on the other hand, is no stranger to this location as they won and covered against both the Jayhawks and Rick Pitino’s Cardinals in last year’s Midwest Regionals.
One thing that Butler does know how to do is win the tight matchups. The Bulldogs were listed as single-digit favorites 14 times this season; they went 14-0 SU and 8-6 ATS in those contests. The ‘over’ was a big winner as well by going 10-4 in that stretch.
Michigan State has gone just 4-3 SU and ATS in its seven games as an underdog. However, the Spartans have shown up as a stronger wager in this spot recently with a 3-0 SU and ATS run.
The Spartans have been a decent ‘under’ team this year at 15-11-2, but the ‘over’ is 15-12 for Butler. Yet, the Bulldogs have watched the ‘under’ go 7-2 in their last nine games.
Regardless of the winner of this contest, they’ll be an underdog on Monday night. Mike Seba of LVSC has tabbed Duke as a 3 ½-point fave against the ‘Dogs and 4 ½-point favorites over the Spartans. Against the Mountaineers, Butler is a 1 ½-point pup with MSU listed as a 2 ½-point underdog.
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