March Madness Betting: UTEP vs Butler
by Dave D
The NCAA Tournament’s West Region offers some interesting first-round matchups, with Thursday’s UTEP-Butler battle being one of the headliners.
UTEP Miners vs. Butler Bulldogs
Thursday, March 18th – Approx. 5:05 PM ET
HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA
Broadcast: CBS
College Basketball Betting Spread: Butler -2.5
The Week That Was: UTEP
Coach Tony Barbee’s team did get into the NCAA Tournament, but after finishing the Conference USA Tournament the way they did, the Miners are lucky to be in the field of 65.
If you’re a No. 12 seed for the NCAA Tournament and have not won your conference tournament, you’ve evidently been viewed as one of the last teams to receive an at-large invitation to America’s favorite single-elimination tournament. UTEP is that team this year, all because the Miners couldn’t lock up an automatic bid in the C-USA Tournament final this past Saturday against Houston. UTEP – the regular-season champion in the conference and the top seed in the C-USA tourney – lost to the seventh-seeded Cougars by an 81-73 score.
UTEP led by as many as nine points in the second half, but down the stretch, the Miners panicked. Poor shot selection and excessive dribbling allowed a tired Houston team to find its legs on defense. Multiple steals and subsequent fast-break buckets allowed the Cougars to mount a strong second-half rally and ambush UTEP by eight points. The lack of an automatic bid forced the Miners to sweat Selection Sunday. Fortunately, they were allowed to take part in the NCAA Tournament.
The Week That Was: Butler
Coach Brad Stevens has a hot team on his hands. After disposing of Milwaukee, 68-59, in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament on Saturday, March 6, Butler Bulldogs won the championship game in a 70-45 romp over Wright State on Tuesday, March 9.
Butler (28-4), winners of 20 games in a row, took Wright State (20-12) behind the woodshed in a 25-point rout. A clinic was conducted at Hinkle Fieldhouse on that Tuesday night, and Butler taught Wright State whenever it possessed the ball. Paced by guard Shelvin Mack's 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 behind the arc, the Bulldogs shot 52 % from the field for the game. Beyond the superlative shooting, what makes the Bulldogs such a great team is their balance. Mack may have led the way in the Horizon League final, but each of Butler's big six - Matt Howard, Gordon Hayward, Ronald Nored, Willie Veasley, Zach Hahn, and Mack - scored at least eight points in Tuesday's triumph.
Outlook & Pick:
UTEP is a really good team and a very dangerous No. 12 seed that has a very realistic chance of making it to the Sweet 16. The Miners own imposing size and length, and when they don’t fall in love with the three-point shot, they become very hard to beat. However, as good as UTEP might be, Butler is better. The Bulldogs are a sound team that doesn’t commit a lot of turnovers. Brad Stevens’ bunch makes opponents earn every good thing they get. This should be a close contest, but in the end, the agility and fearlessness of Butler wing Gordon Hayward will lift the Bulldogs to a narrow win in San Jose.
College Basketball Betting Pick: Butler
