Butler, Minnesota meet in Anaheim at 76 Classic
A pair of ranked schools square off Thanksgiving night in Anaheim at the 76 Classic when Tubby Smith's Minnesota Golden Gophers take on Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs. Both teams enter the game with 3-0 records and both have high hopes on the season. The Golden Gophers are part of an extremely deep Big Ten this season that could see seven schools make it to the NCAA Tournament next spring.
It’s very early in the 2009-10 college basketball season, early enough that dozens of teams remain undefeated at press time. We’ve got two of them lined up for this Thursday night at the “76 Classic” tournament in Anaheim: the Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0 SU, 1-1 ATS) and the Butler Bulldogs (3-0 SU, 1-2 ATS).
The Gophers should be one of at least seven teams from the very talented Big Ten Conference to earn an NCAA Tournament bid this season. The Bulldogs are perennial winners of the Horizon League and have been to the Sweet 16 twice this decade.
This promises to be a compelling matchup, so make sure to leave room in your Thanksgiving schedule for some hoops. ESPN2 has the action starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Minnesota has two important advantages against the betting odds. From a performance standpoint, the Gophers have demonstrated superior defensive skills in their three victories thus far. They’ve allowed just 47.7 points per game to lead all of Division I in points against.
Mind you, the competition level has been very low, but according to Ken Pomeroy’s stats, Minnesota is ranked a very capable No. 20 in the nation in defensive efficiency.
The second advantage is from a value standpoint. Although the Gophers snuck into the preseason poll at No. 25 and have been slowly climbing the ladder, their profile has been fairly low ever since the program was hit with major sanctions 10 years ago for academic fraud. They’ve only been to the Tournament twice since then. But the second time was this past March, as former Kentucky coach and icon Tubby Smith saw his recruiting pay dividends in just his second year in Minneapolis.
Even better things are expected in Year Three. The Gophers return four of their five starters from last season, as well as their top nine scorers; senior swingman Jamal Abu-Shamala (3.8 points per game) is the lone missing starter, but his minutes were cut as the season wore on. Smith will have no trouble filling those minutes this year. He’s assembled a standout recruiting class that includes small forward Royce White, Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball and the preseason choice as Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Alas, the Royce White Era has started off on the wrong foot. White was suspended indefinitely after being charged with theft and fifth-degree assault last month at the Mall of America. Also under suspension are senior guard Devron Bostick and junior forward Trevor Mbakwe – small pieces of the puzzle, but enough to cut into Minnesota’s considerable depth.
No such problems in Indianapolis, where the Bulldogs have all their players from last year’s Tournament team back in the fold – yes, all of them, plus a new first-year big in 6-foot-11 Andrew Smith to add depth to a dominant frontline. The Bulldogs should be trending upward this year with so many returning players.
The backcourt of Shelvin Mack and Ronald Nored produced right out of the box last year as freshmen and should grow substantially this year in support of Horizon League Player of the Year Matt Howard (14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and stellar defense in 2008-09) at small forward.
Butler has had the tougher non-con schedule so far in 2009-10, including last Saturday’s narrow 64-60 victory over the Evansville Aces (+12.5), representing the always-tough Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs had a very poor shooting day at 14-of-50 from the field and 31-of-44 from the free-throw line, but Evansville failed to capitalize after hitting just three of 15 trey attempts.
Ken Pomeroy has Butler ranked No. 62 of the 347 Division I teams in efficiency after three games compared to Minnesota at No. 35. The usual caveats about small sample size apply here, but for now, the Bulldogs are off to a bit of a slow start. The Gophers’ defense and relative anonymity should appeal to bettors in this matchup.
A pair of ranked schools square off Thanksgiving night in Anaheim at the 76 Classic when Tubby Smith's Minnesota Golden Gophers take on Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs. Both teams enter the game with 3-0 records and both have high hopes on the season. The Golden Gophers are part of an extremely deep Big Ten this season that could see seven schools make it to the NCAA Tournament next spring.
It’s very early in the 2009-10 college basketball season, early enough that dozens of teams remain undefeated at press time. We’ve got two of them lined up for this Thursday night at the “76 Classic” tournament in Anaheim: the Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-0 SU, 1-1 ATS) and the Butler Bulldogs (3-0 SU, 1-2 ATS).
The Gophers should be one of at least seven teams from the very talented Big Ten Conference to earn an NCAA Tournament bid this season. The Bulldogs are perennial winners of the Horizon League and have been to the Sweet 16 twice this decade.
This promises to be a compelling matchup, so make sure to leave room in your Thanksgiving schedule for some hoops. ESPN2 has the action starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Minnesota has two important advantages against the betting odds. From a performance standpoint, the Gophers have demonstrated superior defensive skills in their three victories thus far. They’ve allowed just 47.7 points per game to lead all of Division I in points against.
Mind you, the competition level has been very low, but according to Ken Pomeroy’s stats, Minnesota is ranked a very capable No. 20 in the nation in defensive efficiency.
The second advantage is from a value standpoint. Although the Gophers snuck into the preseason poll at No. 25 and have been slowly climbing the ladder, their profile has been fairly low ever since the program was hit with major sanctions 10 years ago for academic fraud. They’ve only been to the Tournament twice since then. But the second time was this past March, as former Kentucky coach and icon Tubby Smith saw his recruiting pay dividends in just his second year in Minneapolis.
Even better things are expected in Year Three. The Gophers return four of their five starters from last season, as well as their top nine scorers; senior swingman Jamal Abu-Shamala (3.8 points per game) is the lone missing starter, but his minutes were cut as the season wore on. Smith will have no trouble filling those minutes this year. He’s assembled a standout recruiting class that includes small forward Royce White, Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball and the preseason choice as Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Alas, the Royce White Era has started off on the wrong foot. White was suspended indefinitely after being charged with theft and fifth-degree assault last month at the Mall of America. Also under suspension are senior guard Devron Bostick and junior forward Trevor Mbakwe – small pieces of the puzzle, but enough to cut into Minnesota’s considerable depth.
No such problems in Indianapolis, where the Bulldogs have all their players from last year’s Tournament team back in the fold – yes, all of them, plus a new first-year big in 6-foot-11 Andrew Smith to add depth to a dominant frontline. The Bulldogs should be trending upward this year with so many returning players.
The backcourt of Shelvin Mack and Ronald Nored produced right out of the box last year as freshmen and should grow substantially this year in support of Horizon League Player of the Year Matt Howard (14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and stellar defense in 2008-09) at small forward.
Butler has had the tougher non-con schedule so far in 2009-10, including last Saturday’s narrow 64-60 victory over the Evansville Aces (+12.5), representing the always-tough Missouri Valley Conference. The Bulldogs had a very poor shooting day at 14-of-50 from the field and 31-of-44 from the free-throw line, but Evansville failed to capitalize after hitting just three of 15 trey attempts.
Ken Pomeroy has Butler ranked No. 62 of the 347 Division I teams in efficiency after three games compared to Minnesota at No. 35. The usual caveats about small sample size apply here, but for now, the Bulldogs are off to a bit of a slow start. The Gophers’ defense and relative anonymity should appeal to bettors in this matchup.