Is anyone else as excited as I am to watch this bracket buster game? There is no line on it yet, and I'm not even sure I'd consider betting it, unless it looks really off, but I'm just really excited to see these two great smaller conference schools compete against one another. Both of these teams will pose a big threat to whomever they face in the big dance.
It should be a great game. These are clearly the two best mid-majors and both have a great shot to get to the Sweet 16, if not further. I'm interested to what the line will be for this one. My guess is that playing at home, Butler will be about a 6 pt. favorite. If that's the case, I will be tempted to take So. Illinois. Most people think Butler is the top mid-major, but I give So. Illinois a slight edge. The MVC is a much stronger conference than the Horizon this year. Looking forward to this one.
Butler won't be more of a favorite against SIU than Missouri State was. This line should come out -3, but I could see it being 2.5, maybe even 2.
If Butler played SIU, Creighton, or Missouri State on a neutral floor, I personally think Butler would get beat, probably rather easily. But, while Butler isn't as good a team as any of the big 3 in the MVC, I do think in this unique situation they will be able to get the victory.
Consider that Southern Illinois is coming into this one off their biggest game of the year, a big upset over Missouri State, and has only a couple days to prepare for Butler. Meanwhile, Butler had what amounted to a scrimmage against Florida Gulf Coast. Common sense tells us that Butler has been prepping for this game since last Sunday, while SIU had really only one day of preparation, depending on how much celebrating they did after the Missouri State win. I also think that Butler will be anxious to show they are still a team worth taking seriously, especially now that they probably aren't going to win their own league, and at a building in which they've only lost one home game the last two seasons, they should get this win.
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southern illinois @ butler
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