Syracuse Orange shuffle off from Buffalo
It was a wild start to the 2010 NCAA's in general with Northern Iowa, Cornell and St. Mary's all making surprising trips to the Sweet 16. But one regional escaped the noise and moved along fairly calm. Andy Rautins and the Orange made easy work of their two opponents to head to Salt Lake City with the No. 1 West seed still intact. No. 2 Kansas State, No. 5 Butler and No. 6 Xavier will round out the field starting Thursday.
My bracket looks like a car wreck.
Even with a contrarian bracket system (starting with Duke winning the championship), and even with Murray State and Old Dominion among my first-round upset choices, I wasn’t prepared for this level of carnage. Only one of the four regionals has made it to the Sweet 16 without anyone from the lower half of the bracket.
That would be the West, where the No. 6 Xavier Musketeers are the closest thing they have to a Cinderella team. And with No. 1 Kansas already knocked out of the Midwest, whoever makes it out of Salt Lake City this Thursday gets a much clearer path to the championship game.
No. 5 Butler vs. No. 1 Syracuse (-7½, 138½)
Thursday, March 25 – 7:07 p.m. (ET) CBS
The Bulldogs (30-4 SU, 14-20 ATS) are a very good team, no doubt about it. Ken Pomeroy has them ranked No. 17 in the nation in efficiency with the No. 10 defense. However, Butler dropped the cash to Murray State (+4) in the second round, escaping with a 54-52 win after going into the dressing room down by four points. The Bulldogs also needed a second-half surge to beat Texas-El Paso (+2.5) in the first round, although Butler pulled away for the cover in a 77-59 final.
Life has been much simpler for the Orange (30-4 SU, 21-9 ATS). They crushed both Vermont (+15½) and Gonzaga (+6½) to reach the Sweet 16, and they did it without the services of injured center Arinze Onuaku (10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds per game). Reports suggested Onuaku would be back in the lineup for Thursday, which is bad news for Butler. The Bulldogs are one of the shorter teams in Division I. Onuaku and Rick Jackson (10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds per game) are each 6-foot-9 and capable of destroying Butler on the offensive glass.
The Orange are No. 4 on the Pomeroy charts and seven-point favorites on the March Madness betting odds with a total of 138.5. Some books had already moved Syracuse to minus 7 ½ as we went to press under heavy early action. Early often means sharp, and it’s hard to argue with what the Orange have done at the pay window this season. They’re 6-1 ATS in their last seven neutral-site games as the favorites; Butler is 2-8 ATS in its last 10 neutral-site games overall.
No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 2 Kansas State (-4½, 153½)
Thursday, March 25 – 9:37 p.m. (ET) CBS
We can’t call Xavier (26-8 SU, 22-11 ATS) a Cinderella team anymore. These Atlantic-10 stalwarts are going to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row, dispatching Minnesota (+1½) and Pittsburgh (-1½) and improving to 12-4 ATS over the past two months. The Musketeers went into March Madness with a little less fanfare this year after losing to Richmond (+3) in the A-10 tourney. But consensus reports at press time had Xavier pulling in nearly 90 percent support as 4 ½-point favorites in Thursday’s contest.
That’s a lot of support considering what Kansas State (28-7 SU, 20-9-1 ATS) brings to the table. The Wildcats are 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games against considerably tougher opposition than Xavier – not to knock the high quality of talent in the A-10, but Kansas State’s strength of schedule ranks No. 2 in Division I compared to the Musketeers at No. 49. The ‘Cats went ape on both North Texas (+15) and BYU (+4) in the opening two rounds and show no signs of slowing down.
If you’re willing to eat some chalk, you’ll get a better value on Kansas State than you will on Syracuse – even if you ignore how disappointing the Big East has been at the Big Dance this year (6-6 SU and 5-7 ATS). The Wildcats rank an impressive No. 6 on the Pomeroy charts and were considered for a No. 1 seed at the Tournament. Xavier is No. 15, just two spots ahead of Butler. Kansas State also has a big advantage on the offensive boards in this matchup, not to mention a 16-4-1 ATS record in their last 21 games as a favorite.
And if you doubt the Big 12, this major conference is a combined 7-3 SU (5-5 ATS) at the Tournament. The A-10’s other two March Madness representatives (Richmond and Temple) went bye-bye in the first round in a pair of upset losses. Join the club.
It was a wild start to the 2010 NCAA's in general with Northern Iowa, Cornell and St. Mary's all making surprising trips to the Sweet 16. But one regional escaped the noise and moved along fairly calm. Andy Rautins and the Orange made easy work of their two opponents to head to Salt Lake City with the No. 1 West seed still intact. No. 2 Kansas State, No. 5 Butler and No. 6 Xavier will round out the field starting Thursday.
My bracket looks like a car wreck.
Even with a contrarian bracket system (starting with Duke winning the championship), and even with Murray State and Old Dominion among my first-round upset choices, I wasn’t prepared for this level of carnage. Only one of the four regionals has made it to the Sweet 16 without anyone from the lower half of the bracket.
That would be the West, where the No. 6 Xavier Musketeers are the closest thing they have to a Cinderella team. And with No. 1 Kansas already knocked out of the Midwest, whoever makes it out of Salt Lake City this Thursday gets a much clearer path to the championship game.
No. 5 Butler vs. No. 1 Syracuse (-7½, 138½)
Thursday, March 25 – 7:07 p.m. (ET) CBS
The Bulldogs (30-4 SU, 14-20 ATS) are a very good team, no doubt about it. Ken Pomeroy has them ranked No. 17 in the nation in efficiency with the No. 10 defense. However, Butler dropped the cash to Murray State (+4) in the second round, escaping with a 54-52 win after going into the dressing room down by four points. The Bulldogs also needed a second-half surge to beat Texas-El Paso (+2.5) in the first round, although Butler pulled away for the cover in a 77-59 final.
Life has been much simpler for the Orange (30-4 SU, 21-9 ATS). They crushed both Vermont (+15½) and Gonzaga (+6½) to reach the Sweet 16, and they did it without the services of injured center Arinze Onuaku (10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds per game). Reports suggested Onuaku would be back in the lineup for Thursday, which is bad news for Butler. The Bulldogs are one of the shorter teams in Division I. Onuaku and Rick Jackson (10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds per game) are each 6-foot-9 and capable of destroying Butler on the offensive glass.
The Orange are No. 4 on the Pomeroy charts and seven-point favorites on the March Madness betting odds with a total of 138.5. Some books had already moved Syracuse to minus 7 ½ as we went to press under heavy early action. Early often means sharp, and it’s hard to argue with what the Orange have done at the pay window this season. They’re 6-1 ATS in their last seven neutral-site games as the favorites; Butler is 2-8 ATS in its last 10 neutral-site games overall.
No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 2 Kansas State (-4½, 153½)
Thursday, March 25 – 9:37 p.m. (ET) CBS
We can’t call Xavier (26-8 SU, 22-11 ATS) a Cinderella team anymore. These Atlantic-10 stalwarts are going to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row, dispatching Minnesota (+1½) and Pittsburgh (-1½) and improving to 12-4 ATS over the past two months. The Musketeers went into March Madness with a little less fanfare this year after losing to Richmond (+3) in the A-10 tourney. But consensus reports at press time had Xavier pulling in nearly 90 percent support as 4 ½-point favorites in Thursday’s contest.
That’s a lot of support considering what Kansas State (28-7 SU, 20-9-1 ATS) brings to the table. The Wildcats are 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games against considerably tougher opposition than Xavier – not to knock the high quality of talent in the A-10, but Kansas State’s strength of schedule ranks No. 2 in Division I compared to the Musketeers at No. 49. The ‘Cats went ape on both North Texas (+15) and BYU (+4) in the opening two rounds and show no signs of slowing down.
If you’re willing to eat some chalk, you’ll get a better value on Kansas State than you will on Syracuse – even if you ignore how disappointing the Big East has been at the Big Dance this year (6-6 SU and 5-7 ATS). The Wildcats rank an impressive No. 6 on the Pomeroy charts and were considered for a No. 1 seed at the Tournament. Xavier is No. 15, just two spots ahead of Butler. Kansas State also has a big advantage on the offensive boards in this matchup, not to mention a 16-4-1 ATS record in their last 21 games as a favorite.
And if you doubt the Big 12, this major conference is a combined 7-3 SU (5-5 ATS) at the Tournament. The A-10’s other two March Madness representatives (Richmond and Temple) went bye-bye in the first round in a pair of upset losses. Join the club.
