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Butler to Keep Dancing into the Title Game

  • Al Dannity's Author profile. Al Dannity

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Butler will continue its magical March Madness run with victory over Michigan State according to Al Dannity

Why Michigan State will lose

Give credit where it’s due, the Spartans have done a lot to get this far. Tom Izzo and his squad have been lavished with praise for making it to Indianapolis despite a depleted squad. While State has achieved a lot to get this far it’s that same adversity they have faced which raises question marks about their chances of making it to Monday’s National Championship game.

New Mexico State, who barely made the tournament, ran the Spartans to within 3 points in the opening game. Only a buzzer-beater saw off Maryland team that wasn’t a whole lot deeper than Greivis Vasquez. Then they lost Kalin Lucas for the rest of the season. A second-half comeback put away upstart Northern Iowa but then another heart-attack game followed against an over-achieving Tennessee side. You can only ride your look so far in this tournament before somebody catches up with you. Lavish all the praise you want on Tom Izzo for his consistency in the tournament but he’s lost more semi-finals than he’s won and this is by far his weakest Final Four team with Michigan State (+100).

Why Butler will win

The Bulldogs have been the big dogs in this tournament. After running the table of an admittedly weak Horizon League schedule Butler (-120) came into the tournament and promptly laid a beat-down on UTEP. A nervy game against Murray State followed but there was no doubting who the better team was in a tight win over Syracuse and a clinical victory against Kansas State. Ignore the Mid-Major conference affiliation, if Butler player in the Big 12 we’d probably have them as hot favorites to win the tournament on their March Madness performances alone.

The teams that have failed to beat State so far have done so because they haven’t been decisive. Ignore the home-city advantage, ignore the Cinderella story, Butler will win because they are by far the best team the Spartans have come across so far in the NCAA Tournament. The win over Syracuse is by far the most telling indication that Butler will win this game. On paper it was a horrible match-up for the Bulldogs but this was a smart team that made the adjustments required to win over a more athletically talented opponent. I’m not sure Butler can beat Duke or West Virginia but for now that’s not a concern, the Bulldogs are more than good enough to beat Michigan State decisively.

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XIII: Gabriel Morency previews the Final Four
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF-TAkfish8