Butler Bulldogs vs Michigan State Spartans Betting
How Michigan State got there: Michigan State may have had the easiest road to a potential National Championship game than any other team in NCAA Tournament history. The Spartans let other teams do all the heavy lifting, and benefited from beating those teams after the fact. It took a lane violation in the last minute to get past a pesky 12 seed New Mexico State in the first round, and it took a miracle three pointer from reserve guard Korie Lucious to get past Maryland in the second round. When 9 seed Northern Iowa beat 1 seed Kansas to get to the Sweet 16, Michigan State was right there to beat the Panthers 59-52. Michigan State waited to see who it would play in the Elite Eight, which happened to be 6 seed Tennessee. The Volunteers knocked off 14 seed Ohio, who had just knocked off 3 seed Georgetown in the first round. Then Tennessee beat 2 seed Ohio State in the Sweet 16. Ultimately, Michigan State’s road to the Final Four included the following: 12 seed, 4 seed, 9 seed, 6 seed, and now 5 seed Butler.
The Midwest region wasn’t just handed to Michigan State, though. The Spartans had to earn every inch of it, with close wins over New Mexico State, Maryland and Tennessee along the way. Their biggest margin win of the tournament was a seven point win over Northern Iowa. But again, Michigan State avoids 1 seed Syracuse, 2 seed Kansas State, 3 seed Pitt and 4 seed Vanderbilt in the Final Four. Hey, nobody ever said it didn’t take a little luck to get there.
How Butler got there: It certainly wasn’t easy for Butler, and it shouldn’t have been. The Bulldogs came into the tournament as a 5 seed, meaning they didn’t get the opportunity to play a warm up game versus a cupcake like Syracuse, Kansas and the rest of the 1 and 2 seeds. Butler beat UTEP in the first round, a game in which a lot of bracket pickers thought the Miners would come out on top. Butler trailed by six points at half-time and used a strong second half, outscoring UTEP 50-26, to pull away for good. In the second round, Butler fell behind again, this time to Murray State, where the Racers led 33-26 four minutes into the second half before the Bulldogs eventually gained a bit of separation. Still, the final score of the game, 54-52, shows just how close Butler was to not being here. It never got easier for Butler, who had to play 1 seed Syracuse and 2 seed Kansas State in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight back to back to advance. Butler consistently drew from the stellar play of Gordon Hayward, a sophomore who may declare for the NBA Draft after the season. Hayward averaged 16 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs.
What to expect: Though this game is a virtual coin flip, the winner who advances to the National Championship will almost certainly be an underdog in the final game of the season. Butler is an ideal match for Michigan State, as Butler plays something similar to Big 10 style basketball, and the Spartans have more talent on their roster than the Bulldogs. Expect Michigan State to squeak out a win. The play is to take the Spartans on the money line, as the one point in the spread will not help you out if they lose, anyway.
