Butler vs. Saint Louis March 16 Free Pick
Butler and Saint Louis meet in the semifinals of the Atlantic-10 Tournament in the 1 vs. 5 seed matchup for a chance to play for an automatic bid on Sunday and a chance to move up in the projected NCAA Tournament bracket. The Billikens smacked the Bulldogs in their lone meeting in the regular season in St. Louis and the opening number has opened up listing the top seed as three-point favorites.
Free Pick
St. Louis somehow continues to maintain a low profile, despite playing about as well as any team in the nation
over the last two months or so.
The Billikens are deep, experienced and well-schooled with size and athleticism up and down the roster.
Cody Ellis may be the best
sixth man in the nation. The Australian is a walking mis-match who can use size to bully smaller opponents in
the paint, although he prefers to step outside and spread the floor with a deadly touch that stretches all the
way back to the three point line. Dwayne Evans comes off of a huge scoring game in the quarterfinal win against
Charlotte. The Billikens rotate through a strong group of guards that feature Jordair Jett, Kwamain Mitchell and
Mike McCall Jr. All three can handle the ball, score from both the perimeter and off the bounce and are
extremely unselfish. The depth of St. Louis should play to their advantage as Butler gets ready to play their
third game in as many days.
Butler is finally healthy and have looked sharp in wins over Dayton and LaSalle the passed two days. This, however, is a different level of opponent for the Bulldogs. Rotnei Clarke continues his great season when he has been on the floor. The Butler leading scorer has nailed eight three-pointers in the A-10 Tournament thus far and will look to pace Butler with his outside shooting. Andrew Smith could struggle in a matchup with a deep SLU front court that features several bodies that can match up physically and tactically with the Butler big. Roosevelt Jones may have to pick up the slack, as his combination of size and athleticism on the perimeter and in the paint is the toughest matchup for Saint Louis personnel-wise.
This game should be a good one, as these are two tournament-bound teams that are solely looking to improve their resumes at this point in the season. Saint Louis, however, appears to just be the better of the two teams. Despite the revenge-factor for Butler, expect the better team to come out and win this game in a highly-competitive game. Lay the points with the Billikens.
Free Pick: Saint Louis -3