2010 March Madness Butler vs. Syracuse Picks & Predictions

Last Updated on March 25, 2010 3:00 pm by drew

Syracuse-Butler Pick

The first Sweet Sixteen game of the NCAA Tournament will take place Thursday at 7:07PM ET when
Syracuse faces off with

Butler.

Bet March Madness
This contest is part of the West Regional and will take place from the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Syracuse is the No. 1 seed and

Butler is the No. 5 seed in the region.

Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made
Syracuse 6.5-point favorites over

Butler on Thursday night. The over/under has been set at 138.

Syracuse is seeking is eighth Elite Eight appearance with a win. It would be their first Elite Eight since winning the national title in 2003. The
Orange have rolled to wins over

Vermont and Gonzaga thus far. The win over Gonzaga was an 87-65 score where

Syracuse shot 54.7 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point land, hitting 12 treys as a team. Wes Johnson had 31 points and 14 rebounds to lead

Syracuse while Andy Rautins had 24 points and four assists, and Brandon Triche had 13 points.

Butler is seeking its first ever Elite Eight appearance in school history on Thursday night. The Bulldogs have reached the Sweet Sixteen twice in the last four tournaments.

Butler opened with the tournament with a 77-59 win over UTEP and followed up with a narrow 54-52 win over Murray State. The Bulldogs shot just 36 percent from the floor in the game and were out-rebounded 38-20, but forced 16 turnovers from

Murray
State to escape with the win. Ronald Nored had 15 points and six assists to lead

Butler while Gordon Hayward added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Syracuse has looked as good as anyone in the NCAA Tournament thus far and the

Orange are only getting stronger as injuries issues last week have now healed up.
Butler will have trouble being able to keep pace with the

Orange’s athletic offense.
Butler is a solid team, but look for

Syracuse to be too much in this one.

Our NCAA Tournament Free Pick for this matchup is:
SYRACUSE -6.5 and OVER 138
March Madness Betting Trends

BUTLER is 1-0 against the spread versus

SYRACUSE since 1997

SYRACUSE is 1-0 straight up against

BUTLER since 1997

1 of 1 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL since 1997

March Madness Injury Report


SYRACUSE

No Injuries Reported 

BUTLER

No Injuries Reported 
March Madness Game Odds
Syracuse

Orange (-300) -6.5 Over 138

Butler Bulldogs (+250) +6.5 Under 138
Bet March Madness
Posted: 3/25/10 3:00PM ET