Seton Hall
at
Butler
College Basketball
Pick
3/4/17
If Seton Hall doesn’t want to be sweating coming Selection Sunday, this is the type of Game it needs to win. But that’s easier said than done, especially considering Butler won when these teams met a month ago on Seton Hall’s home cOurt. What doesn’t help is that Butler didn’t have a Game during the week and is rested coming in off Four straight wins. Two of those wins came at Villanova and Xavier so the paths to a win for Seton Hall are small.
The Bulldogs only lost two Games at home all season and those came in back-to-back losses in a matter of Four days. OUtside of that weird week, they’ve beaten everyone relevant in the Big East from ‘Nova to Providence to Marquette. The same can’t be said about the Pirates, considering they lost their first five road Games in Conference play before beating Georgetown in overtime and then lowly DePaul. Nothing about their play this season shows they can win a road Game against a good team on senior day.
The last time these teams played, it wasn’t pretty with Butler walking away with a 61-54 road win. Seton Hall couldn’t do anything right offensively with no one scoring more than 12 points and going a miserable 18-of-63 from the field with Four made threes. Angel Delgado tried his best with 22 rebounds, but he ended up 6-of-13 from the free-throw line. Not to say the Bulldogs played a great Game as they didn’t get much more production with the only difference being a few more made threes.
While Butler doesn’t have the best defense in the conference, it’s been good enough against bad offenses. Seton Hall has been bad in road Games because its offense can’t figure things out. Delgado keeps the Pirates competitive because of his rebounding and effectiveness in the paint, but Khadeen Carrington and Desi Rodriguez have rarely both played well on the road. It’s either one or the other has a good Game, or sometimes they both struggle. This team has plenty of talent, but when neither of their top scorers can be considered knockdown shooters, that’s what leads to inconsistencies.
It’s more or less the same for Butler skill wise, but the Bulldogs just play smarter. They turn it over the least amount in the Conference and have a roster full of guys that can shoot. In contrast, Seton Hall has two guys in its starting lineup, Delgado and Michael Nzei, that haven’t attempted a three this season. Butler’s Tyler Wideman may not be a stretch big, but Kelan Martin and Andrew Chrabascz lead the Bulldogs in scoring and both see time at the Four spot. Senior point guard Tyler Lewis isn’t amazing, but he gets the job done and runs the show, setting up Martin, Chrabascz and Avery Woodson. The same goes for their future point guard, Kamar Baldwin and Kethan Savage off the bench.
The Bulldogs don’t do anything exciting and don’t have that much size, but they play sound basketball, which isn’t how people describe Seton Hall. The Pirates have the playmakers, but they lack the consistency and just like last Game, will have trouble guarding Martin and Chrabascz, both of whom are stretch-Fours.
Our Pick – Butler -8.5