Xavier @ BUTLER
BUTLER -5½ -110 over Xavier

Pinnacle -6 -109 BET365 -5½ -110 SportsInteraction -5½ -110 5DIMES -5½ -110 888Sport -5½ -110

Posted at 4:45 PM EST

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BUTLER -6 -106 over Xavier

6:30 PM EST. What's not to like about Xavier here? The Musketeers are riding a three game win streak after downing Big East leading Seton Hall, as well as DePaul and Providence. In those contests, they limited those schools to an average of 60 points. On top of that, Xavier has won two straight on the road in a conference where that is no easy feat. Now, the Musketeers get a shot at a signature Top-25 victory against a team that just got whacked and they are taking back a nice price to do so, so what's the holdup?

Butler has dropped two of its last three games, including that 76-57 drubbing at Marquette that we referenced above and do you know what happened to the Bulldogs' standing in the AP poll? Notta. They were #19 last week and they were #19 this week. Despite the unfavorable result last time out, the analytics back up the love this Butler team is getting in the polls. The Bulldogs have played a tough schedule that ranks 11th out of 353 rated schools on KenPom and they are #22 on that website in Adjusted Efficiency Margin, which is the difference between a team's offensive and defensive efficiency. It is with that formula that these schools are graded much more effectively. For comparison's sake, the Musketeers are #47 despite trailing the Bulldogs by just one game in the Big East and two games overall. We often like to back a school that was just blown out because those games are often a rude awakening and those teams figure to be focused the next time out. We are not afraid to swallow these points because we trust this line would have been much larger if this game were to have been played 10 days ago.

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Our Pick

BUTLER -5½ -110 (Risking 2.10 units - To Win: 1.91)

 

 

Clemson +257 over Arizona
San Diego St +12 -106 over UConn
Alabama +168 over North Carolina
Illinois +102 over Iowa State