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The defending national champions have crossed one item off their to-do list this season. With Saturday’s win, the Villanova Wildcats have clinched the Big East regular season title for a fourth consecutive season. But their sights are set on bigger things, and this is no time for the Cats to relax with the Butler Bulldogs coming to town. And just in case Nova needed added motivation, it was the Bulldogs that handed them their first loss of the season back in January.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, February 22, 2017, at 9 p.m. ET at The Pavilion. The game will be televised live on FS1. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Sunday schedule.
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The Bulldogs hit a little bump in the road recently by losing three of four, all but taking them out of the regular season title picture. Losses to Georgetown, Creighton and Providence by a combined 19 points left Butler searching for answers. But the Dogs got back on track with a big win over St. John’s and followed that with another convincing effort against DePaul. Those are two bottom-feeders in the league, but so is Georgetown, so anything can happen. Butler failed to cover as a 17.5-point favorite to DePaul and is just 3-5 ATS in its past eight games.
Villanova was a 2-point favorite when it travelled to Butler back in early January and was handed an eight-point loss. The Wildcats have been the favored team in every game that posted a line and that matchup with Butler was the thinnest spread of them all. Expect that number to rise with the Cats playing at home where they are 13-0 SU and 6-6 ATS. And Nova is gearing up for another deep tournament run by winning seven straight since a stunning loss at Marquette.
Player to Watch
Butler has put a nice season together, winning 20 games and holding down the No. 2 spot behind Villanova in the Big East. And the Bulldogs have some impressive wins on their resume, having knocked off Arizona, Northwestern and Cincinnati in the non-conference slate, with an earlier win over the Wildcats in league play. Butler doesn’t do anything exceptionally well, they just do plenty right, which allows them to win games.
One player in the spotlight for Butler is leading scorer Kelan Martin. The Bulldogs score fewer than 70 points per game on average and their shooting is a concern, but Martin supplies them with everything. He scores over 15 points per game on a team that has just two double-digit scorers, and he collects a team-best 5.6 boards. His presence inside was a reason why the Cats shot so poorly in the first meeting and Martin has to be dialed in for the Bulldogs to pull off another upset.
Last Meeting
Villanova clinched the Big East regular season title with Saturday’s win over Seton Hall, but that doesn’t mean the Wildcats are going to relax until the conference tournament. Quite the opposite, actually. Their next opponent is the team that ended their undefeated season back on Jan. 4 and one that is sure to be a tough out come tournament time. It was Butler, behind a gritty defensive effort that ended Nova’s 14-0 start to the year and dropped them from the No. 1 ranking in the polls with a 66-58 win at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
As the top two teams in the league, there is a good chance these two will hook up in the Big East Tournament, and the Cats certainly would like to have a win over their rival if that’s the case. Butler has just six losses and is a solid team. Give them added confidence and they could pose a problem for Nova. The Wildcats didn’t play their best in that first game, shooting just 37 percent from the floor. For the year they are the sixth-best team in the country with a percentage near 50, so there is room for improvement. And being at home is huge advantage.
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It’s hard to imagine the Wildcats playing as poorly offensively as they did in the first meeting. They had a tough time shooting the basketball and were taken out of their game by an enthused Butler team. This time around, it will be different. Nova doesn’t lose at home and that earlier matchup will be remembered quite fondly by senior leaders Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who combined for 24 points on 7 of 22 shooting.
After easily winning three games on the road, the Cats are back home where they’ve gone 13-0 this season. Butler is tough, but they just don’t have the firepower and there’s no way Villanova shoots 37 percent from the floor. Sure, the Bulldogs defense had something to do with that, but the Wildcats are the sixth-best shooting team in the country for a reason. Butler will keep the game close and cover the spread, but the season sweep isn’t going to happen.
College Basketball Odds: Villanova 71, Butler 66
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