In the marquee match-up of the ESPN Bracket Buster Challenge, your Southern Illinois Salukis are preparing to square-off with the Bulldogs of Butler University. Tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 CST, these two mid-majors from middle-America will be playing in front of a few thousand at Hinkle Fieldhouse, while thousands more will be gathering in living rooms and corner bars nationwide with eyes glued to the tube for this clash between ranked opponents.
The Salukis are playing their best basketball of the season. Winners of eight straight in one of the nation's toughest conferences, the magic number has been lowered to one and we are all looking forward to the final pair of Mo. Valley contests against Evansville and Indiana State. However, those games will be played next week, not tomorrow. So let's take a break from talk of a regular season title and focus on how the Dawgs stack up against another tournament bound line-up.
Forget the fact that the Butler Bulldogs play in the Horizon League, a very mediocre conference. Forget the fact that they recently dropped a game to Wright State. Just don't forget that these guys are ranked 12th in the latest poll and defeated Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Gonzaga, and Tennessee to garner such national recognition. At 24-3, these guys are legit.
A.J. Graves leads the way. He's a pure shooter (17 ppg) whose court sense and game management skills elevate the rest of players on the floor. His supporting cast is undersized and they don't rebound particularly well, yet they do excel at spreading the floor and beating you with quickness and sharp passing. Expect to see a lot of perimeter action and don't be surprised when they look to push the tempo.
Besides staying out of foul trouble and shooting well at the line, the Salukis will have to set the pace in order to win this game. Falker and Shaw should have the advantage down low. If the Salukis can pound it inside and limit possessions, the outcome should be favorable. Official prediction 63-58..... SIU.
Butler has won 22 straight games at home and they are a team that plays rugged defense just like SIU. This game should be fun to watch and might go down to the wire. Salukihoops will be there in person covering the game and we will tell you all about it on the Sunday Sports Review on 91.1 FM. For those of you not attending check out the game at 3pm CST on ESPN2 and check afterwards for greydogs thought on the biggest game in Bracketbuster history.
