cleveland state/butler under 125
playing this under from a couple of different angles:
*cleveland state should be much more competitive down the stretch with the return of pape badiane. they actually look like a basketball team again. you can look at the result of the last game (77-55 loss to detroit) and say "they lost by 22, he cant make that much of a difference", but he really does. he helps immensely on the defensive end with rebounds and blocked shots. and during that detroit game, when he was on the floor, titans werent as effective. and his initial game back (the green bay game), his presence was felt as well
*both teams are committed to working their half-court offense. one is by choice (butler), the other is by necessity (csu). butler is a disciplined half-court team. cleveland state would like to run the floor more, but head coach garland has repeatedly said that he has no choice but to walk the ball up the floor (as a result of csu's injuries and suspensions leaving them with just 8 players), and to put it in garlands words: "ive had to take a couple of stallions and turn them into plow horses". vikings just cant afford to run and gun because of their short bench
*this could be a dangerous game for butler, and it could become a tightly-contested battle. bulldogs have a national tv (espn) game looming 2 days from now with detroit, and csu has adopted a "win one for jermaine" approach to the rest of the season (referring to jermaine robinson, the only senior on the team -- hes playing his ass off through it all, averaging 20+ppg).
*recent meetings in cleveland have been low-scoring battles. last seasons result was 79-75, but that was because it was a double OT game after a late csu rally in regulation. game was tied at 61 going into OT
prior to that:
butler 62 cleveland state 45
butler 59 cleveland state 56
cleveland state 53 butler 45
points should be at a premium here, and this game could stay close throughout, which would increase the likelihood that it stays a half-court game. the first meeting this season was low-scoring as well (61-43, and just 26-17 at halftime).
playing this under from a couple of different angles:
*cleveland state should be much more competitive down the stretch with the return of pape badiane. they actually look like a basketball team again. you can look at the result of the last game (77-55 loss to detroit) and say "they lost by 22, he cant make that much of a difference", but he really does. he helps immensely on the defensive end with rebounds and blocked shots. and during that detroit game, when he was on the floor, titans werent as effective. and his initial game back (the green bay game), his presence was felt as well
*both teams are committed to working their half-court offense. one is by choice (butler), the other is by necessity (csu). butler is a disciplined half-court team. cleveland state would like to run the floor more, but head coach garland has repeatedly said that he has no choice but to walk the ball up the floor (as a result of csu's injuries and suspensions leaving them with just 8 players), and to put it in garlands words: "ive had to take a couple of stallions and turn them into plow horses". vikings just cant afford to run and gun because of their short bench
*this could be a dangerous game for butler, and it could become a tightly-contested battle. bulldogs have a national tv (espn) game looming 2 days from now with detroit, and csu has adopted a "win one for jermaine" approach to the rest of the season (referring to jermaine robinson, the only senior on the team -- hes playing his ass off through it all, averaging 20+ppg).
*recent meetings in cleveland have been low-scoring battles. last seasons result was 79-75, but that was because it was a double OT game after a late csu rally in regulation. game was tied at 61 going into OT
prior to that:
butler 62 cleveland state 45
butler 59 cleveland state 56
cleveland state 53 butler 45
points should be at a premium here, and this game could stay close throughout, which would increase the likelihood that it stays a half-court game. the first meeting this season was low-scoring as well (61-43, and just 26-17 at halftime).
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