By Freddy Wills | 12/8/2009

Butler Bulldogs vs. Georgetown Hoyas (7:00pm ESPN)(-3, 127)

The Goods:

It will be the first meeting between the two teams and it will come at the most famous arena in the world Madison Square Garden. Butler (6-2, 3-5 ATS) and Georgetown (6-0, 1-1 ATS) both respected programs and should be a competitive game.

Butler has clearly seen the challenging part of their schedule early on and is led by forwards Gordon Hayward (15.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and Matt Howard (11.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg) along with guard Shelvin Mack (15.1 ppg, 3.5 apg). Head Coach Brad Stevens, utilizes a deep rotation of eight players averaging at least 12 minutes per game.

Georgetown has the best player on the court and a potential 2010 lottery pick in center Greg Monroe (13.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg). The Hoyas also feature a well-balanced offensive attack with a trio of guards including Jason Clark (12.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg), Chris Wright (13.5 ppg), and Austin Freeman (11.3 ppg).

David vs. Goliath:

Tuesday night’s showdown in New York City is between a mid-major power house in Butler and a perennial Big East contender in Georgetown. Butler has won the Horizon League five times since 97 and has reached the Tournament in each of the past three seasons appearing in the Sweet Sixteen twice this decade. Georgetown leads the Big East Conference with seven titles since 1980 and is led by John Thomson III, who led them to a 2007 Final Four appearance.

So is this match up really David vs. Goliath? We know Butler has been able to contend with top tier teams, but they will be significantly out sized in this game. Butler has no player taller than 6-8 while Georgetown boasts Monroe 6 foot 11, with 6-10 Henry Sims and 6-9 246-pound forward Julian Vaughn.

Cupcakes?

We saw it last year when Georgetown started out 10-1 and fell to the conference schedule going 6-13 the rest of the way and losing in the first round of the Big East Tournament and the NIT Tournament. They have started 6-0, but they have not faced any school from one of the six BCS conferences. Butler will be Georgetown’s first Top 25 opponent of the year.

The Bulldogs have actually played tough teams so far. Their two losses have come at the hands of Minnesota (82-73) and Clemson (70-69), and they already have victories over Davidson (73-62), Northwestern (67-54) and UCLA (69-67) on their resume.

Just Who Is Butler?

The Butler Bulldogs are young but they already have an abundance of experience. Rather than waste time on the bench, they all play in order to gain experience.

Butler returned all five starters from last year’s squad that went 26-6 and earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This season’s starting lineup features three sophomores (Hayward, Mack and point guard Ronald Nored), one junior (Howard) and one senior (forward Willie Veasely). That experience is paying early. The Bulldogs are turning the ball over just 12.9 times per game. Running the offense, Nored is averaging twice as many assists as turnovers.
 

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