Butler at Syracuse

Syracuse was supposed to drop back a bit in the Big East, but this team has some great chemistry.  The interior players such as Onuaku and Jackson have really stepped up and Wesley Johnson has been as good as advertised - if not better. This is a team that has gone for 80+ on 20 different occasions this season. They suffered two of their four losses to Louisville and won 12 games vs. NCAA Tournament teams. Butler has won 22 straight games, but none of them were against the likes of Syracuse. They had but four losses on the season but three of them were to the likes of Georgetown, Minnesota and Clemson. The Bulldogs have gone 25 games without allowing an opponent to reach 70, but that will change here. The three losses were against the power conferences described above and all of them got to 70, averaging 75 points per game. Syracuse will be closer to 80, so I'll back Syracuse and the OVER in this one.