At 9-0 straight-up and 6-1 against the spread, the Indiana Hoosiers have lived up to their preseason No. 1 ranking through the first month of the college basketball season and will look for another notch in their belt this Saturday against the Butler Bulldogs.
Indiana Hoosiers vs Butler Bulldogs betting odds, preview, pick
Indiana remains perfect and favored by 10.5 points over Butler Saturday in the Crossroads Classic. Purdue takes on Notre Dame later.
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The Hoosiers remained 10.5-point favorites at most sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com on Saturday.
Indiana vs. Butler is part of a doubleheader called the 2012 Crossroads Classic at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Purdue and Notre Dame meet in the second game of the doubleheader.
Indiana Hoosiers vs. Butler Bulldogs (Saturday, 2:00 PM ET)
Through their first nine games, it is hard to find any fault in the Indiana Hoosiers. Returning four double-digit scorers from last year’s 27-win squad, the Hoosiers were expected to be a dominant force on offense this season and they haven’t disappointed.
With five players averaging over 11 points per game, Indiana has the best offense in the nation averaging 89.1 points per game. In what was supposed to be a big early season test, Indiana was an 11-point favorite hosting UNC last month and topped the Tar Heels 83-59. Indiana has scored 82 or more points in eight of their nine games.
Butler also handed UNC an early season loss (82-71), one of Butler’s seven wins this season as the Bulldogs are 7-2 straight up and 5-3 against the spread. While it has been mostly good news early this season for the Atlantic 10-leading tournament darlings, Butler has been flat out humiliated in both of its losses, a 62-47 road loss to Xavier and a 78-61 road loss to Illinois.
This Saturday's crowd should be somewhat neutral in both teams' home state, but the opponent is obviously a daunting one. Senior guard Rotnei Clarke leads the way on offense for Butler with 17.3 points per game.
With Indiana on the court, we can expect plenty of offense in Saturday’s game. The total has gone OVER in three of the five games in which a total was posted for Indiana this season, and certainly would have if there was a total in last Saturday’s 100-69 win over Central Conn State.
The total has gone OVER in each of the last four games with a posted total that Butler has played in.
Indiana is 3-1 straight up and against the spread in four meetings against Butler since 2003. For college basketball odds on every game, visit Odds Shark.
