Vegas Play of the Day: Butler vs. Notre Dame

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, March 21, 2015 | 9:52 a.m.

Talking Points has bettors covered, literally, for the NCAA Tournament.

Not only has the South Point-lined Play of the Day, which started with $10,000 bankrolls, been profitable with two straight winners in the round of 64 but so has the series picking every game. Pressure is on to keep up the pace.

Butler plus-4 vs. Notre Dame: $550 to win $500

The Bulldogs had the most impressive performance of any team in the round of 64. Call that hyperbole, and fine, I’ll concede it may only belong in the top five.

But what Butler did to Texas in a 56-48 victory can’t be overstated. The Bulldogs stifled a group of NBA prospects with their stereotypical fundamentally sound though not physically overwhelming roster for an entire game.

The Longhorns took plenty of heat for losing 14 games this season, but here’s the thing: Most of them were close games botched in the final minutes.

Only four teams beat Texas, which played the 14th-toughest schedule in the nation according to KenPom.com, worse than Butler this season and three (Kansas, Oklahoma, Baylor) wound up with top-three seeds.

Call the Butler praise an overreaction on a small sample, and I’ll argue it’s not. There’s a reason Butler is 13-2 against the spread in its past 15 tournament games.

Even though that’s almost all under a different coach, the Bulldogs have a formula that works. A formula that’s perfect to cause Notre Dame trouble.

They’re going to use creativity to make sure they get a worthwhile shot every time down the floor while playing hellacious defense. Notre Dame piles it on teams not interested in bearing down on defense.

Butler has no chance to turn into one of those teams.

Standings: Keefer (70-69-2, $10,607), Bern (69-64-1, $9,706), Brewer (62-74-3, $3,465)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.