March Madness Betting Preview: Butler Bulldogs vs. Syracuse Orange
Posted by Andrew Ryan on March 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Butler Bulldogs
(30-4, 14-20 ATS)
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Syracuse Orange
(30-4, 21-9 ATS)
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For the first time in this college basketball betting campaign, two 30+ win teams will share the court, as the #1 Syracuse Orange and #5 Butler Bulldogs take to the court in Salt Lake City with a berth in the Elite 8 on the line. The top seed in the West Region has coasted to two 20+ point wins, making it one of just two teams that can say that it has accomplished that feat in this tourney (the other being #1 Kentucky). Syracuse toppled #16 Vermont 79-56 and #8 Gonzaga 87-65. Butler looked great in its first round fight with #12 UTEP (W 77-59), but it struggled mightily with #13 Murray State for the entire game before finally advancing with a 54-52 decision.
If the Bulldogs are going to pull the upset and move to the regional finals, they’re going to need to get a significantly better game out of F Matt Howard than they got last Sunday. Howard was held on the bench for over half the game with foul trouble, and his three points and four boards was nowhere near his season averages of 12.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He and F Gordon Heyward (15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds per game) make up the heart and soul of this club, and both must have effective games to stop the powerful Orange.
As for Syracuse, the task could be made a lot easier if F Arinze Onuaku is ready to return from his knee injury suffered in the Big East Tournament. Still, F Wesley Johnson is playing like the tournament’s MVP at this point, as he is coming off of a game in which he dominated, scoring 31 points and tearing down 14 boards. G Andy Rautins quietly scored 24 in the easy ‘W’. The Orange are shooting 51.7% from the floor this year, and they’re the only team left in the field that can say that they’re shooting at least 50% as a team.
Even though the Bulldogs have won 21 straight games, none of those 21 came against the likes of Syracuse. The Orange just have too much muscle both on the inside and on the outside for Butler to keep up, and unless Heyward or someone unexpected goes off for an absolutely tremendous game, it’s hard to see how the top seed in the West won’t march on in comfortable fashion.
Selection: Syracuse Orange
The Orange are 9-1 ATS in their L/10 games following an SU win of at least 20 points. Bookmaker Sportsbook is your home for all of the great NCAA basketball betting action from now through the end of March Madness, and you can find Syracuse at -6 in this March Madness betting affair right now there!
After 58-year run, school is `going out with a bang’; Parents, students and staff members at Katherine Curren Elementary School in Hopkins plan to celebrate the school’s legacy with various activities during its final days.(WEST)
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) May 30, 2007 | Relerford, Patrice Byline: Patrice Relerford; Staff Writer If someone visited Katherine Curren Elementary for the first time this week, he wouldn’t be able to tell the 58-year-old school is closing at the end of next week. go to web site maple grove community center
Artwork and flags representing students’ countries of origin still line the walls, and there are no boxes stacked in corners. School officials said that’s the way it’s going to stay until the school closes its doors on June 8. “They said we would absolutely not pack up in front of the children,” parent Marti Nelson said. Nelson, whose son Erik, 12, is a fifth-grader at Curren, said Principal Marsha Baisch and other staff members don’t want to make the transition any harder by packing up their classrooms prematurely. Parents will help the staff pack up the week after school ends.
A graceful end Baisch has held the reins at Curren for the past decade and said it’s going to be tough not to wake up and head to the close-knit school nestled on Mainstreet in downtown Hopkins. But she’s looking forward to next week.
“We’re going out with a bang,” Baisch said.
That means inviting anyone who’s ever worked at the school and former Curren students and parents to a closing ceremony scheduled for Monday night in the school gym. She said the ceremony will feature a performance by students of a song called “I Would Light a Candle,” but she didn’t want to give away too many details.
“We’re going to take what we’ve learned at Curren and be beacons of light as we move out into other places,” Baisch said. The ceremony will feature details from the school’s 58-year history as well as snapshots of the school today, Baisch said. Current and former students and staff will be asked to share their memories. Katherine Curren is the most diverse elementary school in the Hopkins School District. More than 50 percent of its students are minorities. this web site maple grove community center
Next week, current and former students and staff members will march down Mainstreet on Wednesday to a graduation ceremony for all the school’s students at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Today, students will spend the day at the Maple Grove Community Center, which features a rock-climbing wall, swimming pools and other activities. The trip was paid for by the school’s parent organization.
Baisch praised parents and staff members for never letting the uncertainty surrounding the school’s fate earlier this school year hinder students’ academic progress. “Despite all the craziness of going through the school closing and boundary changes, we’ve had an amazing and incredible year,” Baisch said. “Teachers have kept learning at the forefront.” Looking forward Earlier this month, Hopkins School District spokeswoman Eileen Harvala announced that Ubah Medical Academy, a medical charter high school that primarily serves East African students, will move from Minneapolis into the Katherine Curren building next school year.
Ubah – which means “flower” in Somali – currently has an operating agreement with the Minneapolis School District, but Hopkins approved a four-year, $300,000-a-year lease with Ubah last week and will now sponsor the charter school.
Harvala said Ubah currently shares a building with two other schools and has a waiting list. The school expects to enroll 250 students next year. Baisch said she’s glad a school with a diverse student body will be using the building. “Curren is a snapshot of the real world. There’s no majority-minority here, and because of our size, teachers know every student.” When asked what she will remember most about Katherine Curren, Baisch said: “At Katherine Curren, we believe it takes a village to raise a child. And teachers live that out every day.” Patrice Relerford – 612-673-4395 KATHERINE CURREN CLOSING ACTIVITIES -Today: School-wide field trip to Maple Grove Community Center -5:30 p.m. Monday: Katherine Curren gymnasium, 1600 Mainstreet, Hopkins, closing ceremony for current and former students, parents and staff -10 a.m. June 6, Stages Theatre, Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, school closing ceremony.
For more information about the closing events call Katherine Curren Elementary School’s main office at 952-988-4950.
Relerford, Patrice
