Butler is 0-4 in the conference? And Creighton is suddenly a power of the Big East at 4-0? With the exit of head coach Bradley Stephens to the Boston Celtics and the Big East's less than impressive make over, those story lines are generating less hoopla than they otherwise would. The lack of hype surrounding #20 Creighton (14-2, 4-0) is still somewhat puzzling, even if they played a relatively weak non-conference schedule (and lost their only chance against a ranked opponent to #10 San Diego State). They do, after all, have the nation's second leading scorer (Doug McDermott, 25.0 ppg), and also probably the most legitimate -- Junior Antoine Mason is averaging 28.3 ppg for a 4-13 Niagra team. Yet, a 14-2 record only gets them to #20 in the latest polls, prior to which they weren't even ranked.

Extending their current 10-game win streak against Butler (10-6, 0-4) won't be easy, and not just because it's a conference game against a reputable program, but mostly because the Bull Dogs played perhaps more minutes of basketball than any team in the country over their last four conference losses, two of which went into overtime and a third that saw double overtime. (The fourth was an 11-point loss to Xavier that Butler led by five at the half.) I may have just defined desperation in those last few sentences. The question is, is it the right kind to spur Butler to the upset, or at least a close enough game to cover a more-than-generous spread of 10.5 points (according to Vegas Insider)?

As someone who typically overestimates spreads and conscious of the relativel lack of respect given to Creighton this season, even I was surprised by the rather large 10.5 point spread. It is a home for Creighton (9:00 pm EST on FS1), but Butler has only lost by more than 10 once all season -- the aforementioned 11-point loss to Xavier.

Before I saw the 10.5 number, I had a pretty good feeling Creighton could comfortably lead Butler to their season's rock bottom before perhaps rebounding next game at home vs. Marquette. I also watched the Bulldogs quite closely in an early conference game against Villanova and wasn't impressed, despite the overtime loss to a top ten program. But 10.5 is too big for me, and if Creighton embodies the play of their star (crafty, pure shooting, somewhat undersized for a big man, not overwhelmingly athletic), which they seem to do, I like Butler to keep it close, and maybe use some of the right type of desperation in the upset. Butler for the cover.

Season record (first day I'm keeping track): 0-0

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