CBB Odds – Butler Bulldogs vs. Tennessee Volunteers

There have been a few lean seasons for the once prominent Butler Bulldogs, who turned to former coach Thad Matta to resurrect the program. So far the returns have been good with three wins in their first four outings. Things get ramped up a notch starting with Wednesday’s tilt against the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, the first of three games in consecutive days for the participating teams. The Vols bounced back from an upset loss to Colorado beating Florida Gulf Coast by 31 points with college basketball sports odds having them favored in this first round tournament matchup.

Butler Bulldogs vs. Tennessee Volunteers

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 23, 2022, 7:30 p.m. ET

Location: Imperial Arena, Nassau, Bahamas

Opening CBB Odds: OFF

Butler vs. Tennessee TV Coverage: ESPN2

Odds Analysis

Two consecutive losing seasons, which hadn’t happened at Butler since the late 1980s, prompted a change at the top with Matta coming out of retirement to take the reins. He began his coaching career at Butler in 2000 leading the club to 24 wins and the NCAA Tournament. You probably remember him from the successful run he enjoyed at Ohio State where he won 73 percent of his games over 13 seasons. If you can coach you can coach and Matta’s return after several years has boosted the program. The Bulldogs are 3-1 coming in with their victories by an average of 37 points They were big favorites in those matchups so the outcomes weren’t surprising. How the Dogs won, though, was certainly eye-catching. They pushed the college basketball line in their loss to Penn State going 3-0-1 ATS through their first four games.

Following a 27-win season and a final ranking of fifth in the AP poll, the Vols entered 2022-23 with high expectations. Returning experienced players like Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi, along with several talented newcomers, has the Vols poised for a run at the SEC title. You have to walk before you can run, though, and the Vols had a major slipup losing badly to Colorado, 78-66, as a big NCAA college basketball odds favorite at BetRivers sportsbook. They rebounded from that humbling experience trouncing FGCU 81-50 for their first payout of the year.

Butler Bulldogs

You can argue that Butler hasn’t played a difficult schedule and you’d probably win. New Orleans, St. Francis PA and The Citadel don’t exactly strike fear into the top programs. But after the last two seasons that saw the Bulldogs plummet in the win column and the Big East standings, beating those squads wasn’t exactly a given. Butler did what it needed to do with confidence-building triumphs over those lesser squads setting them up nicely for bigger challenges like what they’ll face over the next few days.

Unlike a lot of college basketball teams the Bulldogs have experience and balance, and Matta has meshed the two into a winning unit. It’s a small sample size but all five starters average double-figures led by Chuck Harris at 15.8 points. Eric Hunter Jr. scores 12.5 per game with the other three in between. Harris led the team last season scoring 10.7 points. Scoring points and playing defense will win a lot of games and the Bulldogs have been good so far. As a team they shoot better than 53 percent from the field averaging nearly 84 points. They’ve held opponents to just 57.5 points cashing the OVER on the college basketball odds in two of their last three games.

Tennessee Volunteers

Maybe their loss to Colorado was what the Vols needed after a massive amount of preseason hype. The pub is deserved with several key players back for another go and after two early exits from the NCAA Tournament it isn’t surprising to think they’re looking ahead to March already. So losing as a 15-point favorite puts them back in alignment. In the day of one-and-done college basketball players the Vols are an outlier. Leading scorer James in one of five seniors on the roster and they all play a prominent role.

Top-15 recruit Julian Phillips had his best game of the early season against FGCU scoring 11 points with five rebounds and will only get better as a scorer and defender. Transfer Tyreke Key has fit in seamlessly average 12.7 points. Rick Barnes has won a lot of games with teams exactly like this one and the Vols are hungry after getting scorched by Colorado.

Bet Butler vs. Tennessee

Tennessee has plenty of depth which Butler doesn’t giving the Vols an edge in this one. And the Bulldogs haven’t come close to playing a team as talented as UT. This is a good measuring stick for Matta’s club, but in the end the Dogs will be overrun by Tennessee’s deep and talented roster making the Vols my college basketball odds pick favorite at BetRivers sportsbook.

College Basketball Prediction: Tennessee Volunteers / UNDER