March 18, 2008
No. 10 South Alabama (26-6) vs. Butler (29-3)
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Ticker) -- The Butler players did not openly complain about their relatively low No. 7 seed but they also were not thrilled.
The Bulldogs begin a quest for their second straight "Sweet 16" appearance Friday when they take on No. 10 seed South Alabama in an East Region first-round contest.
Butler is a 4-point chalk and the 'total' is 125 1/2.
Butler (29-3) could be facing a hostile crowd, as the game will be played in Birmingham, which is less than a five-hour drive from the Jaguars' campus in Mobile.
"I felt we had a good season," senior forward Pete Campbell said. "I felt like we played a lot of good teams. We'll just have to show that in the tournament when it comes time to play."
Last season, Butler received a No. 5 seed - the highest in school history - and defeated Old Dominion and Maryland before losing to eventual national champion Florida.
This season, the Bulldogs were ranked in the Top 25 for most of the year and matched the school record for wins set last season. Still, a relatively weak non-conference schedule may have hurt them. Their best non-conference win was an overtime victory over Virginia Tech in the Great Alaska Shootout.
South Alabama (26-6) was pleasantly surprised when it received an at-large bid after getting upset in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. The Sun Belt has two teams in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.
The Jaguars beat two tournament teams outside the Sun Belt - Mississippi State of the Southeast Conference and San Diego, which upset Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference title game.
The winner face a probable second-round meeting on Sunday with No. 2 seed Tennessee, which opens tournament play against No. 15 American.
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