March Madness: Previewing Saturday’s Round of 32 Matchups
Middle Tennessee (12) vs. Butler (4)
Middle Tennessee pulled off the infamous 12-5 upset in the first round (even though they were favored over Minnesota). They now will face Butler, who just beat Winthrop after leading wire-to-wire.
Similar to the first round, our metrics really like Middle Tennessee. Yes, we have them projected to lose, but we give Butler just a 56% chance to end this Cinderella story. It should be a good one.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelan Martin | Butler | 16.1 | 5.7 | .497 |
| Andrew Chrabascz | Butler | 11.0 | 4.6 | .492 |
| Kamar Baldwin | Butler | 10.0 | 3.6 | .553 |
| Jacorey Williams | Middle Tennessee | 17.3 | 7.3 | .543 |
| Giddy Potts | Middle Tennessee | 15.8 | 5.5 | .587 |
| Reggie Upshaw | Middle Tennessee | 14.5 | 6.8 | .567 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TO% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TO% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #4 Butler | 14.65 | 113.1 | .546 | 50.6 | 13.5 | 101.4 | .507 | 17.8 |
| #12 M. Tenn. | 9.41 | 112.5 | .545 | 53.8 | 13.8 | 95.0 | .474 | 18.1 |
