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Butler in the Atlantic 10 just makes sense

spt-120319-stevens

Mike Miller

Butler’s days of being the big dog in the Horizon League may be over. The Bulldogs appear to be headed to the Atlantic 10 as the eventual replacement for Temple.

If you’re gonna replace the Owls with a school, Butler’s ideal for a college hoops-centric league.

The move’s been rumored for weeks – here’s the latest tweet regarding the news – and would give the hoops-proud program a bigger profile. A-10 teams play more games on national TV and feature schools in larger TV markets. NYC, Philadelphia, Washington (along with St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Charlotte) would be better than the Horizon’s cities of Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

The bigger bonus? The A-10 isn’t a one-bid league.

If Butler wins the Horizon, but stumbles in the conference tournament, it might have a long wait on Selection Sunday without a happy ending. The A-10 usually reduces those odds.

Just don’t expect Butler to dominate the A-10. The school features a strong college hoops focus, but it doesn’t spend like A-10 power Xavier. It doesn’t have the resources.

Still, this isn’t a team that needs money to thrive. We all learned that in 2010 and 2011.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.