The Butler Bulldogs (29-3) will face No. 10 seed South Alabama (26-6) this Friday. Butler, who recently won the Horizon League, was earlier projected to be a No. 4 or No. 5 seed, so dropping all the way down to a No. 7 seed is certainly disappointing.

This will not be an easy matchup. South Alabama standout senior Demetric Bennett is averaging over 20 points per game and is shooting .411 from downtown, which will make him tough to guard.

South Alabama’s next two leading scorers, Domonic Tilford and Daon Merritt, are also guards, which should suggest a fast-paced tempo for this team.

One thing that Butler should not run into which has caused problems in the past is a huge size advantage for the opposing team. With an exception made to Bennett, the Jaguars are severely undersized in the frontcourt as Tilford and Merritt are 5 feet 10 inches and 5 feet 8 inches respectively, and their tallest man down low is 6 feet 8 inches.

In addition to its tough guard play, South Alabama will play Butler in Birmingham, Ala., just a four-hour drive from its Mobile campus. If the Butler faithful plan on attending the game, their trip will be around seven or eight hours.

The winner of this game will likely go on to play No. 2 seed Tennessee in the field of 32. Good luck to both teams and let the madness begin.