FACTS & STATS: Site: Hinkle Fieldhouse (11,043) -- Indianapolis, Indiana. Television: ESPN. Home Record: Cleveland St. 12-3, Butler 13-1. Away Record: Cleveland St. 6-7, Butler 11-2. Neutral Record: Cleveland St. 3-1, Butler 4-0. Conference Record: Cleveland St. 12-6, Butler 16-2. Series Record: Butler leads, 22-6.

GAME NOTES: An automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament is on the line tonight, as the top-seeded Butler Bulldogs play host to the second-seeded Cleveland State Vikings in the Horizon League championship game. At 21-11, Cleveland State is a worthy adversary for Butler. The Vikings, like the Bulldogs, earned a bye to Saturday's semifinal round where they knocked off Valparaiso by a 78-73 final. Cleveland State has never won this tournament, adding extra intrigue to the matchup. Butler is a stellar 23-8 overall and is coming off a 66-50 decision over Illinois-Chicago in the semifinal round. The Bulldogs have won the Horizon League Tournament four times, more than any other active member. Still, the last crown was captured back in 2001, so there certainly has been a bit of a layoff since the last time the program tasted the thrill of a title. Butler and Cleveland State split a pair of meetings during the regular season, and the Bulldogs own a 22-6 lead in the all-time series.

In the semifinal victory over Valparaiso, Cleveland State connected on 52.9 percent of its field goal attempts, including a 10-of-19 effort from three- point range. The Vikings also earned a 34-27 rebounding advantage and limited Valpo to 39.7 percent shooting from the field. All of those positives helped Cleveland State overcome a rather high total of 18 turnovers. Cedric Jackson was tremendous, as he scored 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. J'Nathan Bullock tallied 19 points, and both he and Jackson pulled down eight rebounds. Norris Cole added some balance to the lineup with 11 points off the bench. Bullock is scoring 14.8 ppg this season to go with 6.6 rpg, and Jackson is netting 14.3 ppg in addition to 5.1 apg and 5.0 rpg.

Butler put forth a tremendous defensive effort against Illinois-Chicago in the semifinal round of this tournament, limiting the Flames to 30.2 percent shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs only committed eight turnovers in the clash and knocked down 12 three-pointers. Mike Green showed his versatility once again by scoring 19 points to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. A.J. Graves tallied 14 points for Butler, which is netting 68.3 ppg this season while limiting the opposition to just 57.8 ppg. Green is scoring 14.6 ppg, and he has racked up 161 assists to go along with 6.4 rpg. Graves (13.5 ppg), Matt Howard (13.5 ppg) and Pete Campbell (11.5 ppg) add plenty of balance to the lineup.

Both regular season meetings between Butler and Cleveland State were close, so we should expect nothing less in this title game. Give a narrow edge to the Bulldogs, who simply find ways to win.

Predicted Outcome

Butler 63, Cleveland State 60