Hall résumé boost won’t come easy at Butler

The good news is Seton Hall can play its way off the NCAA Tournament bubble with a win Saturday in Indianapolis. The bad news? Seton Hall will have to beat Butler, its nemesis since the Bulldogs joined the new Big East four years ago.

Even last year, when the Pirates finished third in the Big East with a 12-6 record and won the conference tournament, the one team they failed to defeat was Butler.

The 13th-ranked Bulldogs have won seven of the past eight encounters, their one loss in the 2014 Big East Tournament. In the teams’ first meeting, at Seton Hall, Butler prevailed, 61-54.

“They just have our number,” junior guard Khadeen Carrington said in a phone interview. “Hopefully, Saturday we just figure it out.

“I’m happy with the way we fought back [this year], but I’m not happy with where we are right now. I think we still have room for improvement.”

While Seton Hall (19-10, 9-8 Big East) has won six of its past eight games, Butler (23-6, 12-5) enters the matchup even hotter, with four straight wins and road victories over second-ranked Villanova and Xavier.

Junior Kelan Martin has come alive since being sent to the bench, averaging 20 points per game during the winning streak.

A loss wouldn’t kill Seton Hall’s NCAA Tournament hopes, but it would raise the importance of its Big East Tournament opener.

A win almost certainly would erase any drama from Selection Sunday.

“It’s a big opportunity,” point guard Madison Jones said after Tuesday’s win over Georgetown. “A lot of people were talking about how if we got this [Georgetown] win, we’d be in [the NCAA Tournament] for sure. But the season’s not over. We’ve got a big game coming up. Beating Butler at Butler would make our seeding much better.”