The NCAA Tournament continues on Saturday with the Elite 8. Here we will see the No.7 seed Florida Gators take on the No.4 seed Louisville Cardinals.  The game is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on CBS. Currently the odds have Florida favored by 1 point with the total sitting at 131 points for the contest. 

Free Analysis:  After shocking No. 1 seed Michigan State in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, the Louisville Cardinals still find themselves as underdogs in the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals, who held the Spartans to 28 percent shooting, have done everything possible to gain respect...but they still aren't widely respected. Rick Pitino is backing up the adage that "defense wins championships." The Cardinals held opponents to 37 percent shooting in the regular season and allowed a mere 60.6 points per game in the competitive Big East. Louisville is actually holding opponents to fewer points in each successive round in the NCAA tournament, despite playing against better teams. Louisville’s matchup zone and high-pressure defense is giving opponents’ fits, which Florida will have to counter with some accurate long-range shooting. Opponents are just 14-of-63 (22.2 percent) on 3-pointers against the Cardinals in three tournament games. Freshman F Chane Behanan (9.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG) scored a game-high 15 points and also grabbed nine boards in the win over MSU. He’s averaging a strong 13.0 PPG and 8.0 RPG during the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore G Russ Smith was the only other Cardinals player in double-figures on Thursday, pumping in 11 points. Smith has 14.0 PPG in his past two games, making 5-of-7 shots from downtown. Louisville is at its best when junior PG Peyton Siva (9.1 PPG, 5.5 APG) is on his game. After a brilliant four-game Big East Tournament (13.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.8 APG) and a strong NCAA opener against Davidson (17 points, six assists), Siva has just 10 points (4-of-15 FG) in his past two contests combined. But he did dish out nine assists to make up for five turnovers in Thursday’s win. Senior swingman Kyle Kuric (12.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG) is also capable of contributing more than he has this tournament. He’s scoring 10.0 PPG, but has totaled just seven rebounds and one assist in 105 minutes of playing time. The Gators have won their three NCAA Tournament games by 23.3 PPG, disposing of third-seed Marquette 68-58 on Thursday night. Florida didn’t shoot very well against the Golden Eagles (40.7% FG, 7-of-27 threes), but this squad still leads the nation with 9.7 made threes per game, connecting on 38.0% of its long-range attempts. The Gators run a very intelligent offense with a 1.35 assist-to-turnover ratio (12th in nation) and commit just 15.6 fouls per game (19th in D-I). Florida’s best player in March has been 6-foot-3 freshman G Bradley Beal (14.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG). Beal scored a game-high 21 points (8-of-10 FG) with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks against Marquette. He’s now averaging 17.0 PPG and 8.2 RPG in five postseason games (2 SEC, 3 NCAA). Leading scorer G Kenny Boynton (16.0 PPG) has been struggling for the majority of the postseason. He scored 20 points in the Third Round win over 15th-seeded Norfolk State, but has just 8.8 PPG on 9-of-38 FG (24%) in the other four contests. This includes his 2-for-10 shooting night against Marquette. Senior PG Erving Walker (12.1 PPG) leads the team with 4.5 APG, but has just eight assists and eight turnovers in the three NCAA games. Florida is 32-12 all-time in the NCAA tournament, including a 28-9 mark under Donovan. Pitino is now 10-0 all-time in the Sweet 16, but he’s 5-4 in the Elite Eight.

Free Pick: The Cardinals need to push the ball to be effective and I feel they will have to do that here, plus I don't expect Florida to let the pace of this one slow down anyway. The Gators are a high  scoring team as they have averaged 76.1 ppg on 46.3% shooting, plus they also take alot of threes and hit those shots at a 38% clip. Louisville is playing great defense right now as they have allowed just 51.2 ppg in their last 5 games and they have allowed 54.6 ppg on neutral courts this year, but I feel this Florida team has just too many weapons for them to stoip here, especially with little prep time. Florida has played great defense in the Tourney (51 ppg), but 2 of their 3 games were vs Norfolk State and Virginia so those numbers are a bit misleading and if we go back a little further we find that Florida did allow 74 points or more in 4 of their last 5 games before the Big Dance. Louisville has scored just 61.7 ppg in the tourney, but two of those games were slow down game, while the one game they played vs a fast paced team (Davidson) they were able to put up 69 points. This will NOT be a slow paced game. Louisville really likes to run and they will get their chance vs a Florida team that likes that pace as well. Look for a game in the 140's, so go with the OVER here.  

Free Picks: Florida vs Louisville - Best Bet from Marco DAngelo
http://PregameVideos.com - Fatigue will be factor in total score and Florida has had easiest road to elite 8 plus other factors college basketball bettors need to know about Florida vs Louisville (Saturday, March 24, 2012) from Pregame.com - Including a best bet from Marco D'Angelo and analysis from Scott Spreitzer.