Entering the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the fourth-seeded Louisville Cardinals were looked at as one of the most underrated teams in the field (by both fans and analysts alike). [ad-4468020]<\/p>\n
2014 NCAA Tournament Free Picks<\/strong> ATS Matchup Insight<\/a> | CP Insider Gambling Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Their No. 4 seed was considered unjust by many people across the country, but as it turns out, it took a narrow escape to get past a tough Manhattan team en route to a matchup in the third round against No. 5 St. Louis.<\/p>\n Speaking of narrow escapes, the St. Louis Billikens epitomize close victories from Round 2.<\/p>\n They took down No. 12 North Carolina State 83-80, and if it weren\u2019t for poor free-throw shooting on the part of the Wolfpack, it likely would have gone the other way.<\/p>\n The big concern for St. Louis is free-throw shooting. It\u2019s true that the Wolfpack made just 20 of 37 free throws, but the Billikens were equally unimpressive, knocking down just 12 of their 26 (46.1 percent compared to 70 percent on the year).<\/p>\n It took a 14-point second-half comeback to force overtime, and luckily for St. Louis and its fans, the team came through in the end.<\/p>\n Looking forward, the Billikens have an offensive juggernaut on their hands in Louisville.<\/p>\n The Cardinals are averaging 82.1 points per game\u2014the eighth-best scoring average in college basketball\u2014but luckily for St. Louis, defense has been its specialty all season. The St. Louis Billikens are averaging just 70 points per game on the year. That\u2019s the 204th-best mark in the nation\u2014nothing to worry about if you\u2019re the Louisville Cardinal\u2014but it\u2019s St. Louis\u2019 defensive production that will pose a problem.<\/p>\n On the year, the Billikens are giving up just 61.8 points per contest. It\u2019s true that the NC State Wolfpack managed to drop 80 points on them in Round 2, but it took overtime to do it.<\/p>\n This is going to be a battle of offense versus defense; however, Louisville brings both to the table.<\/p>\n The Cardinal, while averaging the eighth-most points per game this season, are allowing just 61.1 points per game, which is the 15th-best mark in college basketball.<\/p>\n If Louisville can get back on track defensively against St. Louis, it shouldn\u2019t have a problem holding it below its season average. It\u2019s scoring on the defense that will be a much more difficult task, which will keep this game close up until the clock strikes zero.<\/p>\n Prediction: Louisville 73 \u2013 St. Louis 68<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Billikens vs Cardinals Pick – NCAA Tournament Entering the 2014 NCAA Tournament, the fourth-seeded Louisville Cardinals were looked at as one of the most underrated teams in the field (by both fans and analysts alike).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":74249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1415],"tags":[61353,61563,3098,61564,5277,61561,61562],"class_list":["post-74248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-2014-ncaa-tournament","tag-billikens-vs-cardinals","tag-louisville-cardinals","tag-round-3-midwest-bracket","tag-st-louis-billikens","tag-st-louis-billikens-vs-louisville-cardinals","tag-st-louis-vs-louisville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74248"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74251,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74248\/revisions\/74251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Midwest Region – Third Round<\/strong>
\n No. 5 St. Louis (27-6, 13-3 A 10) vs. No. 4 Louisville (30-5, 15-3 AAC)<\/strong>
\n Saturday, March 22 2:45 PM ET CBS<\/strong>
\n Spread: Louisville -9.5<\/strong>
\n Over\/Under: 133<\/strong>
\n [dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/strong><\/p>\nSt. Louis<\/h3>\n
*CLICK HERE* GRAB OUR BEST Expert CBB Picks for 2014 GAMBLING season!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\n[ad-6571516]<\/p>\nLouisville<\/h3>\n