NCAA Tournament Preview: Butler vs. Florida Predictions

Written by Jake Thompson
Saturday, 26 March 2011 16:44

Final score predictions are ready in our preview of the Florida and Butler game.

The #8-seeded Butler Bulldogs (26-9) will try to continue their second straight NCAA Tournament miracle run as they get set to take on the #2-seeded Florida Gators (29-7) in today’s college basketball action.  The game between Florida and Butler will start at 4:30 PM ET and you can watch the clash live on CBS.  Both squads looking to advance to the Final Four will be playing on the New Orleans Arena court in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Butler has advanced to this stage in the NCAA Tournament by beating Old Dominion (60-58), Pittsburgh (71-70), and Wisconsin (61-54), while Florida has gotten one win away from the Final Four with wins over UC-Santa Barbara (79-51), UCLA (73-65), and BYU (83-74).  Florida has been the better team away from home and their 15-4 record bests the 14-7 mark that Butler has amassed this season.  These two teams last met up in 2007 and it was the Gators that left with a 65-57 victory while playing on their home court.

Florida has been shooting great in recent games (73.2 PPG, 47.7% shooting) and their offense really seems to be running smoothly with Chandler Parsons healthy and knocking down long range shots.  The Gators do have issues with free throw shooting and it could come back to hurt them if this game is as close as Butler’s previous NCAA Tournament clashes.  The Bulldogs have been playing incredible defense and Florida will be tested a bit if Butler plays as well as they have over their last 5 games (58.8 points allowed per game on 38.8% shooting).

The Bulldogs are dealing with a knee injury to 6’11” center Andrew Smith (8.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG), but it appears that big man will play tonight after hurting himself going for a rebound in Butler’s victory over Wisconsin.  Butler has actually been shooting worse in recent games than they have this season but this squad is still more than capable of making baskets in close and from 3-point range.  Florida’s defense has been incredible at forcing bad shots but the quicker pace that the Gators play at times could lead to some easy transition buckets for their unlikely underdog foe.

Ultimately, Butler has made a great run but I just don’t think they can matchup with a Florida team that is playing at this high of a level.  The Bulldogs have a way of making games close and surprising people every time out and a close game wouldn’t be a huge surprise.  That being said, Florida is the better team and I expect Butler to have trouble handling all the weapons.  Look for the Bulldogs to get into foul trouble early and for the Gators to defend well enough to get a comfortable victory and advance to the Final Four.

Butler 65

Florida 72