Louisville Preview

[kynut]

I believe Cal will stop the UL breakaways and make them play half court just as he did UCLA.. That cuts UL's slim chances in half. The key player in this game will be Tyler Ulis and his ability to break the UL press and his defensive ability to totally disrupt UL guards starting their offense. Ulis is becoming more and more valuable as the season wears on and will give WCS a run for team MVP honors at the end of the season. I fully expect a solid 18 point win.

UK 76
UL 58

kynut.

[justford]

I believe Cal will stop the UL breakaways and make them play half court just as he did UCLA.. That cuts UL's slim chances in half. The key player in this game will be Tyler Ulis and his ability to break the UL press and his defensive ability to totally disrupt UL guards starting their offense. Ulis is becoming more and more valuable as the season wears on and will give WCS a run for team MVP honors at the end of the season. I fully expect a solid 18 point win.

UK 76
UL 58

kynut.

I like the way you think and hope you are correct.

[rjc]

With this being a bigtime hyped game, I wonder how much "me time" these refs want. Say what you want, but officials have egos too, and if they can get their fame by blowing that whistle, they will.

[Vinnie]

I think the Cats win the game Saturday by a double digit score even though the Cards will keep it close for most of the game.


UK--70
UL--59

[JFCats22]

Some great info and stats about the game tomorrow night.

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=statsinfo&id=100524&src=desktop&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FYkncyULFwz%22%7D

This stat amazes (and concerns) me. Shocking that UK is so bad rebounding.

• Despite its size, Kentucky has struggled on the defensive glass this season. The Wildcats only grab 66.5% of their defensive rebound opportunities, which is 277th in Division I.

While that hasn’t hurt them so far this season, Louisville is well positioned to exploit that weakness. Louisville is 16th in Division I in offensive rebounding percentage at 40.2 percent. And the Cardinals average 15.1 second-chance points per game, which is third among major conference teams.

[thughes]

With this being a bigtime hyped game, I wonder how much "me time" these refs want. Say what you want, but officials have egos too, and if they can get their fame by blowing that whistle, they will.

Karl Hess, Rogers Ayers and Michael Roberts. Two of these guys like the "me time".

[TrueblueCATfan]

I was with all my dirty birds family and friends last night and they all think UK will blow out UL..hahah..not much confidence is their own team

[CATHYnKY]

I was with all my dirty birds family and friends last night and they all think UK will blow out UL..hahah..not much confidence is their own team

That surprises me. Figured they would think their "sixth man" would give them edge. I want it done and with a Big Blue WWWWW

[Joneslab]

Karl Hess, Rogers Ayers and Michael Roberts. Two of these guys like the "me time".

I generally think the "it will all come down to the refs" crowd is paranoid, but Roger Ayers concerns me.

IIRC we lost the two games he did last year, and Cal has a poor record since he's been here in games Ayers does. BUT I believe he has a penchant for calling a lot of fouls, so that may be an advantage for UK.

[Joneslab]

Per another board, Kentucky has lost the last four games Ayers has done and he's T'd Cal up in three of the last six games. There were 31 fouls exactly called in both games last year, the UNC and Arkansas games, both games Kentucky lost. That UNC game down there last season was one of the worst-called UK games I've seen.

[Joneslab]

Some great info and stats about the game tomorrow night.

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=statsinfo&id=100524&src=desktop&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FYkncyULFwz%22%7D

This stat amazes (and concerns) me. Shocking that UK is so bad rebounding.

• Despite its size, Kentucky has struggled on the defensive glass this season. The Wildcats only grab 66.5% of their defensive rebound opportunities, which is 277th in Division I.

While that hasn’t hurt them so far this season, Louisville is well positioned to exploit that weakness. Louisville is 16th in Division I in offensive rebounding percentage at 40.2 percent. And the Cardinals average 15.1 second-chance points per game, which is third among major conference teams.

There are a few reasons for this I think including how many threes we force teams to take and long kicks and the fact that we leak out to try and run.

But the biggest issue might be the fact that our guards don't rebound the ball. Ulis got in there last game, but generally the Harrison twins don't rebound. They didn't rebound last year. We're basically rebound three against five when shots go up, and that's an issue that can hurt you against Louisville. Harrell will feast on the glass if you let him.

I still think that this game will come down to who hits outside shots. There will be a team in this game that goes 3-20, something like that. I think the other team will be able to hit 7 or 8, and that team will win the game. Both teams' defense are going to force a bunch of outside shots late in the shot clock.

[JFCats22]

I have seen UK open as a 2.5 point favorite tomorrow and as a pick em. The line is already up to UK by 3.5. I think the people saying UK wins this by 12+ points are crazy. BUT, I really hope they are correct!

I won't be able to watch as I will be driving in the car but will have to listen on the radio.

If UK hits early shots like they did against UCLA and force UL to play man defense, I think UK handles them and wins by 6-8. However, if we go cold shooting it could be anyone's game.

[Joneslab]

The difference between a 4-point game and a 12-point game is three to five possessions.

Way too much weight is put on final scores. Saw a game the other night where one team controlled the game, the other team hit two or three threes late, and it ended at 9 or 10. If you didn't watch the game, you'd think it was pretty close. But it wasn't ever a game.

[G0Cats#1]

81-72 Cats, Cats, Cats!..........40 minutes of Hell!

[gerntz]

Does the outcome of this game at all impact UK's chances of winning the NCAA? I think not.