Louisville Preview

[KevinHall]

I will do this early with Christmas coming and everyone will be out enjoying the season. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Louisville is 10-0 on the season. Most likely will be 11-0 by Saturday. Ohio State is the best team they have beaten and that was by nine points. They also beat a decent Indiana team by 20 and Minnesota by 13. UL does not shoot well from anywhere on the court as the stats will tell you. About 30% from the three's,62% from the foul line and 42% overall from the field. Rozier is about the only threat from the outside and Jones is OK. UL does outrebound their opponents by 10 a game. UK will need to get on the boards with them or they could let UL hang around this game and give them a shot at the end. In the end UK has too many bodies and too much of everything for UL. The biggest advantage UL will have is the home court. But judging by past games in the Yum center there has always been a sizable UK crowd there. So that may not even matter. I'm sure UL will try to be really physical with UK. Probably very chippy play that will try to get UK out of their rhythm. If UK can stay within themselves and just play their usual tough defense they should wear down UL and pull away in the 2nd half.
You guys from Kentucky have seen UL play more than I so weigh in on anything more that could affect this game.
I think in the end UK will win by about 15. Close early but pull away in the 2nd half. Pretty much the usual thing that has happened in most games this season.

The game will be on ESPN2 at 2 pm on Saturday. I haven't checked yet to see who was broadcasting the game but I imagine ESPN will have their A team in Louisville with Bilas and Schulman.

http://www.gocards.com/sports/m-baskbl/lou-m-baskbl-body.html

[Joneslab]

Kentucky 68
Louisville 59

[jpay]

Kentucky 77 Louisville 56

[justford]

Greg Anthony say UL bigs will cause us trouble. He says they are different than the other bigs we have played against. Well I say our bigs are different than the bigs UL has faced and we have more of them. Unless UL shoots way above their average, don't see them beating us. We do seem to get up for big games so look for a close game early and then we win going away.

[Titus Lucretius Carus]

UK -88
UL-33

Those numbers have significance 8x champs vs 3x champs.

Seriously my guess is WCS leading scorer and rebounder.
UK-72
UL-59

[Lighthouse]

UL will bring the best perimeter defense UK has faced so far. It didn't bother the twins last year and I doubt it bothers them much this year. Ulis will be OK while Booker may have some problems. In the end, our defense will survive and our offense will be improved. If we shoot well, it shouldn't be close, but you knows how rivalry games are. Pitino tried to take out Cousins and Randle, but this year he can't take them all out.

UK 80
UL 60

[rjc]

I think we need to bait Harrell into fouling lol.

[Dwight Schrute]

My hunch is that Louisville won't be able to score more than 55-60, the question just remains how much will we be able to score. My guess is that we will do our darnedest to get Harrell into foul trouble, which will sink Louisville's ship pretty quickly. Keep Rozier and Jones moderately in check and Louisville can't score enough. What will keep them in the game is the home crowd and their defense. If the offense of the past two games shows up, we'll win going away. If the offense reverts, it'll be tough.

Cats - 67
Cards - 56

[CATHYnKY]

I see where some of you all say get Harrell in foul trouble. Is that the norm to single a player(s) out to foul? Let's reverse this. Who will the birds try and get out of the game? BTW, at one of the women's basketball clinics I attended, seem to remember being told loud crowd noise is pumped in to the gym to get youngins used to a raucous crowd. Maybe the Harrell incident at WKU will have benefited The Cats. They have to be getting coached on how to keep a classy, cool head. Bird fans will be n a s t y.

[Uncle Dave]

If we beat their sorry a#@$s by one point, I'm a happy camper.

[TrueblueCATfan]

2 very Good defensive teams are going at it Saturday

Kentucky.......68

LOSERville....58

[Joneslab]

Billy Reed was on with Drew Deener this morning saying that he thought the game was being overhyped simply because Kentucky was on another level. He thought there had been many more anticipated games in the series than this one. Said UK was just way too powerful and on paper, it was a mismatch.

Generally I dislike Reed and think he sort of trolls for reactions, and that may be what he was doing here. But I don't know if I agree with his take. Kentucky is clearly the best team, but some great teams in college basketball have lost. I'm usually the last person to tell people to reel back their love of the Cats, but it's becoming almost mythic.

No college basketball team is that good. This team will be the favorite to win the title. They're going to crush teams along the way. They are historically good. But college basketball is a weird sport and Louisville is a solid team. I just don't see this particular game as being so outlandishly lopsided.

[KevinHall]

I see where some of you all say get Harrell in foul trouble. Is that the norm to single a player(s) out to foul? Let's reverse this. Who will the birds try and get out of the game? BTW, at one of the women's basketball clinics I attended, seem to remember being told loud crowd noise is pumped in to the gym to get youngins used to a raucous crowd. Maybe the Harrell incident at WKU will have benefited The Cats. They have to be getting coached on how to keep a classy, cool head. Bird fans will be n a s t y.

Yes its pretty normal Cathy for a team to go after a player to get into foul trouble. Especially when a team like UL relies on a big man as much as they do. UK is going to have about four big bodies to throw against him. If WCS and Towns get into foul trouble UK has two more in Dakari and Lee to throw at him. That has to wear down anyone and it will probably get him into foul trouble. Also the incident Saturday will work against UL IMO. I expect an extremely tight whistle in the first half. Maybe all game. UL can't afford to get anyone into foul trouble but most likely they will.

[Joneslab]

Kentucky is pretty much immune to foul trouble. Losing WCS would hurt but it wouldn't be a killer.

I think this game simply comes down to who shoots the ball. If Kentucky shoots like they have the last two games UofL can't win. If UofL shoots the way they did against IU and the second half against Western, and UK reverts to Columbia level, then UofL can win this game. I think the interior defenses cancel out, the rebounds probably cancel out, I don't think Kentucky will struggle with turnovers in any major way. It's just going to come down to hitting those open shots and either building momentum or killing it.

[UKBoo]

I think the Harrell suspension will be a factor. He's sitting out tonight. He's going to be itching to go Saturday. While it might be a factor, the result could go either way. He plays with more energy and stays within himself and it could help the birds. He over plays and makes mistakes and UofL is gonna get killed.

I normally do not form opinions about a team this early but this year is the exception because UK is just really that good. I think Billy Reed is right, this team is so good that there is nothing UofL can do about it if UK comes to play. Sure they can lose and they might whether it's Saturday or in League play. But it won't be the other team beating them. It will be UK beating themselves. This goes for the regular season and the SEC tourney, assuming UK's roster stays intact. I think Duke is the only team that could play UK straight up and give them a run.