University of Louisville Cardinals vs. University of Kentucky Wildcats
Rupp Arena
Quick Notes
- UK leads the all-time series 26-14 (with Louisville being 6-11 at Louisville, 6-13 in Lexington, and 2-2 on neutral courts).
In the last meeting (how could any of us forget?), UofL won 74-71 on a game-winning deep 3 by Edgar Sosa (see beautiful artwork to the right).- Louisville is coming off of a 73-52 victory in their Big East opener, while UK is coming off of a 104-61 victory over Hartford. UK is 14-0, their best start since the 1977-78 season, while UofL stands at 10-3, having 5 straight victories though.
- The winner of the football game between the two schools has gone on to lose the basketball game in all but one year since the rivalry was continued in 1994. The only exception was in 2003 when UofL won both games...This could be our good luck charm thanks to The Krag.
Projected Starting Lineups
Louisville Cardinals
F 12 Reginald Delk
F 21 Jared Swopshire
C 15 Samardo Samuels
G 34 Jerry Smith
G 10 Edgar Sosa
Kentucky Wildcats
F 15 DeMarcus Cousins
F 54 Patrick Patterson
G 1 Darius Miller
G 11 John Wall
G 24 Eric Bledsoe
Game Preview
Truth be told, I am scared to death about this game. UK is good, in fact, they are real good; I think UofL is good as well, I just don't know if we can hang with that much talent for a full game. Now, that all being said, if the Cards lose today, I will be crushed and will probably drink myself out of the depression.
UofL vs. UK is the best rivalry in college basketball, I don't care what the worldwide leader says, Duke/UNC has nothing on this rivalry (don't believe me, ask the fine folks over at Card Chronicle). Bragging rights for a whole entire year, and I don't want to give up 24 straight months of trash talk victories against UK fans today. This is pure hatred between two fanbases, and don't doubt for a second that UK fans haven't waited all year for this game.
To the game itself, a lot of hype will be built around the fact that this is Pitino vs. Calipari, which let's face it, that is an exciting selling point to the face-value fan. The real story is about the players and the rivalry between the two schools. For those of you who would like to talk Pitino/Calipari though, allow me to remind you of what occured the last time the two coaches faced off. Ouch, poor Memphis. One last photo for good measure though, it never gets old, Enough about that though, this is going to be a tough game just based off of matchups. My biggest concern is not John Wall, it is the combo of Patterson & Cousins. I think we have enough talent at guard to consistently keep a fresh guy on Wall and contain him somewhat; where we lack is in the post. Samardo and Jennings will have to play the game of their lives to contain Cousins and Orton, I'm not certain they can do it for a full game. Then I look at the situation at PF, who can cover Patterson? Swop is good, but he's not nearly good enough to keep Patterson under control (that's not a knock on Swop, I think we would all agree that Patterson is much better than him). The we have Buckles, who in my opinion, is too young to play on Patterson consistently well. The combo of Swop and Buckles will have to have a hell of a day for us to stay in contention to win the game; strong defense, rebounding, and being a presence on the offensive side of the ball are all crucial.
Another concern I have is that we are a young team and we have only had one true road game this season. The UNLV game was a crazy atmosphere, but UNLV only hates us because we are playing UNLV, UK hates us because we are UofL. The atmosphere at today's game will be unlike anything the freshmen and sophomores have played in before. If we get behind we have to be sure not to get rattled, if this occurs, there is no way we keep it respectable.
My opinion, is that we'll either get blown out or it will be a close game; I'm not 100% sure we can win a close game against a team this talented, but regardless, at approximately 6 o'clock tonight we will know a lot more about this Cardinal team. My prediction, and I'm a complete homer, is UofL 87 UK 81.
Gameday Links
GO CARDS, BEAT UK!
