ADVERTISEMENT

Louisville @ Syracuse

What's going on everyone. Hope you all are doing well and having a great Tuesday. No preview for tonight's game unfortunately. Have been out of town for work, and have been super busy, but we will be back at it for UVA on Saturday. I will provide a quick little rundown.

The Cards come into tonight's game on a 6 game winning streak, while Syracuse comes in on a 2 game winning streak. Cuse's overall record is 8-8 and 2-3 in conference play, with their 2 conference wins coming against BC and GA Tech. Regardless if this team is .500 or not, a conference away game will always be tough. Especially in the JMA Wireless Dome. Syracuse comes in with some talent, and definitely comes in with the size advantage against the Cards. I have no doubt PK and the boys will come out playing well, but we cannot overlook this game. I expect the team to win and cover, but it won't be as easy as everyone may think. The Cards are a -8.5 point favorite on FD.

Go Cards!

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men’s basketball will look to extend its winning streak to seven games on Tuesday evening at Syracuse at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.



Louisville enters the contest on a six-game winning streak that includes three on the road, most recently beating Pitt in Pittsburgh 82-78 on Saturday afternoon. Syracuse also picked up a road win on Saturday, beating Boston College 79-71 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.



Louisville leads the all-time series between the two programs 19-14, but trails 4-8 when playing in Syracuse. The Cardinals haven’t beat the Orange at their place since an overtime 76-72 victory on Feb. 13, 2017 - UofL has lost the last three in Syracuse and last four overall.



GAME 18

Listen:
Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9 FM & WGTK 970 AM flagship);

Streaming (Paul Rogers, pxp | Bob Valvano, analysis)

Watch: ACC Network (Doug Sherman, pxp | Eric Devendorf, analysis)

Live Stats: Syracuse Stats



CARDINAL NOTES


  • Four of Louisville’s five losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 3 Duke (14-2), No. 6 Tennessee (15-1), No. 8 Kentucky (13-3), and No. 21 Ole Miss (14-2). As of Jan. 13, those teams, along with [RV] Oklahoma (13-3) are a combined 69-11.
  • Against Clemson on Jan. 7, J’Vonne Hadley scored 32 points, the most by any player in an ACC game up to that point in the season.
  • Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
  • Louisville played five ranked opponents before the New Year. The Cardinals have the 12th best strength of schedule according to KenPom as of Jan. 9.
  • As of Jan.12, Louisville is ninth in the country in 3-point attempts per game (31.1).
  • As of Jan. 12, Chucky Hepburn is 10th in the country in steals per game at 2.65 and seventh in total steals with 45. Reyne Smith is third in the country in total 3-pointers made (61), fifth in total 3-point attempts (156) and sixth in 3-pointers per game (3.59).
  • Sophomore forward James Scott is fifth in the country in dunks as of Jan. 12 with 36 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is five dunks away from cracking Louisville’s top-15 dunks in a season list.
  • Senior guard Reyne Smith was named ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 23 for his 27-point performance at Florida State. It was just the third time in the program’s 11 years in the ACC that Louisville has had multiple ACC Player of the Week awards as Chucky Hepburn also earned that title on Dec. 2.
  • Against Florida State on Dec. 21, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both logged eight assists apiece; it was the first Louisville game to have two Cardinals log at least eight assists each in the same game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Deng both had eight against Syracuse in the 2013 Big East Tournament championship game.
  • Louisville’s 89-61 victory over No. 14/15 Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis was Louisville’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 19/20 Virginia Tech 73-71 on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s the highest ranked opponent the Cards have beat since beating No. 3 Duke 79-73 on Jan. 18, 2020.

What's ahead for this Cards team.

My concern is the depth and fatigue. Can these guys stay healthy? Can their legs hold out? Chucky plays a lot of minutes - can his body and mind weather the storm. It is a lot to ask.
Especially with Hepburn. He's playing a ton of minutes and he plays so hard. What we need is some easy 20 point wins to rest Chucky. However, even in a weak ACC, this team isn't going to blow teams out of the gym.

Edwards is the only real answer at backing up the point guard and hopefully he improves and can get Chucky the rest he needs. I think he can and will. The first thing I noticed about this group is their ability to peservere and adapt to the teams they're playing. The basketball IQ is reminiscent of the 2013 team.

So when Hepburn has 4 fouls with 12 minutes to go, Edwards can adapt his game to being the distributor and put aside his scoring goals.

During this streak it looks like most everyone has improved since the Bahamas. Great coaching and great player dedication.
  • Like
Reactions: Bardman

Louisville vs Ga Tech

I have seen numerous times when Harris is up court fast enough to receive a full court pass from one of our guards for a breakaway layup. I don’t think the problem is we can’t do it I think in both the Oklahoma game as well as the Ga Tech game we had the lead the whole game both times. In both games in the 2nd half we slow the pace and run the clock and both teams were able to catch up. We lost to Oklahoma and we were able to hold on and beat Ga Tech.
Yeah it usually happens when she "snowbirds" she doesn't hustle back on defense, we get a turnover at the other end and she is still making her way back up the court. I'm not saying it happens all the time, but they can't sustain it over more than 1 or 2 possessions.

Louisville vs Ga Tech

I have seen numerous times when Harris is up court fast enough to receive a full court pass from one of our guards for a breakaway layup. I don’t think the problem is we can’t do it I think in both the Oklahoma game as well as the Ga Tech game we had the lead the whole game both times. In both games in the 2nd half we slow the pace and run the clock and both teams were able to catch up. We lost to Oklahoma and we were able to hold on and beat Ga Tech.

Cards Back In the Top 25

none of this matters, rankings don't matter. if you want to win, simply win. if you want to be in the tourney simply win. if you want to make it into the late rounds simply win. rankingsschmankings. As Al Davis always said, Just win Baby! as long as we are one of the 64 teams in the main field, nothing else matters but just win. btw, history has shown that ranking for any cards team generally goes to their head sand losses soon result. stay humble and don;t give a sh&t about what others think. reality is we are an 8.5 point favorite on the road in the acc. i think that says enough about what others think so screw the rankings
  • Like
Reactions: BooneCo_Card

Cards Back In the Top 25

No, no no. Each week the voters pick their top 25. There's no criteria that states a team has to work its way up to get ranked over time. They're supposed to evaluate the teams and their performance. What a teams former position on earlier polls should have NO bearing on the current week's poll.

An example would be what if the Cards beat Duke on the road instead of Pitt. Now I know that Duke would be a more impressive win, but Louisville would still have 5 losses, so to your theory, Louisville still shouldn't be ranked.

That makes no sense and some pretty big media pundits agree like Jay Bilas. A voter is supposed to consider only the current team's performance, not the year before, especially a team like Louisville that had ZERO players or coaches back from a year ago.

Take a look at the teams ranked 20 to 25 and ask yourself why those teams are ranked ahead of Louisville? The only sense it makes is the ongoing bias by voters against Louisville.

Wisconsin lost three in a roll to quad 1 and 2 teams and after winning 5 in a roll against lesser teams, are ranked.

Michigan has lost to Wake Forest and Arkansas, yet they're ranked.

Utah State? Yeah right.

Baylor is 1 and 4 against ranked teams and the rest of their wins have been mostly against non tournament teams. They're ranked #25. Why?
You can't use your example because we didn't beat Duke (who is #4) but we did beat Pitt. I would agree that if we beat Duke, UK but still had 5 losses, yes we would be ranked higher than #30, but we didn't so here we are. So the answer is just keep winning and it will take care of itself.
  • Like
Reactions: vivid_red

Cards Back In the Top 25

The way you guys have looked over the last month, you look like a Top-25 team. College basketball is better when Louisville is good.
Exactly! I just don't get Cards fans arguing against Louisville being ranked. It makes no sense, except only to be a contrarian to certain posters.

Louisville is second behind Duke in the ACC and gave the Blue Devils the best game of any other ACC team.

Louisville has won three conference road games, and beat both Clemson and UNC by double digits.

Louisville has zero bad losses with Oklahoma being the worst loss and that was the game Pryor was injured.

Louisville has played better since losing Pryor and Johnson which is unheard of.

Pat Kelsey is being talked about as coach of the year.

But despite all of this, the team doesn't deserve to be ranked in the top 25? And in the coaches poll they have only three votes.

If the Cards win both games this week, that would be 8 wins in a roll and a 16 and 5 record. They will still probably not be ranked in either poll as it looks now.

It's laughable anyone denying the obvious bias.

Cards Back In the Top 25

The coaches poll is even more biased against Louisville. The Cards received just 3 votes. Yet both Clemson and West Virginia are teams that Louisville has beaten. WVU is ranked 25. Clemson has more votes.

UCLA has 6 losses and has 12 votes. Maryland has 4 losses and has 8 votes. Texas Tech has 4 losses and has 6 votes.

New Mexico and St. Mary's have more votes than Louisville.

What exactly is the reasoning for Louisville to have just three votes after what they have accomplished? It's simple bias and it's blatant.

Cards Back In the Top 25

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first time in over three years, the Louisville men's basketball program is at least getting mentioned in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Cardinals (12-5, 5-1 ACC) garnered 17 points in week 11 of the AP Top 25 to jump into the "others receiving votes" section, earning a de facto ranking of No. 30. It's Louisville's first time receiving votes in the AP Poll since getting two points in the 2021-22 Week Four poll.

Login to view embedded media
The way you guys have looked over the last month, you look like a Top-25 team. College basketball is better when Louisville is good.

Cards Back In the Top 25

Simple. There are only 4 teams in the top 25 that have 4 losses, UCONN (defending champions), Gonzaga (geez, look at their schedule), Illinois (ranked earlier in top 10) and Baylor. We have 5 losses.

They have noticed but its a long way from being ranked in the 300's to get back into the top 25... Think about that.
No, no no. Each week the voters pick their top 25. There's no criteria that states a team has to work its way up to get ranked over time. They're supposed to evaluate the teams and their performance. What a teams former position on earlier polls should have NO bearing on the current week's poll.

An example would be what if the Cards beat Duke on the road instead of Pitt. Now I know that Duke would be a more impressive win, but Louisville would still have 5 losses, so to your theory, Louisville still shouldn't be ranked.

That makes no sense and some pretty big media pundits agree like Jay Bilas. A voter is supposed to consider only the current team's performance, not the year before, especially a team like Louisville that had ZERO players or coaches back from a year ago.

Take a look at the teams ranked 20 to 25 and ask yourself why those teams are ranked ahead of Louisville? The only sense it makes is the ongoing bias by voters against Louisville.

Wisconsin lost three in a roll to quad 1 and 2 teams and after winning 5 in a roll against lesser teams, are ranked.

Michigan has lost to Wake Forest and Arkansas, yet they're ranked.

Utah State? Yeah right.

Baylor is 1 and 4 against ranked teams and the rest of their wins have been mostly against non tournament teams. They're ranked #25. Why?

Louisville vs Ga Tech

I also wish they would go more to the transition game instead of a half court game.
Hard to do that when our bigs are slow getting up and down the court. Watch and you'll notice that if the play goes up and down a few times, Cochran and Harris are last up the court. Their inside game is supposed to be a strength but I think that is the weakness of this team. Jeff is trying to create the best situation for his young team.
  • Like
Reactions: Bardman
ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT