Josh White
Kentucky Wildcats vs. Louisville Cardinals
Saturday, March 31, 2012, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
6:09 PM Tipoff, CBS
Before we get started with the latest Preview, I’d like to apologize to the readers for a lack of a preview for the UK/Baylor game. For those that don’t know, I was stricken late last week with a case of kidney stones. Anyone who’s ever had one just cringed when they read that. I kid you not when I say that kidney stones are one of the single worst pains that you’ll ever feel. A friend of mine described it best as a searing pain that feels like someone is simultaneously kicking you in the back with a metatarsal boot and spearing you in the kidney with a red hot poker. It’s not fun.
That said, I also need to fully disclose myself. I hate Louisville. Hate them. I can find no single redeeming quality in their program. I’d rather sit through a day’s worth of Duke highlights than see a Louisville win. I’d rather Tennessee or North Carolina or Florida or UCLA or even the aforementioned Dukies win consecutive National Championships than Louisville even make the Final Four. I. HATE. LOUISVILLE. I cannot stress this enough.
Normally in this space, I’d tell you about Big Blue’s opponents, tell you about their leading scorers, about how they’ve fared in their past few games, about their tendencies or depth. But when I look down the Louisville stat sheet, my eyes feel like they want to melt out of my head. But I’ll brave it, since it’s my duty to tell you who your Cats are facing this week.
The Dirty Birds are led by senior forward Kyle Kuric, who scores a team leading 12.7 points per game, and was voted by his peers as “Most Likely to Join a Boy Band After Graduation”. Sophomore guard Russ Smith scored 30 points against UK in their last meeting on New Year’s Eve, but a lot of those points were scored in garbage time minutes, but a Card fan for some reason won’t let you forget this fact. Senior guard Chris Smith is the brother of New York Knicks guard/head case J.R. Smith. Enough said. And let’s not forget Peyton Siva, who if you’ll remember during his freshman year was claimed by Cards fans as “better than John Wall”. I still laugh whenever I hear that. If a Card fan is good for something, it’s making you laugh. Thank you Cardinal fans, after the week I’ve had, I certainly needed the chuckle.
PREDICTION: Getting a little more serious, Kentucky is considered a heavy favorite in this game, and the favorite to win the eventual national championship. But let’s not forget that ANYTHING… and I mean ANYTHING… can happen in the NCAA Tournament. Stranger things have happened. We also need to factor in we’re playing a heated rival. A lot of Kentucky fans will debate on who our biggest rival is. Some will say Duke or Tennessee or Florida or Indiana. But there’s no doubt who Louisville’s biggest rival is. Sink or swim, Louisville will throw everything they have into this game. In the end, I just don’t think Louisville has the offense to hang with the Cats. I mean sure, they could get hot from downtown and go on a scoring run, but it’s unlikely with Kentucky’s defense. But as I said before, ANYTHING can happen in the tournament. I still think we move on to face either Kansas or Ohio State. Kentucky has been playing phenomenal basketball as of late, and I don’t think there’s anyone at this point that can stop them.
Kentucky 71, Louisville 60
