by Kevin Faris
Friday night was an appetizer for the sports weekend. and today is the main course, as Billy Gillispie leads the Wildcats into Freedom Hall to take on the 18th ranked Louisville Cardinals.
Can UK win? Of course. I always think UK can win. They could be playing a team of LeBron James clones and I would believe they could win. Will they win? That’s a much better question.
The pros of picking UL:
- They are more talented, on paper, top to bottom
- Game is at UL
- Vegas has the Cards as an 8 point favorite
- Their strength, pressure defense, matches up well with our weakness, turning the ball over
- Our strength, solid man to man defense, matches up well with their weakness, which is playing against a zone.
The pros of picking UK:
- UL has underachieved to this point in the season and have lost to three teams that they were also more talented then.
- UK’s shot blockers could cause problems for the UL interior players, specifically freshman Samardo Samuels.
- Porter and UK’s guards have really cut down on turnovers.
- UK has the best player, Patrick Patterson, on either team. Yes, I think he is better than UL’s Earl Clark.
- Jodie Meeks has always played well at Freedom Hall and if he can hit outside shots that could stop UL from collapsing on Patterson down low.
- UK’s awesome and UL sucks. Just wanted to get that in there.
So, to no one’s surprise, I will pick UK. 74-68. The surprise third scorer for UK will be Ramon Harris with DeAndre Liggins as my 2nd choice. If UL wins, the player of the game will be Terrance Williams and the surprise big game will be from Preston Knowles. But, hopefully, that won’t happen.
