Villanova 92 Louisville 84

[CoachBuckett]

Not from where I was sitting. The refs made this game almost impossible to watch. Both ways. 66 fouls is ridiculous.

 

I agree. I am not sure home either team got into a grove.

[FormerCawoodTrojan]

Louisville plays a very rough style...Pitino always has and the refs called it close. As far as Swopshire....wow, no idea either. Knowles plays hard and d's up, but kid hit the backboard on every open look he had in the 2nd half. I didn't watch the 1st half, so not sure how he even had 9 pts.

[Xtiger69]

UL can not lose any more at home if they play on making the big dance. You know there will be some losses on the road so you just have to win at home. 5 losses already including 3 at home not good.

[LRCW]

UL can not lose any more at home if they play on making the big dance. You know there will be some losses on the road so you just have to win at home. 5 losses already including 3 at home not good.

 

 

The Cards play a brutual schedule. The Big East is extremely tough that's for sure. I think if they finish at least .500 in the conference that they will make the big dance.

[LCPATS]

I had a feeling Reynolds would finally do something against UofL. McGee has locked him up in years past, Reynolds was averaging 6 ppg against UofL in his career. They actually started ok last night, but he took over in the second half. And he was making very difficult shots, contested, etc. When he gets hot like that, he's unguardable because of his uncanny ability to shoot from different angles. He scored their final 16pts, and they were all clutch.

 

Uofl lost this game because they shot poorly. You can't beat a top ten team shooting 30%. It rest on the inability to excute their half court offense. Siva is a much better true PG, but he is immature still. Makes silly fouls. Smith has completely lost his shot. Never seen a career 43% 3pt shooter lose their shot. That's killing them too. Plain and simple, UofL is shooting too many 3's. GO INSIDE!!!

 

As for Swop, he's not the problem. He doesn't hurt them. He didn't shoot well last night (still finished with 7pts 7 boards), and had 16 and 8 against the Johnnies on Saturday. The kid is a decent player. Rock gets into foul trouble and doesn't know the offense well enough. I agree, he has more upside, but freshman seldom ever grasp hold of Pitino's system early on. He will evolve into a very good player. Just taking him too long.

 

Look at the positives. Samuels played very well again, needs the ball more. This team is a very good free throw shooting team, and a very good rebounding team.

 

Cards blew a good chance to knock off a top rated team, but like I said. You have to make shots. They've played two top 5 Cats in the last two weeks and had a chance to win both games, but it's near impossible shooting 30% from the field. I think UofL will have to finish at least 10-8 in league play to make the tourny. They are going to have a very high RPI and SOS. I don't know if the can get to 10-8, the league is really balanced.

[Augger]

Reynolds scored 30 of his 36 in the second half. Louisville couldnt stop him. This could be a disappointing year for the Cards.

[5wide]

39-45 from the line is impressive for a college basketball team...especially one that also shot 7-32 from long range in the same game. You'd think a team that could hit almost 87% from the line could at least hit 1/3 of their treys. :lol:

 

I agree with Swamprat. The fouls made this one hard to watch. I cannot believe there were that many fouls and only 2-3 guys actually fouled out. :idunno:

 

I haven't watched either enough to say definitively, but from what I saw last night, I'd agree with Jim. I didn't think 'Nova looked that much better. The difference was Scottie Reynolds...'Nova had the best player and he played the PG position. So, with two closely matched teams, its not surprising that the one with a POY candidate at the point won.

 

Man the Big East is tough!:scared:

[gametime]

Man the Big East is tough!:scared:

 

14 of 16 in the top 90 teams in the KenPom rankings. It's insane how deep the conference is this year...

[TonyDanza]

Reynolds was clutch. Great bb player.

 

I agree! :thumb:

 

Didn't think this game was ever going to end.

 

Pitino should have taken off the white suit at the half! :lol::lol:

[5wide]

14 of 16 in the top 90 teams in the KenPom rankings. It's insane how deep the conference is this year...

 

It is. It just keeps getting better. Of course, that's understandable. If you were a great player and a competitor, especially if you were looking ahead to the NBA, why wouldn't you want to test yourself in a conference like the Big East?

 

Brutal.

[mobaar]

14 of 16 in the top 90 teams in the KenPom rankings. It's insane how deep the conference is this year...

 

And yet their 3rd in his conference rankings. Rutgers and DePaul are a big drag.

[tcjkbt]

Thought Nova played smarter, not necessarily harder, than UL. I agree with the earlier poster that Nova is not that much better. The game was somewhat of an aberration because of all the fouls. The Cards died by the 3 and Nova lived by it (Reynolds was 5 for 5).

In a 10-day span. UL has played (and lost to) the current #2 and #4 teams.

[SLINK]

Tough loss for the Cards who had a 17 point lead.

[Milfordflash]

If the referees had been calling all the fouls they would still be playing this game. That's Pitino's style on the press. Grab, hack, knock the ball away. When the refs aren't calling it they are tough but when they do it makes them less effective in what they do. Samuels should get the ball a lot more than he does. If I was him I would be all over the guards when they won't pass it in. Then they shoot a three and miss most of them.