BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Louisville @ Cincinnati

January 31, 2007


One of the best rivalries in the history of Conference USA reunites tonight in the Big East as Louisville travels to meet Cincinnati. Louisville has turned things around lately, winning five of their last six contests, highlighted by their come from behind stunner over Syracuse on Saturday night. Cincinnati have found things tough going in the Big East, winning just once in conference play in Mick Cronin's first season as UC's coach.

Here are the links to the pregame stories and previews found on the internet this AM:

Cronin to Face Mentor Pitino (Cincinnati Post)
Shooting Isn't Everything (Louisville Courier-Journal)
UC, Louisville Friendly Rivals (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Cronin's Seen Pitino Before (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Cronin is Another Pitino Protege (Lexington Herald-Leader)



Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW



Much of the focus of tonight's match-up between Louisville and Cincinnati has been on the coaches as the pupil (Mick Cronin) meets the teacher (Rick Pitino). New Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin served as a Pitino assistant at Louisville where he helped build the Cardinal final four team of a couple years ago.

However, maybe the focus should be on the Cardinals play of late. Louisville entered Big East play with a lot of questions and after a 16-pt loss at Notre Dame to open conference play, many were ready to write off Louisville once again. However, five wins in their last six games have brough Louisville back into consideration for the NCAA Tournament talk and into contention in the Big East. With road games at Pittsburgh, Marquette and Villanova and a home date with Georgetown, tougher games are ahead, making this game at Cincinnati very critical.

Cincinnati narrowly missed a road upset at Syracuse and followed that up with an exciting OT win over West Virginia. Things looked to be getting better, but Pittsburgh and Georgetown ended any momentum the Bearcats hoped to build. However, Mick Cronin was happy with the Bearcats improvements even in those losses. The Fifth Third Arena should be charged up for this rivalry,but do the Cincinnati players know this is a rivalry? Afterall, only Cedric McGowan, Ronald Allen and Conor Carwin have ever faced Louisville and they only played them last year. However, the oddsmakers have certainly placed a line on this game that sayys RIVALRY as Louisville is a 3.5-pt road favorite over the Big East's 16th placed team.

Louisville finally looks to be healthy with Brandon Jenkins, Juan Palacios and David Padgett playing minutes that were expected of them before the season started. They will still be without sophomore Andre McGee and who knows if freshman Derrick Caracter will ever suit up for the Cardinals again, but this looks to be the most cohesive Louisville has been all year. Their freshmen backcourt duo of Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith have been solid and sophomore wing Terrence Williams continues to lead the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and turnovers and is 2nd on the team in blocks. He remains the key, because when he hits shots, they are a tough team to beat!

Both teams play a similar style, but Cincinnati doesn't quite have the depth to compete for the 40 minutes, but look for them to play zone and hope the atmosphere can rattle Louisville into some missed shots. Cincinnati will try and use their athleticism inside, but their inconsistent shooting from deep will have to be on to keep pace.

In this rivalry game, I am going with the better team, but I think the home team keeps it closer than many would expect.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Louisville 66 Cincinnati 63