15 | March | 2014 | The Cardinal's Beak

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It’s going to be a battle for the AAC tournament title tonight, but it’s going to have a Big East feel as the Huskies and Cards lock up one last time. Usually this story would have played out in front of a packed Madison Square Garden on a Saturday Night, but tonight the story will end in Memphis and it’s hard to say what the crowd will be like since they have been thin all week. The Cardinals lead this series 10-6 and have won four straight against the Huskies including that 33 point drubbing on senior day last weekend.

After a year of sitting out of post season play UCONN is one of the hungriest teams in college basketball right now looking forward to getting their chance at a deep NCAA run. Coach Kevin Ollie did an excellent job keeping his team playing hard last year, and this season has been no different. They could have folded their tents after that beat down in Louisville last weekend, but they have now beat the host team Memphis and top seeded UC to make the AAC final.

Their backcourt is experienced, talented and one of the best in the country. They are lead by All-American candidate Shabazz Napier (18.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 5.3 apg), Ryan Boatright (12.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.5 apg) and Omar Calhoun (4.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.3 apg) all can pressure the ball, are competitive, play with confidence and have the ability to score. They are also getting quality minutes from DeAndre Daniels (12.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.4 apg), Niels Giffey (8.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.5 blkpg) and Lasan Kromah (7.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.4 blkpg).

Taken together, the Huskies’ big three of Napier, Boatright and DeAndre Daniels are shooting around 44 percent inside the arc and around 45 percent outside it this season. Napier is everything for this team. He leads the team in every offensive category, steals, and even rebounds. He averages 17.8 points a game, and he makes his team better. DaAndre Daniels and Ryan Boatright both average over 12 points per game.

The Huskies are also playing some pretty good defense this week holding Memphis to 26.4% from the field and holding UC to 43.9%. Daniels and Amida Brimah are both in the top five of the conference in blocked shots. They had 4 against the Tigers and 6 against the Bearcats. These guys make the Huskies a scary team down low.
The key for them in their last two wins is that they have played more like a team, and not relied on Napier as much as they had been. It has been more of a team effort.

The Cardinals will get the Huskies best effort tonight. You best believe that they wanted this rematch. Our Cards have had an easier road to the AAC title game, but there will be nothing easy about this game tonight. The Cards biggest strengths to this point has been their ability to score and stop their opponents from scoring. It will have to be par for the course tonight. They lead the conference in points per game at 81.8. Russ Smith is coming off his monster game last night and we have four players averaging double figures. I would think that the scoring tonight will have to be distributed and more balanced. I look for a surprise game from Wayne Blackshear and just maybe Terry Rozier. I think Chris Jones will also have a big outing in his curtain call in his hometown. Taking care of the ball tonight will also be crucial.

The defense will need to have another big night and force them to get the ball in the hands of their guys that don’t handle it well. UCONN is a very good offensive team and the Cards will need to repeat their shut down performance of the Huskies last weekend. The Cards got brutalized on the boards last night, and that can’t happen tonight. Montrezl Harrell is second in the conference in rebounds per game, but last night only had 5. He has to do better in this title game.

With all that said you can throw all logic, stats, and records out the window for this one. It’s the AAC title game. A lot of pride is on the line for these two very proud programs. Don’t think for one second that the guys leading these two teams Russ and Napier don’t want to go out on top. This should be a great game and a fun one to watch. I think our Cards win a close one down the stretch. Our defense will be too much and the Huskies will eventually buckle under the pressure. I’m looking forward to this game! Go Cards!

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Louisville will advance to their 4th consecutive conference final and will be looking to win their 3rd conference championship in a row after eliminating Houston 94-65 in the AAC semi-finals tonight. The Cards came into the AAC Tournament leading the nation in win margin. The last 2 games didn’t hurt that beating Rutgers by 61, and Houston by 29. They have outscored their last three opponents by 123 Pts, and have 19 wins by 20+ points this season. No other team has more than 14.

It was another great defensive effort tonight and it didn’t take long for the pressure to start to take its toll on the Cougars. The Cards forced them into 16 turnovers scoring 20+ points off of those and had 8 steals. But defense was only half the story tonight as a offensive performance for the ages took center stage. Luke Hancock: “You can’t describe Russ’ game. That’s Russdiculous…Being able to play with a guy like that makes my job easier, and everyone better.” It’s one of those type performances that you tell your grandkids about someday when talking about the guy that wore number 2. For only the 5th time in the history of the Louisville Basketball program 40 points were scored by one player in a game, that player Russ Smith. Just when you think you’ve seen it all with this kid he comes out and drops 42 points on 14 of 22 shooting. It’s The third highest single-game scoring mark in the 100-year history of Louisville basketball. With his amazing performance tonight he is now one of just 8 Louisville players to score over 1,800 points, and moves into 5th All-time in scoring with 1837 points total. With 7 games to go this season he just has me asking what’s next?

There are other guys who are quietly doing their part to make this Louisville team go. One of those guys is Stephan Van Treese who has 33 rebounds in his last three games. That includes three straight with at least 10. He has become a more confident guy and is playing like he expects to grab double digit boards.
Mango has really started to look the part as well and he was one of the best defenders on the floor tonight with his 3 blocked shots. He also grabbed 6 boards.
Chris Jones had 8 assist and 2 steals tonight to balance out the tremendous offensive effort from his backcourt partner.
Great teams have a lot of things that make them great and one of those things is players on a team knowing what role they play. Every guy on this Louisville team knows exactly what their role is.

Montrezl has been killing the rims in Memphis like he has been all season. The word Beast doesn’t do him justice sometimes. After tonight he now has 90 monster dunks and number 90 might have been his most impressive of the year.
http://youtu.be/F0c88lF2FSw

If I can be critical for just one second I am a bit concerned that the guys got out-rebounded 43-38 tonight. They were able to mask this tonight, but it is something that could haunt this team down the road. Ok enough of that!
Our Cards are headed to another conference title game something very familiar to this group. It should be another great night for the Cardinals. 7 more to go. Go Cards!

Russ Smith after his amazing 42 point night: