The Boston area has spent the last couple of days in snowmageddon. Over 20 inches of snow has come down in that area in the last 72hrs, but that won’t stop the game between the Cardinals and Eagles on Wednesday night. These teams have met five times on the hardwood and this will be their very first meeting as conference foes. BC holds a 3-2 lead in five match-ups with the Cardinals. The last time the teams met in 1996, Louisville won a double overtime game in Louisville.

The Boston College Eagles have split their last four games and look for just their second ACC win on the season. The Eagles earned their first ACC victory under head coach Jim Christian at Georgia Tech on Sunday, 64-62. On the offensive end of the floor they are shooting 43.4% from the field, 30.9% from the three point line, and are averaging 64.6 points a game. This Boston College roster is loaded with a lot of college basketball experience. Out of the 16 players, two are graduate students, six are seniors and three are juniors. According to StatSheet.com, BC is the seventh-most experienced team in the country and the only team in the top 10 from the ACC. Upper classmen have accounted for 90 percent of the scoring, 92 percent of the assists, 85 percent of the minutes and 84 percent of the rebounds. Leading the way for the Eagles Olivier Hanlan is averaging 16.8 points and 4.5 assists while Aaron Brown is averaging 14 points and 3.2 rebounds. Patrick Heckmann is dishing 2.2 assists and Dennis Clifford is grabbing 5.6 rebounds.

Boston College is one of the tallest teams in the country this season and this length and versatility has really helped them on the defensive end of the floor. They have allowed just 63.7 points per game this season through 18 games, and have given up 66 or less points in five of their last six games. They are allowing teams to shoot 43.7 points from the field, and 30.1% from the three.

BC’s 2014-15 OVERALL Rankings Offense | Defense

BC’s 2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #113
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-97.2 ranks 95th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-101.9 ranks 156th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 66-60 based on his indexes.

Our Cardinals have won five of their last seven games, and really had a much improved performance on Sunday from an offensive standpoint. The big four are still carrying this team through the season. Terry Rozier is averaging 17.8 points and 5.3 rebounds while Montrezl Harrell is averaging 15.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. Chris Jones is dishing four assists a game and Wayne Blackshear is grabbing 5.1 rebounds a game. Louisville’s 65.2 percent shooting from the field at Pitt was its best since shooting 70 percent vs. Tulane (35-of-50) on Feb. 27, 1993. Louisville has shot above 47 percent from the field on nine occasions this season.

The Cardinals will fly to Boston on game day and this will probably test their focus early on. They will hopefully shake the jet lag pretty quick and look to build on the offensive improvement that they showed on Sunday. I’d like to see them get some wiggle room in this game so Coach Pitino can continue to bring some of the other guys along. Quentin Snider, and Shaqquan Aaron are on the verge of being pretty solid contributors. Mango’s numbers are also slowly moving up and he could really make a big impact on this unit if he maintains the offensive consistency. He will be challenged in the game by the BC length. Montrezl also has struggled at times against teams with good length, so it will be interesting to see what kind of outing he has.

I do think the game-day travel could affect our guys especially the shooting percentages. If that happens I could see this one being a dog fight the whole way.

Louisville 70 Boston College 59

The Cardinals will hit the hardwood again on Sunday afternoon getting back to action after an eight game lay-off. The Cardinals will spark back up an old Big East rivalry when they travel to the Petersen Events Center to play the Pitt Panthers. Louisville has an 8-5 advantage in its series with Pittsburgh, winning the last four match-ups. In the last meeting, the Cardinals won 64-61 over the Panthers in the KFC Yum! Center on Jan. 28, 2013 as Russ Smith led the Cardinals with 20 points. This will be the fourth true road game of the season for our Cardinals and they will play four of the next five on the road.

COACH PITINO PREVIEWS PITT

The Panthers have won two of their last three games and will be looking for their fourth ACC win. On the season, Pittsburgh is averaging 66.5 points on 44% shooting from the field, and 32.9% from the three. Leading the way on offense for the Panthers are Michael Young averaging 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds (15 double figure scoring games this season) while Jamel Artis is averaging 10.5 points and five rebounds. James Robinson is second in the ACC in free throw percentage 84.3% a game and is third in assists 4.7 a game. Cameron Wright is shooting 44.6 percent from the field. The Pittsburgh Panthers are a defensive team that’s allowing 62.6 points on 42.6% shooting from the field, 32.2% shooting from deep and they have given up 65 or less points in five of their last eight games.

Pitt’s 2014-15 Overall Rankings Offense | Defense

Pitt’s 2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #95
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-101.9 ranks 183rd
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-109.5 ranks 43rd
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 64-59 based on his indexes.

On the season, Louisville is averaging 72.6 points on 42.7% shooting from the field, and 29.4% from the three and are allowing their opponents 57.2 points on 37% shooting. Over the last 11 games, Terry Rozier has averaged 20.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals, scoring over 20 points in four games. He leads the ACC in steals. Montrezl Harrell is averaging 14.9 points and 9.2 rebounds while he is two points short of becoming the 66th career 1,000-point scorer at Louisville. His seven double doubles this season are tied for the ACC lead. Chris Jones is dishing out 3.7 assists and Wayne Blackshear is grabbing 5.2 rebounds a game. Our Cardinals have been relying on a defense that’s allowing 29.4 percent shooting from deep and has given up 63 or less points in six of their last eight games.

Louisville has a 46-26 record in conference games on the road over the last nine seasons (.648), claiming the best road record in both the Big East and AAC during its time in those two leagues. In order to keep that record on the positive side they are going to have to figure out how to get the ball in the basket. I expect that over the past eight days Coach Pitino has developed some new strategy to get these guys in the best position to be successful. I think we will see a more relaxed team on the offensive end of the floor with an emphasis on scoring in the paint, and working the clock during a possession. Quick jump shots and possessions haven’t been working very well for this group. I also think you will see Quentin Snider, Shaqquan Aaron, and Anton Gill start to become more important to this team and all will start to see their roles get bigger starting in the game against Pitt. I think we will see an improved Montrezl and one that stops letting the opposing defense dictate his offense.

Folks this group needed these eight days in the practice gym and I really think that we will see some great results. I look for a much more efficient group on offense and a more relentless group on defense. Pitt will be in the wrong place at the wrong time on Sunday. Cards will roll and look much better in the process.

Louisville 78 Pitt 63

In 1980 I was an 8yr old growing up in a small town in Kentucky. I didn’t start really paying attention to Cardinal Basketball until I was 12, but have read enough old articles and watched enough old footage that I can really appreciate how good that 1980 team was. Every time the program has won a national title it has been really special, but that very first one is what put the program on the map. That was a special team and a special group of players that included Louisville’s own Darrell Griffith who promised his city a championship and delivered. On Saturday that group will be honored when the Cardinals play Duke a team Louisville beat in 1986 for the program’s second title. Louisville will even break out the Dunking Bird uniforms for the occasion.

RICK PITINO TALKS BLUE DEVILS

The Cardinals and Blue Devils have played nine times on the hardwood. Duke leads the series 5-4, but Louisville has won the last four out of five including the last one in that inspirational elite eight game during the 2013 title run. This game will feature two of the biggest traditions in college basketball and two of the most influential coaches in the history of college basketball. Mike Krzyzewski in his 40th season has 997 wins, and Rick Pitino in his 30th season has 709 wins. Saturday will be the beginning of a new ACC rivalry that will be very good for years to come.

The Blue Devils will limp into the Yum Center on Saturday after losing their last two games, including falling 90-74 at home to Miami on Tuesday. Their offense really hasn’t been the issue as much as they just can’t seem to get stops on the defensive end of the floor. They have allowed 10 made three-point field goals in each of the past two games. They are allowing opponents to shoot 42.8% from the floor, and 30.6% from the three. This is a team that relies heavily on a group of freshman and they haven’t fully bought into giving their best effort on defense.

This Duke team is loaded with talent and they have an NCAA-best and school-record nine McDonald’s All-America selections on the roster in 2014-15. Freshmen Tyus Jones (9.4ppg, 3.4rpg), Jahlil Okafor (18.9ppg, 9.4rpg) and Justise Winslow (11.9ppg, 4.9rpg) have started all 16 games for the Blue Devils. This trio combines to average 40.2 points, 17.6 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game. A freshman has led the Blue Devils in scoring in 12 of 16 games. Okafor has led eight times, while Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow have each led Duke in scoring two times. This rookie trio has accounted for 10 of Duke’s 11 20-point games on the year (Okafor 7, Jones 2, and Winslow 1).

The upperclassmen leading the way on this team are Quinn Cook (14.8ppg, 2.9rpg), Amile Jefferson (8.3ppg, 7,7rpg), and Rasheed Sulaimon (8.1ppg, 1.9rpg). Cook and Sulaimon are great shooters and both of them can light it up behind the arc. Cook has made at least one three-point field goal in each of the past 26 games, and is shooting 41.4 percent from behind the arc. Sulaimon is shooting 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from three- point range in league play. While Jefferson is a beast on the backboards especially the offensive glass. He has 50 of the Blue Devils 201 offensive rebounds on the season ranked 7th in the ACC with 3.1 a game.

Duke’s offensive attack is one of the most efficient in the NCAA as the Blue Devils rank in the top 10 in points per game (6th), floor percentage (2nd), and points per possession (5th), efficiency (5th), two- point field goal percentage (6th), field goal percentage (6th) and true shooting percentage (10th). To say they will be the toughest challenge of the season for the Cardinals defense is a major understatement.

Duke’s 2014-15 Overall Rankings Offense | Defense

Duke’s 2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #11
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-95.0 ranks 66th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-116.9 ranks 7th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 74-69 based on his indexes.

Chris Jones has averaged 17.5 points, 7.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and shot 49 percent from the field in the last four games. He handed out a career-high 11 assists with just two turnovers in the last game. Terry Rozier is leading the Cards in scoring with 17.4 points a game and has scored over 20 points in his last four. Montrezl Harrell has been quiet as of late but he is just 12 points short of becoming the 66th career 1,000-point scorer at Louisville. His six double- doubles this season are also tied for the ACC lead. Wayne Blackshear has also maintained a steady pace averaging 12 points and 4.6 rebounds in his last three games. These guys are Louisville’s bread and butter and they’ll need to keep trending upward to beat the Dukies on Saturday.

Louisville must also get some help from the bench. The Cards got 18 points from the bench in the last game as Snider, Aaron, and Gill had some productive minutes. The guys at the 5 spot are also going to be important in this one and moving forward. Mango’s numbers are slowly improving averaging 4.3 points and 7 rebounds in the last three games. Onuaku and Anas still need to improve on their numbers.

Louisville ranks among the nation’s top 15 in field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 36.5%, which ranks 11th nationally. They have held 12 of their last 17 opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field, and are 42nd nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense holding teams to 29.5%. Defense is what our Cardinals are about and if they win the game on Saturday it will be because of another great effort on that end of the court. Louisville has held a rebounding advantage in 10 of its 17 games, but the Cardinals have been beaten on the boards in three of the last four. The Cards are 17th nationally in offensive rebounds per game. I think they’ll have to win this battle also or at least keep it close.

This is one of the biggest games on the schedule. The Yum center is going to be rocking and emotions will be running high. I think our guys will feed off of that energy along with the buzz from the ceremony honoring that 1980 group. They’ll channel some of that greatness from those throwback uniforms and will have one of their best games of the season. It will be three losses in a row for the Dukies…

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 70 Duke 63

I literally cut my teeth as a Louisville Basketball fan when they were members of the Metro Conference. I can remember it like it was yesterday lying in the floor watching that old Zenith console TV. It will be like Déjà Vu on Tuesday night when Louisville renews an old Metro Conference rivalry with Virginia Tech. The Cardinals and the Hokies have met 36 times in a series that started in 1978. The Cardinals lead the series 28-8, and have won the last nine straight dating back to the last meeting that came with the dissolution of the Metro back in 1995. This is the only meeting between the two schools this season. The Cards will also face a familiar foe in the Hokie head coach Buzz Williams who had some great battles with coach Pitino when he was the Marquette head man.

RICK PITINO PREVIEWS VIRGINIA TECH

Buzz Williams is a very good coach and he is in the early stages of rebuilding the Virginia Tech program. His young Hokies are 8-7 and 13th in the ACC. The Hokies have five freshmen seeing significant minutes. Justin Bibbs (13.5 ppg), Ahmed Hill (8 ppg), Jalen Hudson (5.9 ppg), Malik Muller (4 ppg), and Satchel Pierce (3.6 ppg) are averaging 35.0 points per game and their 550 points accounts for 49.5 percent of the team’s scoring. This group has made 34 of
the 75 available starts for the team this season. Adam Smith (12.7 ppg), Joey Van Zegeren (9.8 ppg), and Devin Wilson (7.9 ppg) are the upperclassmen leading the way.

The Hokies appear to have the offensive firepower to be competitive scoring 69.4 points a game. This team can shoot the basketball and are averaging 47.8% from the field good for 32nd in the nation. They are shooting 40.4% from the three and 61.1% at the free-throw line. But getting both ends of the floor on the same page has been the issue. They are giving up an average of 79 points during a three game skid that was capped off with an 86-75 defeat at Florida State last week. They are allowing opponents to shoot 40.4% from the floor and 32.7% from the three.

2014-15 Overall Rankings Offense | Defense

Virginia Tech 2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #183
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-102.4 ranks 210th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-100.8 ranks 165th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 77-57 based on his indexes.

Our Cardinals are coming off one of their best performances of the season especially on the offensive end of the floor where they won the shooting battle 47.5% to 43%. They struggled on defense especially in the final 8 minutes giving up a 13 point lead and giving up 15 offensive rebounds that helped give the Tar Heels eight more looks at the basket. There was also a lack of scoring outside that of Jones, Rozier, Blackshear, and Harrell. And Montrezl had a very mediocre outing. It will be interesting to see how our guys come out of the gate on Tuesday night.

We need to get more production out of our 5 spot guys Mango, Onuaku, and Anas. We also need to get more production out of our bench that was outscored 20-0 in the loss to UNC. Coach Pitino has said that he will make these areas a priority moving forward and Tuesday night will be a good chance to see if our big guys and bench can get things moving in the right direction. This Hokies program is on their way to being very competitive but I don’t give them much of a shot in this one.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 78 Virginia Tech 60

The Cardinals will take their 2-0 ACC record to tobacco road on Saturday afternoon to face the North Carolina Tar Heels. This will be the first time these teams play as conference foes. The teams are meeting for the second year in a row, as the Tar Heels beat the Cardinals 93-84 last season on Nov. 24 in the Hall of Fame Tipoff. Carolina leads the all-time series 9-3, and have won the last five out of six including two in a row. Saturday’s contest will also include a pair of Hall of Fame coaches on the sidelines, Roy Williams 735 wins (Hall of Fame class of 2007) and Rick Pitino 709 wins (class of 2013).

COACH PITINO TALKS ABOUT THE NORTH CAROLINA GAME

The Tar Heels are 1-1 and have won 5 of their last six games. The Tar Heels are facing their second consecutive ranked opponent, hoping to bounce back from Monday night’s loss to No. 13 Notre Dame. That defeat snapped a five-game Carolina winning streak. The one thing that this Carolina team has struggled with over the past couple of years is consistency. They look like world beaters in one game and come out uninspired in the next one. They have the talent and the depth but just haven’t been able to put it together night after night.

MONTREZL TALKS NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina is averaging 80.1 points a game while shooting 45.3% from the floor, 30.5% from the three and 70% from the free throw line. They are led in scoring by Marcus Paige (13.5PPG), Kennedy Meeks (12.7PPG), Brice Johnson (11.3PPG), Justin Jackson (9.6PPG), and J.P. Tokoto (9.1PPG). Carolina’s defense is holding its opponents to 35.4% shooting this season, ranking second in the ACC. The Tar Heels lead the ACC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 26.1%. Carolina has held 13 of its first 15 opponents under 40% shooting from the floor. Carolina leads the ACC in offensive rebounding percentage at .449 (ranking second nationally) but is 14th of 15 ACC teams in defensive rebounding percentage at .677 (222nd nationally). The Tar Heels are very good when it comes to sharing the basketball averaging 17.8 a game ranked 8th nationally.

CHRIS JONES TALKS NORTH CAROLINA

Kennedy Meeks will be a big challenge for the Cardinals. He leads the team with 8.8 rebounds per game and 22 blocked shots. Meeks is tied with Montrezl for the lead in the ACC in double-doubles with six each. J.P. Tokoto has led UNC or tied for the team lead in assists nine times this season. Justin Jackson has scored in double figures three times in the last five games. Isaiah Hicks has been Carolina’s defensive player of the game a team-high six times this season.

North Carolina 2014-15 Overall Rankings Offense | Defense

2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #11
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-89.4 ranks 10th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-111.5 ranks 19th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville losing the game 71-67 based on his indexes.

This North Carolina team is about like the match-up with UK when it comes to their length and athletic ability. The Cardinals are going to have to play great in transition defense and limit the Tar Heels in their fast break points, and they must have a good day on the glass just to be able to stay in this game. Louisville’s big four have come up big all season and they will need to have a good game on Saturday. I’m concerned about the production in the paint and would like to see the Cardinals get more out of that 5 spot on Saturday.

I don’t think the Cardinals have to play a perfect game to beat North Carolina on Saturday but they will have to play one of their best games of the season. They will be very motivated trying not to lose back-to-back games at home. This one has me nervous but I just can’t pick against our guys and think they will answer the bell on the defensive end of the floor. Plus I really like the way Chris Jones has been playing and think he comes up big on Saturday.

The Beak Prediction:
Louisville 67 North Carolina 63