It was a battle of the birds tonight in Indianapolis and the Oregon Ducks proved that they were a very formidable foe. They never laid down and fought for the entire forty minutes. But our Cards proved that they could bend without breaking as they won the game 77-69. They have now won 13 games in a row and will now be heading to their 13th elite eight in school history. Coach Pitino is now 11-0 in Sweet 16 games.

This team has proven that they can win games by dominating teams with their suffocating defense but tonight they proved that when that defense is a little off they can also win with some solid offense. On a night where the Louisville defense could only force Oregon into 12 turnovers and could only get 7 steals they scored over 40 points in the paint and dominated in the transition game getting to the rim on most of their possessions. They got so many baskets from close range that they shot 53.8% from the field. The Cards would also get to the rim enough that it caused the Ducks to get into foul trouble. The Cards weren’t as impressive from the free-throw line tonight only hitting 17 for 26 at 65.4% but it did help in a game where it took points to win.

I tweeted out earlier that Russ Smith is becoming legendary. Some think he is already there and you could make the case no doubt. It is my opinion though that you have to win the big one to become truly legendary. But the Cardinals are now only 3 games away and Russ Smith is the biggest reason why. This kid is a scoring machine and on the grand stage he has took his scoring ability to the next level. Tonight with a very bad cold he had 31 points and now has 81 points in the NCAA tournament. I don’t know if Russ can keep topping himself but I’m looking forward to him trying.

Rick Pitino: “Russ Smith has had a year and a half like no other player I have ever coached.”

We all know that a big reason we are in the elite 8 is because of Russ but the play of Kevin Ware hasn’t hurt. He continues to get better and better and really has started to play the game he’s capable of. He is one of the more athletic guys on this team and we are gonna need him to keep it going to win three more games. He was the second leading scorer tonight with 11 points.

Peyton is in the early stages of strep throat and it showed tonight in his most underwhelming performance of the season. The guy still came out and gutted through it so kudos to him. Hope he hits the bed until Sunday because we are gonna need his leadership. Wayne and Chane combined for 7 boards and 12 points. And that’s decent production especially against the speed and versatility of the Oregon players. I thought Gorgui also did a great job with their quality bigs. He had some nice offensive possessions scoring 10 points and looked good on defense with 4 blocked shots. He also had 9 of the Cards 32 rebounds.

Hancock and Harrell came off the bench and did what they do. Luke provided some offense scoring 7 points and Montrezl provided some big time rebounding grabbing 7 boards.

Our Cards have only trailed for a little over four minutes during the entire NCAA tournament but now it has reached the level of survive and advance. The Cards took Oregon’s best shot tonight and they got within six points late in the game before our guys finally shut the door for good. The Ducks also outscored the Cards tonight in the second half 38 to 32. Most of our team is battling through illness and it was great to see them respond the way that they did. I’m glad they had a game like this because on Sunday they are gonna face a team just as capable of winning a national championship as they are. Three more to go Cards fans buckle up “no sleep till Atlanta baby!”

Coach Pitino: “We just had to get our guys to the finish line tonight. Now, we can get some rest and some medication and we’ll be fine.”