The madness rolls on for our Louisville Cardinals after they survived a tough first round game against Manhattan. Up next is the St Louis Billikens from the Atlantic 10 Conference. They beat NC State in overtime to advance in the tournament. St Louis is making its third straight appearance in the Tournament and their ninth overall. They will be looking to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. The Cardinals are looking to make their third straight appearance in the Sweet 16 and 20th overall. These teams do have a history that dates back to 1920, and have faced each other as members of the Missouri Valley, Metro and Conference USA. The Cardinals lead the overall series 45-20.

This St Louis team is defined by its play on the defensive end of the floor. They have maybe the best man-to-man defense in the country holding teams to 44% from the field and they also guard well from beyond the arc holding teams to 28% from 3 point range. This is a team like our Cardinals who pride themselves in shutting down their opponents.

On offense this team is very deliberate in their approach. They feed off of the defense’s turnovers and they will run multiple sets using most of the shot clock on every possession. They use so many offensive plays that Coach Pitino said that they are a nightmare to prepare for on short notice. Like the Cardinals they are led by a group of seniors who are the winningest group in school history. 5 of those seniors lead a balanced offensive attack: Dwayne Evans (13.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.3 apg), Jordair Jett (13.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.8 apg), Rob Loe (10.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 apg), Mike McCall Jr. (10.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.4 apg), and Jake Barnett (4.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 apg).
Jett and Evans are very important on offense and create most of the opportunities for this team to score. Jett has lightning speed, quick hands and can penetrate the lane quick if not closed out.
Rob Loe is a 7-footer that creates a matchup nightmare for opposing defenders because of his ability to step away from the basket and knock down the outside shot.

Here are the Billikens’ rankings:

There are no easy games this time of the year as our Cardinals found out in their opening round. This one is not going to be an easy one. After a very tough and physical game against the Jasper’s our guys are feeling the effects. Russ Smith told the media on Friday afternoon that his body was in shambles. He has a badly sprained thumb that will be taped up on Saturday. Due to the game ending so late up in the morning the team is also feeling the effects. Chris Jones told the media on Friday that he didn’t get to sleep until 4am. With another very tough defense ahead of them our guys are going to have to dig deep to find that extra gear. St Louis’s grind it out style will be brutal to a tired team.

In all of the Billikens’ losses this season their opponents had a low turnover rate and kept them in check on the offensive end of the floor. The Cardinals will have to make the most of their possessions on Saturday and limit their turnovers. They will also have to shoot a decent percentage if they want to move on to Indy. I really think our bench is going to have to have a big impact in this one and Montrezl, Van Treese, and Mango are going to have to own the paint. Will also be interesting to see who will have the task of keeping up with Loe.

I do think our Cards will move on to the Sweet 16, but under the circumstances this one is going to be the toughest game of the entire season. It really could come down to the last few possessions. These are two very proud veteran ball teams with the winningest seniors in all of college basketball. Get ready to be on the edge of your seats again folks. 5 to go! Go Cardinals!