I like Pitino and they are certainly talented. But what should I make of losses to Western Kentucky by 14, UNLV, Minnesota, and Notre Dame by 33. Has this team turned the corner and will not look back having won 11 in a row? I don't like their region nor the West region so I'd like to take them to the championship game. Thanks for any insight
the main thing is their defense right now.
Louisville is a team that could be hitting everything or missing everything.
Earlier in the year, their defense was not great. Pitino has made some changes to his substitution patterns and starters (benching sosa).
This team is clicking on all cylinders right now. They are unselfish and just want to win. They are hungry.
However, their free throw shooting is bad and like I said, they could get cold at any time and even when they are missing, they will rely too much on the three's making it very difficult to win.
Louisville also had the easiest schedule in the Big East.
Played Pitt, UConn, WV & Marquette at home
No real hard road games for them (except Syracuse) ... that scares me.
Look at who they had to play in tourny:
Providence, West Virginia and Syracuse.
Louisville is a team that could be hitting everything or missing everything.
Earlier in the year, their defense was not great. Pitino has made some changes to his substitution patterns and starters (benching sosa).
This team is clicking on all cylinders right now. They are unselfish and just want to win. They are hungry.
However, their free throw shooting is bad and like I said, they could get cold at any time and even when they are missing, they will rely too much on the three's making it very difficult to win.
Louisville also had the easiest schedule in the Big East.
Played Pitt, UConn, WV & Marquette at home
No real hard road games for them (except Syracuse) ... that scares me.
Look at who they had to play in tourny:
Providence, West Virginia and Syracuse.
I do like the defense, which will keep them in games when they are shooting poorly and hopefully they can get back in games in the second half like they did against WV and Syracuse in the Big East tourney. I don't like Wake against a tough defense nor michigan state nor kansas this year. Hmmm
You are right about the road schedule, not playing at Pitt, at UConn, or at Marq. (Lou. played Marq. without their top player who I think was hurt during the UConn game before they played at Lou.) is hard to judge. But with so many teams there is no way to play home/away without taking up about 80-90% of your schedule. I think both Pitt and UConn are better with their inside presence compared to Lou. I don't know who makes up the conference schedule (the schools, the conference scheduling commitee, or if it determined off the year before?).
Goforit, Michigan State was certainly the worst 2 seed according to resumes. Duke has a superior resume in a better conference. Kansas is probably rated the top number 3 which makes sense on the S-curve, and as for four seeds, Wake, Zags, Xavier, and Washington have similar resumes. I would agree Xavier is not as strong as Wake but Wake did have some bad losses to Georgia Tech, NC State, blown out by Miami etc. I think this was a fair bracket for Louisville and certainly a winnable one.
thanks for giving props to Georgia Tech!!!!!! Although GT beat Wake at the buzzer, GT was in piles of games this year, but found a way to lose near the end in alot, they lost 8 ACC Games by 5 points or less including the tournament game against Florida State (that was the story of the year for GT so it was only fitting they lose by 2), On a positive note GT brings in 4 of the Top 100 recruits next year including Derrick Favors (considered #1 recruit by some places) Now all they need is Gani Lawal to return, Gani needs another year I think to develop his free-throw shooting and not to foul as much, but some places have him as a late NBA lottery pick
