You read it here first - the upset of the night in college basketball Saturday will be in Louisville, Ky., where the surging but unranked Cardinals (17-6, 7-3) will upend No. 6 and Big East beast GeorgetownLouisville is actually favored at WagerWeb.com.
Why am I this confident, despite the fact that the Hoyas have beaten Louisville five consecutive times and haven't lost to the Cards since 1953? Oh, and did I mention Georgetown is on a six-game winning streak?
Well, Georgetown is coming off a very ugly 63-53 win over conference doormat South Florida, a game in which the Hoyas shot a season-low 39.3 percent and needed to rally from a 10-point deficit. And GU struggled against Seton Hall before that.
Louisville, meanwhile, is 2-0 against Top 25 teams this season, beating then-No. 16 Marquette and then-No. 13 Southern Miss. That Monday win over Marquette ended the Golden Eagles' 14-game home winning streak.
Since frontcourt players David Padgett and Juan Palacios have returned from injuries, Louisville is 11-3 with them in the lineup; the three losses were by a total of 13 points.
The Cards might be the one team with more depth than Georgetown. Louisville boasts five players averaging double digits in scoring and three players pulling down six or more rebounds. And the Cardinals rank second in the Big East to Georgetown in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.The best individual matchup will be in the middle as Roy Hibbert, a 7-2 senior, leads the Hoyas in scoring (13.1 points per game), rebounding (7.0) and blocks (2.1). He's averaging 15.2 points over the past nine games, scoring in double figures in each of them.
Padgett, a 6-11 senior, is the leader of the Cardinals. He's averaging 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds. Hibbert had 20 points and 11 rebounds in last season's matchup with Louisville as he outplayed Padgett, held to eight points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Louisville also is getting solid production from sophomore guard Jerry Smith, the team's top scorer at 11.3 points per game. Since going 0-for-7 from the field in last month's win over Marquette, Smith has averaged 13.2 points over the last six games while shooting 58.7 percent from the field -- 13-of-27 from 3-point range.
If the game is real close, however, that could bode well for John Thompson III's club. During Thompson's four-year tenure, the Hoyas are 16-4 in games decided by three points or fewer or in overtime. Louisville is 1-3 this season in games decided by three or fewer with three Big East losses by a total of 13 points.
"You can tell the atmosphere is different," UL junior Terrence Williams said of tonight's game. A sellout crowd is expected at Freedom Hall, and fans have been asked to wear white. "Everybody asks me, 'Where can I get a white T-shirt from?' Man, just go to Wal-Mart and get a regular white Hanes T-shirt! You go to the mall, and everybody's asking, 'How bad are you going to beat Georgetown?' I think it's going to be a good game."
Bet on NCAA Basketball at WagerWeb.com (19-2, 9-) - I use "upset" a little loosely since
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