[Ziggy]

Thursday's game promises to be a no-brainer for WVU. While the cardinals are 10-4, they are 0-1 in their conference with their loss to Cincinnati in a low-scoring one point finish. While Lousiville has some dominant rebounders, the Mountaineers have a much higher scoring average between Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff- both Average over 10 points per game. The starting five for Louisville (who use their bench less than WVU) average around ten points per game apiece. My opinion is that WVU needs to attack with speed and use half-court presses to control the tempo of the game. Watch out for Louisville's Earl Clark- he has an average of 10 rebounds per game- and Terrance Williams, who is averaging over 12 points per game during the regular season and seems to be the team leader. Louisville's lonely benchwarmer, Lee Steiden, hasn't scored a single point the entire season in conference or non-conference play. Expect him to be riding the pine for this Thursday's Matchup as well.

The key factor is Thursday's game may be rebounding, as the matchup between Jamie Smalligan and Terrance Williams is close one- their height is only separated by an inch or so. If Smalligan can get some rebounds under the boards WVU should have better chances of capitalizing on offense because more rebounds means more scoring opportunities. Personally I would like to see Smalligan get a few more rebounds, especially since his season average is so low. He averages at 2.3 rebounds a game- and even Clark for LU has him out-matched in that category with an average of 7.8 rebounds per game. The odds dictate that getting Louisville to the line would be a smart play-Williams and Clark have an average of .419 and .424 for freethrows respectively.

Thursday's matchup shoud be a good one for sure, but I don't think that WVU should have much of a problem with the Cardinals. We have to be quick, accurate, and defensively hungry if we're going to be able to beat them at their dominant defensive scheme. While a fouled-out player can hurt a team, To put a player on the line instead of giving him an easy two points or a change of possession would be better. WVU definitely has some tougher games ahead of them, so Louisville should be good preparation. I doubt that the boys will have a whole lot of problems taking down LU- my prediction is 79-65 WVU.

[Ziggy]

Starts at 7:00 pm and is going to be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN 360.

[mgsales]

what happened???????? i live in lexington, ky and i hate the cards even more now that i've moved here. i didn't even get to watch the game, we'll be just fine though.

[Ziggy]

Louisville dominated our team on defense. They were solid in their half-court presses and used them to control the game better than we could. I forgot to set my alarm and didn't wake up to watch the game. If you want to see some footage go to ESPN - West Virginia Mountaineers News, Schedule, Players, Stats, Video - Men's Basketball.
Alexander did have 22 points, though.

[JonnyFiveAlive]

Zig, I thought your assessment was right on, I thought we had this one in the bag. We can take a few hits here and there, lets just keep upsetting these ranked teams and I'll be happy.

Oh hell I'm already happy since we're so much better than michigan

[Ziggy]

you hit the nail right on the head there....

[Ziggy]

I wish I could drink my virtual beer.