ESPN Men's Basketball

1. Louisville coach Rick Pitino said in a text Tuesday night that Indiana and Louisville couldn’t get a date set to schedule a game next season. Indiana coach Tom Crean wasn’t ready to close the door in his response, saying he wasn’t sure. But Pitino said he’s now trying to start the home-and-home series in 2013-14, which is a shame considering that the two teams could be ranked 1-2 to start next season. Indiana still has a few more games to schedule.

2. Missouri still might have landed Jordan Clarkson without restrictions put on his transfer from Tulsa. In a statement, the Golden Hurricane wouldn’t detail why there were restricted schools like Texas. Somehow, Tulsa escaped national criticism for the way it handled Clarkson. Mizzou coach Frank Haith has five transfers eligible next season, then Clarkson in 2013-14; the use of transfers is helping the Tigers avoid a rebuilding phase. The schools that get these transfers, though, shouldn’t ever block one of their own from seeking a new home.

3. Denver’s plan, according to a source, is to try to convince the remaining WAC members (Idaho, New Mexico State, Boise State and Seattle) that they should stay together to keep the league’s automatic NCAA tournament berth. The WAC could then add available Utah Valley and Cal State Bakersfield. The problem is that NMSU and Idaho will need a home for football and Boise State now would rather be in the Big West or, if the Big East were to fail, head back to the Mountain West. And, according to a source, if Denver had its choice, the Pioneers would go to the stable and all-private WCC.

In an ideal world, Indiana and Kentucky would meet at some point this coming December, preferably in Rupp Arena (but a neutral floor would be fine, too!). We'd get to see two bitter adjacent state rivals square off in a matchup with massive emotional and practical implications, populated with future NBA talent, coached by two of the best in the game.

Of course, ours is not an ideal world. There are reasons -- some of them good, even -- why Kentucky and Indiana won't match up on the floor in 2012-13. But those reasons are about what's good for Kentucky and Indiana specifically, rather than the sport of college basketball generally. That's the biggest drag about all this. The sport deserves this game. We've had it since 1969. Now on the precipice of brilliance, the rivalry dies, and all because of an expanded SEC schedule and some mutual stubbornness and John Calipari's "protection" of his "nontraditional" program.

I'll be honest: Some part of me hoped the outrage from both programs' fan bases would be so loud that Calipari and Crean would realize the error of their ways, schedule a peace accord at the Galt House, and find a way to make this thing happen. Instead, both sides seem to have dug in. Besides, it's not like either fan base is about to criticize their coach. Both are head over heels in love; Crean just resurrected Indiana from the abyss, and Calipari just won a national title. ("Blind faith" doesn't begin to describe the comments on his blog.)

So, no, Kentucky-Indiana isn't happening. I've officially abandoned all hope. Which means I'm ready to settle on the next best thing. As Andy Katz reported in his 3-Point Shot this morning, that next best thing may indeed involve the Louisville Cardinals and one Rick Pitino. From Andy:

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he wants to play Indiana next season. Hoosiers coach Tom Crean confirmed that the two sides are discussing the idea of a home-and-home series. “This is something we have to consider,’’ Crean said. [...]

“The polls have us 1 and 2,’’ Pitino said. “It would be good for us to have a game a 1-[hour], 45-[minute] bus ride away. It would be good for college basketball.’’

Any time Pitino and Calipari are mentioned in the same 800 words, there's a tendency to assume everything either is saying is intended to tweak the opposite number. And that may indeed be the case here; from a public relations standpoint, Pitino knows exactly what he's doing.

But guess what? I don't care! Because Pitino is right: Indiana-Louisville would be good for college basketball. It doesn't carry the same longstanding rivalry cachet as Indiana-Kentucky, and fans surely wouldn't be quite as rabid for this game as IU-UK, but that dream is dead. In its place is an opportunity for both teams to add a marquee, top-5 matchup, for fans to get to see two of the nation's best teams play early in the college hoops calendar. In a sport that has increasingly been marginalized by an awkward TV schedule and an apathetic approach to much of the regular season, that is a good thing.

It is also the long view. Crean and Calipari may not need the IU-UK game in any obvious tangible way, but discontinuing it in such fashion paints a picture of two programs who have lost the forest for the trees. The long-term approach would be to build a mutual level of interest and national awareness by keeping the rivalry as healthy as possible. That national interest wouldn't just help the sport, it would increase the Q ratings for both programs. Hey, why should UNC-Duke get to have all the "Oh, that game's on? We need to watch that!" casual fan fun?

Maybe that rivalry is now Indiana-Louisville. The two programs share a natural geographic rivalry, even if the historic skirmishes have never been as epic as either team, particularly Louisville, has shared with the Wildcats. Oh well. In the short term, Indiana-Louisville would give us one more great basketball game in 2012-13, and maybe the year after. In the long term, a healthy Hoosiers-Cardinals rivalry could come to be a defining tentpole in the early season nonconference schedule.

Either way, Pitino is right. It would be good for the sport. It would also be good for both programs, and good for their fans. Believe it or not, these concepts need not be mutually exclusive.

Editor’s note: Each week, ESPN.com writers will debate a topic of interest in the college basketball landscape. Today’s topic: Which teams are garnering too much (and possibly unwarranted) preseason buzz? Which teams aren’t receiving enough?

Eamonn Brennan: UCLA

When the magazines hit the shelves this fall, and when the first official preseason poll is released, the expectations for UCLA will be sky-high. They already are. That's what happens when you pull in four top-100 recruits, two of which (small forwards Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad) are ranked in the top five overall. That's what happens when you add No. 26-ranked Tony Parker, and No. 41-ranked Jordan Adams.

That's what happens when you assemble this kind of talent, when you become the first team in four years to unseat Kentucky at the top of the recruiting rankings: We expect everything, we expect it immediately, and we have no patience for anything less.

Make no mistake: UCLA will be good. Probably very good. But there are very good reasons to ask whether Ben Howland's remarkable recruiting rebirth isn't an obvious guarantee of top-five, national title-level success.

Why? We have little evidence Howland can manage a highly touted assemblage of freshmen stars; in fact, the best evidence we have -- George Dohrmann's investigative profile in Sports Illustrated -- went so far as to assert the opposite: That Howland's teams are best when they are as low-maintenance as possible, that the way he treats talented players is anathema to his overall coaching style. At the very least, John Calipari he is not.

Even assuming that Howland has learned from the freshman-related mistakes of the past, there are still lingering questions about the returning players. Forward Joshua Smith remains a promising problem child, and forwards Travis and David Wear played at their best when on the floor together, but with Parker in the mix, how often can that happen? How will UCLA manage the minutes split between Muhammad, Anderson and Adams, the three dynamic incoming small forwards? Will the four freshmen adapt to the tough defensive style that led Howland to three straight Final Fours?

You get the idea. There's more to basketball than acquiring talent. As a program, there's no question UCLA is ascendant anew. But Howland and his staff have plenty to prove before we can rightly consider this team -- as we all seem to be automatically doing -- a national title contender. Until that happens, let's calibrate our expectations accordingly.

Dana O’Neil: Louisville

It may seem silly to question the early buzz on a team that is coming off a Final Four run (and perhaps it is), but I am still not all-in with Louisville. There are plenty of things I like about the Cardinals -- the fact the heart of the team is back, that Wayne Blackshear will be in the lineup from the opening tip, that Mike Marra returns from injury and above all else, their defensive tenacity.

Here’s the worry: the offense. Louisville struggled to score last season and with its best outside threat graduating in the form of Kyle Kuric, that doesn’t look to get any easier. I thought Luke Hancock, the George Mason transfer, might help ease that burden but the Cardinals appear to be carrying their injury bug from last season into the next.

Hancock injured his shoulder in a workout and will miss the next few months, according to Rick Pitino. He should return by the start of the season, but it’s still a significant blow for a team that already plans to be without Rakeem Buckles (still, again, pick your qualifier).

Louisville overachieved last year by miles to make it to the Final Four, and while this team certainly has reason to hope, I think it’s still a little premature to presume.

Throughout the 2012 NCAA tournament, and the Louisville Cardinals' unlikely run to the Final Four, Rick Pitino spoke openly and frequently about his feelings for his current team -- how much he loved coaching them, how hard they worked, how they maximized their ability and executed his plans despite lacking the elite talent of the other Final Four contenders. You could see the affection on the sidelines, in every press conference, and especially when Pitino and his team cut down the West Regional nets in Phoenix. It was real.

But in case we needed another reminder, here you go: Pitino named his horses after two of his players. From the Louisville Courier Journal:

“The Bellamy Road colt was a spectacular big, big colt,” Pitino said. “He was lanky, had great potential and goes the distance. I said I got the perfect name for him. I said ‘Gorgui.’ ”

The second colt, bred at Claiborne Farm, “is very, very quick — has a great first step, so to speak,” Pitino said. “I said I got the perfect name there, too. [Siva].”

“They’re two of my favorite ballplayers and young men,” Pitino said. “I told both guys. They’re super excited.”

The references, of course, are to Louisville center Gorgui Dieng and point guard Peyton Siva, and both seem like fitting noms de guerre. But can either horse run? According to the story, Gorgui "arguably has the better breeding of the two," but both horses will begin racing this summer, and Pitino is holding out hope that "Gorgui has the breeding to go long" enough that he could one day appear on the track in the first weekend in May for the Kentucky Derby.

I don't know much about horse racing, but I've been to the Derby, and I know this much: If a horse named "Gorgui" is running for the roses, it won't matter how much of a long shot he is coming into the day. He'll attract more than his fair share of bettors. Can you imagine? (Also, what if he won? Pitino making a victory lap at Churchill Downs? Hilarious.)

The 2012–13 Louisville frontcourt is pretty much set.

At center, there is ever-developing block specialist Gorgui Dieng. At power forward, there is Chane Behanan, an adept post scorer who could be the nation’s likeliest big-time breakout candidate. At small fowrard, there is sophomore Wayne Blackshear, a top 2011 recruit who missed much of the season thanks to shoulder surgeries, and backing this group up is forward Stephen Van Treese, a talent who likewise missed 2011 with injuries.

Where, you may ask, does forward Jared Swopshire fit into all this? Turns out, he doesn’t.

Per ESPN Chicago’s Scott Powers and Louisville Courier-Journal reporter C.L. Brown, Swopshire took a look at that Cardinals frontcourt, realized playing time would be scant and decided to transfer to Northwestern. Because Swopshire will be pursuing a graduate degree not offered at Louisville, he will be eligible to play immediately.

That is excellent news for both parties. Swopshire was stuck in a lurch at Louisville; he has a worthwhile outside-in skill set for a 6-foot–9 forward, but isn’t nearly good enough to warrant many minutes with Dieng, Behanan, Van Treese and Blackshear crowding the frontcourt. But he could be a very good fit at Northwestern, which not only has to replace the scoring chops of departing senior John Shurna, but which desperately needs a legitimate interior presence – something, anything– to keep pace in a bruising Big Ten. Swopshire offers the immediate promise of both.

And so the big Northwestern question looms large yet again: Is this the year Bill Carmody finally, mercifully gets the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament? The jury is still (obviously) very much out. But alongside returning guards like Drew Crawford, JerShon Cobb and Reggie Hearn, Swopshire will give the Wildcats a brand of athleticism they’ve rarely fielded in the Carmody era, and which they demonstrably lacked in crucial moments in 2012’s disappointing tourney-bereft finish.

At the very least, Swopshire’s transfer choice offers that promise. Win-win, this one.

NEW ORLEANS -- The final horn had sounded and the handshake line was beginning to form. But in the moments after Saturday's 69-61 victory over Louisville in the Final Four, Kentucky forward Anthony Davis wasn't ready to leave the court.

Walking from one end of the floor to the other, the national player of the year gazed into sea of 73,361 fans who filled the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, raised his arms into the air and shouted.

"This is my s---," he said. "This is my s---."

Not so fast, Anthony.

You haven't been handed the trophy. Not yet.

Kentucky has been the class of college basketball all season, but the team that so many anointed as a shoo-in to win the NCAA title before the brackets were even released hardly looked invincible in Saturday's workmanlike victory over the Cardinals.

The Wildcats shot 57 percent from the floor and got 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks from Davis. But they also missed nearly half of their free throws (11 of 20) and never could put away a Louisville squad that finished seventh in the Big East with a 10-8 record.

Kentucky -- which will play Kansas in Monday's championship game -- was also fortunate that the Cardinals missed 13 layups and dunks.

"We didn't play our best tonight," said Wildcats coach John Calipari, who is seeking his first NCAA title. "We played good, but that wasn't our best."

For Jason King's full story, click here.

NEW ORLEANS -- I don't remember the past two or three Final Fours. I can recall most details from the national title games during that stretch, even those that were uneventful.

But I couldn't offer a synopsis of the games that preceded them.

I know Memphis and Kansas didn't have a hard time reaching the 2008 title game. Michigan State and North Carolina won their 2009 semifinal matchups by 23 points combined over Connecticut and Villanova, respectively.

I covered the 2010 Final Four in Indianapolis. Butler and Michigan State played a tight one, but Duke crushed West Virginia.

Virginia Commonwealth and Butler reaching the Final Four as mid-majors made the 2011 Final Four in Houston interesting. But Connecticut went 1-for-12 from the 3-point line in a one-point win over Kentucky. And Butler had little trouble with VCU.

Nothing specific, however, that really lingered in my psyche.

That won't be the case when I'm asked about this season's national semifinals.

On Saturday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, both games produced memorable sequences that will fans will reflect upon years from now.

For the full story, click here.

Jason King and Myron Medcalf wrap up Saturday's national semifinals, which didn't disappoint.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Road Ends Here. That's what all the signs say in this Final Four town.

The road from the start of the basketball calendar in November to the finish come Monday evening at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The road from Lexington, Ky. The road from Lawrence, Kan.

You don't need a hoops map to know Kentucky made it to the national championship game. The Wildcats blind you with their talent. Their drivers licenses say they're underage, but the scoreboard always says they're much older.

UK, the No. 1 overall seed and surest thing since drunks on Bourbon Street, defeated in-state rival Louisville, 69-61, in Saturday's night first semifinal. U of L did everything but tie the Wildcats' shoelaces together -- outrebounded them, forced more turnovers than them -- and UK still won by eight.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky's second-best freshman behind consensus national player of the year Anthony Davis, spent exactly six minutes on the floor in the first half. Foul trouble. He only played 23 total minutes and had a grand total of zero offensive rebounds.

And UK still won by eight.

For Gene Wojciechowski's full column, click here.

Anthony Davis had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead Kentucky past Louisville 69-61 and into the national title game.

NEW ORLEANS – There were no tears.

The Louisville Cardinals didn’t hang towels over their heads or pause to collect themselves as they talked with reporters.

Following their 69-61 loss to archrival and national-title favorite Kentucky in the Final Four on Saturday, Louisville’s players and coaches did not sulk. They were disappointed but not devastated.

Wayne Blackshear chomped an apple and conversed with the team’s other youngsters about his classes as he sat on a stool.

Peyton Siva and Russ Smith stared at their smartphones. A few players who’d never touched the floor at Mercedes-Benz Superdome joked in a corner.

The team that had buckled the Final Four’s power grid -- Kansas, Ohio State and Kentucky were all ranked in the top 10 of both major polls at the end of the season -- offered the field a true underdog and added some intrigue to the gathering.

“Well, basically what I told the guys was that for Chris [Smith] and Kyle [Kuric], it was like preparing for the Olympics, and you just work so hard every single day, gave some extraordinary effort, then at the end you're on the podium and they're playing somebody else's national anthem, but you have a bronze medal around your neck,” said coach Rick Pitino. “When I compared them a few weeks ago to the '87 Providence team, it was in terms of effort and attitude. They made me really, really proud. They battled a great team tonight. We just needed lot of things to go right down the stretch.”

The Cardinals had no business being in New Orleans. And their postgame vibe in the Big Easy suggested that they knew as much.

Blackshear scored nine points in 14 minutes of crucial reserve duty against the Wildcats. But his October shoulder injury forced him to miss most of the season and commenced a string of personnel mishaps for the Cardinals.

Mike Marra and Rakeem Buckles suffered season-ending knee injuries. Other key players were hampered by injuries, including Siva, who dealt with an ankle injury at the start of the year.

The team used mixed martial arts helmets in recent practices to protect three players, Siva included, who’d endured multiple concussions.

“We made it to the Final Four when nobody thought we could,” said Siva, who led the Cardinals with 11 points.

That’s why Pitino smiled on the Superdome podium as he talked about this Cardinals squad, one that had clearly overachieved by even reaching New Orleans.

The 4-seed cast doubt on what seemed like a formality -- Kentucky winning the national title -- with its effort.

A pregame trade with the Hornets might not have guaranteed a victory for the Cardinals. After the game, Pitino compared Anthony Davis (18 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks) to Bill Russell. John Calipari’s squad shot 57.1 percent from the field to Louisville’s 34.8.

But with Kentucky leading 46-34 with 15:37 to go and threatening to enter Blowout Mode, the Cardinals clawed back with the same fight that led the Big East’s seventh-place squad to a Big East tournament title and Final Four appearance.

A Siva 3-pointer tied the affair (49-49) and capped a 15-3 run with 9:12 to play. But Kentucky surged after that moment, which ignited the school’s fans.

Louisville matched Kentucky’s toughness (outscored by only 40-38 in the paint). But the Cardinals failed to equal the Wildcats’ execution.

They mustered just 13 second-chance points on 19 offensive rebounds. Their 5-for-15 mark on second-chance opportunities was the lowest rate in this year’s NCAA tournament, per ESPN Stats & Information. The latter also reported that Louisville missed 13 dunks and layups.

But the Cardinals didn’t talk like a team that felt like it had blown a national championship opportunity.

“I don’t think there’s any disappointment here. Like, nobody believed in us, nobody believed we could make it to the Final Four,” said Gorgui Dieng, who scored 7 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. “Even they couldn’t believe we could make it to the Sweet 16. We wanted to make a big run to the national championship, but it is what it is. Why are we gonna hang our head?”

A “they all doubted we could get here” mantra reverberated around the locker room. And really, there were few reasons to believe the Cardinals could crack the Final Four on Selection Sunday, even though they possessed one of the top defenses in America.

“We don’t look at ourselves as the underdog because we’re a big-time university. We just feel disrespected because we’re winning,” said Russ Smith, who scored nine points. “It’s like nobody respects us.”

Their fans do.

Louisville loyalists flooded Bourbon Street as early as Thursday. Boisterous school cheers rang out from downtown streets. The blue-collar crew had crashed the country club assembly of power players in New Orleans.

The Cardinals’ supporters wanted the city to know that they were ready for the festivities.

They didn’t need a victory to party.

Pitino said he hopes his players follow that example.

“I told the guys, ‘Look, I'm going to Miami tomorrow and I'm celebrating a season where we worked around the clock, around injuries and everything else. If you guys don't celebrate and have good, clean fun, you're fools. Because I think there's only been eight teams that got to the Final Four in the history of one of the greatest traditions and they did it,” he said. “So they're going to celebrate. Kyle will celebrate a little more low-keyed than Chris will, but they're going to celebrate.”

Blue blood prevailed in this highly anticipated Final Four battle of in-state rivals, as the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Louisville Cardinals 69-61 to advance to their 11th national championship game and first since winning it all in 1998.

Kentucky is the first top overall seed to advance to the title game since Florida in 2007 and the third to do so since the selection committee began using the distinction in 2004. Florida is the only top overall seed to win a national championship during this span.

The win is Kentucky’s 37th of the season, setting a new single-season school record, and 110th in NCAA tournament play, the most of any school. The victory also gives coach John Calipari a 9-8 edge in head-to-head college matchups with Rick Pitino, and is his first in three NCAA tournament meetings.

Offense wins championships
The Wildcats put together one of the best offensive games this season against a Louisville team that entered the weekend as the best defensive team in the country according to kenpom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency.

Kentucky shot 57.1 percent from the floor, the third-highest field goal percentage allowed by Louisville under Pitino and the highest since 2006. It’s also the best shooting performance by a team in a Final Four game since Syracuse also shot 57.1 percent in 2003 versus Texas.

The Wildcats got out on the break with ease and used their strong transition game to put away the Cardinals. Kentucky made 11 of 13 field goals and scored 25 points in transition, the fourth time in five tournament games that it has scored at least 20 transition points.

Anthony Davis once again dominated the game at both ends of the floor with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks. Davis joins Danny Manning in 1988 as the only players since 1986 (when blocks became official) to have at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks in a Final Four game.

No easy buckets
Louisville erased a 13-point second-half deficit but couldn’t overcome its poor shooting in the paint to beat Kentucky. The Cardinals missed 16 layups and dunks, their most in a tournament game during the past three years.

Overall, Louisville shot 34.8 percent, its third-worst shooting effort in an NCAA tournament game in the shot clock era and worst since connecting on 33.3 percent of its attempts against Wake Forest in 1996.

The Cardinals kept themselves in the game thanks to a strong effort on the boards.

Louisville outrebounded Kentucky 19-6 on the offensive glass, scoring 13 second-chance points. The Cardinals had averaged just 10 offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points in their first four tournament games.

Stat of the game
If Kentucky wins the national championship, it will mark just the second time in the past two decades that one conference won national championships in both football and men's basketball in the same academic year. Florida did it in the 2006-07 season, capturing both titles for the SEC.

Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas break down Kentucky's 69-61 win over Louisville.

NEW ORLEANS -- A quick look at Kentucky’s 69-61 victory over Louisville in Saturday's first national semifinal.

Overview: The commonwealth of Kentucky’s Game for the Ages boiled down to the simplest principle in sport -- talent wins.

Louisville gave the archrival Wildcats all they could handle, coming back time and again from double-digit deficits, but guts and spunk simply don’t overrun talent.

And Kentucky has it in droves, thanks in large part to the lanky body that is Anthony Davis.

The national player of the year was simply too much for the Cardinals to handle, scoring 18 points and denying who knows how many for Louisville.

Never a good offensive team this season, Louisville kept it close by rebounding its misses to the tune of a 19-6 edge on the offensive glass, but in the end Kentucky was too good, claiming state bragging rights that will linger among generations and families for years.

Turning point: After Peyton Siva hit a 3 to tie the game 49-49 and ignite the already-well-ignited Mercedes-Benz Superdome crowd with just over nine minutes to play, the Cardinals failed to convert another field goal for more than six minutes.

Louisville couldn’t get a good shot -- some of which was self-induced, but mostly thanks to the always-imposing presence of Davis.

Kentucky nudged its way to a 55-51 lead and then, with 5:07 left, Marquis Teague flipped a pass to senior Darius Miller in transition. The senior swished the 3-point dagger.

Key stat: The Wildcats shot 57 percent from the floor, putting together a terrific offensive night against a team that ranked No. 1 in defensive efficiency.

Key player: Davis seems like a good pick. Seriously, he is an athletic freak in the best sense of the word and was absolutely everywhere for Kentucky. He finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 assists and a steal. And he played 39 minutes.

Unfortunately the box score does not take into account altered or influenced shots -- because Davis might have set an NCAA record there.

If Louisville got inside, the Cardinals thought twice about shooting -- and if they dared to take a shot, they sent up such high-arcing floaters they nearly reached the Superdome roof.

Davis was spectacular on a night when two of his teammates, Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, were average, adding even more to the crucial impact the freshman had on the game.

Miscellaneous: Kentucky has won 40 consecutive games when leading at the half, dating back to Feb. 1, 2011, against Ole Miss. … A Louisville cheerleader taken out by Jones returned in the second half. Word is she had four stitches during the break.

What’s next: Kentucky, hands down the best team in the country, looks to claim its first title since 1998 on Monday night against Kansas.

NEW ORLEANS - A few quick bulleted thoughts on the first half of our first Final Four matchup:

• Louisville should be thrilled it trails by only seven. The Cardinals are, as expected, outclassed at every position. Nothing is coming easy on the offensive end -- every shot is challenged, every drive to the rim feels hopeless, every turnover feels like a death knell. Louisville shot 12-of-32 from the field, and scored just .77 points per possession, in the first half. Kentucky, on the other hand, shot 15-of-25. Yet the Cardinals closed the gap late in the second half, and remain very much in this game.
• How? Turnovers, mostly. The Wildcats have coughed the ball up eight times, several of which have led to Russ Smith-piloted run-outs and fast-break buckets, exactly the thing Louisville needs to stay in this tilted talent mismatch. But Kentucky has, with the exception of the turnovers, been pretty much peerless on the offensive end. A few more made 3s (they're 1-of-5) and fewer turnovers, and this thing isn't close. Louisville's defense is very good, but the Wildcats are mostly getting what they want on the offensive end.
[+] Enlarge
Bob Donnan/US PresswireKentucky's Terrence Jones (3) dunks over Louisville's Jared Swopshire during the first half.
• It also helped Louisville that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky's do-it-all small forward, left the game with his second foul with just under 14 minutes to play. The charge call that landed him his second foul was slightly questionable (shocker, I know), but either way, Kentucky managed to maintain its hold on the game without MKG on the floor. That's good news, obviously.
• Gorgui Dieng finished the first half with a block and a huge dunk on a Louisville fast break, and his final counting numbers (5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) were solid, but he struggled for much of the half. He missed a wide-open dunk, he turned the ball over three times and he finished 2-of-7 from the field. He'll have to be more sure-handed in the paint, because Louisville's main line of attack -- rushing Peyton Siva and Smith to the rim, then dishing to a big man and hoping for the best -- requires Dieng to finish clinically on the block. He hasn't thus far.
• What John Calipari is probably telling his team at the half: Slow down, take your time on offense, but don't be casual. "Be fast, but don't hurry," is a classic John Woodenism, and it applies here. Kentucky is too much for the Cardinals to handle on both ends. As long as Kentucky controls the game, limits turnovers and gets good looks on offense, the Wildcats will win. It's really pretty simple.
• What Rick Pitino is probably telling his team at the half: Get into these guys. Louisville has to turn Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb over to stay in this thing, because Kentucky is too good defensively to allow buckets to this so-so offense in a straight half-court matchup situation. The Cardinals could use some 3s in the second half, but they also need to keep pushing for interior buckets from Chane Behanan and Dieng. Behanan, in particular, can score against Terrence Jones; he just needs the space and time to create his own look in the post. The Cardinals should be pretty happy they're not trailing by a larger deficit here, but they still have much to improve if they plan on pulling off this unlikely upset.