Big East just isn't that good

Undoubtedly a good win for the Cards over UConn. I thought that the win was sloppy, but it looks like U of L is going to have to win these kinds of games to be successful this year. U of L is going to have to win games like that. Healthy as well. That's huge.

I will be honest. At halftime, I wrote on my little notepad "SLOPPY, NEITHER TEAM IS A TOURNAMENT TEAM." And I can't believe I'm going to say this, but after the game ended, I wanted to go back and scratch that I said that. I mean, that first half was pathetic. Horrid. But I really learned three things from this game:

1. The Big East sucks! This is the Big East this year. This year's Big East is nowhere near last year's Big East. Not even close. Which means that Louisville, who really is a lot like last year's team plus a couple of talented freshmen and minus Taquan Dean, they move up the Big East ladder by default. Not because Louisville is all that much improved, but because other teams straight lost more! UConn lost FIVE NBA DRAFT PICKS. FIVE! Syracuse is down compared to last year. As are many other teams, Georgetown, West Virginia (who I think is the serious sleeper, even with the loss to Cincinnati). Marquette and Pitt are the teams that really stand out in my opinion.

But the Big East... listen, Louisville may finish in the top half... but you don't automatically get in to the field if you finish in the Top 8. You've got to be 9-7 AT THE LEAST (depending on how many big wins come from those nine). Other than that, it's 10-6 that gets you in. The Big East just isn't that good.

2. Rick Pitino needs to be credited for having an unbelievably terrific defensive game plan against UConn. He said in his pregame that he watched the Indiana tape and when he did his final scouting report, he was just going to slow UConn down and not let them get into the up and down game, and that totally worked.

Pitino knew that this UConn team was worthless in the halfcourt, didn't have a lot of good outside shooters with the exception of AJ Price and got a lot of their points out of transition and second chance points. And Pitino drew it up like so... get back on defense fast, keep them out of their transition offense, play a bunch of zone, because if not, these guys can beat you off the dribble and get to the hold, just MAKE THEM go through their painfully boring zone offense and see if they can beat us that way.

It was a great game plan. I'm very high on Pitino today because I thought he did a lot of good things last night. And I don't really want to say he outcoached Jim Calhoun, beacuse there's only so much a team loaded with freshmen and sophomores like UConn can do (just ask Ricky-P).

But I will say this--Rick Pitino had a much better game plan for UConn than Kelvin Sampson did for UConn. I know IU fans hate to hear that, but Kelvin Sampson, he just doesn't strike me, at least after 18 games, as a guy who likes to play a lot of zone, but that's what you need to do against this UConn team. Don't give them a chance to penetrate on you or get into an up and down game. Playing a zone keeps you from doing that.

3. MOST IMPORTANT*** Louisville is NOT ON THE BUBBLE OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT YET. Don't get overly excited. It's easy to get excited when you beat UConn. IU fans did it too. The "UConn" name just sounds good. But, you got to look at it this way. This isn't even Louisville's best win when you look at the RPI. It's their fourth best. UConn is ranked 88th today in the RPI. Louisville has wins over DePaul (ranked 65th in the RPI), Providence (54th), and FREAKING OHIO (76) who all have better RPI rankings than UConn. Here's Louisville's results with RPI's attached. Thanks Ken Pomeroy!

STILL A GREAT WIN... and I still say that this game, and not any of the other games, was Rick Pitino's best coaching job all year, even though it was a horrid game to watch!

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
Record going in: 11-5-1

Indiana vs. ILLINOIS UNDER 133.5 ** WIN **

Record going out: 12-5-1