Louisville basketball: Beating Duke not easy, but possible for Cards

Louisville basketball will be out for retribution and aiming high, when they host their lone regular season contest with Duke on Tuesday.

Louisville basketball (17-7, 8-3) is set to host, what most people would tell you, is the nation’s, far and away, best team.

The polls don’t reflect this sentiment, as they have their own politics and social pleasantries but when the chips are down, the collective conscience agrees that Duke (21-2, 9-1) has set themselves apart from the rest of the field in college basketball.

Ironically, Louisville’s loss to Florida State Saturday will put them in perhaps their best position to upset the National Championship favorites.

On four occasions this season, Louisville has used the frustration of a loss to fuel meaningful wins in their very next outing, all against the NET rankings Top 30 teams.

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Much has been made of Duke’s unprecedented freshman class, and rightfully so. Duke’s notable quartet is averaging 67.2 of the Blue Devils’, NCAA 4th best, 87 points per game. The group also contributes 13.8 of the teams total average 16.8 assists per game, 7.4 of their 10.5 steals and plays 121.2 of the available 200 minutes each game.

Louisville’s far more experienced and journeyed players will have their hands full in contesting Coach K’s young core but should have a number of tangible and intangible advantages in trying to overcome the obvious raw talent and potential of this year’s Duke roster.

The Cards have an undeniably deeper and more talented bench, significantly more veteran leadership and obviously…the home court.

The University of Louisville has already issued press releases letting fans know that Tuesday’s contest is a blackout. In facing such a highly skilled team, the team will have to adopt some blackout tendencies themselves, staying in the dark to avoid distractions of the marquee matchup and putting forth blind effort to steal a win against one of college basketball history’s most talented teams.

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With a mountain to climb and the whole city behind them, Tuesday will provide an incredible atmosphere. On a day with four Top 25 contests, this should easily be the day’s best game. Aside from the obvious tasks of trying to not repeat Saturday’s turnover and personal foul showcase, Here is Big Red Louie’s “Louisville vs Duke Basketball: Keys to the game”