(9) Wichita State Shockers vs (1) Louisville Cardinals
Time: 6:09 PM (ET) | Saturday
Network: CBS
Coming into the NCAA Men’s Basketball 2013 Tournament, the number one seeded Louisville Cardinals were a favorite to win it but nobody expected them to average a 20-point margin victory in their 4 games on average. The elephant in the room for the weekend will be the story of Louisville trying to win the Final Four in Atlanta for their fallen sophomore guard Kevin Ware who broke his leg last weekend in their victory against Duke.
Cardinals head coach, Rick Pitino was selected to the basketball hall of fame during the week and would like to cement his legacy with a 2nd division one tournament championship. Out of the four teams that have made it, Louisville is the odds-on favorite to win it all but it won’t be easy against the Cinderella story of the tournament, the Wichita State Shockers.
Louisville is downplaying any underdog notion Wichita St. is trying to use for advantage as the Cardinals feel the Shockers have had elite level competition so far defeating Pittsburgh, Gonzaga and Ohio St. all within 8 days. While the Shockers have defeated some of the top teams in the country in the tournament, they haven’t run into a team yet that has the size, talent of both sides of the floor and depth that Cardinals have.
Led by Brooklyn native, Russ Smith who’s been averaging over 26 points a game in the entire tournament, along with senior guard Peyton Siva serving a second in charge on the court basically have are in control of their own fate. Wichita St, who’s been deadly from beyond the arc, will have to use their outside shooting to keep the court spread and ball movement to keep the Louisville distance if they want any shot at winning this game.