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Article By - Daniel Farish

1) Physical Play Goes BOTH Ways
- Throughout the Big East season, we have heard how Peyton and Russ won't make it once the NCAA Tournament gets here because of the fouls. The refs call it closer and their hand checks/bear hugs will be called. Well, it goes both ways. More often than not, opposing players have to hold and bump Russ/Siva in order to keep the feisty guards in front of them on defense. These two will carve up opposing defenses for this reason, and one more. There is no way to prepare for them. You cannot duplicate what they bring to the table. Good luck to the defense who only has a few days to prepare for them. You won't.

2) Region Of Ease
- As a #1 seed, Louisville has a first round bye against North Carolina A&T. Second round is either Missouri or Colorado State. #1 seeds have advanced against the 8/9's 95% of the time. No worries there. That gives Rick a week to prepare for the Sweet 16, A ROUND HE HAS NEVER LOST IN. After that is Duke or Michigan State. UL has already proved they can hang with Duke, and that was Gorgui-less. Following that game, everyone knew that the ceiling for Duke wasn't very high while UL's was astronomical. That has been proven. Michigan State poses a threat, but Pitino got that monkey off his back last year. No one in the West has a chance against UL. It's easy sailing into the National Championship game.

3) Home Court
- Louisville gets to play their opening round games in Lexington which is a short drive from Louisville. I think they could play those two games in Antarctica and win. It doesn't become an advantage until the Indianapolis game(s). Saint Louis is the fan favorite to match up with Louisville in the Sweet 16 and they haven't played in front of an atmosphere this season like they will in Indianapolis. 10,612 people (their max attendance this year) is A LOT different than the 20,000+ they will see. This whole "Win one for Coach Majerus" will subside soon. At some point the combination of superior athleticism and execution (Louisville) will defeat pure determination (Saint Louis).

4) Pressure?
- The '09 team could not handle the spotlight. They had the drama llama's in Terrence Williams and Earl Clark. But this team? A lot of guys are humble and want what's best for the team. Trez had an amazing game Saturday. Who was the first guy to run on the court and hug him? Chane, the guy whose minutes he took. Wayne has had a disappointing season but he doesn't let it get him down. Siva never has a bad day. He can handle anything that has come to him. His career against Syracuse has been horrible. But at Syracuse a few weeks ago he took the bench and let Kevin get the minutes because he was more effective. These guys aren't worried about themselves. They want the TEAM to be Champions. Now that Luke is healthy he is Kyle Kuric 2.0. And Gorgui is the most charismatic player I've ever seen. And then we have Russ. He went from Russdiculous to a legitimate 2 guard. He has the ability to make decisions NOW, that he didn't have just 2 months ago. That 5 OT loss to Notre Dame taught him a lot. Last we have SVT who works harder on the blocks than anyone else. This team has come together better than anyone could have thought, except maybe Pitino.

5) Playing The Best When It Counts
- If you look at all the other top seeds in the country, Louisville is playing better than any of them. Duke lost in the ACC Semi's. Indiana lost in the Big 10 semi's. Kansas won the Big 12...but they are also sporting a blowout loss against Baylor and an embarrassing game against TCU. No one has had faith in Kansas for YEARS, so why should we now? Gonzaga is in the position that the Louisville football team was in. Their crappy non-conference put them in this position. Louisville football came out and smashed their SEC opponent in the mouth. Play that game 6 times, Florida probably wins 5 of them. Gonzaga has 6 games to fulfill their #1 seed. Will they win 6? Nope. No one is playing as well as Louisville and in April, they WILL be hanging a banner.