Bryan Leonard 12/12
Bryan Leonard's Saturday NCAA Shocker
591/592 Western Carolina at Louisville
The Catamounts of Western Carolina are 9-1 on the season with victories over Duquesne, Wofford and Bradley. Their single loss this year was an embarrassing 73-41 defeat at Texas. Overall 5 of the top 8 players for the Catamounts are seniors who have competed on the road in the past against quality opposition. Western Carolina is a very good defensive team who ranks 9th in the nation defending the three. Coach Larry Hunter has taken a team that won just 10 games two seasons ago to a squad that can compete for an NCAA Tournament berth this year. They have a current RPI rating of 28 which makes them a dangerous dog here.
Louisville is 5-2 on the season having lost 2 of the last 3 games they have played. They are off an embarrassing 87-65 home loss to Charlotte. While we normally look to back a quality coached team off a loss of that nature we simply can't help but think that something is terribly wrong with the Cardinals. Rick Pitino still doesn't have a full grasp of his playing rotations and the team hasn't come together the way he has hoped. This is a team that won 27 and 31 games the past two years but that winning chemistry just hasn't been there this season. Other than the blowout victory over Arkansas in the season opener this team just hasn't beaten a quality team all year. To expect them to win by a margin tonight would be too much to ask from a team still trying to find themselves.
This is a statement game for the up and coming Catamounts and they have a great shot of taking this contest to the wire. Too many points to lay for the Cardinals who have underperformed this season.
PLAY WESTERN CAROLINA
519/520 Ohio State at Butler
Well aware of the Buckeyes missing outstanding junior Evan Turner but there is no way this club doesn't show up here. When a key player goes down the team responds big in the first game after the injury. And keep in mind that this team has plenty of scoring options. They rank 2nd in the nation in field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage. The Buckeyes have five players averaging double figure scoring. Where they will miss Turner is in rebounding and defense as he was a terror on the boards. But this is a veteran squad with 7 of the top 8 players being upperclassmen. Ohio State is the better team here and they are getting points in a game that they must prove themselves to the nation, a motivated underdog with talent.
Butler is 6-3 on the season and they dropped all three games when stepping up in class. The earlier 69-67 neutral site victory over UCLA has been lessoned as the Bruins have been possibly the biggest disappointment in the nation. Butler is normally an excellent shooting team that takes care of the ball but that's not the Bulldog team we have seen this far. They rank in the lower half in just about every statistic and they have been especially poor in rebounding and blocking shots. That means the Ohio State weaknesses will not be exploited by the Bulldogs.
Butler is clearly a step down this season which isn't to say they won't be a team to be counted on later this year. But the way they are playing they simply don't deserve to be favored here over a much better offensive squad. Just two of the top 14 players on this team are seniors and this school has graduated a great deal of talent the past two seasons. Butler is good but not in the Buckeye's class at this point in the year.
PLAY OHIO STATE
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