Any Which Way

Louisville-Duke isn't just a toss-up game.  It's an "any which way" game.  Just about anything could happen.  I could see a close game, or either team getting blown out.  We've seen both teams get way down in games this year.  Louisville has had more success on the comeback trail than Duke, witnessed in the Big East Championship game against Syracuse.

The common narrative for a Duke win is for Louisville's guards to get in foul trouble.  Siva is very foul prone, as we saw in the Oregon game where he picked up two quick ones and spent most of the first half on the bench.  The other side of the coin with Louisville foul trouble is all the free-throws Duke will shoot.  And if Louisville is down late in the game trying to foul to get back in it, we can pretty much circle Duke's name in our brackets.

As for the Louisville narrative, it involves high pressure defense forcing a lot of turnovers.  Can Cook handle the pressure?  Also, another key is Louisville's bench wearing Duke down in the second half.  And, Louisville does have a pair of quality free-throw shooters in Smith and Siva.

I've seen a ton of these blockbuster match-ups over the years and the only thing I've learned is you never know how they're going to turn out.  After the game, all the pundits will prattle on about how the result was a foregone conclusion.  But the reality is, at this level it's all about guys having career nights, and other guys having bad games at the worst time.  The greatness of sports is an unknown outcome and watching the results play out on the court.