BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S HOSTS LOUISVILLE AT MSG

February 8, 2009

Since joining the Big East, Madison Square Garden has not been a friendly place for the Louisville men’s basketball team. However, this year’s Cards have risen into the top five of the national rankings with an 8-1 Big East record and a 17-4 mark overall. This afternoon, they take on the Redstorm of St. John’s in the world’s most famous arena.

St. John’s has battled injuries and youth and sit at 3-7 in the Big East and 12-10 overall. While injuries have left them short-handed all season, this is as healthy as they will be the rest of the season with Malik Boothe and Rob Thomas returning to the line-up in the last week or so.

Cards Tweak Where They’re Weak (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Line-up is Pressing Issue for Cards (Courier-Journal)


The college basketball lines list Louisville as a 10 ½ point favorite on the road. A healthy number, but the Cards are coming off a 68-51 loss at home to No. 1 UConn in a much-hyped game. The result has seemed to leave Rick Pitino reeling a bit as line-up changes with Preston Knowles and Terrence Jennings possibly seeing increased time, if not starting roles, to fix the areas Pitino is not happy with. He is looking for more of a pressing and offensively attacking line-up and these players have been showing him the most improvement.

St. John’s could be very vulnerable to this attacking defense as their ballhandling is shaky, at best. The return of Boothe allows most player to return to their natural positions, improving their ballhandling as a team, but they are still a young team prone to mistakes under pressure.

St. John’s can also be very hot and cold with their offense, as can Louisville, so expect this game to be on the low-scoring end of things.

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Louisville 67
St. John’s 57