The Kentucky Wildcats face their in-state rival Louisville Cardinals tonight in a Sweet-16 marque matchup. The tipoff is inside the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. with a 7:45 start on CBS.
These two teams from the commonwealth of Kentucky both are tradition-rich in basketball. The Wildcats had a difficult regular season, but they’ve started to click since the SEC tournament began. Last season, Big Blue Nation fell in the first round of the NIT to Robert Morris.
Once Kentucky got back to the Big Dance, they seem to feel at home. Perhaps that’s because they’ve appeared in the NCAA tournament a total of 53 times, winning eight national titles. Their overall record in this tourney is 113-47.
The Wildcats are led on the floor by freshman Julius Randle, who is scoring at a 15 ppg clip.
The Cardinals are the defending national champions from last season — their third national championship in school history. Louisville is a No.-4 seed that has spent much of this season perched atop the national rankings as the No. 1 team. All-time In the NCAA tournament, the Cardinals have a record of 70-40 and have appeared in the Final Four 10 times.
Senior guard, Russ Smith leads Louisville in scoring this season averaging 18.3 points per game.
The question for Ole Miss basketball fans is do you root for our SEC sister school tonight or do you plan to cheer for coach Rick Pinto and Louisville? Are you a loyal SEC advocate or do you pull for any team not wearing Wildcat blue?
Ironically, Coach Pitino was the head coach for Kentucky before leaving for the Wildcat’s bitter rival in-state competitor. Pitino who once coached at Providence College, has two national championships under his belt — one each with Kentucky and Louisville.
— Adam Brown, Sports Editor of HottyToddy.com
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