BIg East Final: #21 Connecticut vs. Louisville #14

Madison Square Garden in New York will play host to the Big East showdown between  #21 Connecticut and Louisville #14 at 9pm tonight. This will be the third meeting of these two teams with the Cardinals winning both with a 79-78 in double overtime back in January and 71-58 win on February 18th. This showdown was set up by the Huskies 76-71 win last night after two clutch shots by Jeremy Lamb took out Syracuse in front of 20,000 in overtime. Louisville also needed overtime in a dramatic comeback to win 83-77 over Notre Dame after trailing by 16 points late in the first half.

The key to this game and who to wager on is what you predict Kemba Walker will end up doing. After the win last night, the crowd chanted "Kemba, Kemba, Kemba" due to his amazing performance of 33 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and 5 assists. Something will have to budge in this one. One one side Walker is looking to lead the Huskies on being the first team in Big East history to win five games in five days at the Big East Tournament. Kemba is "red hot" and after putting up 33 last night became the first player in the Big East tourney history to score 20+ in four straight games. On the other end of the equation is the Louisville plan to try and repeat the February 18th win over the Huskies when they held Walker to 3 of 10 shooting and beat Connecticut by 13.

Before beating DePaul and Georgetown to end the regular season, do not forget Connecticut dropped seven of eleven games. For the Huskies to reach this game, Kemba Walker basically had to play like no BIg East player before him in the tournament's history. Only one of two things need to happen for Louisville to win this matchup: 1) Kemba Walker plays like a normal human being or 2)  Louisville keeps him in check ala the 71-58 victory back on February 18th. Rick Pitino will go into this one playing aggressive defense and even though we do not expect them to hold the Huskies to 29.8% shooting like they did Marquette, they will do enough to win this one and spoil UConn's chance at a 7th Big East Tournament Title.

Notable Trends:

Louisville has covered 4 of last 5 versus Connecticut
Louisville has covered there last 6 games as a favorite
Connecticut is on a 22-8 against the spread run following a straight up win
Connecticut is on a 7-0 run against the spread on a neutral court
The OVER is 23-7 against the spread the last 30 when Connecticut is in a neutral court

Game Time: 9:00pm EST
T.V.: ESPN, DTV 206
Public Betting Percentages: 68% on Louisville and 96% on the OVER (Check the updated betting %)
Opening Line: Louisville -1.0/135.0
Current Line: Louisville -2.5/134.5 (Check the updated line)
JD's Line: Louisville -4.0/136.0
Free College Basketball Pick: Louisville -2.5

Community Feedback:

Will Kemba Walker continue his historic run or be kept in check by Louisville?

Do you skip the sides in this one and have an opinion on the total?