Wednesday Night in CBB we will see the Seton Hall Pirates take on the Louisville Cardinals in the 2nd round of the Big East Tournament. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 pm tipoff and will be televised live on ESPN.  Currently Louisville is favored by 4 points with the total being set at 126.5 for the game.

Free Analysis: The 10th-seeded Seton Hall Pirates will look to repeat their dominating performance from the first round tonight when they square off with the 7th-seeded Louisville Cardinals in the second round of the 2012 Big East Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden.  Louisville seems safely in the NCAA tournament regardless of how it fares this week, but Seton Hall may need another victory to feel secure even after its 79-47 rout of Providence on Tuesday. This will be the 16th meeting in the all-time series. Louisville holds a 10-5 edge in the rivalry after winning this season's only encounter, 60-51 at the Prudential Center on Jan. 28. The Pirates had a frustrating evening against Louisville, as they managed to make just 27.6 percent of their field goal attempts and only 3-of-18 from beyond the arc in the contest. Seton Hall  looked nothing like a team capable of shooting 27.6 percent from the floor on Tuesday as they completely dismantled the Providence Friars to earn a 79-47 victory in their first round game. The Pirates knocked down 56 percent of their field goals while converting 14-of-17 at the charity stripe to handle the Friars. The young Pirates have leaned heavily on their two All-Big East seniors — second-team point guard Jordan Theodore led the team in scoring (16.0) and assists (6.7) during the regular season, and he posted 13 points and 13 assists against Providence. Third-team forward Herb Pope adds 15.3 points and a team-best 10.3 rebounds. Seton Hall allows opponents to shoot just 31 percent from 3-point range, and sophomore guard Fuquan Edwin leads the nation in steals with 3.1 per game. FT's are a problem for this team as they are 15th in the conference at 66.2% but they are the Big East's top 3-point shooting team (36.6%). Coach Rick Pitino's squad limped into the Big East Tournament with losses in three of its last four games. Louisville (22-9) was held under 60 points in all four of its final regular season games. The Cardinals' recent troubles on the offensive end are understandable as they faced three of the top four defenses (Syracuse, South Florida, Cincinnati) during that span. Kyle Kuric, Russ Smith, and Chris Smith all possess the ability to get hot and light up the scoreboard for the Cardinals. All three carry in scoring averages in double-figures, but the trio was terrible its last time out as it went a combined 1-of-18 from beyond the arc in the regular season finale versus Syracuse. Louisville has had more turnovers than assists in five of its last six games, which is a partial factor in their recent scoring woes. The Cardinals were very good throughout the season as they outscored their opponents by an average of 7.4 ppg.  The Cardinals have been effective in limiting opposing offenses, allowing just 37.9 percent shooting overall, but they haven't been great at defending the 3-point shot (32.5 percent). Louisville ranks seventh nationally in steals (9.2), and Dieng (9.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 blocks) is the eighth-best shot-blocker in the nation.The Cardinals have reached the finals of the conference tournament two of the last three seasons, losing last year's title game to eventual national champion Connecticut.

Free Pick: Gonna look to the OVER in this one. The Cardinals have been stagnant on offense of late and it has resulted in their struggles down the stretch. This is a team that needs to get out and run to be effective and they are playing a team that would like to run as well. The Pirates come in averaging 72.3 ppg in their last 7 games and they average 65.5 ppg in Big East play. Louisville has been a tough defensive ball club of late, but they have allowed 64.9 ppg in Big East play. Despite their offensive struggles down the stretch, the Cardinals have still averaged 67.4 ppg in Big East play this year and they should have good success vs a Seton Hal team that has allowed 65.4 ppg in their last 5 games. I really expect both teams to hit the 65 points mark in this one.  

Betting Strategies: College Basketball Conference Tournament
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame's own Johnny Detroit talk about how important the college basketball conference tournaments are for some teams and also discuss: Conference tournaments are purest handicap of the season and other various handicapping angles.