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Thursday, January 17, 2013
 Why Louisville is better this year
By Luke Lapinski

 Louisville is always a tough team to beat. Last year, the Cardinals rattled off 30 wins and pushed eventual champion Kentucky for awhile in their Final Four showdown. Now they're ranked No.1 in the nation -- something that never happened in 2011-12 -- and seem considerably stronger than they were just a season ago.

So what's been the difference for Rick Pitino's group? Defensively, they're once again one of the best programs in the nation. The guards relentlessly pressure the other team's ballhandlers up the court and, if the opponent somehow gets near the hoop, Gorgui Dieng is standing there ready to swat anything that might come his way and scoop up the rebound on the occasional shot that gets past. Through 17 games, the Cardinals are yielding just 56.4 points per contest. That puts them at No. 14 in the nation in that department, and is even more impressive when considering the high caliber of competition (Duke, Missouri, Kentucky, Memphis) they've faced.

This team is always a defensive headache for opponents though. That's nothing new. The difference this season is they're putting the ball in the hoop on the other end of the floor, averaging 76.9 points per game (No. 33 in the nation) as opposed to the 68.2 (No. 168) they were putting up a year ago. Our own Eamonn Brennan contends that's the element that makes the Cardinals truly dangerous in 2012-13. Last year, they could hang with anyone because they could usually hold the other side's scoring numbers down. This year, they can also score with the opposition if it comes to that.

Eamonn Brennan
Even more dangerous
"The real difference between this year's Louisville team and last year's is offense. In 2011-12, the Cardinals were an occasionally watchable, often abysmal offensive team. This season, Smith is shooting just as often but playing much more efficiently, Siva is hitting more threes than ever before and, according to Synergy, the Cardinals are playing in transition on 19.5 percent of their possessions. When those turnovers equal easy buckets, and the Cardinals really get rolling, look out."