Sport: College HoopsPick Selection: Notre Dame vs. Louisville: Louisville
I'm laying the points with LOUISVILLE. This is a huge game for both teams as the winner all but wraps up a top-four seed in the Big East tournament and a much-needed first-round bye. The Irish have been playing very well. However, they're 0-2 ATS their last two road games and they'll be facing an even tougher opponent here. The Cardinals come in having gone a perfect 7-0 SU/ATS their last seven games. Since an embarrassing upset loss vs. Cincinnati on New Year's Day, the Cardinals have won all six of their home games. All games came against Big East opponents with the wins each coming by a minimum of eight points and by an average of 16 points. In fact, no Big East team has managed more than 58 points at Freedom Hall this year. The Cardinals have some additional motivation here as the Irish embarrassed them at Notre Dame last season. Pitino knows that Notre Dame didn't have much trouble with Syracuse's zone defense. The Cardinals' "zone" is much more active though and their full court press wears on teams as they have to work to just get the ball up the floor. Syracuse's lack of depth prevented the Orange from extending the defense to get out and challenge the Irish shooters. The Cardinals and their 10-man rotation have no such problems. Get beat, get tired or get in foul trouble and Pitino can (and will) always go with someone else. Note that the Cardinals are also capable of running with teams and have scored 80 or more points three times in their past seven games. The Irish, who are allowing more than 78 points per game over their last five are playing the first of back to back road games here. They've been in that situation twice previously this season and they went 0-2 SU/ATS, losing by a combined 25 points. While the Irish are 4-6 ATS off a conference win the Cardinals are 8-3 ATS when they were coming off a conference win. They're now 20-8 ATS in that situation the past three seasons. Look for the red hot Cardinals to improve on those stats, closing out a perfect month of February with another convincing victory. *Roast
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