The Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals are playing in the Midwest regional Sweet 16 on Friday from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for a chance at the Elite Eight and the region finals in the bracket and the matchup has John Calipari and Rick Pitino facing off as the in-state rivals battle and it starts up around 9:45 pm ET on CBS and streaming online live from the NCAA March Madness website for the tournament.
Louisville comes into the game as the better seed after winning their conference, but in this game seeds do not really matter and this is all about the in-state rivalry and hatred on both sides and players like Russ Smith and Julius Randle will be the main focuses. The Cardinals come into the game after a nice win against St. Louis and they got seven assists from Russ Smith in that game and they are averaging over 80 points and are ranked in the top 10 in scoring this season as they look to defend their national title from last year.
Kentucky played one of the best games of the tournament after winning over Wichita State and now UK and Louisville face off on Friday night. Andrew Harrison led the team in scoring with 20 points against the Shockers and Randle continued his strong play this season and he had 10 boards and six assists and he was the top scorer during the year and will be a ton to handle for the Cardinals. The team is averaging over 75 points per game and they matchup with a very good Cardinals D, as they are allowing just 60 points per game and are averaging 10 steals, which ranks second in the nation.
Many felt that the Cardinals have been disrespected after winning last season and getting a victory against Kentucky will only help prove whey they should have been named a higher seed. The team ranked in the top 20 in assists per game and shot over 47 percent from the field and now they have the chance to continue their seven game winning streak after starting it up against their conference heading into the tournament. Kentucky has youth and the Cardinals have experience and that makes this one of the most intriguing matchups of the tournament. The team has won over UConn multiple time this season and they are still alive for the tourney, as are SEC champions the Florida Gators.
Smith and Luke Hancock are both seniors on the Cardinals and their experience will help a great deal and this game is easily the top matchup of the round. The winner of the game matches up with Michigan or Tennessee and that should give the Midwest bracket some flavor. The rest of the Elite 8 has a sort of Cinderella in Dayton and the Flyers are looking strong with their seniors and they are playing against Florida in a huge game and that is on Saturday in the regional finals. Iowa State and UConn will play the winner of the Virginia and Michigan State matchup and the MSU-UVA game has the one and four seeded matchup that everyone was looking for and the Spartans have the chance to make a nice run here as President Obama's pick to win.
Check here for the Kentucky and Louisville live stream coverage from the NCAA tournament website.