Cardinals hope to soar past Mountaineers in quest for Big East title

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2009 - Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The sixth-ranked Louisville Cardinals can clinch at least a share of the Big East Conference's regular season title tonight, as they square off against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown.

The Cardinals enter the day locked in a first-place tie with top-ranked UConn, both teams sporting 15-2 league records. Louisville, though, lost to UConn during the season and would need a win and loss by the Huskies to claim the top seed in the upcoming league tournament. UConn battles Pittsburgh, which is still in the title mix at 14-3, earlier today so Louisville will know what is at stake prior to start of this game. The Cardinals soar into the contest on the wings of a six-game win streak that includes a 95-78 besting of Seton Hall on Wednesday. Now at 24-5 overall, UofL hits the road where it has gone a stellar 7-1 thus far.

West Virginia is a dangerous club that is trying to leave no doubt about a possible at-large NCAA Tournament bid. The Mountaineers have claimed victory in five of their last six outings, most recently routing DePaul on Wednesday, 82-63. At 10-7 in conference, WVU is currently tied with Syracuse and Providence for sixth place.

With regard to the all-time series between these two teams, Louisville holds a 6-2 advantage and it captured a 69-63 win in the first meeting this season.

The Cardinals shot 53.7 percent from the floor and connected on 10-of-24 three-point chances, as they raced past Seton Hall on Wednesday. Louisville won the battle on the boards, 44-33, and also handed out 22 assists as a team. Earl Clark led the charge with a double-double that consisted of a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds. Terrence Williams also had a big night and nearly had a triple-double, finishing with 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. On the season, Clark tops the roster in each scoring (13.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.0 rpg) and he is also distributing 3.2 apg. Williams is even more well rounded, and that is saying a lot, as he turns in 12.6 ppg 8.6 rpg, to go with team highs of 5.0 apg and 62 steals. Freshman Samardo Samuels rounds out the double-figure scorers, with 12.0 ppg.

The Mountaineers controlled the paint, outscoring DePaul by a 34-14 margin, and dominating the boards, 48-30, in an 82-63 rout on Wednesday. WVU also knocked down 45.7 percent of its attempts from the field and 10-of-22 from three-point distance. Alex Ruoff went 6-of-9 from behind the arc for 20 points, while Da'Sean Butler recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Butler heads the Mountaineers in scoring this season with his 17.4 ppg and he is also pulling down 6.0 rpg. Ruoff has provided a nice complement to him and he checks in with 16.3 ppg on the strength of 37.9 percent shooting from three-point distance.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.