NEW YORK -- After routing Indiana 94-74 on Tuesday night at the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, Louisville (8-0) finished off its third Big Ten team in less than four weeks. The Cardinals had more offensive rebounds (26) than Indiana had defensive rebounds (24) in giving their best performance this season, opponent and locale considered.
"They're going to be an NCAA Tournament team, there's no doubt in my mind," Rick Pitino said of Indiana (7-2).
Even if that's not eventually true, it was an important outcome, as the win helped prep the stage for what could be the next latest, greatest, biggest game of the season. How so?
Let's address the minor details first. Here are the Cards' next three games:
- Home to UNC Wilmington (2-2 vs. D-I competition this season).
- Away vs. Western Kentucky (3-4).
- Then back home vs. Cal State Northridge (3-7).
If Louisville takes care of business, it's 11-0 on Dec. 27. Anyone reading this inside Bluegrass State borders already knows the date and has known it for months. It's a day with more meaning and more graphic attention on kitchen calendars than the Christmassy 25th.
It's the Kentucky game.
Montrezl Harrell, maybe the player of the year in college basketball to this point, is not deflecting questions or "taking it one game at time." He can't wait for that game. He's not scared whatsoever of Kentucky's image, ability, roster, any of it or any of them.
"Not at all. No team in America scares me," Harrell told CBSSports.com Tuesday night.
You see Harrell play this season? His presence, intimidation factor and overall dynamism is unmatched in college basketball. If the Jurassic World trailer didn't do it for you, just splice in some Harrell highlights to up the fright factor. The Cards junior is looking and playing like a top-five NBA Draft pick.
"There's a lot of great players in the country, but he has a skill like Kenneth Faried and [Dennis] Rodman, in his prime," Pitino said. "He plays like he hasn't eaten in a week."
Hungry Harrell looks balanced yet untamed. Furious, ferocious and fevered at all times. As fun as he is to watch, he must be more frightening to face. Because Louisville has this All American-type guy, maybe the best player in college basketball, it has a shot to upend Kentucky.
"I feel like my energy is what does it for our team," Harrell said. "Every time I'm on the floor I've got a high motor. I'm always playing extremely hard. If my team sees I'm playing with a high motor, they feed off me. I don't try to intimidate anybody. That's just the way I play. I'm just a hard player. I'm aggressive around the basket. If I come off as intimidating, I'm fine with that."
Harrell isn't curious about Kentucky's hockey-like line changes, but he can't wait to see how his team's style smashes up against Big Blue's bigs and changing casts on the court.
"As far as how we are against Kentucky, I don't really get too concerned. We're going to give them everything we've got. No team has really pressured them. There's no team out there that plays how we play," Harrell said. "That's why I think we have the advantage on people. Everybody can try to pressure and practice to prepare for it, but nobody can run it how we run it. Nobody has been in the condition we have been in. When we get on the floor, you might try to tweak your press offense for it, but there's no way to prepare for our press.
"We know those guys play five-in, five-out type thing, but whatever five is in, they're going to get pressed. We're not going to take off our press because they've got a lot of size. We're going to make their bigs handle the ball and we're going to see if their bigs can beat us [that way]. We are going to get after them. For 40 minutes, we're going to give them as much as they can handle."
Props to Harrell for addressing the Kentucky questions, even challenging UK more than two weeks out. He is ready and, damn, is he already fired up.
That's why we want that Kentucky-Louisville be a matchup of unbeatens. If anything, the pressure is now on the ultra-praised Wildcats to oblige. It's likely, for sure, but not guaranteed they'll also be flawless on Dec. 27. First, they'll need to get past North Carolina at home this Saturday (noon on CBS, streaming live on CBSSports.com) and then beat UCLA on Dec. 20 at the CBS Sports Classic, in Chicago. Clear those hurdles and the teams will be a combined 23-0.
And these are currently the top two statistical defense in the country, allowing 82.6 (UK) and 83.7 ('Ville) points per 100 possessions. We already know Kentucky's on pace for historical D in the modern era. Now you see Louisville is right there with them.
That ... I mean, come on. How terrific would that be? For the teams, the fans, the sport, even the general sports world. Kentucky-Louisville has rewarded us so often over the past decade, with both teams consistently being relevant, ranked and winning national titles. This could be an all-timer. Outside of the 2012 and 2014 NCAA Tournament meetings, you might argue Dec. 27 would offer up the biggest game in the history of the rivalry.
Because it would be the first time in modern series history (since 1994) both teams would meet with zero prior losses. It doesn't get more impressive than that.
Maybe Kentucky's undefeated quest will ultimately ride on that game. Maybe Louisville's charge to be best in the ACC is jump-started by it. Since Louisville gets the home floor, we know there will be real doubt about Kentucky winning that game. We'll have maybe ... three of those all season for Kentucky? Big opportunity and appointment television. (Note that Louisville will be even stronger then, having coveted wing Shaqquan Aaron in uniform for that game. They'll have nearly the depth to match Kentucky.)
And Louisville will go strength-for-strength, definitely looking to blitz Kentucky and run, run, run.
“Like a ping pong match,” Pitino said of the style his team excels at, the one it wants to use, the one that led to a 20-point win over a talented Indiana team and had 77 possessions.
But whereas Pitino proudly repeats that Harrell is the best player in the country, he neglects to putting his team on the same plane. He's sticking with a creed his team and the other 348 in Division I are a demarcation below the Wildcats and Blue Devils.
"I think Kentucky and Duke are at the highest level," Pitino said. "We have to develop our bench, six new players, we have a very high ceiling. We're not [going to shoot] 60 percent against a team like Wisconsin. We have shot-blocking. I like the way we’re rebounding. I think we’ll get there."
Pitino called the backcourt play of Chris Jones and Terry Rozier’s “brilliant” Tuesday night.
“We feel we’re the best backcourt in the country and we’ve had the freedom to be that,” Jones told CBSSports.com. “We’re not going to take anybody lightly. By the time we play them, hopefully its it’ll be a No. 1 vs. No. 2. That would be a great experience for the world, and for us. We played them twice last year, and we know what it’s like, us veterans, but the younger guys, we have to get them ready. Them guys have to be ready, and then it’s a pride game. Big brother, little brother. That's what they [Kentucky fans] call it. We're out to prove everyone wrong this year.”
In talking to a handful of Louisville players, they all were confident in the team's pressing ability to make it a hassle for any team in the country. Getting to this point without a loss was proof of what they knew to be -- that Louisville's good enough to fight for being the best in the country. Before March comes, they'll only have one shot to prove that definitively.
