Bluegrass State rivals square off at Freedom Hall

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/04/2009 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Non-conference rivals will collide at Freedom Hall this afternoon, as the 18th-ranked Louisville Cardinals battle the Kentucky Wildcats.

Expect Kentucky to play with a wealth of confidence this afternoon, as the team has won six straight games. The Wildcats, who are 11-3 overall, are coming off an 84-52 decision over Central Michigan on Monday. They have only played one true road game to date, and that tilt resulted in a 19-point loss to top-ranked North Carolina on November 18th.

As for Louisville, it has lost two of its last three games after a blistering 7-1 start to the season. On Wednesday, the Cardinals suffered a heartbreaking defeat against UNLV in a 56-55 final. The other losses came against Western Kentucky and Minnesota, surprising considering the lofty expectations of Rick Pitino's team entering this season.

Kentucky owns a 26-13 series lead over Louisville, including wins in three of the last four meetings with the Cardinals.

Kentucky relies heavily on the talents of two players, Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson. Meeks, an explosive guard, is netting 24.1 ppg on the strength of his 43.2 percent shooting from three-point range. In a victory over Appalachian State in mid-December, Meeks poured in 46 points, proof of his enormous ability. As for Patterson, a power forward, he provides 19.3 ppg and 9.4 rpg. The big man is shooting a staggering 72.2 percent from the field and has blocked 30 shots. In the 32-point romp over Central Michigan last time out, Meeks posted 23 points on the strength of a 5-of-8 showing from behind the arc. As for Patterson, he finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Michael Porter and Josh Harrellson pitched in 12 points apiece for the Wildcats, who connected on 53.6 percent of their field goal attempts and racked up 22 assists. Defensively, they limited the overmatched Chippewas to 31 percent shooting from the floor.

The best player for Louisville so far this season has been freshman forward Samardo Samuels, who is averaging 14.7 ppg on 54.5 percent shooting from the floor. More than just a scorer, Samuels is pulling down 7.0 rpg as well. Earl Clark provides 13.1 ppg and 8.6 rpg for the Cardinals, who are getting 11.6 ppg and 8.8 rpg from Terrence Williams. One of the most versatile players in the Big East Conference, Williams is also dishing out 5.0 apg and tops the roster with 26 steals. Louisville is averaging 76.2 ppg this season while holding opponents to 59.0 ppg on 37.4 percent shooting from the field. In the one-point loss to UNLV, Preston Knowles paced the Cardinals with 11 points, while Samuels and Clark both scored 10 points. Contributing significantly to the loss was the fact that Louisville shot just 29.6 percent from the field.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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