Cardinals currently favored by 2...Pitino says four players will be out...

As of this morning Vegas is stating UofL is favored by 2 points because of the home court advantage.  This was prior to the news of a fourth player being listed on the out list.  Jared Swopshire came into the season as Louisville's best returning player with no talented freshman to fight him for the top spot on the team.  He has been out all season, forcing others to pick up the slack. 

Louisville's 2nd best player in average minutes and 4th in scoring Mike Marra sprained his right ankle and has missed the last two games and is expected to be out again against the Cats.  

Elisha Justice suffered a concussion against Gardner Webb on Saturday.  Justice has average 15.5 minutes a game, which is the 8th most minutes this season for the Cards.
Now Pitino has reported a fourth player to be out, Rakeem Buckles.  Buckles suffered a spiral fracture in his finger while going through a drill Thursday morning.  Buckles is the Cards 6th best in average minutes per game and point per game.  He also was expected to be the Cards best option to stop Jones. 

UK has two disadvantages this season.  Lack of depth and lack of size.  Without Kanter, a team with lots of depth and lots of height would be quite a challenge for UK.  Louisville looks to be lacking both key ingredients for tomorrow's battle. 

Likely starting matchup for tomorrow:

      UK                                  UofL
PG Knight 6'3                       Siva 5'11
SG Miller 6'7                        Knowles 6'1
C    Harrelson 6'10               Dieng 6'10  (Harrelson out weighs him by 65 pounds)
PF  Jones 6'8                       Kuric 6'4
F    Liggins 6'6                     Smith 6'2

Pitino may stick Jennings or Van Treese in the starting lineup to add some size, Van Treese is 6'9 but is only averaging 11 minutes a game with 2.3 ppg. 

As you can see with the matchup UK will be significantly bigger.  At the 5 both Harrelson and Dieng are the same height but Dieng is very thin at 215 pounds, compared to Harrelson's 275 frame. 

Louisville had 9 nine guys averaging 14.5 minutes a game or more.  Now with the injuries they have 6 with a total roster of 9 guys. 

No depth? No size? Not a good recipe to beat UK.  It's a rivalry, things happen.  The new arena, our young guys may freeze under pressure and lay an egg.  It could happen but for Vegas to have them as a favorite because of just being at the Yum! Center seems a little much. 

We shall see...Go Cats! Beat Cards!