Cardinals Rule
Louisville vs Syracuse Same story, different year. Just like in 2012, Louisville earned the Big East tournament championship and Peyton Siva is named MVP. For all the rich Big East tradition, the Cardinals became just the fourth team ever to repeat as conference tournament champions, though it wasn’t easy. Contrary to Louisville’s recent, fairly smooth victories, the Cards found themselves trailing by 16 with just over 15 minutes to play in the second half as Syracuse seemed to be in line for its sixth tournament title. But then came the Louisville pressure. Full-court. Traps. The whole game flipped around, as Syracuse suddenly couldn’t hit a shot and Louisville couldn’t miss. Incredibly, the Cards went on a 27-3 run over a seven-minute span to take an eight-point lead they would never relinquish.
74
Who said there weren’t any elite teams in college basketball? If this game revealed nothing else, it definitely showed that Louisville, when it needed to, could go to a level that not very many teams, if any, could match. And that’s the mark of an elite team. Want to know how good Louisville was turning out to be? Montrezl Harrell, not Luke Hancock or Russ Smith, led the Cards with 21 points, while Dieng -- a center for crying out loud -- led the way with eight assists. Yet it was Peyton Siva, as mentioned, who was named MVP. Talk about getting hit from all sides. With the win, Louisville was soon seeded as the No. 1 overall team in the NCAA tournament, as a run that Cardinal fans would never forget was about to begin.