Syracuse-Louisville: Big East Tournament Championship Final, March 14

Syracuse Orange (11-7, 26-8) at Louisville Cardinals (16-2, 27-5)

Big East Tournament Championship Game
Saturday, March 14 — 9:00 PM EST on ESPN

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Preview

The championship game of the Big East Tournament features the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals and the sixth-seeded Syracuse Orange. These two teams have taken very different paths during the tournament to get to this point.

After winning their first Big East regular season title, Louisville came into the tournament as the top-seeded team and ranked fifth in the nation.

Being in the top four of the Big East, the Cardinals secured a double-bye and have only faced two opponents so far: Providence in the quarterfinals and Villanova in the semi's.

The Friars' hopes of moving farther into the Big East (and perhaps into the NCAA Tournament) were dashed as they committed 26 turnovers and lost 73-55.

On Friday night, Louisville faced the fourth seeded Villanova Wildcats and defeated them 69-55. At the half, Louisville was down by eight, but they opened the second half with a 17-2 run and never looked back. The Wildcats committed 23 turnovers, well above their  season average of 11.7.

The Syracuse Orange have had an unforgettable journey to the finals. As the sixth seed, they only were privy to a single bye, so they have faced three teams so far: Seton Hall, Connecticut, and West Virginia.

In their first tournament game, they defeated the Seton Hall Pirates by 15. In the quarterfinals, the underdog Orange upset the UConn Huskies 127-117 in a record six overtimes.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Syracuse defeated West Virginia 74-69 in overtime to reach the finals for a Big East-record 14th time.

In the past two days, Syracuse has played in seven overtime periods. As Eric Devendorf put it in his post-game interview, "it's like [they've] played three games in two days." Not too far off, considering regulation is 40 minutes and they've played an extra 35.

The Orange players have all seen their playing time drastically increase during the tournament, although no one has matched Jonny Flynn's 147 minutes (although Eric Devendorf is close with 139).

After Thursday's marathon game finished at 1:22 a.m., no one thought the Orange would be able to keep up with the Mountaineers on Friday. While they looked tired on a few occasions, overall they were able to keep up their tempo.

The question, though, is will they be able to do it one more time. Louisville plays a very fast game and has been winning by forcing turnovers. An exhausted team may be prone to make mistakes, but if anyone is up to the task, it's Syracuse.

The Cardinals and Orange faced off once earlier this season on January 25. Louisville won by ten, 67-57. In that game, Eric Devendorf lead all scorers with 20 points, and Jonny Flynn and Arinze Onuaku added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Cardinals were led by Earl Clark with 16 points, and Terrence Williams with 15. Edgar Sosa added another 13.

The teams have both changed since then, though. At the time, Syracuse was still dealing with Devendorf's distraction and possible suspension, while the Cardinals' big freshman was struggling to find his rhythm. Here's how the two teams look today:

Backcourt

Jonny Flynn (G, Syracuse) vs. Andre McGee (G, Louisville)

Flynn: 17.8 PPG, .331 3P%, 6.6 APG, All-Big East Second Team
McGee: 5.3 PPG, .368 3P%

Eric Devendorf (G, Syracuse) vs. Jerry Smith (G, Louisville)

Devendorf: 15.6 PPG, .387 3P%
Smith: 7.4 PPG, .396 3P%

Frontcourt

Arinze Onuaku (F-C, Syracuse) vs. Samardo Samuels (F, Louisville)

Onuaku: 10.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.5 BPG
Samuels: 11.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, Big East All-Rookie Team

Paul Harris (F, Syracuse) vs. Terrence Williams (F, Louisville)

Harris: 13.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.3 APG, .502 FG%
Williams: 12.8 PPG, .377 3P%, 8.5 RPG, 5.1 APG, All-Big East First Team

Rick Jackson (F, Syracuse) vs. Earl Clark (G-F, Louisville)

Jackson: 8.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.6 BPG
Clark: 13.6 PPG, 8.8 RPG, .297 3P%, 3.1 APG, All Big-East Third Team

The Big East Tournament has provided some very memorable games and finishes: Villanova's time-expiring backdoor cut, West Virginia's upset over Pitt, the Syracuse-UConn six-OT game, the West Virginia-Syracuse OT game the following night, and the list goes on.

This should be another great Big East battle as Syracuse and Louisville try to secure the 2009 Big East Tournament trophy.

By The Numbers

	Record	Conf	ATS	RPI	SOS	PF	PA
Syracuse	26-8	11-7	16-14	11	10	81.5	72.2
Louisville	27-5	16-2	20-11	7	15	73.9	61.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG
Syracuse	48.9	41.1	35.0	29.1	64.1	43.4	8.0	18.4	15.2
Louisville	45.0	39.1	36.1	30.5	64.3	40.8	9.1	16.6	13.7

Stat Leaders

	Syracuse	Louisville
PPG	J. Flynn - 17.7	E. Clark - 14.1
	E. Devendorf - 15.8	T. Williams - 12.4
	P. Harris - 12.8	S. Samuels - 11.8
RPG	P. Harris - 8.0	E. Clark - 8.8
APG	J. Flynn - 6.7	T. Williams - 5.1
SPG	J. Flynn - 1.6	T. Williams - 2.3
BPG	R. Jackson - 1.6	E. Clark - 1.5

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