Louisville/Notre Dame Preview: Card Chronicle Teaches Us Five Things

I almost always say nice things when introducing these opponent scouting reports - because I am a nice person, obviously - but I am not exaggerating in any way when I say that Mike is one of my favorite members of the SBNation family.  Any person who loves basketball conference tournaments (especially the small ones) and hates the BCS as much as he does has to be a good guy, and he's dropped some Louisville Cardinals knowledge for you below the graphic.  (And also, follow him on Twitter if that's your thing.)

1. We're banged up

Louisville has suffered through more injuries this season than not just any Cardinal team I can remember, but any team I can remember, period. Leading scorer Preston Knowles missed Saturday's game against DePaul with a hamstring injury, but will play Wednesday night. Starting center Gorgui Dieng - one of the league's top shot-blockers - is still out with a concussion. Starting power forward Rakeem Buckles - Louisville's leading rebounder - has been out with a fractured finger since before the new year, but may return against Syracuse on Saturday. The only returning starter on the team - forward Jared Swopshire - is out for the year with a "hernia-type" injury. Stephan Van Treese - who has started recently at power forward - is questionable for the Notre Dame game because of a stomach virus. Elisha Justice, Mike Marra, Terrence Jennings, Russ Smith and George Goode have all also missed games because of injuries this season, but will all be available against the Fighting Irish.

2. We foul a lot

One of Notre Dame's biggest strengths this season has been their ability to get to the line and shoot (and make) more free-throws than their opponents. The Irish have taken a whopping 602 shots from the charity stripe so far this season. Compare that to just 447 free-throw attempts by Louisville. Making matters worse is the fact that the Cardinals are being called for just under 20 fouls per game, worse than every team in the Big east not named Rutgers or DePaul.

3. We don't mind big deficits

In Big east play lone, Louisville has overcome second half deficits of 18, 13, and 11 points to notch victories, and nearly knocked off Georgetown a week ago after trailing by 13 in the second half. The Cards have trailed at the half four times in games which they have come back to win. This is a tactic they'd almost certainly be foolish to employ against Notre Dame since the Irish execute so well, especially when playing with a lead.

4. When we're healthy, we play a lot of dudes

An astounding ten players on Louisville's team average better than 12 minutes per game, and 11 average more than 8.5 mpg. All 13 active players on the roster are averaging at least one point per game, and 11 of the 13 are averaging better than three points and one rebound a night. The only benefit of all these injuries is that it's forced guys into experiencing playing in crunch-time situations. Outside of walk-on freshman Tim Henderson, every player on Louisville's roster has played key minutes in a big game this season.

5. Yeah, we're still going to shoot a lot of threes

In most respects, this Louisville team is very different than any other during the Big East era, but living and dying by the three is an unaltered constant. The Cards are drilling nine threes a game, easily the highest mark in the league (Notre Dame is second at 7.4 per game). Big men Terrence Jennings and Stephan Van Treese are the only Cardinals at least moderately capable of knocking it down from beyond the arc.