With the Orange coming off a nice pull away win over UConn on Saturday, it might easy to think that the Orange are peaking and that a game against the Cardinals at the Yum! Center (stupidest arena name in the country, BTW) will be a challenge, but well within hand.

But I'm scared.

First and foremost, it's Syracuse's 3rd game in less than a week. Yeah, these are college kids who could prolly play ball 15 hours straight if they needed to, but three games in 6 days is an NBA-esque schedule. If this were over a break or something, it might not be as bad. But these guys are (hopefully) still trying to cram school into all this as well. They get 6 days off after tonight. Hopefully they can muster up the get-go for a win against a tough opponent.

Second, it's Louisville. It used to be that Pitt was the team that would always beat Syracuse. Now it's Louisville. Mostly likey due to the fact that Pitino was around during the inception of Jim B's 2-3, his teams always seem to know how to beat the Orange. Last season it was by having a guard dribble down to the corner, drawing the top zone defender on that side down, then quickly reversing the ball to the spot vacated by that defender. They got at least 7-8 wide open looks that way and made at least 5 of them. If it were anyone but the Cardinals at the end of a long 3 game stretch, I'd still be pretty confident. I'm only mildly so.

Third, its on the road. I'm not a big believer in home court advantage. I think that good teams will be in position for a W no matter where they play. But given the fact that they prolly hopped a charter flight to Kentucky shortly after the UConn game, the travel could take its toll for this one. Hopefully, since it's a night game, Jim B gave them yesterday pretty much off and will hold a short practice during the day today. They definitely have their hands full preparing, but rest might be the bigger concern at the moment.

Am I scared? No. But any game against Louisville is one to make me nervous. This one has other circumstances piled on that make it a dangerous one.