CBB Roundup: Louisville Basketball is Down Bad in a Big Way

In 2018 Bobby Petrino turned me into a degenerate. This sportswriter always enjoyed watching the games, but rarely got in on the action. Petrino’s pathetic Cardinals changed my ways. Each week I’d bet against the Louisville football team to cover the spread and each week I made money hand over fist. UofL football was 0-11 ATS against FBS opponents. “This is easy,” I thought to myself, a gambler’s famous last words. Of course, sports gambling is not easy, at least it has not been until now.

Playing against a perviously one-win Florida State team, Louisville lost 75-53 in Tallahassee to drop to 0-9 on the season. Louisville had two more turnovers (16) than assists (14) and never had a lead.

“You got to fight, you have to concentrate, you have to focus, you have to know your job and do your job,” a befuddled Kenny Payne said after the game.

“Very discouraging. To be honest, I wish I knew the answer, because some of these turnovers, some of these miscues, for me, I’ve never really seen before.“

The winless Cards have not covered the spread yet in 2022. They haven’t even come within seven points of the spread. That might not change this week. Louisville hosts Western Kentucky Wednesday night, another opportunity for an in-state foe to get a win at the Yum! Center. If they can’t take down the Tops, Florida A&M Saturday might be their best (and last) shot at a win this season.

Alabama Upsets No. 1 Houston

College basketball will have a new No. 1 in tomorrow’s AP Poll. Hosting a top 10 matchup on campus for the first time in school history, Houston built up a 15-point lead early in the second half, but it would not last. No. 8 Alabama rallied to defeat Houston 71-65. Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide are for real.

“This is one of those character wins that shows the guys are going to keep fighting no matter what the score is,” Oats told the media afterward. “We could have easily given up when we were down 15. The start to the second half wasn’t great. We made some changes with the bench guys which allowed us to hang in there. We kept clawing away until we finally took the lead and then we were able to pull away down the stretch. That’s a tough team. You have to give Houston a ton of credit. They give you everything you can handle. They had our offense looking like a disaster for most of the game and that’s total credit to them.” 

Alabama now has two wins over the AP No. 1 team in the country. They handed North Carolina a loss in the PK85 during Feast Week. The last team to claim to wins over top-ranked teams this early in the season was Duke in 1965. It’s Alabama’s first win over a No. 1 team on the road since 1983.

Eye-Opening College Basketball Scores

Indiana is not the same basketball team away from Assembly Hall. The 14th-ranked Hoosiers fell 89-75 to No. 10 Arizona in Las Vegas. Also out in the desert, BYU knocked off No. 21 Creighton 83-80.

No. 17 Illinois did not have any home court advantage against Penn State. The unranked Nittany Lions dog-walked Illinois 74-59 in Champaign. Wow.

No. 11 Auburn was a pick-em against Memphis, and Penny Hardaway put it on the Fighting Pearls. Memphis won 82-73 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

In another nuetral site game, Arkansas took care of business in Tulsa. The ninth-ranked Razorbacks beat Oklahoma 88-78.

Fourth-ranked Purdue survived in overtime on the road with a 65-62 win over Nebrasketball.