Louisville's bringing in the better coach and better front court, while Illinois is bringing the nation's best record and the best backcourt in the nation.
Tipoff's in a few minutes.
6:12: Illinois starts out doing what they do best; working the perimeter. In fact, they never feed it inside the arc in the first two possessions. They hit their first two threes, but Louisville gets an inside layup and a three as well. 8-5 Illi.
6:20: Louisville's plan is clear: work the paint. Play the post game, and control the boards. The problem is, they're leaving themselves open the fast break transition, and Dee Brown made them pay for it with a three on the baseline. 13-9 Illinois.
6:31: Illinois goes on a scoring drought, but Louisville simply can't capitalize. The Cards are trying to execute too many complicated baskets in the paint, and can't hit anything outside. They get within two, but Illinois's fast break once again gets them a basket. Before that score Illinois went three minutes without one, but still maintained the lead. 19-15 Illinois with 9 minutes left in the half.
6:37: Illinois is dead cold now, and they can't get anything going. Meanwhile, Louisville still controlling the boards on both ends. But they are getting a little too aggressive, and are racking up the fouls. An O'Bannon three ties this game at 22 with 6:39 left in the half.
6:45: Dee Brown is hot, and Francisco Garcia isn't. In fact, Garcia is 1-7 from the field, which is hurting Louisville. Dee Brown hit another three to regain their lead. Louisville answers, but here's another three by Illi's Jack Ingram to lead by four with less than four minutes to go in the half.
6:53: If Louisville ever starts hitting baskets, they'll take control of this game, because they're able to keep grabbing rebounds. Lucky for them, the officials are calling the game their way.
Luther Head gets wide open for a three, which gives Illinois their biggest lead. Louisville gets a three point play on the other end, but other than that there isn't any considerable execution on either end.
Halftime. Illinois 31, Louisville 28. Louisville can't hit only one from the field in six minutes and expect to win this game.
7:25: Both teams come out blasting, as O'Bannon comes out of the locker room with a three, and follows that with two fts to give Louisville their first lead of the game.
But the spotlight then turns to Illi's Roger Powell, who hits a three, then comes back the next possession and dunks an offensive rebound off of a three pter he missed, and then hits another basket in the paint. Someone btter get a hold of him. Louisville is still hanging tough, though. Illi leads 38-37.
7:31: Powell keeps blasting, as he's hit Illinois's last 12 of 14 points. I'm sure no one saw that. I'm starting to like the offensive pace of both teams in this half. Luther Head comes alive with a three. Louisville needs to step up their perimeter defense. 48-44 Illinois with 12:08 left.
7:40: Louisville isn't as effective on the boards with this zone as they were in the first half. A few times there wasn't anyone under the basket trying to grab a rebound, and Illinois has had more sucess in the interior. Louisville improves their shot selection, and can slash the boards. Roger Powell is dominating the second half though. 52-49 Illini.
7:45: Luther Head comes alive, hitting back to back from downtown. Petino takes a timeout. Methinks that's the last time we'll see a zone from Louisville in this game. Illinois has their biggest lead, 58-49 with less than seven minutes left in the game.
7:51: The clock is now running out on Louisville, as they have went scoreless in the last four and a half minutes. This isn't a team that can put points on the board in a quick amount of time. That's what they might have to do in order to get out of this margin. 61-51 Illinois with 5:17 left.
8:00: Luther Head is turning the lights out, but Louisville isn't giving up hope yet. It will take a strong defensive presence for them from here on out to come back from this deficit, and that's something we really haven't seen from them today.
If it was up to me, no college basketball team would ever play zone in the NCAA tournament. I haven't seen an effective one yet. Illinois leads comfortably after leading by as much of 13, 64-55 with 3:11 left.
8:07: Well, you can't go on scoring droughts throughout the game like Louisville did and think you're going to win a basketball game of any kind. It wasn't like Illinois put a ton of points on the board, or that they played great defense. Louisville just couldn't put the ball in the hole. Just way too many off shots throughout the game.
Meanwhile, Illinois stepped up and made adjustments, and that allowed Roger Powell and Luther Head to control the second half. Once the 10:00 mark came, Louisville should have just walked out of the arena, because their performance was simply awful.
End of the game, and Illinois advances to the National Championship Game, 72-57.
North Carolina vs. Michigan State is next. Click here to go to that post, which will be liveblogged as well.