BY The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Former Louisville guard Tick Rogers is three years removed from the bitter basketball rivalry between the Cardinals and Kentucky.
But the Elizabethtown native still gets chills as the annual battle between the two state powers draws near.
"Playing against Kentucky is so intense," Rogers said Thursday while on break from playing professionally in Israel. "The fans are screaming, and the adrenaline is flowing. That atmosphere puts a lot of pressure on you as a player.
"All you hear when you first get to Louisville is how you've got to beat Kentucky. I was 1-3 against Kentucky when I played here. And I can tell you for a fact I don't remember my record against any other team. It's always the UK games you remember."
Kentucky fans haven't forgotten last year, when a 3-6 Louisville squad invaded Rupp Arena and left with a 79-76 upset of the heavily favored Wildcats.
The blow was softened a bit as Kentucky advanced to win its second national championship in three years while Louisville suffered through a miserable 12-20 campaign. But without a victory over the Cardinals (4-2) today, Wildcat players know they'll face the music.
"We won the championship last year, and I still hear from Louisville fans how they beat us," Kentucky forward Scott Padgett said. "I don't know how many times I heard the joke that we were No. 1 in the nation and No. 2 in our own state last year."
The situation will be similar as the two teams take the floor at Freedom Hall. The No. 3 Wildcats (10-2) -- with early-season victories over Kansas, Maryland, Indiana, UCLA and Georgia Tech -- will enter the game as favorites over a Cardinal team riding a two-game win streak but with only six games under their belt.
"It's a big rivalry game so you know it's going to be intense," Louisville coach Denny Crum said. "Kentucky has played some of the better teams in the country, and they've done very well.
"We haven't played teams of that caliber and haven't reached our stride yet.
"We've played some good halves and some pretty good games, but we've got to be able to do that against some of the top teams. This gives us that opportunity."
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said he didn't realize the magnitude of the showdown until the days leading up to last year's game, his first.
"I know the rivalry is big," Smith said. "A man called me up and said he was going to kill my dog. But I don't have a dog. A few days later the mailman showed up with a dog with a note around his neck that said, 'Good luck, Tubby.' "
Smith said dictating the tempo by pressuring the ball and limiting open looks at the basket would be one of the keys for Kentucky.
"You do whatever you have to do to limit their ability to make the easy passes and make the easy cuts," he said. "Tempo can be controlled at the offensive end also by being patient and waiting for a better shot."
Louisville forward Eric Johnson said any camaraderie between players has to be put aside for the 40 minutes the teams are on the floor.
"You get to know some of these guys after a while, but you have to put those friendships aside or you'll lose focus on what you have to do. We've got to put the love we have for each other aside and just go to war," Johnson said.
Crum said he tries not to let himself or his players get too caught up in the emotion the fans bring to the game.
"Coaches look at these games different than fans do," he said. "For fans, it's life or death because it's a rivalry. For coaches, you just want to win it so you don't have to listen to all the stuff. "It's another game on the road to where you want to be at the end. It's not the end. But for a lot of fans, it is the end."
