BIG EAST TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS

2) Louisville (24-7, 14-4) vs. 7) Pittsburgh (23-9, 10-8)

Game Time: 7 p.m.

Television: ESPN

Location: Madison Square Garden: New York, N.Y.

Favorite: Louisville by 4.5

All-Time Series: Tied 3-3

Last Meeting: Louisville won 75-73 on 2/24/08

Notable

--Pittsburgh has advanced to the Big East championship game six of the last seven years, winning it once.

--The Panthers are 19-8 in Madison Square Garden since 2001, and are 3-0 this year.

--Louisville is 16-22 all-time at MSG, and has lost 10 of its last 11 games inside "The World's Most Famous Arena."

--Pitt has knocked U of L out of the Big East Tournament in each of the Cardinals' first two seasons in the conference. The Panthers won 61-56 in the 2006 first round, and 65-59 in the 2007 semifinals.

--Pittsburgh leads the Big East in offensive rebounding, averaging 14.53 a game.

Quotable

--"We've lost to them two years in a row. It's time for things to change." --Rick Pitino

--"New York City is our second home. We like playing in the Garden. This is our backyard." --Ronald Ramon

--"It was a fight inside our building last time, and now it's on a neutral court. We need to rebound the ball better than we did and play tougher defense. We gave them a couple of easy looks last game." --Keith Benjamin

--"We're playing our best basketball right now. We've got our guys healthy. We've got Levance practicing. We're able to practice and do things we haven't done since December in this last week. So we've put ourselves in a position where we're playing our best basketball here now in March. And that's a good feeling right now." --Jamie Dixon

--"I just try to go out there and grab all of them, be a rebounding machine. That's money. I look at every rebound like it's $10,000. Go get it." --DeJuan Blair

CC Prediction: Louisville 69, Pittsburgh 66

This one should be every bit as stressful as the game three weeks ago.

In addition to our seed taking a big hit and having to enter the NCAA Tournament riding consecutive defeats, having a bitter taste in your mouth for the next three days with all this basketball on would be hell.

Go Cards.