– “To 3, or not to 3”

“To 3, or not to 3” that was the question last night in the KFC Yum center as our Cards beat Bellarmine 65-46 in the final tune up of the exhibition portion of the schedule.

Louisville is set up nicely for a potentially memorable 2012-13 campaign. The pieces are in place for a very deep NCAA Tournament run and some are already predicting that the Cardinals will claim their first National Title since 1986. With those lofty expectations as the backdrop one of the main areas of concern for this team is their ability to shoot the basketball. Last night those fears surfaced when the Cards had a dismal shooting performance from three-point range. They missed their first 17 attempts before Luke Hancock connected with 4:04 left in the game. They ended up shooting 1 for 19 on the night.

Coach Pitino: ”We know we’re not a great shooting team, it’s evident.”

Despite a terrible night shooting the three ball our Cards were able to dominate inside. Fab Frosh Montrezl Harrell proved my preseason hype valid once again as he led all scores with 16 points. Our nationally recognized center Gorgui Dieng also had a very solid effort putting together a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He also had three blocked shots. Cards outscored the Knights 42-16 in the paint.

The other highlight of the night was the Cards defensive performance. They were able to hold a very feisty Bellarmine team to 26.7 percent from the field.

Coach Pitino: “Our defense was good and that’s what we’re trying to build on.”

With the exhibition portion of the schedule now complete our Cards will prepare for their season opener on Sunday against former UofL assistant Steve Masiello’s Manhattan Jaspers. He has quickly restored the winning tradition back to the basketball program in Riverdale and it should be a good opening challenge for our Cards.

Coach Masiello tweeted tonight during the game: This is the best Louisville team I have ever seen their size and depth is scary. Think we will just stay in NYC.

Yup I’d say he’s playing it up just a little.