Monthly Archives: December 2013

Cards Get Out Of Town

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We are a little over a week from the yearly battle between the Louisville and Kentucky basketball teams. Very exciting time if you are a fan of either team and it’s one of the greatest rivalries in the country. But for the kids who play for our beloved schools it is pretty much just another basketball game. Unless it’s a player that has grown up around the rivalry it doesn’t mean any more than that. Knowing how crazy things are going to get around these parts over the next week Coach Pitino got his guys out of the state of Kentucky a few days earlier and will keep them out until a few days leading up to the Kentucky game. Coach Pitino said that he didn’t want the guys to get caught up in it all.

Our Cards hit the road this week and won’t play in the Yum Center for 21 days. They are currently in Miami where they will play FIU on Saturday. Last night the guys took in a Miami Heat game. Several pictures made their way onto twitter of some of the players having a good time and heat fans taking the opportunity to get a picture with Kevin Ware. Pretty crazy that at an NBA game our Cardinals are still celebrities.

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I’m glad the guys got to get out of town this week and glad that Coach Pitino has chosen to keep them out of town. Things will surely get crazy around here as fans gear up for the Battle of the Bluegrass…

Cards Beat Up Da Bears

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The Cardinals were in prime time tonight in a nationally televised game and they put on a show beating Missouri State 90-60. The Cards have now won five games straight and move to 10-1 on the season. This will be the last home game for the Cards as they will hit the road for the next 23 days.

I really thought that this Missouri State team might give the Cardinals a decent challenge, but that wasn’t the case tonight. Coach Pitino said after the game “That was by far the best game we have played so far” and it was really fun to watch. The Cards were running and gunning, dipping and dunking looking like they are prepared to make another run at this thing again this year. Anyone notice that Luke Hancock’s Beard is back? Yup I gotta think that the magical facial hair is somewhat responsible for this teams performance tonight. Right?

Smith, Rozier, Blackshear, Harrell, and Mathiang got the start tonight and this group looked really solid. They really seem to be meshing together well and Coach Pitino let them play together for about five minutes before making a substituion. Out of this group four players had double digit scoring with Montrezl leading the way with 17 points. This group was also terrific on the boards tonight and of the 38 rebounding opportunities in the first half, Louisville snapped up 71% of them. They had 13 offensive rebounds off 15 misses. They would out rebound the Bears tonight 51 to 30 for the game. Very.. Very good job.

Terry Rozier is becoming that breakout player that most expected him to be this season and is getting more and more comfortable with every game. He finished with 11 points but more impressively is how he goes to the glass. He would finish with 8 rebounds and has 18 rebounds in his last two games. We needed someone to help make up for Gorgui’s boards but I didn’t think it would come from the guard spot. Speaking of Dieng, the guy that has taken his place is starting to get it going. Mango had 8 points with 9 rebounds tonight. He is starting to catch up with Dieng’s numbers from last year as well. Dieng had a block rate of 9.4 percent and committed 3.3 fouls per 40 minutes, and Mathiang’s block rate is 8.2 percent and he’s fouling 3.6 times per 40 minutes. You can take a look at the stat sheet below for the rest of the performances on this great night of action. Really the only blemish of the performance was free-throw shooting where they shot 16 for 30 at 53%.

This one has Cardinal fans fired up and ready as we now start towards the meat of our schedule. It all starts on the 28th and chants of “Beat UK” filled the Yum Center tonight after the game. I can’t wait.. Go Cards!

U of L’s Mangok Mathiang after win over Missouri State:

Russ Smith on Louisville’s improvement and 10-1 start:

Terry Rozier on rebounding and a win over Missouri State:

Luke Hancock on a win over Missouri State for U of L:

Chris Jones on his return against Missouri State:

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“Year of the Cardinal” Special To Air On ESPNU

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I’ve been waiting a lifetime for a year like the University of Louisville’s athletic program had this past season. Like all of you I suffered through football games in old Cardinal Stadium, was tortured during the “bridge years” of our basketball program and remember when other sports at Louisville struggled to stay afloat. But this past season all of that suffering and torture was well worth it and “The Year of the Cardinal” was the best of my life. We are done thinking about those days of the past and now seem to be stuck in a vortex of greatness. There is an incredible future on the horizon for the Louisville athletic program and I can’t wait to see what the next 30 years brings.

Since we have such an incredible year to remember all we needed was for there to be a special on the ESPN Networks to cement this awesome year. Well that has become a reality and on Thursday night December 19th 7:30PM ESPNU will feature a 1 hour special “The Year of the Cardinal”. Cardinal fans just had a year to remember and now we have a documentary for the ages. This is going to be a great program and one that we can save and look back on when we are in the long years of our lives. Our grand-kids will hopefully look on this past year as the spark that ignited a beast. Gather the family around the TV set on Thursday night make some popcorn and relive “The Year of the Cardinal”

The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Bears

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Our Louisville Cardinals will play in front of a national audience at 9:00pm Tuesday night on ESPN 2 when they face the Missouri State Bears. This will be the second game in the series between these schools. The Cardinals have met the Bears just once on the hardwood coming away with a 74-56 Cardinals victory at Freedom Hall in the quarterfinals of the 2006 NIT (3/22/06). The Cardinals come into this game on a four game winning streak and 9-1 on the season. The Bears have won their last two games, are 8-1 and were picked to finish 5th in the Missouri Valley conference.

Coach Paul Lusk has a roster deep with talent and rich with potential. And last season’s most inexperienced Valley team boast one of the deepest benches in the country, sharing the national lead with 12 players averaging 10.0 minutes per game or more. The Bears reserves have accounted for 322 points this season which translates to 46.4 percent of the team’s 694 total points. MSU is getting 35.8 points per game from its bench players. After an 11-22 rebuilding campaign a year ago, Paul Lusk’s troops have turned things around with their first 8-1 start since 2006-07. The club’s current .889 win-loss percentage is an increase of .556 over last year’s .333 percentage.

Leading this team is Sr Jarmar Gulley (13.7 points, 5.7 rebounds) and Soph Marcus Marshall (13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds). Marshall last year’s Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year is a decent scorer, who can hurt you with his jump shot and ability to get to the rim, whereas Gulley is a powerful inside scorer and the team’s best rebounder who missed last season as a medical redshirt.
Other players who are big for the bears are Sr Keith Pickens (5 points, 4.2 rebounds) a decent scorer, but his real ability lies in his defensive prowess, Jr Christian Kirk (8.7 points, 4.9 rebounds) the most productive player coming off their bench, Fr Austin Ruder (8 points, 1.8 rebounds) has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in six of his first nine college ball games. He ranks 6th in the MVC in 3-point accuracy (.442) and 3rd in treys per game (2.1). Jr Ron Mvouika (6.8 points, 2.9 rebounds) a community college transfer who has a size advantage over many at his position and injects offense into this team.

This team is averaging 77.1 points a game with a scoring margin of +8.2 and they average 7.2 three pointers a game at 37%. They have a -0.6 rebounding margin. They do a good job at sharing and taking care of the ball averaging 12.3 assist a game, just 9.9 turnovers a game with a turnover margin of +3.4. Their assist/turnover ratio is 1.25.

Missouri State
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
77.1
93rd
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
34.9
212th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
12.3
219th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.449
170th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #123
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-102.4 ranks 150th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-105.6 ranks 130th

Coach Pitino was emphatic in his post-game on Saturday about Cardinal Nation being at the game on Tuesday night saying this would be one of our toughest games up to this point in the season. Deep teams are always a little more dangerous because they can keep fresh guys coming into the game and it takes away that fatigue factor. This is an aspect of the ball game the Cardinals emphasize. Chris Jones is expected to play in this one so the Cards will have their second leading scorer back. His minutes may be limited in his first game back and if so it will be another opportunity for some other guys to step up and get quality time. This is going to be a game that will test the Cardinals efficiency and we’ll see if Mango can keep trending upwards. Since being injected into the Cardinals line-up he is starting to measure up to some of Gorgui’s numbers. Dieng had a block rate of 9.4 percent and committed 3.3 fouls per 40 minutes, and Mathiang’s block rate is 8.2 percent and he’s fouling 3.6 times per 40 minutes. This game might be close and competitive for the first half but eventually the Cards have too much talent and will run away with this one.

Screenings For Red V Blue Film Announced

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For 24 long years the frustration and anger built up between the two major universities in the State of Kentucky. The University of Louisville’s basketball program had caught up with the University of Kentucky who at the time was the ultimate measuring stick. However, the Wildcats continued to deny the Cardinals the chance to prove just how powerful they had become. This rejection was about basketball but included race, demographics, country, city, tradition, and the nouveau.

Then by the fate of the 1983 NCAA Tournament the 24 years of frustration would come to a head when these teams would meet in the Regional Final. ESPN recently named this game as one of their top 75 moments of the Tournament but for the folks of the state of Kentucky it was dubbed the “Dream Game.” It was a defining moment that would ignite a feud that has become one of the greatest rivalries in all of college sports.

There has now been a movie made documenting this great rivalry. “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” is a movie made by the rivals for the rivalry and is something that many UK and UofL fans were a part of. The folks who made this great documentary needed the help of the fans for the completion of principal photography as well as the post-production and distribution expenses of Red V. Blue. They set up a page on Kick Starter where Louisville and Kentucky fans donated $40,000 to help make this film happen.

And the moment we have all been waiting for is here…
On Sunday night the folks who made the film announced an opening weekend screening schedule for Red V. Blue. The very first screening will take place on December 27th at the Lexington Opera House and this will be an invite only event, but some tickets will also be given away. The second screening will take place on December 29th at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. There will be two showings on this night in Louisville. The first will be at 7PM and the other at 9PM. The 7PM screening will be for folks that have won free tickets and the 9PM screening will be a general admission event. The third screening will take place on December 30th for the folks in Eastern Kentucky and it will be at the historic SIPP Theater in downtown Paintsville Kentucky. The time of this screening will be at 7PM and it will also be a general admission event. Information on where and how to purchase tickets to these events as well as opportunities to win tickets to these screenings can be found by following @redvblue on twitter.com and on the official Red V Blue website.

If you have grown up in the state of Kentucky and you are a sports fan this rivalry has been a part of your life. I can’t say that for the last 27 years I have enjoyed the entire constant back and forth between me and my friends that cheer for Kentucky. But rivalries are what define sports and every competition needs a great rivalry. We have one of the best rivalries in all of sports and it deserves the credit that this movie will give it. The Rivalry has given us many enjoyable moments and this film will be another one of those moments.

Here’s the official Red V. Blue Theatrical Trailer from Rory Owen Delaney on Vimeo

Cards Too Tough To Top

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Our Cardinals came out a little sloppy against the Hilltoppers today but got it going in the second half to cruise by the in-state rival 79-63 in 12th annual Billy Minardi Classic. The Cards have now beaten the Toppers 22 out of the last 25 games and are now just one more win away from a series tie. Cards move to 9-1 on the season and have now won 4 straight.

As coach Ray Haper said in his post game “if this had been a 20 minute game Louisville would have been in trouble.” They would have been in trouble as they seemed very out of sorts during the entire first half of play. But the game does last longer than 20 minutes and the a Cardinals came out of the locker room after the half and looked like a different team. There were so many positives that came out of the win today, but perhaps the most promising was the play of Mango and Van Treese. They would combine for 18 points and 9 rebounds and that is very promising production from the biggest question mark on this team. CBS Sports Jon Rothstein tweeted after the game:“Remember the name Mangok Mathiang. Another productive day for the Louisville big man. 13 points, 5 boards, 1 block in win vs. WKU.” Very positive indeed.

The positives don’t stop there. The Cardinals without their starting point guard Chris Jones only had 7 turnovers today and 3 of those came from players stepping on the end lines. Rozier who filled in for Jones had 10 rebounds in this game. Coach Pitino called Russ Smith “the premier player in the country” today after he had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assist. Chane Behanan put together another solid performance and was named the MVP of the Minardi Classic after finishing with 11 points and 7 rebounds. The best Walk-on in the country Tim “HENDO” backed his title up today by making 4 of 6 from 3 point range finishing with 12 points. And Wayne Blackshear showed up today with 12 points, 1 block and 2 steals.

You have to love how this team came out today and faced adversity then overcame it with a true team effort. If they can keep some consistency at the 5 spot, keep adjusting to the new defensive rules, and Luke finds his groove this will be a very dangerous squad.

Rick Pitino after a win over WKU:

Terry Rozier on a win over WKU:

Tim Henderson on his expanded role against WKU:

Wayne Blackshear after U of L’s win over WKU:

Mangok Mathiang after a win over WKU:

Russ Smith on the win over WKU:

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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Hilltoppers

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After a week without any basketball games the Cardinals will return to the hardwood on Saturday afternoon to face in-state rival Western Kentucky. Surprisingly the Hilltoppers lead the series against the Cardinals 39-37. Like our other instate rival up the road they were a solid program during the 30’s and 40’s and beat the Cards up during those two decades. But the Cards have won 21 out of the last 24 games in this series. The Hilltoppers come into this game 5-3 and they were picked to finish 3rd in the Sun Belt Conference.

Coach Ray Harper’s roster offers perimeter shooting, shot blocking, on-ball defense and most importantly he’ll tell you heart. They return four starters from last season’s NCAA tournament team including 72 percent of their scoring and 66.1 percent of their rebounding, led by junior guard T.J. Price (15.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assist a game) and junior forward George Fant (13.9 points, 6 rebounds a game). Price leads the team in scoring, and, is the Hilltopper with the highest usage rate, he is the spearhead of the offense. Fant also is a high usage player, though less efficient. He is the team’s best rebounder and shot-blocker, and excels at getting to the line, though he sinks just 54% of his free throws. Their other starters are Aaron Adeoye (5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds a game) was a third team All-American last year at John A. Logan College, Brandon Harris (9.8 points, 5 rebounds a game) the primary ball handler on this team he was named Sun Belt conference player of the week after scoring 30 in the last game, and Payton Hulsey (5.3 points, 4.1 rebounds a game).

They are getting good bench minutes out of Center Aleksej Rostov (3.6 points, 3.1 rebounds), Kevin Kaspar (3.4 points, 1.5 rebounds), Brandon Price (2.5 points, 1 rebound), and will be getting more help as transfers Trency Jackson and Chris Harrison-Docks will become eligible before Saturday. Jackson played 11 games at Texas Tech and averaged 6.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. Harrison-Docks is a transfer from Butler and is the son of former UK player Chris Harrison. Both will be backing up the PG spot.

The Hilltoppers are scoring 63.6 points a game with a scoring margin of +1.3, grabbing 36.6 rebounds a game with a +4.1 margin, sharing the ball with 11.3 assist per game and Turning the ball over 15.6 times a game for a assist/turnover ratio of 0.6.

Western Kentucky
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
63.6
330th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
36.6
160th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
11.3
287th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.390
339th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #174
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-98.4 ranks 61st
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-98.0 ranks 281st

In my opinion this Western Kentucky team will be a NCAA Tournament team. They have the parts but just have to get them all working together. I think the versatility of their line-up will be a good challenge for the Cardinals defense and Fant down low will be another great test for our front-court. Coach Pitino has had the Cards in the gym for a week and I expect to see this team to look very sharp on Saturday. This one really shouldn’t be that close.

Cards Back-court Starting To Create Some Buzz

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When the year started there were a few questions that surrounded the Louisville basketball program. How were they going to replace the inside presence after the loss of Gorgui Dieng and what would the back-court look like after losing it’s heart and soul in Peyton Siva. The front-court issues have been very apparent so far in this early season and Coach Pitino is still looking for someone to step up and fill the void left with Dieng’s departure. But the Cardinals back-court is a different story and there has been much to like so far with the efficiency of this group. We knew that Russ Smith was going to be very valuable to this team but Chris Jones and Terry Rozier are filling their roles nicely as well. This Louisville back-court is starting to create some buzz for themselves.

Russ is leading the team in scoring averaging 17.6 points a games and is leading in assist with 4.3 a game. While Chris Jones is the second leading scorer on the team with 14.9 points a game and is second in assist with 2.6 a game. Rozier who has put together a couple of very good outings lately is averaging 5.1 points a game and 2.4 assist.
This group was named today as being one of the top back-courts in the country by ESPN’s Miles Simon. And Monday ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla ranked Russ Smith as one of the top seniors in the country. Here’s what they had to say:

Best backcourts in college basketball
By Miles Simon | ESPN.com
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To read the rest of the article click here: Insider$

Ranking the nation’s best seniors
By Fran Fraschilla | ESPN.com
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To read the rest of the article click here: Insider$

We all knew the potential was there with this group of guys in the Louisville back-court for something special and it appears that when its all said and done it is going to be special indeed. I’m very excited to see how much this group continues to grow.

Like Father, Like Son

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Tonight pictures made their way onto twitter showing coach Pitino all decked out in his Minnesota gear at “The Barn” cheering on his son who is in his first season as the Gophers head coach. After all he has been through he is still a father that just wants the best for his son. Rick Pitino fan or not that is something that every father can cheer for.

Last season we watched Rick Pitino and his son Richard Pitino compete against each other for the very first time ever on the hard wood. That day coach Pitino would get the decisive victory over his son but it was very apparent that the younger Pitino had many of his fathers coaching traits and had the FIU team heading in the right direction. That was a very special day for the Pitino family and a real treat for the fans to share in that moment. After an impressive showing at FIU Richard got the call from Minnesota in the off season after Tubby Smith was let go. Even though Rick Pitino has a busy schedule of his own recruiting, and preparing the Cards for the tough December slate he still makes sure that he has the time to go and support his son.

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Tonight in those pictures acknowledging Rick Pitino’s presence at the game you could see the pride in his eyes as he watches his son carry on his coaching legacy. Here is his son who grew up watching game tapes on his father’s knee, standing on the sidelines while his father ran practices, listening to the late-night strategy sessions and coaching beside his father for years as an assistant now starring in his own moment. Rick Pitino has become a larger than life persona in his coaching career and is a hall of fame coach. However, tonight he was not coach Rick Pitino. Tonight he was just a proud father watching and wanting the best for his son.

After watching the improvements he made to the FIU program in just a year and how quickly he has gained momentum in Minnesota there is no question that the future is bright for the young Pitino. And there is no question that here is a son following directly in his father’s footsteps. In March Richard Pitino was named one of 10 finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award by CollegeInsider.com, presented to its top first-year Division I men’s basketball head coach. In April, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named Rick Pitino a member. This is very symbolic of the circle of life as one Pitino’s coaching career heads into the twilight and the other one is just beginning. The Pitino name has been a part of college basketball most of my life and it looks like that will continue as my son grows up watching the game.

Hear what Coach P has to say about his son in an interview during the game:

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Cards Lower The Boom On The Ragin’ Cajuns

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It was an icy afternoon in Louisville but the Cards were red hot in the Yum Center today beating the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns 113-74. The Cardinals missed the highest point total ever in the Rick Pitino Era by one point but did break the Yum Center scoring record. The Cards have now won 26 straight against non-conference teams at home. They have also won 20 straight against unranked teams. The Cards now move to 8-1 on the season.

You name it and the Cards did it today. They played a very complete game in the Yum Center and picked a good opponent to do it against. The Cajuns were a very good offensive team and did a very good job at keeping the pace with the Cards in the first half. The Cards gave up 47 points to the Cajuns in the first half but only gave up 27 points in the second half. The Cajuns shot 7 of 10 from the 3 point line in the first half but just managed 2 of 16 in the second half. For the game the Cardinals forced 17 turnovers and scored 32 points from them. Coach Pitino said in his post-game that the Cardinal defense still has a long way to go, but they did a pretty good job in the second half against a very efficient offense.

Speaking of offense the Cardinals were lighting it up today in what was probably the best offensive performance of the year for them. They shot 71.4% from inside the arc, and had six players in double figures. Montrezl lead the way with 20 points on 9-10 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Followed by Chris Jones 19 points, Russ with 16 points, and (Welcome back Wayne) with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals in what was his best effort of the season. Coach Pitino said in his post-game that he told Wayne he needed to step it up and it looks like he got the message. Coming off the bench Rozier had 11 points and Luke Hancock had 10 points. With his 10 points Luke now has 1000 points in his Cardinal career. These guys had the best effort of the year on the charity stripe shooting 82.5%. The Cards crushed them in the paint outscoring them 60 to 34.

The Cajuns came into this game as a very good rebounding team ranking in the top 70 averaging 41 a game and their best rebounder Shawn Long is ranked 6th in the nation. Today the Cardinals out-rebounded this team 41 to 29 holding them well under their season average and only allowed Long to grab 5 for the game. To me this is one of the most important stats to come out of this win. The Cards had been struggling in this area but today they dominated a very good rebounding team. Rebounding is going to be crucial as the season moves on. We will face a top 3 rebounding team in UK on the 28th. Very happy with this effort today and it’s a hustle stat that shows just how bad this team wants it right now.

With the defensive effort, the offensive out-put, the free-throw shooting, and the rebounding this team took a gigantic step forward this afternoon against what will likely be a NCAA Tournament team in the Cajuns. Players like Rozier and Mango are gaining more confidence, the go to guys like Montrezl, Russ and Chane are really starting to come into their own, Wayne and Luke are starting to get more into the flow of the offense, and Chris Jones is becoming a solid player at the point. Our role player Van Treese is giving his best effort coming off the bench. The depth of this team is starting to become more obvious and nobody played more than 23 minutes today and I can only imagine how great it will be when Ware can get back into the mix. It was a really promising day if you are a Louisville basketball fan and a great game to build from for this team going into the long week off. Its Hoops season… GO CARDS!

Coach Pitino after game:

Wayne Blackshear after game:

Montrezl Harrell after game:

Luke Hancock after game:

Russ Smith after game:

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