Daily Archives: January 5, 2014

Road RUSST

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Today our Cardinals finished a four-game road trip that started on Dec. 21. It looked like they were suffering from a little road rust as they struggled at times with Rutgers. In a game that featured 62 personal fouls and lasted more than 2 1/2 hours the Cardinals did survive with the 83-76 victory. They will now return home from the road 3-1 and get ready for #18 Memphis on Thursday night.

The Cards looked out of sorts to start the game tonight getting behind by margins of 7-0 and 12-4 before the press started to take effect. They took control with a 31-11 “Boom” spurt that happened at the end of the first half and the start of the second. During this 10 minute stretch they held Rutgers to 3 scores. It’s a good thing the run came when it did because they would need it at the end after they started to get sloppy, force up bad shots and turn the ball over (season high 17 TO’s). Not exactly the way to finish strong.

Four Cardinals scored in double digits. Russ Smith scored 22 points, Luke Hancock added 15 points, Terry Rozier had a career-high 14 and Wayne Blackshear 13. Terry is really developing nicely and it was good to see aggressive Wayne back today. The most impressive thing about the win was the free-throw shooting. The guys shot a whopping 89% from the charity stripe converting 41 of 46 foul shots. The 41 made free throws were a season high, and a school record for a conference game. Would like to see this trend continue. It was also a good effort on the defensive side of the ball forcing Rutgers to a season high 19 turnovers.

This game was one of those battle it out to the end Big East type of road wins, and I think it was good for our guys to get tested like they did. It is only going to get tougher from here on out. The AAC is starting to look like it could end up being a very competitive league. I bet our guys will be happy to be back in the Yum Center in front of the Cardinal faithful on Thursday night. Should be a great game taking on the old foe Memphis.

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My, How Quickly Things Change

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Below is the article I wrote around this time last year when Coach Strong turned down the Tennessee job. Crazy how much things can change in just a year. Really thought Coach Strong was different, and it would have been nice if this story had played out. Not much loyalty in the world today especially in college sports. I would be lying if I said Charlie didn’t let me down. But I do wish him and his family the best.

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Today something happened at the University of Louisville that you don’t see very much in the world of college sports. Today wasn’t about money, ego, power or greed. Today was about relationships, family, respect and loyalty. Today Charlie Strong made what he called the “Biggest decision in 29 years of coaching” and decided to stay at the University of Louisville for the long haul. Strong was hired in December 2009 and led the Cardinals to a 7-6 season in 2010. But at the beginning of the 2011 season he was struggling with a young team and got off to a 2-4 start. It was during that time that Tom Jurich decided to give Charlie a 7 year contract extension. That extension went a long way toward showing how committed Louisville was to Strong and building a solid football program. Today Strong acknowledged that moment saying “I was 9-10, and Jurich hands me an extension…How do you walk away from someone who trusts and believes in you.” Coach Strong has done a really good job in just 3 years at Louisville. And with his commitment today it could be the start of something big. Louisville has often been referred to and recognized as a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches. But today all of that changed as we went head to head with one of the traditional powers of the SEC and came out on top. Coach Strong says him signing means that UofL “is no longer a stepping stone job.”

When coach Strong arrived at Louisville he brought a much-needed winning pedigree to the program at a crucial time in it’s history. But today we found out that we got much more than that. Today our program took another step on the road to greatness and got a commitment from a guy who is all about greatness. One of the things that coach Strong was famous for saying when he got here was “You never Know.” Well now we know that our program is in good hands and heading in the right direction. Perhaps summed up best in one of Coach Strong’s comments today “My enthusiasm and my heart are with the University of Louisville.”