09 | March | 2014 | The Cardinal's Beak

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There was some romp, some pomp and a championship today at the KFC Yum Center in front of 22,782 screaming Cardinal fans. It was one of the loudest crowds ever as the #11 ranked Cardinals beat the #19 ranked Huskies 81-48 on senior day. With the win the Cardinals won a share of the AAC regular season title with Cincinnati. The Cards have now won the last 13 out of 15 games and have put themselves in a position to possibly get a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in a couple of weeks. Depending of course on what they do in the AAC tournament. The Cardinals now lead the all-time series with UCONN 10 to 6. The Cardinals have beat the Huskies four straight and this will be the last time these teams play each other as AAC members.

The Cardinals looked great today and appear to be in post season form as the regular season has come to a end. These Cards look very much like the team that ended up in the Final Four last year in terms of defense, but this years team is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a year ago on the offensive end of the floor. Four players ended the day in double figure scoring today and ten Cards total got into the scoring column. Today they finished 26 of 58 from the field for 44.8%, 10 of 22 from the 3 point line for 45.5% and 19 for 31 from the free-throw line. The Cards finish up the AAC regular season #1 in scoring offense averaging 79.7% points a game and #1 in scoring margin averaging +17.4 margin of victory per game. These guys have been a little better from the free-throw line in these last few games and finish the regular season #9 in the AAC averaging 75.3% per game. Free-throws become a very important part of the game in the post season and our guys still need some work in this aspect of their game.

Now how about that defense? UCONN is a very good team in terms of offense and taking care of the ball. Connecticut was 5-for-25 shooting in the first half, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range. The Huskies’ field goal percentage of 20 in the first half is a season-low for UConn in a first half this season. Today the Cards held the Huskies to 29.4% from the field and 13.6% from the 3 point line. They also forced them into 22 turnovers and had 12 steals. The Cards finish the regular season ranked #1 in the AAC in steals averaging 10.3 per game and #1 in turnover margin +5.67 per game. At the time I’m writing this article Kenpom has Louisville’s adj efficiency on defense at 90.7 and ranked #5 in the country. If you could have asked me before the season where I would want this team to be at the end of the regular season I couldn’t have scripted it any better than the Cardinals have. They had their struggles but these guys are now starting to function like a well oiled machine.

Montrezl Harrell was a beast again today with 20 points and 11 rebounds. I have said it many times in the last couple of weeks, but it bears repeating that this kid is the type of player that a team could ride all the way into the Final Four. They way he’s played in the last month he takes over the game and has been the most aggressive player on the court. He takes over games and if we hit a rough patch that could be huge down the stretch.

The four seniors all had very solid performances today in their final game at the a Yum Center. Russ made just one of two shots scoring 3 points, but topped his previous assist high with 13 today. How fitting was his final performance in the Yum Center; showing not only Louisville fans but the nation how he has evolved as a player.
Luke added 16 points and was 4 of 7 from the three-point line. If you watched the game closely today you saw a Luke Hancock that was being a leader on the court. Several times today he was yelling out direction and rallying his team-mates. This guys is an important part of a post season run and his game is in post season mode.
Tim added an early basket on feeds from Smith for his two points on the day. Coach Pitino talked about how the team doesn’t lose anything when he puts Tim in. He might just have some more Wichita magic in him this post season.
And the work horse Stephan Van Treese doing what he has his whole Louisville career sacrificing his body and hustling to grab 13 rebounds. He also had 6 points. With his production picking up at the 5 spot it makes this team even more complete.

Two other guys that had good games today and both also being a very positive sign for this Louisville team was Chris Jones with 10 points and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. And Wayne Blackshear with 11 points and 3-7 from the three point line.
Chris is playing with a heavy heart due to the passing of his brother last weekend. He is playing inspired basketball and that is the best kind to play.
Wayne still hasn’t really been the type of player that we expected this season, but he quietly had a decent game today and is another player I see really having a good post season.

It was a very emotionally charged day and I was really impressed with how our guys came out and responded to it. They never once seemed like they were playing tight and were in attack mode for the whole game. These guys have turned the page and are now playing on a different level. They will play their next game on Thursday at 3pm. They are the 2 seed in the AAC tournament and will play the winner of the USF vs Rutgers game. Really looking forward to the post season and ready to watch our Cards go on another remarkable run.