(Photo courtesy @UofLSports)

I’m convinced that sluggish is the theme of the day if you are a Louisville fan. First we watched our football team win in sluggish fashion and then the Basketball team follows that theme in their semi-final game of the Hall of Fame Tip Off classic with a sluggish win over Fairfield. The Cards beat the Stags 71-57 in what was their worst performance of this young season. Regardless of how it was won the Cards are 5-0 and have now won 21 straight dating back to last season. They will now be competing in the Championship game of this tourney tomorrow against North Carolina and will be looking for their 27th title in a regular-season tournament. Louisville is now 156-37 in non-conference games under Coach Pitino.

Coach Pitino pretty much summed up this one today with his comments after the game: “Tonight we were just flat in every phase of the game,””We were flat offensively with only nine assists. Our two point guards turned it over eight times, which they haven’t been doing. We didn’t do the little things necessary to exploit the weaknesses of Fairfield. We were late to the glass a lot. A lot of things were disturbing but we’ll go ahead.” It wasn’t the crisp, business like group that we have seen through the first four games of the season. Perhaps it was nerves from the first road trip of the season or maybe just one of those off days. For as long as I can remember the Louisville basketball team always has one or two games during the season where they play down to their competition. Hopefully today was just on of those occasions.
From their 14 turnovers, 26 fouls, and the poor shooting (38%) this one just wasn’t much fun to watch.
The positives from this game was the balanced scoring with Wayne, Chris, Russ and Montrezl scoring in double figures while Chane had 8 and Luke had 9 respectively. The rebounding was a little better and it was good to see Montrezl crashing the boards with 12 rebounds. And the free-throw shooting was better as the team shot 74% from the charity stripe. It was also good to see Terry Rozier come into this game and have some production. He would finish with 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assist. His confidence will continue to build off of these minutes of PT. We will need Rozier by seasons end.

Like with the football team it’s really hard to complain about a win. Ugly or not a win is still better than a loss and I think the sluggish performance today will be a great teaching moment for Coach Pitino and his staff. They can use some of the things the guys did wrong today to help them improve for tougher games down the road. The environment of this tournament will also help this group in the long run. Tomorrow they will have a very tough test against a very talented and athletic North Carolina group. Like they played down to the competition today I expect them to play up to it in the next game. I expect a battle in the Hall of Fame Tip Off Championship and It will be the best game of the year so far.

(photo courtesy Mark Blankenbaker)

Today the Cardinal Football fans at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium said good-bye to another group of seniors. And for the first time since 2007 they got to see them go out on a winning note. The Cards beat the Tigers 24-17 and now take the lead in the all-time series 24 to 19. With the win today it marks the first time in school history that a Louisville football team has had consecutive 10 win seasons. The Cards are now 10-1 on the season with one regular season game left on the road against Cincinnati.

The way this group of seniors has played during their time at the University of Louisville I knew that they weren’t going to let this on get away from them today. This group has achieved so much over the last 4 years including a 69% winning percentage, four straight bowl games, and a Sugar Bowl win. They have also went 21-3 in their last 24 games.
This game was a bit sluggish and at times wasn’t very exciting to watch but the Cards got it done behind the play of some guys that have stepped up big all year long. One of those guys didn’t go through senior day ceremonies and most assume he will enter the NFL draft next year Teddy Bridgewter threw for 220 yards and a touchdown in what could be his final home game. This guy has the courage of a lion on a football field and no matter how difficult things get he always finds a way to pick himself and his team up. Today it appeared that he had a lower back issue but like he has many time in his Louisville career fought back and helped secure the win for his team. Bridgewater targeted 10 receivers in finishing 26 of 36 and his big receivers of the day were senior Damian Copeland and junior DeVante Parker. These guys would combine for 94 yards and Parker had one touchdown grab. Louisville out-gained Memphis 342-279 in total offense with 122 yards of that coming on the ground. Senior Senorise Perry and junior Dominique Brown combined for 105 yards. Brown had one touchdown on the day. It was good to see Copeland and Perry have a big hand in this win today. Both are two of my favorite Cardinal players. Both of these guys had to fight back from season ending injuries during their Louisville careers and both have come up big time in critical moments for this team.
No matter how you slice it Louisville is a defensive team and that has been it’s identity this season. It’s the number two ranked defense in the country and the only one that hasn’t allowed a touchdown in the first quarter of a football game this season. This defense also features two of the top sack leaders in the country in Senior Marcus Smith and Junior Lorenzo Mauldin. Both made some big plays again today. It was really an emotional day for one Senior on the defensive side of the ball. Preston Brown not only feeling the emotions from his last time playing in front of the home crowd also was dealing with the loss of his grandfather who passed away from cancer earlier this morning. He dedicated this day and this win to his grandfather who he said loved to watch the games on TV. Preston had a good game with a team high nine tackles that was topped off when he returned a fumble 48 yards for Louisville’s first touchdown. He said after the game: “It was great getting the touchdown for my grandpa. I put on a show for him.”

It hasn’t always been exciting watching this group this year but in the end they are 10-1 and going to another Bowl game. There are many fan bases in the country who would take 10-1 right now over the situations that their football program is in. In the end winning is all that matters. The group of football players that played their last game at Papa Johns Cardinal stadium understood that and because of them that’s what this program is. A WINNER! Go Cards!

The Cardinals took care of business right out of the gate tonight and won their 20th straight game blowing out Hartford. These Cards haven’t lost a basketball game in 284 days and were never in danger of that tonight as the put their foot on the gas and drove the Hawks right out of the gym from the beginning. Cards move to 4-0 on the season with this win and advance in the round robin style Hall of Fame Tip Off.

The thing that is very noticeable about this Louisville group is their professional demeanor. When this team steps on a basketball court they go to work and forget checking in, it’s more like clocking in. They may lose some games but it won’t be because someone sneaks up on them; that will not happen this year. After the game Coach Pitino said “the defense was still a little behind the offense”, but to the average eye of the fan it looks pretty darn good to me. They were challenged a little more in this game due to Hartford extending them to cover the three point shot and the Hawks were more deliberate with the ball than other opponents the Cards have faced so far. But none of that mattered. The Cardinals still held the Hawks to under 50 points, held them to 41% shooting, 23% on 4-17 from three point land, and forced them into 25 turnovers. Not bad for a group that needs improvement.
This group can also come at teams with so many different options on offense and so far are outscoring opponents by over 30 points a game. The guards can drive the lane to score, shoot the three, the forwards can also score in a variety of ways, and they can hurt you with the power offense down low. There’s just not going to be many teams who are versatile or athletic enough to stop the Louisville attack. You might shut down one thing but this group will find another way. Very exciting to think about the progression as we are just 4 games in and it looks this good. And these guys do a remarkable job of taking care of the ball and are are ranked second in the country in turn-over margin. They only had 7 tonight and so far through four games have only had double digit turnovers once. They are averaging 6. Rebounding needs work but looked better. Cards did win the battle tonight 35 to 29. And free throws were a little better tonight as the Cards shoot about 70%.

As far as individual players go I was really pleased with the minutes I saw from Terry Rozier tonight. He is one of my favorite new guys and I have followed him since he was a recruit. I’m expecting big things out of him and tonight he showed some flashes of that future. He finished with 7 points and 1 rebound.
Montrezl Harrell looked great again and this time leads the team in scoring. He stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assist, 1 block and 2 steals. If he has nights like this forget about it. And I love the look of he and Chane in at the same time. That’s a power look.
Speaking of Chane Behanan he had 11 points and 4 rebounds but his presence in the game was much bigger than the box score.
Russ Smith made some miraculous shots tonight and got to the basket whenever and wherever he wanted. Just when you think he can’t amaze you anymore he takes it to another level. Russ 2.0 was the second leading scorer behind Trez with 14 points.

The competition hasn’t been top notch but the play of this basketball team has been. We can only hope that they keep speeding past the competition like this all year. I know that now we are all ready to see our Cards take on a team of a higher caliber and hopefully that happens on Sunday afternoon. If UNC gets past Richmond it will happen. I don’t think the Tarheels are playing their best basketball at the moment but they do have the athletes to perform well. The Cards will face Fairfield on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena to advance to the Title game Sunday. Looking forward to this weekend! Go Cards!

Coach Pitino after the game:

It was a beautiful November evening for the first night game in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in 5 years. The Cards started off slow but got things going in the second half to beat the Cougars 20 to 13. With the win the Cardinals take possession of second place in the AAC and now move to 9-1 on the season. Louisville is 9-1 for the second straight season which is the first time that has happened and this is the 12th time in school history that they have reached the nine win mark. The Cardinals take the lead in this series with Houston 8-7, and they will renew it when they move to the ACC. This football program has now only lost one game in the last 358 days.

Usually when writing these articles after a game it is Teddy Bridgewater and the passing game getting most of the ink. And while they did put up some decent numbers it was the running game that ruled this night. Teddy threw for 203 yards and for the first time in 22 games he didn’t have a touchdown pass. The high receiver on the night was DeVante Parker who had four receptions for 72 yards. But again the big story of the night was the dominance on the ground by Dominique Brown. He was a beast with the ball in his hands tonight and ran for a career-high 137 yards with two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the third quarter. At times he was making it look easy and like he was running downhill. He had 27 carries on the night and the previous high this season for carries had been 18. You could just sense that Brown was going to eventually have a game like this and he has now emerged as the Cardinals go to back. This kid has really made a remarkable recovery to get where he is right now. He is running the ball with just as much power as he ever did. It seems like running the ball is going to be the name of the game at Louisville in the future and it seems like Charlie Strong wants it that way. Maybe he is preparing for life after Teddy. I would prefer to see a more high powered offense and throwing it up and down the field, but it looks like we are going to have to get used to a more methodical approach to the game. The Cardinals had the ball 37 minutes to Houston’s 22 minutes.

Lost in the shuffle of all the concern about the offensive production is the fact that Louisville has one of the more elite defenses in the country. They have been pretty dominating all year long and they haven’t allowed a 1st quarter touchdown this season. It is the #1 scoring defense and the #2 total defenses in the country with two of the nation’s sack leaders in Marcus Smith and Lorenzo Mauldin. Smith had 3 tackles tonight with one sack and Mauldin had 5 tackles with one sack. This group found their backs against the wall again tonight with Houston looking to drive the ball down the field and tie the game with 2:50 on the clock. Charlie asks the group to step up and deliver and they did. Marcus Smith and Roy Philon had back to back sacks on Houston QB John O’Korn that resulted in -18 yards. The defense would hold the Cougars to a 4 and out on their final possession. Brown was the man tonight but this defense deserves a lot of credit as well. It is one of the best ever for Louisville.

I know most like to complain about the offense being too slow and a lot of folks don’t feel like Shawn Watson is using the tools he has effectively in regards to Teddy and the group of receivers. I personally don’t care how the Cardinals win football games just as long as they win them. And as I mentioned earlier I think they are preparing this team and program for life without Teddy Bridgewater and I think that Charlie Strong prefers a rock em sock em type of offense to an air it out one. He has the horses to back it up especially with a guy like Dominique Brown emerging. I have a feeling we are just seeing the beginning of something very special with this kid.

Cards Take The Field For Houston:

Coach Strong After Houston Win:

Teddy After Houston Win:

Roy Philon After Houston Win:

Marcus Smith After Houston Win:

James Burgess After Houston Win:

Dominique Brown After Houston Win:

[wppa type=”slide” album=”42″][/wppa]

The Cardinals got off to a quick start tonight but it was delayed by about 20 minutes due to the lights being out in the KFC Yum Center. They would eventually get the lights turned back on after a brief delay and our Cardinals would be off to the races. They jumped all over Cornell from the opening tip and turned their lights out beating the Big Red 99-54. The Cards are off to a 3-0 start to the season and have won 19 straight dating back to last year. They also won the 1700th game in the programs history tonight. These guys haven’t lost a basketball game in 280 days.

The Cardinals looked very dominate tonight on both sides of the ball. The offense looked crisp and although they turned the ball over 10 times they weren’t careless even with a huge lead. This was the first game in the last six dating back to last year where the Cards had a double digit turnover night. They shot the ball exceptionally well tonight and the 59% shot from the field was the best since 2010. Every guy on the bench tonight would score except one and 5 players were in double digits. All of the rotations looked good and it seems that the new guys are adjusting and learning where they need to be on the court. The defense was also very good tonight and they forced 19 turnovers with 12 steals scoring 29 points off of those turnovers. There was a lot of activity in the press and guys were closing out the passing lanes and getting deflections. This group was very active on the defense tonight.

Kevin Ware, Luke Hancock, and Chane Behanan all played more significant minutes tonight and each of them looked comfortable on the floor. Chane had the best night of the three getting a double-double with 12 rebounds and 13 points. He was a physical presence on the court and thats exactly what Louisville needs from him. I glad he’s back! Kevin had some very good moves to the basket and scored 5 points. Luke scored 12 points tonight and was the only Cardinal that looked good from the charity stripe going 6 for 7.
The player of the game (and I type this with a big smile on my face) was Wayne Blackshear. Could this really be the break-out year we have waited for out of this guy? He has been very good so far in the first couple of games and tonight he was a beast. He hit 4 three point shots, scored 20 points and had 2 blocks with 1 steal. The only thing he could have done better was rebound. He has said that during the off season he was in the gym everyday getting up shots and making himself a better basketball player. So far that hard work is paying off.
Montrezl Harrell was again very dominate on the floor. And while he didn’t really have an explosive offensive night he did grab 15 rebounds. We are going to need his dominance on the glass more than we do his points this season in my opinion.

I know it’s early and I know that we have only played one legitimate NCAA team in College of Charleston, but from what I’ve seen so far this is going to be a special group. Going to back-to-back Final Fours and winning a National Champion has given this group a swagger and they have an attitude that they aren’t going to lose. You can tell that each time they take the floor that they are trying to be better than they were the night before. Winning breads winners and these Cardinals are winners. Every time I see them I get excited about what is to come. Hope you are ready for another exciting ride Cardinal Nation.

U of L coach Rick Pitino after win over Cornell:

U of L’s Russ Smith on the win over Cornell: