Tonight was one of the most emotionally charged games that I have ever attended in my life. This game had the feel of something special from the opening tip. Two great teams trading blow for blow in an epic clash of basketball titans. Then in a heartbeat the moment got very surreal and for a stadium filled with over 34,000 people things got very real. As we were all a part of probably the worst injury in the history of a college basketball game. As Kevin Ware laid there and the Louisville players were falling to their knees on the court no one was worried about basketball and most of us would have probably just been fine with them postponing the regional final to another night. Kevin Ware then laying there helpless on the floor with this gruesome injury called his team over and told them to play this game and win it. And win it they did. They had one of the most dominate second half performances that you will ever see in a game scoring 50 points on 59.3 percent shooting to beat the Blue Devils 85-62 to advance to the Final Four in back-to-back years for the first time since 1982-83. This Louisville team has now won 14 straight games. This Final Four will be the 10th in school history.
“Basically, the bone popped out of the skin. It broke in two spots,” Pitino said. “Remember the bone is six inches out of his leg, and all he’s yelling is ‘Win the game, win the game.’ I’ve never seen anything like that.”
In this inspired performance the Cardinal defense was once again a big reason for this victory as they would hold Duke to 36.5% from the field and just 25% from the three point line. This was the Blue Devils lowest shooting percentages of the tournament. This team is no longer one dimensional. During the current 14 game win streak the offense has caught up with the defense and that has made a very good Cardinal team great. Now instead of having to force turnovers to get points they are creating offense in the half court. Ten players got into the scoring column tonight with four players scoring double digits. And they were able to find good looks at the basket to shoot a high percentage. Something they have done for the entire tourney, so much that they have moved to #5 in Kenpom’s ADJ Efficiency on offense at 117.5. These guys are hitting the boards hard to. They have had to play 4 great rebounding teams and have done a great job battling them all. Tonight they out rebounded the Blue Devils 35 to 26.
The most valuable player of this game was the most valuable person. Kevin Ware has been a big reason for this amazing 14 game stretch for the Cards. I had mentioned in my post game story after the last game how he had become such an important part of this team. Tonight he took that to the next level with his selfless act of rallying his team-mates around him and pulling them together during his tragic moment. It was one of the most courageous things you will ever see and I don’t know if the Cards win this game without it. This kid not only inspired the Louisville Cardinals tonight he inspired the college basketball world.
If anybody had any doubts about Gorgui going to the NBA that should have been erased tonight. In my opinion he is one of the most underrated players in college basketball. Tonight he was hitting that 15 footer and making unreal moves to the basket for his size. He was phenomenal on the defensive end of the floor as well. He has such great timing on his blocked shots and his rebounding. Tonight he has a double-double 14 points and 11 boards with 4 blocked shots.
Our backcourt super heroes Russ and Peyton just took over this game and never looked back. And if they continue to play at this level for the rest of the way they better be making room in that trophy case. They scored 39 of the Cards 85 points and were very disruptive to the Duke offense snagging 3 steals. Keep in mind that this Duke team is one of the best in the country at taking care of the ball.
I also want to give mention to a performance that perhaps got overlooked in this emotional night. Tim Henderson came in and gave this team some valuable defensive minutes. I was really impressed with Tim while watching him play during the Red&White games earlier this season. I wrote this after the 3 scrimmages: “I must also give an honorable mention to Tim Henderson. I know that realistically he won’t get that much time this season especially with a team as loaded as the Cards are, but this young man works really hard while he is on the court. He had 13 points yesterday and drained some great looking 3 point shots. The guy defines the word “Hustle”. If my son had been old enough to attend the games with me over the past 3 weeks, I would have pointed to Tim as an example of what overachieving looks like. I’m glad this guy is a part of the Louisville basketball program and he will be a great asset in preparing this team each week.”
Driving home tonight I listed to a sports wrap up show on Sirius radio, and several callers from Louisville expressed their concerns over a replacement for Kevin in the rotation. Tim is not going to give you the athleticism of a Kevin Ware but he will hustle and give the Cards a solid defender when he is in the game. I’ve got full confidence in the young man and think he will give this team valuable minutes in the final four.
Our bench did a great job tonight and they out-scored the Duke bench 20 to 12 behind the solid performance of Luke Hancock who had 10 points. And he went 5-5 from the free-throw line.
The late Jim Valvano said in his famous ESPY speech that If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a heck of a day. Today was a heck of a day for Cardinal fans. I’m spent! Louisville, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, will next take on surprising Wichita State in Atlanta in Saturday’s National Semifinal at 6:09pm. Then they will await the winner of Michigan and Syracuse. Two more to go folks. No sleep till Atlanta.
