Joel Machota is a Graduate Assistant with the University of Detroit-Mercy Men’s Basketball program and today he tweeted out something that was interesting to me. He picked out some of his favorite plays in the National Championship game and shared them. You can read more about Joel here on Hoop Scoop. And check out the plays in PDF format. Both Louisville and Michigan put on a basketball clinic that night in the Georgia Dome. It was the best game I’ve ever seen in person so it is interesting to actually see some of the great plays from that night diagramed out in PDF format. It’s not just about the Jimmy’s and Joe’s. And this gives you a look at the actual X’s and O’s that made this such a great game.

It’s been a year like no other for Rick Pitino. Our head coach is on top of the world right now with a smile that won’t fade, getting ready for his induction into the Hall of Fame, a team that could contend for a third consecutive Final Four appearance and a recruiting class that could shake down as one of the nation’s best. And today that recruiting class got a little stronger when 4* 6-9 PF Jaylen Johnson of Ypsilanti, Michigan decided that he wanted to become a Louisville Cardinal. “I wanted to say congratulations and tell him I was coming to Louisville,” Johnson said. “Louisville is the perfect fit for me.” He is ranked #62 by Scout, #55 by 247Sports, #56 by rivals, #134 by Future150 and #62 in ESPN100. Look for these rankings to go up as Johnson just started to shine at the LeBron camp this summer and went from the B-list to the A-list in July.

“I felt Louisville made me a priority. The entire coaching staff was at my games in Las Vegas,” Johnson said. “I want to improve my game and have a chance to play in the NBA. I know Coach Pitino is hard and will make me a better player. He is a great teacher.”

Coach Pitino’s recent development of players like Earl Clark, Gorgui Dieng, Montrezl Harrell, and Chane Behanan is what caught the eye of Jaylen and his mom. Yes I said his mom. She once led the Big Ten in blocked shots at Wisconsin so she knows a thing or two about the round ball. Per an article written by the recruiting guru of the Courier Journal Steve Jones Jaylen’s AAU coach said: U of L coach Rick Pitino has told Johnson he can envision him following a path similar to Harrell’s, a freshman role player last season who appears poised for a breakout sophomore year.

On top of getting a great basketball player in Johnson the Cardinals will also be getting a great young man who is grounded by his family, faith and his community. According to an article written in The Detroit News being a good person, a good citizen and true to his spiritual well-being are what’s most important in Johnson’s life. Then comes his basketball. Commits like this have me smiling from ear to ear and it ensures that we continue to not only have a great basketball team but also have great ambassadors of the Cardinal Pride. Jaylen will embrace the Louisville First culture.

ESPN on Johnson: “Johnson is a promising player that is just scratching the surface of his potential. Look for him to continue to climb the recruiting charts and end up having a better career going forward than some of the players ranked ahead of him.”

ESPN’s College GameDay has made two trips to Louisville. Both trips coming when the Cardinals played at Freedom Hall, one being in 2006 vs. No. 3 Connecticut and then again in 2008 against visiting No.6 Georgetown. But for some reason ESPN has snubbed the KFC Yum Center and they haven’t brought their traveling road show back to Louisville since 2008. We were teased by Digger Phelps back before the 2012-13 season when he told ESPN 680 radio host Jason Anderson that College Gameday would be coming to Louisville that season for U of L’s home game against Notre Dame. Only to find out that Digger like always didn’t know what he was talking about.

With 43 days left until the start of a new basketball season brought hopes that maybe this would finally be the year that the College Gameday crew would visit the Yum. How could they not make a trip to hang out with the home crowd of the defending national champion? Well Cardinal fans the Gameday schedule was announced today and once again they have snubbed the KFC Yum Center. It really is strange that they wouldn’t want to host their show in one of the country’s newest arenas, and even more confusing that they wouldn’t visit the defending champs home court. Louisville has one of the greatest fan-bases in the country and deserve to have College Gameday in for a visit. But it appears they don’t think so.

Below is a schedule of this years stops for College Gameday. Louisville will play during a stop again this year, but even that feels more like a slap in the face than a consolation prize at this point.

March 8: North Carolina at Duke

–– 4 Louisville offers make it into group of Elite 24

The Under Armour Elite 24 is a celebration of streetball’s past, present and future. This event has existed for 6 years and has become one of the premiere events of the summer. The first four were at Rucker Park, and the last three at Venice Beach. This years event will be back in New York for the first time since 2009. The 8th annual game tonight will be played outside under the Brooklyn Bridge at the historic Tobacco Warehouse. It is in my opinion one of the coolest venues for a basketball game that I’ve ever seen.

Among the 24 high school prospects picked are Louisville offers Kelly Oubre, and Myles Turner in the 2014 class. Stephen Zimmerman, and Cheick Diallo in the class of 2015.

Upside was a word used all summer long to describe Oubre. He recently cut his list to UConn, Florida, Louisville, Kentucky, Kansas, Georgetown, Oregon and UNLV. Says he will trim it again by the start of his high school season. Louisville remains in the mix despite having commitments from two 2014 guards. Oubre told SNY that he would be a “a scorer, and vocal leader,” he said. “Shaqquan Aaron and JaQuan Lyle are both great players but I think we could all play in the same back-court.” Oubre is an extremely valuable and versatile performer who can do damage from the 4-spot when his team goes small.

Myles Turner announced a final eight of Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Texas. Says he plans to verbally commit to college in “January or February” and won’t sign until the late signing period. Basically, the buzz on him began in April and climaxed at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June. In the span of months, he went from unranked to a top prospect in the 2014 class. He has mentioned to several sources that he will take all of his officials so we’ll see if he makes it to Louisville.

It’s early in the race for the signature of top 2015 center Stephen Zimmerman, but Louisville is firmly in the mix. He has continued to turn heads with a rare combination of size, skill and athletic ability. He is a true 7-footer with fluid athleticism and a soft touch facing the basket on offense. On defense he looks to block shots and rebound with competitiveness. Zimmerman’s combination of skill and size makes him a future pro prospect.

He caught the eye of the Louisville staff at the Nike EYBL event in Hampton, VA back in April and was offered a scholarship. We know Pitino’s success with African-born bigs and this guys has been described as further ahead of the curve than others that have come before him. He has been describes as a double-double machine and as a shark in the water on defense who is looking for his next meal. I think you will see the recruitment of this kid pick up next summer and think he will highly consider the Cards.

It is a slow sports weekend as we all prepare for the college football season to begin, and tonight will be a great chance to see some guys that could be wearing the Cardinal red in the future. It will also be the last major event for these underclassmen as the next time most of them will be on the court in competition will be for their high school teams. The game airs live on ESPNU at 7
p.m.

Louisville’s 2013 hoops recruiting class is one of the most anticipated groups in years and maybe ever for some.There is anticipation not only for the groups talents but for what they could potentially add to an already stacked Cardinal line-up. Louisville’s 2013 group is ranked 8th by Scout, 9th by 247Sports, 7th by Rivals and 8th by ESPN. It will feature the number one ranked Juco player in Chris Jones, a top 20 player in Terry Rozier, a top 50 guard in Anton Gill and a top 100 physical big man in Akoy Agau.

One by one the new Cardinals made it to campus to begin their new journeys. They have all got registered for classes and have started their summer workouts. The word already coming out of those workouts is about Jones being a tireless worker and how Agau showed up to campus 25 pounds lighter than when he was here for the Derby Classic.

Here’s what ESPN Recruiting Analyst Dave Telep had to say: “Even though it’s ranked No. 8, Louisville’s class has an excellent chance to outperform its ranking. The Cardinals have returning backcourt pieces and also usher in more backcourt assistance. Juco point guard Chris Jones is a tough, tough kid. Five-star post-grad point guard Terry Rozier was one of the biggest revelations this past season and could turn out to be Trey Burke reincarnated. Meanwhile, ESPN 100 shooting guard Anton Gill will carve out his niche and ESPN 100 power forward Akoy Agau gets to play apprentice for a season. Combine the pieces and you have the makings of a group that can over-deliver.”

I know I’m very excited to see how this group blends with the great players we already have and I do think this Louisville team will have something to say about the upcoming 2013-14 NCAA Championship.

A few weeks ago we learned that Zach Price would be leaving the Cardinals Basketball program. And while there still seems to be plenty of depth in the front court should we be concerned about not having enough bangers inside to make another title run?

Most publications have our Cardinals ranked 2nd or 3rd in their pre-season polls. When looking into their evaluations and reasoning behind them not putting the Cards in that top spot it’s usually the same thing. They think without Dieng’s shot-blocking or rebounding chops, the Cardinals might be a bit vulnerable defending the interior. Most of the talking heads seem to think Louisville could benefit from another player whose sole job is to hit the glass with abandon; as they struggled throughout the 2012-13 season keeping teams off the offensive glass.

One guy in particular that seems to think the Cardinals don’t have much of a shot at winning the title in 2013-14 is Michael DeCourcy of The Sporting News. He has the Cards ranked 3rd in his pre-season outlook and had Zach Price as a guy who would be a major role player for the Cards next season. Now that Price is gone DeCourcy doesn’t think they should even be ranked that high. In a recent online conversation with DeCourcy he states “If you’re playing 6-5/6-8 at center, you will not do better than No. 3. I’m sure of that.” and points out to me in the conversation that “there are certain realities about what wins at the Final Four level. And there hasn’t been a champ without at least a 6-9 starter in decades.” In closing the conversation with Mike I sent a shot his way telling him good job predicting Price to be a role player. He replied “so much for your prediction about them finishing higher than 3 with current roster.”

I personally don’t think that we will have any issues with the guys we have holding down the paint area. In my defense of that I pointed out how Montrezl Harrell took over against Syracuse in the Big East Title game and how Chane Behanan took over the paint area during the Championship game. Both of these instances came against big, athletic and tall front-courts.
Coach Pitino did hint last week that the coaching staff might be out beating the bush in an attempt to sign a late add for the 2013-14 season. So if they do add a player will it be a front-court player to replace Zach Price? And is there a player still out there that could be a potential target?

One player that Cardinal fans should keep an eye on this summer and a guy I think would be a great addition to the team is Nkosi Ali. Ali is the best remaining junior college front-court player in the country. Nkosi Ali, is a 6-11 forward out of NE Oklahoma A & M. Richard Pitino has been courting the big man in recent weeks and Ali was supposed to take a visit to Minnesota on Memorial Day weekend but didn’t make it. Per JucoRecruiting.com Ali is an agile forward who can run the floor and finish in transition. He is a good shot blocker when rotating from the weak side and rebounds the ball well. He averaged 10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks per game this season while shooting 55% from the field. Ali, who is originally from Atlanta, spent his freshman year of college at Highline CC in Washington. At Highline he averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 55% from the field.

Here’s some early tape on Nkosi:

I knew that when Shaqquan Aaron committed to play for the Cards back in February that we had landed a very solid early recruit for the class of 2014. Aaron finished up his high school season a few months ago by leading Seattle Rainier Beach High School to win the Washington Class 3-A state championship. That is the same school that produced NBA players Doug Christie, Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson and former Cardinal Terrence Williams, to name a few.

Shaqquan is one of the most talented and versatile 2014 prospects on the West Coast and in the nation as a whole. He is ranked #34 by Scout, #15 by 247sports, #31 by Rivals and #51 by ESPN. He spent his first year at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei. He was home-schooled as a sophomore and did not play high school basketball. He just did transfer to Rainier Beach for this basketball season and when head coach Mike Bethea had the chance to see him play for the first time only one word came to mind “Wow.” I think Aaron had a lot of folks going wow this past weekend and I look forward to many wow moments from him in a Cardinal uniform.

Reggie Rankin of ESPN WRITES:
Aaron brings versatility to Louisville
“Aaron is an extra long and lean guard/forward. He excels in transition by getting to the rim or spotting up for the open 3-pointer. In the half-court set Aaron has the length to shoot over small defenders with range to the arc. He also can go by his defender with quick first-step slashes and pull-up jumpers. He finishes with length as opposed to strength at this stage of his game. He can rebound and ignite the break with his ability to bust out dribble and is a tip-in threat on the offensive class. Aaron is also a very capable multiple-position perimeter defender. He will need to continue to add strength but his versatility and upside are tremendous.”

Alex Kline of TheRecruitScoop.com gave the Cardinals Beak this exclusive comment: “Rick Pitino continues to dominate the Pacfic West Coast. He’s landed Terrance Williams and Peyton Siva in the past. Both were success stories for the Cardinals. Shaqquan Aaron should be the same with his versatility, scoring ability and court vision. He should create great mismatches.”

Here is some video of Shaqquan Aaron:

– Top Recruiting targets for 2014

Another basketball season is in the books and with just a week of celebrating under their belts the coaching staff will go back to work this week as they start hitting the recruiting trail again. This time they will be heading out with another weapon in their recruiting pitch. With already a great program to sell the staff can now boast back-to-back final fours and a National Championship. With the 2013 class signed and starting workouts in the summer the focus now shifts to the 2014 class. Our staff has already made great strides with several guys in this class and it would surprise me if they didn’t have this class put away as fast as they did the 13 class. So who are the top guys that the Louisville staff is focused on?

Already Signed:

Quentin Snider (BALLARD H.S. – LOUISVILLE, KY)

These are my projected top targets for the 2014 class. I have come up with this list through research and by asking some of the recruiting guru’s across the nation. This list will probably change over time. There are other names that have come up recently and have been added to my recruiting page. You can check them out as well as read more about the guys I listed above. You can also check out some of their highlight videos on the recruiting page.

– The Cards basketball team will have to prepare for the road ahead without Gorgui Dieng

We learned yesterday that Gorgui Dieng did, in fact, suffer a fracture to the scaphoid bone in his left wrist, which will require surgery today and keep him on the bench for 4-6 weeks. The carpal fracture is a problematic injury, and the healing process is an unpredictable one because it’s at such an underserved point in the circulatory system. I have experienced this injury first hand. And even when the cast comes off and the bone is mended it still requires several weeks of rehab for the wrist to become fully stable. So a realistic return date would be somewhere around the week of January 1st.

Coach Pitino: “I don’t want to overhype my players,” “But he’s one of the best big men in the country.”

It really sucks to lose a player to injury and especially one as special as Gorgui. He is more than just a basketball player. He means so much more to this team and to this program. There isn’t a college basketball fan among us that won’t miss his cheerfulness and his genuine love for the game. The young man is having surgery today and I know from experience that its not a fun one. Lets all keep Gorgui in our prayers and hope for a speedy recovery. Get will soon Gorgui!

– “To 3, or not to 3”

“To 3, or not to 3” that was the question last night in the KFC Yum center as our Cards beat Bellarmine 65-46 in the final tune up of the exhibition portion of the schedule.

Louisville is set up nicely for a potentially memorable 2012-13 campaign. The pieces are in place for a very deep NCAA Tournament run and some are already predicting that the Cardinals will claim their first National Title since 1986. With those lofty expectations as the backdrop one of the main areas of concern for this team is their ability to shoot the basketball. Last night those fears surfaced when the Cards had a dismal shooting performance from three-point range. They missed their first 17 attempts before Luke Hancock connected with 4:04 left in the game. They ended up shooting 1 for 19 on the night.

Coach Pitino: ”We know we’re not a great shooting team, it’s evident.”

Despite a terrible night shooting the three ball our Cards were able to dominate inside. Fab Frosh Montrezl Harrell proved my preseason hype valid once again as he led all scores with 16 points. Our nationally recognized center Gorgui Dieng also had a very solid effort putting together a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He also had three blocked shots. Cards outscored the Knights 42-16 in the paint.

The other highlight of the night was the Cards defensive performance. They were able to hold a very feisty Bellarmine team to 26.7 percent from the field.

Coach Pitino: “Our defense was good and that’s what we’re trying to build on.”

With the exhibition portion of the schedule now complete our Cards will prepare for their season opener on Sunday against former UofL assistant Steve Masiello’s Manhattan Jaspers. He has quickly restored the winning tradition back to the basketball program in Riverdale and it should be a good opening challenge for our Cards.

Coach Masiello tweeted tonight during the game: This is the best Louisville team I have ever seen their size and depth is scary. Think we will just stay in NYC.

Yup I’d say he’s playing it up just a little.