I hadn’t seen this Louisville team on a football field since last November. The only thing colder than the seats at Cardinal Stadium that night were the player’s hearts towards the program.

That along with the clowns dancing around on our logo at the 50 yard line with their L’s down was the low point for me. My beloved program had hit rock bottom.

Things were really dark on 2800 S. Floyd Street when Coach Satterfield and his staff rolled in. Coach Satterfield said that goal #1 was to put his arms around the team and love on them. During the spring, thru the summer and this fall, we witnessed that.

Crazy what a little love can do…

I had never seen a player more isolated and disconnected than Jawon Pass was at the end of last season. Monday night I saw a player out on that field giving it his best for his team and for the name on the front of the jersey. He never hung his head. More importantly, I saw a player who had confidence in the name on the back of the jersey again. Jawon led a few great drives down the field rushing for touchdowns of 8 and 17 yards in the first quarter. There was a Puma sighting.

The Cardinals had the worst defense in the country last season. I hadn’t seen any real pop out of a Louisville defense since 2014. The clickity-clack is back. Those big stops on third down were awesome. It was that stop on 4th and 1 that really stood out. The D line/linebackers shut those gaps down. LB Rodjay Burns second in tackles with 6. And the secondary was on skates. My son kept hearing Russ Yeast name and smiling. He’d say. ”Dad that’s ur name”. Russ led the team with 6.5 tackles. You couldn’t even hear the third-down music because the crowd was so loud. Been a long time since the D had the place rocking like that.

They were locked in towards the end of the first half and for most of the second half. They were playing like a team that has spent a lot of time in the gym together. Communicating, making the extra pass, crashing the boards and had five different players scoring in double figures. Everybody on the team was scoring. I mentioned in my Pregame post that this team needed other guys to step up and that happened in this game.

It’s great having a player like Jordan Nwora in a game like this. He put the team on his back in the first half scoring 18 of the 40 first-half points. That one-handed alley-oop dunk was next level. My dude Swag is next level…

Dwayne Sutton is the Junk Yard dog of this group. It was good to see him get some of his bark back on Sunday. He played physical got to the free throw line and scored at every level with 13 points. He also banged the boards and was 3rd on the team with 7 rebounds. This is the Sutton this team needs.

Ryan McMahon is such a great young man and such a team guy. All of these teams have scouted Louisville enough that it’s made it even harder for Ryan to get his shot off. With his size disadvantage, he has to earn it. He never hangs his head and instead uses that attention he draws to himself on that three-point shot to get his teammates opportunities. He had 9 assist in this game. So glad he’ll be around next season. Those freshman coming in will benefit having a player like him in the locker room.

Malik Williams has so much upside and Coach Mack is getting the best out of him. On Sunday he messed around and got a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards. He also had 1 blocked shot. He is a high-level shot blocker with great length and timing. After this game, he moved to #114 nationally in blocked shots. He can be a big threat on offense but his defensive presence means everything to this team.

I have lauded over ”CC” Christen Cunningham all season. Dude is a gamer. He is taking full advantage of his opportunity as a grad transfer and there aren’t too many grad transfers who mean more to their team than CC does. In the second half when Miami tried to make their own little run he was the dagger with a scoring flurry of his own. He finished with 11 points and 5 assists.

I’m only going to say this once. Leave VJ King alone. Stop saying he’s gonna eventually break out and stop with all of the lofty expectations. VJ is VJ. The young man is a great teammate and his peers are always praising his demeanor. The Louisville Basketball program has put this guy thru hell (3 different Coaches) and he hasn’t once wavered. Not once! So please spare us all of the ”fan” bullcrap. Cheer for VJ King and be happy for him when he has a good game. You don’t see his type of loyalty in young people often. Embrace that.

It’s great in so many ways to get that first win in conference play. It will help these guys carry some momentum with them on the road and good for morale after that tough loss to Kentucky. They can put that one behind them now. And so can we. It will be wins and losses in conference games like this one against Miami that could determine our Tournament chances come March.

Coach Mack is a class act and he knows his basketball. I know that when he gets his guys in this system that things will look and feel much different. With everything our program and players have been thru, he has them playing their hearts out. Sometimes talent just takes over. I really believe that this is the last season we will see the talent gap play such a big role in the outcome of this game.

The recruiting class we have coming in next season will be one of the best in the country when all said and done and the momentum will continue to grow as Coach Mack utilizes all of the resources at his disposal now. And just listen to him talk about the X’s and O’s. This guy knows his stuff. Our program is in good hands and much better days are ahead.

I will be in Rupp arena a year from now and it just might be our turn to spoil the party. Most of their guys will be long gone. But we’ll have a few guys that are tired of losing to Kentucky and add in one of the most talented groups we’ve had on campus in a long time. I bet Coach Mack won’t forget about this loss either.

It’s tough to see the good in a loss to your arch rival but our Cardinals did bang the boards with a team ranked second in the country in rebounding margin (UofL 33 rebs, UK 34 rebs) and won the offensive rebound battle (UofL 13 rebs, UK 10 rebs). UK came into this game third in offensive rebounding percentage. And giving up just 12 turnovers against a team with their length and talent isn’t awful. These are two very good things this Louisville team can build on moving forward in conference play.

I’ve been waiting and looking forward to the first big basketball game of the season. With this schedule, I didn’t have to wait long. Our Cardinals will play a pretty good Volunteers team here in about an hour as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off from the Barclays Center. Louisville has won the last 5 matchups against the Vols.

I think the biggest challenge for the Cardinals tonight will be how well they have learned the new defense. Will they be able to stay disciplined enough at this point in the season and stay out of foul trouble. We don’t have the bodies for foul trouble. This Tennessee team moves the ball really well and they do a great job at finding the open man. They are 14th nationally with 20.7 assists per game. Hope our guys are ready.

Scoring hasn’t been an issue for our guys either with four players Nwora, Perry, Enoch, and VJ all averaging double figures. This is a very offensive oriented Louisville team with 3-point shooting big men and all. The versatility of Malik and Steven could pay off tonight. They can stretch a defense.

Nwora leads the Cardinals with 18 points and 6 rebounds per game while Ryan Mack leads Louisville with 3 assists per game. Ryan makes good things happen when he’s in the game. His Basketball IQ is off the charts. As a team, the Cardinals are averaging 91.7 points per game on 53.5% shooting from the field, 37.3% from behind the 3-point line and an impressive 78% from the foul line this season. Getting to the foul line will be big tonight.

It won’t be just a game of horse for Louisville. This Tennessee team’s defense is some of the best in the country. They held the Yellow Jackets to just 53 points in their last game, which is their average in terms of points against this season. The Volunteers are ranked 4th in the nation in field goal defense. This Louisville team has been prone to turn the ball over and take a bad shot. Can’t do that against this Vols team. Cards have to make every possession count.

I’m super optimistic. If our guys don’t let the bright lights get to them I think they win this game. I’ve said it 20 times just this week. Coach Mack is for real. And this team thru about 8 guys deep can run with anyone in college basketball. I really believe that. This team has been working hard and are walking with a different swagger. That will pay off tonight.

It reminded me of the Simpsons Characters Mr. Burns. One of Mr. Burns’ trademark expressions is the word “Excellent”, muttered slowly in a low, sinister voice while steepling his fingertips. And He occasionally orders Smithers to “release the hounds”.

Tonight Coach Mack released the hounds on Southern as Louisville flexes their muscle in game #2 with a 104-54 win. Coach Mack also talks a lot about excellence. Tonight in his post game you can tell that he believes his team took another step towards that goal tonight. He still hasn’t smiled during a post-game but tonight he appeared satisfied.

It’s getting to be the standard to talk about Jordan Nwora after these games. And tonight he stood out again coming off the bench scoring 20 points, grabbing 6 boards, with 2 steals and a blocked shot. There was one sequence in the game that stood out the most to me tonight. Jordan missed a three badly… Sprinted down the floor squared up on D, grabbed a defensive rebound and then led the break hitting CC for a three coming back up the floor. Good stuff!

Following Nwora tonight in scoring and also having himself a game was Malik Williams with 17 points and 5 boards. Malik is one of the guys on this team whose upside is off the charts. He really is a ball of clay at this point just waiting for someone to mold into an NBA type player. Coach Mack has a great reputation for player development, especially with Malik’s skill set. Mack knows how to use that versatility.

Another guy with a high upside is Steven Enoch. This big fella has not missed a free throw yet. Going a perfect 9-9 in game one and 5-5 tonight. He is 14-14 on the season. I said it last week and will say it again this week. This guy is a great weapon to have.

Honorable mention tonight goes to Akoy Agau.
‪(Old Faithful) The average interval between its spoutings is 78 minutes.‬
‪(Old Faithful Akoy) The average interval between his games played in a Louisville uniform is 1439 days. It was good to see him back on the court. That guy has had some journey.

Chris Mack didn’t make his way from a JV Basketball coach to a 4 million dollar gig at Louisville by settling for any type of mediocrity. And he showed me tonight that he isn’t going to let any of the sentimental stuff get in his way either. When I asked him how his first Louisville win felt in the postgame he didn’t mix his words in expressing his displeasure for how this game turned out.

It is refreshing to have a head coach that doesn’t sugar coat things. I don’t think we’ll ever be left wondering what Coach Mack really thinks. He’s gonna tell you. This guy is a winner in every aspect. I know that his drive prohibits him from showing too much emotion but I bet that he will have the game ball from Thursday night saved to commemorate his first win as the Louisville coach. There haven’t been many other guys get that first one here as head coach of the Cardinals. Pretty big deal IMO.

And even though the game didn’t go as well as they had hoped there were some bright spots on the player’s side of things as well. Steven Enoch is going to be a beast for this program. He pretty much had his way against the much smaller Nicholls State frontcourt. He had 15 points, 8 boards, and 2 blocked shots. Perhaps his most impressive stat line was going 9 for 9 at the free throw line. Talk about a weapon.

The Cardinals spent a lot of time tonight at the charity stripe going 42 of 55 from the line for a respectable 76.4%. I really like how Darius Perry took the ball to the basket. He ended up with 14 points. Jordan Nwora struggled from the outside and adjusted his game making some strong moves to the basket. He ended up with 12 points. Ryan McMahon provided a spark in the first half hitting some big three-point shots.

You can be negative about the coaching and it’s ok to be upset that things appear to be in some disarray with Louisville Football. Just remember that there are young men busting their ass every day and who busted their ass last night to make sure the Cardinals didn’t lose this game against WKU.

I’m not happy things aren’t working out like we had all expected them to all offseason. I had very high hopes for this team and for this season. There are no more excuses and some of the things this team did last night are not what we have been used to. As fans, it’s time to put our big boy/girl pants on and support the players on this team who are trying their best under some obvious disarray.

If not for the guys in the locker room who gave it their all last night we’d be sitting here today with a loss to WKU. We’d be no better than Kentucky who got their tails whipped by the Hilltoppers a few seasons ago. And have a two-game losing streak to them. We’ll just leave that right there. I digress.

My point being. We got guys in that locker room busting their asses for this program, this team, and the fans. Guys like Jarrett Jackson who came in making big plays including the game-winning sack and Robert Hicks who led the team with 11 tackles last night. These young men were in high school last year folks. Our defense is banged up. These guys stepped up. That’s big for this team moving forward.

On the offensive end of the ball, things are really in disarray. Strange territory for Coach Petrino. But now he will pull out his book of tricks from the past two seasons and start game planning around a young and dynamic new starting QB. If you aren’t excited after watching Malik Cunningham the last two weekends there is no hope for you. There were moments on that field last night when I experienced Déjà vu. This young man is the real deal folks. Our season is not lost.

It was great seeing Dae Williams come back into his own last night. He’s a great athlete but an even better person. With 63 yards and 2 TDs he just took over in the 4th quarter and started running over guys. Back a few summers ago during practice and before he got hurt Dae Williams was such a presence and so dominating (just busting thru guys) that he had everyone’s attention. Haven’t seen media guys so giddy at a practice as that day. Dae Williams is for real folks. Our season is not lost.

We have a solid offensive line (they still have their moments), and two very athletic and physically superior athletes in our backfield. And I think our receivers finally come around with the leadership of Malik Cunningham. This gives Bobby something to work with. I’m optimistic he figures it out. We still get 8 wins and beat the Cayuts ass…

As a side note, I do feel really bad for Jawon Pass. I don’t know what’s going on with the young man and hope he figures things out. Card Nation has been super supportive to him and we need to continue that. I hope he keeps battling.