The Louisville vs. Rutgers series has come to an end and the Cards go out on top winning their 4th straight over the Knights 24-10. Tonight was billed as Louisville’s opportunity to impress the national audience and perhaps sway the voters. I don’t know if any of that happened, but to me the most important thing is that our Cards are still undefeated, are still on pace to win the AAC Title, and are still in good shape to get the automatic BCS Bid. Also with the win tonight the Cardinals are Bowl eligible. Taking the optimistic approach tonight was a very good night to be a Louisville Cardinal fan. All this team can do is keep winning the games they have in front of them and take care of their business on the field; so far this season they have done that.

All eyes were on Teddy Ballgame tonight and he was the talk of the ESPN networks leading up to and during the broadcast. These national games will help him in his Heisman campaign and that’s great because he deserves it. There were also over 26 NFL scouts in attendance to watch him play. He completed 21-of-31 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw an interception and fumbled early in the fourth quarter. Some headlines will read that he had an off night but I think it is because of the expectations placed on him by the media and outside sources. I think 310 yards and 2 touchdowns equal a pretty decent performance, but hey what do I know? Senorise Perry and Damian Copeland were the other skill players on offense that stood out. Perry rushed for over 100 yards for the sixth time in his career and Copeland eclipsed his first career 100-yard receiving game plus had a career-best seven receptions. Teddy and the Louisville offense were supposed to be the story of the night but it was Calvin Pryor and the Louisville defense who stole the show. The Rutgers offense came into the game tonight averaging 40 points and 422 yards a contest. Tonight the Louisville defense held them to 10 points and 240 total yards. And they held them to a really impressive 12 rushing yards. The group had four interceptions and sacked Gary Nova eight times. Calvin Pryor had a monster night and will be the AAC defensive player of the week for sure. He had 14 tackles (11 solo), an interception, and a tackle for a loss that helped the Cards get great field position during a crucial part of the game. The Cardinal’s defensive group has been big all season but tonight they really made their mark and made a case that they are one of the best in the nation.

Here’s what Coach Strong and Teddy had to say after the game:

Cardinal fans I think we have reached that point where we can all stop worrying about polls and comparisons and be happy winning the AAC and getting to another BCS bowl game. I know that is what I’m looking forward to and this season is just another stepping stone to building something really special as far as the football program is concerned. I’m happy with where we’ve came in just a short amount of time and very optimistic to where we are heading. Cardinal Nation showed out well tonight and is also living up to their end of the bargain in this rise to national prominence. Every game has been a sell-out this season and tonight 55,168 showed up to cheer on the Cards. It was the 4th largest crowd ever. 6-0 folks…. GO CARDS!!!

It was a busy day in Cardinal Nation as will be the case most every weekend now that basketball and football are at the point to where they co-exist. I spent the first part of the day watching the Louisville football team play Temple on TV and then had to finish listening to Paul Rodgers on my way to the basketball scrimmage. The football team had a very workman like performance today as they move to 5-0 on the season. They went to Philly and handled their business. Things weren’t perfect but that will just provide Coach Strong with some things he can use to maintain his teams focus.

Teddy Bridgewater sure did do his thing again on Saturday. At one point he was 7 for 7 on a drive and had completed a pass to seven different receivers. Some of the throws he completes look effortless and he makes it look like it is so easy. He throws the ball with so much touch and finesse. He is a special player and it will be tragic if he’s not considered in the Heisman conversation at the end of the season due to the soft schedule. The Cardinals three headed monster of Dominique Brown, Senorise Perry and Michael Dyer looked very good today as they rushed for over 150 yards. With his performance today Senorise has now become a 1000 yard rusher for his Cardinal Career. Between this group and the receivers the Cardinals rack up over 500 yards of total offense against a Temple defense that wasn’t a pushover. Those guys were making contact and came out hitting the Cards in the mouth.

This Temple team isn’t as bad as they are made out to be. I think they are a few skill players and an offensive line away from being very competitive. Of course they won’t get the credit they deserve for playing well on the defensive end of the ball and the talking heads will just say that it was another win over a lesser opponent.

It was disappointing that the Cardinals let them score on a late drive as a second consecutive shut out would have been nice. I don’t know how the polls will play out this week but at this point I know that I just want to be able to maintain a top ten ranking without being jumped weekly. We got Rutgers coming up on Thursday night and that will be a chance for the Cardinals to get their first quality win of the season. I’ll have the Breakdown of that one on Monday or Tuesday.

(Teddy and former high school teammate E.J. Hilliard after game photo courtesy Chris Hatfield)

Coach Strong and company came into this one with one thing in mind and that was to play a complete game from a skills standpoint. They accomplished that and more in the total dismantling of the FIU Golden Panthers today. It was so bad that both coaching staffs mutually agreed on a running clock in the second half. That is something you see often in a high school or grade school game but is very rare in college football. Forcing a FBS team to want a running clock has to count for something in the National Title picture right?

It was just one of those days. A 72-0 shut-out by our Cards (second of Strong era), Teddy Ballgame goes 17-22 for 212 yards with 4 touchdowns, DeVante Parker had 74 receiving yards with 2 touchdowns, all of our running backs got a touchdown, Louisville’s defense holds FIU to 28 total yards breaking the all-time record of fewest yards allowed of 58, Cards scored the most points in the Strong era also second-most in school history, and had 464 yards of total offense. Teddy says after the game: “We’re trying to do something special this year. Talent can take you a long way, but the leaders have to step up, we did that.” Yes you did Teddy, yes you did…

We’ve heard all season about the strength of the schedule, but the players can’t do anything about that. All they can do is come out and perform like they did today. From whistle to whistle the whole team executed. This season is also looking like a great opportunity for the coaching staff to develop young talent for a more competitive conference next year. Say what you want about schedule’s but this Cardinal football team is performing like a top 5 program right now and that’s all that really matters in the big picture.

Our Cards will now head into the bye-week and it will be a time of more work on perfecting the little things. Coach Strong on heading into conference play: “Every game counts. We need to keep getting better.” Teddy on heading into the bye-week: “We’re going to take advantage of it and get ready for the next opponent”.

I’m a very happy Cardinal football fan heading into the bye-week. Our Cardinals are 4-0 and looking great. Very excited to see what the rest of the season has in store for us.

Heading to the game today I had high hopes for how the Cardinals would perform in the Governor’s Cup. And although it was a hard fought victory I came away feeling like this team has some work to do. Stoops and company did exactly what I had expected they would. They loaded the box to stop the run and took their chances with Teddy and the Louisville receivers. Their game plan was working like a charm through the first half but then an injury to one of their key players mixed things up. When Defensive tackle Donte Rumph went down it opened up a hole in the second half and the Cards running backs took advantage of it, especially Senorise Perry who had 100 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. Dyer also had a pretty good day with 62 yards. That injury really was a big momentum shift in this game. When the Cards got things going in the ground game it opened up some stuff through the air. Teddy and company didn’t have the explosive day I thought they would but still respectable. Teddy finished with 250 yards and one touchdown, Damian Copeland had 81 yards and DeVante Parker had 50 yards with one touchdown.

I think everyone came into the day expecting to see Louisville’s high powered offense dominate the day but it was the defenses of both teams that were the story. The Cards did allow 3-4 on 4th down conversions but only allowed the Cats 17 first downs on 0-13 3rd down conversions. The Wildcats not being able to convert third downs really dashed any shot they had of pulling this upset. And give the Wildcats defensive line credit. They controlled the line of scrimmage in the first half and really grounded a very good Louisville offense. When you hold Teddy under 300 yards your defense has had a good day.

The Cards keep the Governor’s Cup for the third consecutive year and more importantly move to 3-0 on this early season. The game today proves that they still have some work to do. The offensive line, and special teams are areas that really stand out to me. But hey I’ll let Coach Strong and his staff worry about that. I’m just gonna enjoy having an undefeated football team for another week and hopefully will see the Cards take another step up in the polls. It was another great day to be a Louisville Cardinal fan.

Enjoy some of the sights and sounds from today:

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Winning the College Basketball National Title is the hardest trophy to win in all of sports. Tonight just further proved that point as the 9th seeded Wichita State Shockers took our #1 overall seed Louisville Cardinals to the very end before the Cards finally prevailed 72-68. The Cards have now won 15 straight games and will finally get a chance to play for a national championship for the first time in 27 years. I’m 40 years old and the last time I seen a Louisville team in the title game I was laying in my parents living room floor watching that 86 group on an old Zenith console. Remember those? This time I’ll see it live in Atlanta and I can’t wait.

Up until tonight Louisville had navigated its rocky road with ease, first handling North Carolina A & T, then destroying Colorado State, followed by a comfortable eight-point win over Oregon and, lastly, a punishing second-half spurt to pull away from Duke in an Elite Eight clash. Aside from Duke hanging tough through the first 20 minutes our Cards hadn’t had much of a challenge. But tonight they got all they wanted from the Shockers and with 13 minutes left were down by 12 points. But just like they had done through this entire tourney and season they turned up the defense and were able to pull it out. Through this tourney the Cardinals had forced turnovers on 27.5 percent of opponents’ possessions. Tonight the Shockers took very good care of the ball up until about 13 minutes left in the game. That’s when Louisville erased a 12-point deficit and outscored Wichita State by 16 points. The Cardinals were able to speed up Wichita State during this stretch forcing them into seven turnovers in the final seven minutes after they’d gone more than 26 minutes without one. The Cards had 26 deflections Saturday, its fewest in the 2013 Men’s Basketball Championship. The Cardinals entered the Final Four averaging 45.0 deflections per game in the tournament. Louisville had 17 of its 26 deflections in the second half.

The MVP of the night was the bearded wonder Luke Hancock. If you have been reading my stuff all season then you know that I had pegged Hancock as one of my x-factors for a national title run. Tonight Luke stepped up his game and truly was the x-factor coming off the bench scoring 20 points including 14 in the second half, to help the Cards rally from a dozen-point deficit. He also had 4 rebounds, 2 assist and 2 steals in his standout performance. He had averaged 6.8 points over his previous four NCAA tournament games. The Cardinals were more efficient tonight with Hancock on the court, averaging 1.34 points per possession in the 31 minutes he played. He has become a very important part of this Cardinal machine and we will need him to continue to play like this on Monday night.

It was great to see Chane have a good game tonight. He had really been in a slump during the NCAA tournament but tonight he broke out of that slup just in time and this team needed it in the worst way tonight. He was very close to a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds and was key in the Cardinals come back. I think he is the kind of guy that loves the big spotlight and this is the second time that he has stepped up in the tournament when the Cards chances were on the line. He came up big in that regional final game last year. Ware on Behanan: “Bout time he played.” Behanan response: “He’s probably right.”

Tonight Russ, Peyton, Gorgui and Wayne had their worst games of the season. And yes Russ led the team in scoring with 21 points but he was 5 of 12 from the free throw line and that’s unheard of from him. Gorgui and Wayne were scoreless tonight and Peyton had 7 points but was still very ineffective on the offensive end of the floor. It was the bench that came through tonight and the Cards would have been on a flight home right now if it had not been for those guys stepping up. The above mentioned Luke Hancock along with Montrezl, Stephan and Tim scored 34 of the Cardinals final 72 points and accounted for 13 of the teams 32 rebounds.

Got to give kudos to Tim Henderson for making me look like I know what I’m talking about. In my post game last week I mentioned how I had full confidence that this kid could step in and get the job done in Kevin’s absence. Henderson said after the game: “When Kevin went down, he told me, ‘I believe in you. You can step up. I’ve seen you in practice. I’ve seen you do this.” Tonight he hit two monster 3 point shots that sparked the Louisville comeback. Up until those two shots he had 16 points this season. I was really impressed watching Tim play against the starting unit in the Red & White games back in November. You could tell that he was a hard working kid and that he is the type of guy that doesn’t back down from a challenge. And just like Rick Pitino mentioned tonight in his press conference: “Tim goes against Russ everyday in practice.” I’m glad this kid got his chance to step up on this the biggest stage in college sports. Guys like Tim work their butts off all year just like the rest of these guys do and they very often get a chance to play let alone in a huge game like tonight. I’m sure he will be telling his grand kids about those 2 big three point shots some day.

Coach Pitino: “The players said they weren’t surprised about him making those back to back threes. They’re being very kind. I was shocked.”

Well Cardinal fans we have reached the final stop on this final four journey. Without a doubt our Cardinals are the best team in the country and they must go out on Monday night and prove it one last time. I think tonight was just the kind of game they needed and in my opinion teams need games like this in tournament if they are going to become National Champions. It’s these survive and advance moments that define a title run. The Michigan Wolverines are the only thing standing in the way of one of the greatest moments in Louisville’s basketball history. NO SLEEP TIL ATLANTA BABY!

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.

It was a battle of the birds tonight in Indianapolis and the Oregon Ducks proved that they were a very formidable foe. They never laid down and fought for the entire forty minutes. But our Cards proved that they could bend without breaking as they won the game 77-69. They have now won 13 games in a row and will now be heading to their 13th elite eight in school history. Coach Pitino is now 11-0 in Sweet 16 games.

This team has proven that they can win games by dominating teams with their suffocating defense but tonight they proved that when that defense is a little off they can also win with some solid offense. On a night where the Louisville defense could only force Oregon into 12 turnovers and could only get 7 steals they scored over 40 points in the paint and dominated in the transition game getting to the rim on most of their possessions. They got so many baskets from close range that they shot 53.8% from the field. The Cards would also get to the rim enough that it caused the Ducks to get into foul trouble. The Cards weren’t as impressive from the free-throw line tonight only hitting 17 for 26 at 65.4% but it did help in a game where it took points to win.

I tweeted out earlier that Russ Smith is becoming legendary. Some think he is already there and you could make the case no doubt. It is my opinion though that you have to win the big one to become truly legendary. But the Cardinals are now only 3 games away and Russ Smith is the biggest reason why. This kid is a scoring machine and on the grand stage he has took his scoring ability to the next level. Tonight with a very bad cold he had 31 points and now has 81 points in the NCAA tournament. I don’t know if Russ can keep topping himself but I’m looking forward to him trying.

Rick Pitino: “Russ Smith has had a year and a half like no other player I have ever coached.”

We all know that a big reason we are in the elite 8 is because of Russ but the play of Kevin Ware hasn’t hurt. He continues to get better and better and really has started to play the game he’s capable of. He is one of the more athletic guys on this team and we are gonna need him to keep it going to win three more games. He was the second leading scorer tonight with 11 points.

Peyton is in the early stages of strep throat and it showed tonight in his most underwhelming performance of the season. The guy still came out and gutted through it so kudos to him. Hope he hits the bed until Sunday because we are gonna need his leadership. Wayne and Chane combined for 7 boards and 12 points. And that’s decent production especially against the speed and versatility of the Oregon players. I thought Gorgui also did a great job with their quality bigs. He had some nice offensive possessions scoring 10 points and looked good on defense with 4 blocked shots. He also had 9 of the Cards 32 rebounds.

Hancock and Harrell came off the bench and did what they do. Luke provided some offense scoring 7 points and Montrezl provided some big time rebounding grabbing 7 boards.

Our Cards have only trailed for a little over four minutes during the entire NCAA tournament but now it has reached the level of survive and advance. The Cards took Oregon’s best shot tonight and they got within six points late in the game before our guys finally shut the door for good. The Ducks also outscored the Cards tonight in the second half 38 to 32. Most of our team is battling through illness and it was great to see them respond the way that they did. I’m glad they had a game like this because on Sunday they are gonna face a team just as capable of winning a national championship as they are. Three more to go Cards fans buckle up “no sleep till Atlanta baby!”

Coach Pitino: “We just had to get our guys to the finish line tonight. Now, we can get some rest and some medication and we’ll be fine.”

This is the time of year when the name on the jersey doesn’t mean anything when the ball is tipped at center court. This is the time of year when you gotta bring your game and not just your name if you want to survive and advance to the next round. Today the fans turned out in force to represent the Louisville name and the team brought their game as they overwhelmed a scrappy Colorado St team beating them 82-56 in Rupp Arena to advance to the Sweet 16. The Cardinals have now won twelve straight games and this will be the 25th time that they have advanced to the Sweet 16. Coach Pitino is unbeaten in 10 Sweet 16 appearances, his average winning margin is 19.8 points. At Louisville that average margin has been 21.3.

Coach Rick Pitino: “We can play much better,””This is the best we have played so far at both ends of the floor. But we can definitely get better and improve.”

This group of Cardinals have made their name on defense this season. It has been the foundation from which this team thrives. They have been considered the best defensive team in the country all season including having the lowest adj efficiency in the history of Kenpom’s system. To think this defensive could get any better is crazy but it has. If fact every game they play the defense just keeps getting better. This Louisville team has now recorded more steals than their opponent for 15 consecutive games and have 31 steals so far in the the NCAA tournament. Today they had 11 steals with 5 players that had 2 each. The Cardinals defense also forced the Rams into 19 turnovers. They have forced 32 turnovers in the last two games. In a game where they faced the number one rebounding team in the country the Cards also won that battle 25 to 22 and rebounded 9 of their 24 missed shots for 37.5%. It was a great team effort on the boards as seven players would get three or more. I knew that our front-court would be hard for the Rams to handle due to the Cardinals physical style of play and they completely dominated them in the paint 42 to 14. With the defense being so great it is easy to overlook a offense that also keeps getting better and better. The Cards have become much more efficient on the offensive end of the floor and have been been taking better shots. They shot and impressive 56.4% from the floor tonight and 55.6% from the three. And this team has been clutch from the charity stripe. Tonight they shot 83.3%

Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy: “I don’t want to put the pressure on Rick and his guys, but they’re special,””They need a little luck like everybody does to win it all, but that’s as impressive team as I’ve been against, certainly.”

Russ Smith has had a great start to the NCAA tournament. He has performed so well in Rupp Arena over the past couple of day that Louisville fans renamed the place Russ Arena. He had a awesome stat line tonight with 27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assist and 2 steals. Rick Pitino was talking about Russ after the game and said that he has really grown up over the season. He said that the old Russ would have tried to get 50 tonight. He really has come a long way since November. Not only is he the best player on this Louisville team but he has become one of the best players in the country. And is one of the most effective players left in the NCAA tournament. Russ had 50 points, 5 assist and 10 steals in the first two games of the NCAA tourney.

Our fearless leader of this team Peyton Siva had another very effective game. He did a great job at driving into the lane to score and finding the open man. He had one highlight reel play with a give and go alley oop play with Montrezl Harrell. You can see that in the pictures below. He had 10 points, 5 assist and 2 steals tonight and did a very good job at controlling the pace of the game for the Cards. He had 13 assist and 6 steals in the first two games of the NCAA tourney.

There were 20,600 folks in Rupp Arena tonight and probably 19,000 of them were Louisville fans. Earlier in the week I called on the Cardinal Nation to turn Rupp red and you answered that call. It was a really great environment and was awesome to see the building that is usually blue be red. This team now moves to the next round in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium to face the Pac 12 Oregon Ducks in the Sweet 16. 2 games down and 4 more to go Cardinal fans. Lets continue to get out there and support these guys all the way. Go Cards!

We have entered into the greatest time of the year for the college basketball fan. The NCAA is one of the purest forms of sports and it is always humbling and refreshing to see amateur athletes giving it their all on this grand stage. This is the time of year that no matter how big or small the school is every athlete gives it their all for the name on the front of the jersey. March Madness has started Cards fans and the journey to Atlanta for the Cardinals is now one game shorter after they took care of A&T tonight in Rupp Arena 79-48.

One game down Cards fans and 5 more to go. We will now face the winner of the 8 seed Missouri vs 9 seed Colorado St match-up on Saturday. We have already faced Missouri earlier this season in the “Battle 4 Atlantis” tournament where the Cards beat the Tigers 84-61. I will have the break down of our next opponent once we find out who that will be.

It was a Cardinal curtain call tonight as Louisville closes out the Big East in fine fashion. Cards showed a lot of heart and determination tonight overcoming a 16 point deficit to beat the Orange 78-61. With the win our Cards are back-to-back Big East champions and have now won ten games straight heading into the NCAA tournament. Also by winning this game they are now predicted to be the number one overall seed when the selections are made tomorrow. Tonight put a bow on a terrific Big East run for the Cardinals. They have been in the conference for 8 seasons and have won 95 games, had 3 second place finishes, 2 first place finishes and finished with the tourney crown three times. They finish the Big East series with Syracuse leading 8 to 4 and now lead the overall series 15 to 7. And the Louisville Cardinals will now be known as the final original Big East champions.

Just a great night to be a Louisville Cardinal fan. Seems like I’ve been saying that a lot this year. This program is really rolling right now and there isn’t anything else I would rather be a part of. Looking forward to getting out to these NCAA games and being a part of this remarkable run. Hopefully the next four weeks are going to be great and if they go the way I hope they do this Cardinal fan will be able to die a happy man. We still got one Cardinal Curtain Call left and in the words of Peyton Siva “no sleep til Atlanta baby.”