Our Cards held off a pesky Irish group and get the win 69-57 to advance back to the Championship game of the Big East tournament for the fourth time in five years and for the third year straight. It will be the last time that these teams will face each other as members of the Big East but this rivalry will go on as both teams move into the ACC. Notre Dame will move there this year and Louisville the next. Louisville now leads the all-time series with Notre Dame 19 to 12 and finish leading the Big East series 6 to 5. They also faced this Irish team 3 times in the Big East tourney and won them all.

I was glad when this one was over. Notre Dame is like a rock in your shoe. They just wear on you after watching them for very long. My dislike for them and their players has reached UK levels. It’s going to be nice getting a break from playing them for a year in my opinion. After winning nine straight and this win tonight I finally got that bad taste out of my mouth from that 5 overtime debacle. Good to send the green packing. Now on to the Big East title game to defend our championship and send this conference out Cardinal Style.

Louisville is now 7-1 in their last 8 Big East Tournament games and have won their last five straight. That is tied for fifth longest streak in conference history. The Cards completely overwhelmed Villanova tonight for the 74-55 win and will be heading to the semi-final round for the fourth time in the last five years.

We have now revenged 3 of our earlier season losses in this 8 game winning streak. The Cards are as focused as I’ve seen them and now await the winner of the Marquette vs Notre Dame game. Eight games down and eight to go for this season to be complete.

Tonight was the last time that the current Big East will have a Big Monday match-up on ESPN. The Cards would make the most of the finally as they looked very sharp in the dismantling of the Bearcats beating them 67-51. The Cards now lead the all-time series 55 to 43 and 5 to 4 in the Big East. Coach Pitino got his 300th win and the Cards have now won nine out of ten and six games straight. Also with the win tonight the Cards have secured a double-bye in next weeks Big East Tournament.

Coach Pitino to the Crowd after 300: “I can’t think of any place outside of heaven that I would want to spend 300 wins with than all of you people.”

Coach Pitino watching a video celebrating his 300th win with his family

The Cards would give coach Pitino his 300th win in style as they were as sharp as I’ve seen them all season. They were pressing, passing, scoring and running up and down the floor. This is a Louisville team that continues to guard people and continues to improve their offensive efficiency. Our Cards came into this game forcing 18.7 turnovers per game good for second best in the nation, third in the nation in turnover margin 6.1 and also third in the nation in steals per game 10.8. Tonight they forced the Bearcats into 21 turnovers and had 12 steals. They had held their last five opponents to an average of just 54 points per game on a combined 35.5 percent shooting from the floor. Tonight they held the Bearcats to 51 points and 35.3% from the field. The offense is vastly improved as 3 players scored in double figures tonight and 9 players made it into the scoring column. With 1 game left in the regular season the Cardinals have outscored their league opponents by 0.16 points per possession, tops in the Big East. They are currently ranked 1st in the Big East in scoring margin at +11 and 3rd in the Big East in scoring offense at 70.2 per game. The Cards looked really impressive in the transition game tonight and probably had one of the better plays of the season as you can see in the video below.

We have almost reached the end of the season Cards fans and we are just a little over a week away from finding out where our Cards will start their march for their 3rd National Title. This team is primed and ready as they are really starting to hit their stride. This is nothing new to Cardinal fans as our basketball team is 42-18 in the last 9 years around this time. Next up for this team is the payback game on Saturday as the Irish will be coming to town. This will also be the Senior Day ceremonies for Peyton Siva, Gorgui Dieng and Mike Marra.

Wins are great but revenge wins are even better. And that’s exactly what our Cards got on Saturday in front of 31,173 as they beat Syracuse in a Big East slugfest 58-53. With this victory the Cards end a three game losing streak to the Orange. Louisville now leads the all-time series with Syracuse 14 to 7 and 7 to 4 in the Big East. Today marked the final time these two teams will play each other as Big East members and the next time they meet they’ll be in the ACC. Coach Pitino said after the game today he feels “Louisville and Syracuse are an established new rivalry because of the great games recently.” I concur with that thought and can’t wait to see this rivalry renewed in the ACC.

Who would have thought that on a day where Siva, Behanan and Blackshear were a combined 2 of 21 that the Cards would be able to go into Syracuse and get the win. That is a sign of a very good team and today it was all about the team effort. It was also a day where we would finally see this Louisville team and their coach do what they needed to do at the end to win a close game. The players stepped up on defense, got some clutch steals and made their free-throws. Coach Pitino called time-outs and made sure his guys executed down the stretch.

Luke Hancock and Kevin Ware were my co MVP’s today. Luke was all over the court making big play after big play. With the game tied 48-48 at the 1:15 mark in the second half he gets a big steal then comes back down the floor after a time-out and hits a three-point shot putting the Cards ahead for good with 51 seconds left. He was 4 of 5 from behind the arc and finished with 12 points. After his long range performance today Luke is now ranked 8th in the Big East in 3 point field goals shooting 38.7%. Coach Pitino has always expressed his confidence in Luke and has told us from day one that when healthy this guy would come up big. We are starting to see this play out. Kevin Ware was also very solid today as he came up with a big steal with 29 seconds left and hit 3 clutch free throws in the closing minutes to help seal the victory. He would finish with 8 points. I think it was great for his confidence today being on floor at the end of this ball game. Especially to play such an important role in the victory. These guys are really X-Factors heading into March Madness. Luke has a good basketball IQ with the skills to match the knowledge. He sees the play and can be a facilitator with his passing or drain open shots to stretch out a defense. He knows where he needs to be on the floor and makes the offense function more efficiently. Kevin provides such elite athletic ability with the mindset of a high-level scoring guard. He possesses tremendous speed and explosion in the open floor, he can lead the fast break or be the finisher.

If this game doesn’t get you ready for March Madness I don’t know what will. Our Cards appear to be peaking at just the right time and how fitting that this win came on the great Denny Crum’s birthday. He sure knew how to get his teams peaking at the right time. The Cards have now won 8 of their last nine and five in a row. Next up will be a clash with our old rival Cincinnati in one of the final two games of the season.

I sure am glad to be a Cards fan “ORANGE” you?

Our Louisville Cardinals rolled into Chicago tonight and had a scuffle on their hands but were able to overcome sluggish play to beat the Blue Demons 79 to 58. The Cardinals have now won nine straight against DePaul since both teams joined the Big East and ten straight overall. With the win tonight Louisville now leads the overall series 38 to 21.

Russ led the team in scoring tonight with 17 points reaching the 1000 mark and became the 65th player in Louisville’s history to reach that achievement. Louisville is now two behind North Carolina for the most one thousand point scorers in the NCAA. Peyton was the second leading scorer with 16 points to go along with a very impressive stat line as he also had 4 Rebounds, 6 assist, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. He did a much better job of penetrating the lane tonight and he actually got to the free-throw line for the first time in 9 games. His play tonight reminded me of the post season Peyton Siva of last year. Tonight he moved into 52nd all-time in scoring passing Tony Kimbro and now has 1097 points in his career. He also only needs 8 more steals after tonight to be Louisville’s all-time leader in that category. Gorgui had 10 points tonight and for the second game straight looked much more efficient on the offensive end of the floor. He had some offensive moves that looked like NBA material tonight and perhaps that was a good thing because the Chicago Bulls scouts were in the building checking him out. Chane Behanan had 10 points tonight but his biggest moment of the game was a monster dunk he had in the first half. Chane is chasing Cardinal legend Darrell Griffith for the most dunks in a season and I think after tonight he needs just 13 more to reach that goal. He is one of the best dunkers in the history of Louisville basketball but tonight he had the best dunk of his career and perhaps the best dunk of the college season.

The Louisville bench did a great job tonight as well scoring 22 points. And we are still seeing a consistent substitution pattern of Hancock, Ware, and Harrell. I look for Van Treese to start to get more minutes as the season winds down. Was really shocked that Wayne Blackshear didn’t have a break-out game tonight in front of the home crowd. His mother was in the stands but Wayne was quite for the most part and only scored 4 points. I keep hoping that this kid will live up to his hype but so far he is just and average performer for his career. He may be that guy that really starts to stand out during his senior season or he may never be what we thought he would. Stay tuned!

Our Cards appear to have hit their stride and have won 7 of their last eight games including four straight. Things start to get a lot tougher now that the soft spot in the schedule has passed. The Cards will travel to Syracuse for a high noon battle with the Orangemen on Saturday. The Cards will be looking to avenge an earlier home loss this season to Cuse.

Our Louisville Cardinals have taken their play up a notch and finished the season sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates today with the 70-61 victory. Louisville now leads the all-time series over Seton Hall 13 to 5. The Cardinals have now won three games in a row and six out of their last seven. They are now within a half game of Big East Conference leaders.

It was a great effort today on both ends of the floor. And coming off one of their best defensive efforts of the season last week against USF the Cards backed that up with another solid performance today forcing 21 turnovers including 12 steals. And Seton Hall hit just 10 of 26 field goal attempts. The biggest improvement is on the offensive end of the floor as the scoring has been much more balanced over the last couple of weeks and again today three guys finished with double digits.

I had mentioned in my pre-game breakdown how I wanted to see Gorgui Dieng be more productive on the offensive end of the floor and today he had his best offensive performance as a Louisville Cardinal leading all scorers with 23 points. Coach Pitino said in his post-game that they had worked on plays to help Gorgui get his shots and it certainly appeared to pay off today. To go along with his offensive efforts Dieng also had 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots. With talks of Gorgui entering the NBA draft after the season we may be watching his farewell tour.
Russ Smith continues to be the most consistent offensive player for the Cardinals and today he had another solid performance and was the second leading scorer with 19 points. He was also an impressive 10 for 10 from the free throw line. Russ is only 15 points away from joining the 1000 point club at Louisville.
Also mentioned in my pre-game breakdown that I would like to see Peyton Siva get into the lane and get to the free throw line. That didn’t happen and it makes 8 straight Big East games that Siva hasn’t had an attempt from the charity stripe. He did do another great job of distributing the ball and running the Louisville offense. He had 5 assist and now has 163 assists on the year, which is currently the 10th best assist year in UofL Basketball history. He needs 106 for #1 All-Time. He is 2nd in the Big East in that category. He also had 2 steals today and passed Alvin Sims on the All-Time Career Steals List with 220 tying Tick Rodgers for 3rd. Siva needs just 10 to tie Darrell Griffith for the All-Time Record.
Bench scoring was great today behind solid efforts from Luke Hancock with 13 and Kevin Ware with 8.

The Cards come into this one today wanting to fine tune some things and I’d say it was mission accomplished. We are starting to see more consistency and balance. We have also started to see a more consistent substitution pattern. Coach Pitino set a short term goal for this team to win its last seven games of the season. Now with 3 down and 4 to go next up is a trip to Chicago to face DePaul.

Our Louisville Cardinals rolled into the Sun Dome in Tampa Florida this afternoon and rolled over the South Florida Bulls 59-41. This completes a two game sweep of the Bulls this season and Louisville now leads the all-time series 27 to 4 and 10 to 1 in the Big East regular season. With this win, Louisville stays within a game of first place in the Big East race.

Like every game, I’ve watched when these two teams play each other there were moments when the game was very ugly. But today the Cards made the most of USF’s grueling grind it out style of play. The Cards had some nice dunks, plays and their passing was as good as it has been all year long. The team played more as a unit today instead of a group of individuals. I really do think these guys are finally hitting their stride.

Russ Smith led all scorers in the game with 15 points but I was impressed with his overall stat line, and I think this might have been one of his best games from an all around standpoint. To go along with his scoring he had six rebounds, four assist, one steal and was 7 for 7 from the free-throw line. Russ finishes this day only 34 points away from the 1000 point club. This type of play makes a dangerous Russ Smith lethal to opposing teams. I have mentioned Wayne Blackshear and Kevin Ware several times this season in my post game rants. I have wanted to see these guys step up and contribute all season. Well today, they answered my call. They were the Cardinals offense in the first half that led to a 22 to 3 run. These guys accounted for 19 of the Cardinals final 59 points. I hope they can keep it going like this because this is a different team when they play like they did today. Chane Behanan has had his struggles from the line this season but he has been the most consistent player in the last couple of weeks. He had another solid outing today scoring 12 points. Peyton Siva did his job again today a distributed the ball well leading the game with seven assist. But I would really like to see him get to the free-throw line more. In the Cards 13 Big East games today marks the seventh time that Peyton has not been to the free-throw line. Really, think this has to change for a post-season run. Gorgui was a beast again today on the boards leading the way with 10 rebounds and also had 5 blocked shots. Again, he struggled on the offensive end of the floor and seemed very timid at times. I have my fingers crossed that his confidence will return offensively before March. The Cardinals defense held South Florida to just 24.5% on 13-53 shooting and forced 16 turnovers. And they scored 23 points off of those turnovers.

This was a great effort today from the Cards in a hard fought game. They really did have a very complete day. How is this for a team effort? In these categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks the Cards had four different players that lead in each. The Cards have now won four games out of their last five and 2 games in the 7 game goal to complete the season. They will now get a week to prepare for their next game at home against Seton Hall.

Coach Pitino won his 650th game today and said that it was the best played game of the season because of passing and defensive effort. Here is some of his quotes after the game:

Coach Pitino: “When we pass it we’re tough to beat. Nights we have struggled are when we didn’t pass it well.”

Coach Pitino on Russ Smith: “I thought it was one of his best games of the season. He might not think so but it was.”

Coach Pitino on Dieng’s five blocks: “He should’ve had 10, he kept going for shot fakes, but he played well. This was a really good team win.”

Coach Pitino: “The reason sometimes we’re not a good shooting team is we haven’t been a good passing team. One area we have struggled all year.”

It was a game of runs tonight in the KFC Yum center as 22,086 Cardinal fans watched these teams go back and forth for much of the first and some of the second half. The game had five lead changes and was tied twice before the Cards finally made a run that the Red Storm wouldn’t have an answer for putting the game away 72-58 and giving Louisville it’s 11th straight 20 win season.

Many of us were wondering how the Cards would respond after the gut shot they took last weekend in South Bend. But our guys came out tonight and didn’t appear to have any hangover from that game. They Bounced back very nicely and took care of business against a young but very talented group of St Johns players. I was especially surprised and happy to see the Cards control the paint area tonight. That is usually where this Red Storm team thrives and they came into this game 2nd in the country in blocked shots, and lead the Big East in that category. They did have seven blocked shots to Louisville’s 3 tonight but the Cards dominated nonetheless. They outscored the Red Storm in the paint 32-16 and out-rebounded them 45-37. Again keep in mind that St Johns is very long and athletic in the paint.

Other positives to take away from tonight is that in a game where we only scored 15 points off of turnovers we won handedly, free-throw shooting was a lot better at 76.7%, we had 4 guys in double figures and the Cards had 8 steals making it the 23rd time this season with more than seven.

Was really happy with the way this team looked tonight. Coach Pitino said on his radio show this week that he wanted to finish the season with 7 wins in a row. With one game down and six to go I don’t see that being a problem if this team plays like it did tonight. The Cards should be favored in all the remaining games except one. I expect Cuse to be favored when we travel to play them. Next up for the Cards is a road trip to South Florida to play the Bulls in what will be a battle in quick sand Sunday afternoon.

SOME POST GAME QUOTES FROM COACH PITINO:

Coach Pitino: “Great defensive effort tonight. Really happy with the victory, still many things to work on.”

Coach Pitino on Gorgui: “If I could just learn to play him four minutes less, he would do a lot better.”

Coach Pitino on Blackshear injury: “He’s fine, Just tweaked it”

Coach Pitino on Russ: “He shoots a better percentage at home than he does on the road,” Has to improve on the road.”

Coach Pitino on Bench: “I’ve got to have more confidence in Stephan or Zach. I should have it, they’re playing very well.”

Coach Pitino on St. Johns: “I think they’re really turning the corner and becoming the St Johns of the old days.”

Coach Pitino on the Big East: “Of all the teams I’ve watched lately, I think Providence is playing the best basketball of any team in the Big East.”

The Louisville student section got in on the “Harlem Shake” craze tonight and decided to record their version of the youtube sensation. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

It was a tale of two halves as the Cards start slow but finish with a flurry to beat Rutgers on Wednesday Night 68-48 in the Big East match-up. The Cards have now won three games straight and are now in third place in the Big East behind Marquette and Syracuse.

The Cards came out to start the first half very sluggish and disinterested. It took two minutes for a Louisville player to find the basket when Chane Behanan hit a layup at the 18:02 mark. The only player that seemed to be awake was Wayne Blackshear as he had 11 of the total 28 points of the first half. The Score at half-time was 28-26. Louisville came out with a burst of energy and blew the game open in the first eight-plus minutes of the second half, taking a 21-point lead. They would never look back as they looked really good in the second half and were making good things happen on both ends of the floor. I’ve been waiting to see Wayne Blackshear have a game like he did tonight ever since he stepped on the floor for Louisville. This kid is a big time talent and could be a big difference maker for this team if he can produce these kinds of numbers more frequently. Wayne had a career high tonight with 19 points and provided a much needed spark to this Cardinal offense. Gorgui is ranked 1st in the Big East in rebounding with 11.2 per game and tonight he had another big game on the boards leading the Cards with 8 rebounds. He’s 2nd in the Big East in blocked shots with 2.8 per game and tonight he had 6. Peyton is 2nd in the Big East in assist with 6.4 per game and tonight he led the Cards with 7. Russ Smith had a quite first half but in true Russ fashion made some noise in the second half with a monster dunk that will surely be a Sports Center top play. He finished the game with 14 points.

This Cardinal team has hit their bump in the road, and now seem to be getting into that end of the season mode with three straight victories. We are starting to see a more consistent substitution pattern with a 9 man rotation and are beginning to hit our stride. Things get a little more difficult again on Saturday as the Cards head to South Bend to face a Notre Dame team that is very tough to beat at home. Plus they will have extra hype added to the game as the guys from ESPN College game day will be there to take in the action.

With the rest of the world looking forward to the big football game today 21.000 Cardinal fans dressed in white had basketball on the brain. It is Super Bowl Sunday but it was super basketball being played in the Yum Center today as the Cards rolled past the Golden Eagles 70-51. Cards are now 18-4 on the season and 6-3 in the Big East.

The Cards played about as good today as I’ve seen them play all year long. The offense was patient taking good shots throughout hitting 51.9% for the game. The focus was also evident at the free-throw line as they shot 10 of 14 for 71.4%. The Cards had 16 turnovers on the day but with 6 of those coming from Peyton Siva the team as a whole did a great job at holding on to the ball and they had 17 assist giving them a 1.1 assist/turnover ratio. With almost a week to prepare for a team it is a guarantee that Rick Pitino will have them well scouted. Pitino mentioned one example of this in his post-game comments talking about the steal by Montrezl Harrell that resulted in a monster dunk. He said that he had told Montrezl previous to that play that when Marquette swings the ball around that they would pass the ball into the post almost every time. He told Harrell that if he timed it out and set his man up that he could make the steal. And sure enough the next play it happened just like Pitino said it would. Pitino said of the Harrell steal: “I was really proud of him for that, he listened and got it done.” The rest of the team must have listened to their coach as well. The Cards would force 17 turnovers, and get 11 steals on the day. They held the 3rd ranked scoring offense in the Big East to 51 points on 35.8% shooting from the field and 23.1% shooting from the 3 point line. The Cards would score 32 points off of turnovers. Marquette came into this game having one of the best benches in the nation, but it was the Cards bench who would have the big day outscoring the Golden Eagles in that area 19 to 10. Blackshear would return to action in a big way coming off the bench to score 9 points, Harrell was the spark plug today when he came in scoring 6 points, and Van Treese came up with some quality baskets scoring 4 points. The Cards also got after it on the boards out-rebounding the Golden Eagles 38 to 26.

It really was a super effort by the Cardinals today. And when these guys are playing like this they are without a doubt one of the best teams in the country. They have now won two big games in a row and beaten two very good teams doing it. The Big East race is neck and neck like it always is this time of year. The Cards must keep winning to stay in the hunt for that regular season title. The next two games are on the road starting with Rutgers at the RAC on Wednesday night.