Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hoo you got?

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A clever play on words due to the unofficial nickname of Virginia being the Wahoos or hoos for short. But it will be hoo you got with the Louisville secondary today. This Virginia football team is not great but they have been pretty efficient when it comes to slinging the ball around.

The Virginia QB Brennan Armstrong is completing 64.7 percent of his passes for 1,973 yards, 14 touchdowns. And his receivers Dontayvion Wicks and Billy Kemp IV have combined for 897 receiving yards and eight touchdowns while Keytaon Thompson has 20 receptions. This unit is ranked 2nd in the country in passing yards and ranked 7th in total offense.

Defensively, Louisville is allowing 28.2 points and 435.6 yards per game. Our defensive is led by C.J. Avery with 36 tackles, Yasir Abdullah has four sacks and Kei’Trel Clarbk has three interceptions. The Louisville defense has made some big plays just not enough of them and not for a full football game yet. Louisville is 110th in passing yards allowed. Not good especially with the Hoos in town. Have to step up today.

Malik Cunningham is completing 63.8 percent of his passes for 1,307 yards with seven touchdowns and has found himself in a shootout in four of the first 5 games and could find himself in one again today. I like him in that scenario along with the rest of the talent on this team. It’ll be enough to get us by the Hoos today. Hoo you got? I got the Cards!

Now it’s just the Pack Line

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The Pack Line defense has a few simple principles that differentiate it from the traditional man-to-man defense. The priority of the defense is to stop all dribble penetration. And in modern basketball, stopping drives is a formula for success.

The player guarding the ball applies immense ball pressure knowing full well he has four teammates crowded within the “Pack Line” ready to help. This frustrates teams who will usually just pass the ball around on the perimeter and chuck up a contested jump shot.

I’m pretty familiar with this defense now. But before Coach Mack came to town I thought defense was gambling for steals, creating controlled chaos, 2-3 matchup zones, and fullcourt presses.

Chris Mack likes to send his guys to the offensive glass more but his defense is very much like the one we feared for years at Virginia.

This Louisville team is no longer afraid of the Pack Line. They play against it every day now. They have been drilled in its principals over and over again. They hung 80 points on that Virginia defense already this season.

That doesn’t happen to them very often especially at home where the Cavaliers are allowing just 49.6 points this season. I think they’ll make this Louisville team uncomfortable but if the jumpers are falling it will be a shooting contest.

I used to dread these games with Virginia. That anxiety and disgust have been replaced with Florida State. I think Leonard Hamilton might be Louisville’s new Tony Bennett. I now enjoy the battle of the Pack Line defense and watching how these teams attack each other. It takes good shooters. This Louisville team has those.

It’s been a good regular season. A win today and Louisville will share a regular-season conference title. Not too shabby in the middle of a program rebuild. I hope our guys get it done today. I would like to keep the great vibe from last weekend rolling into the postseason. Go Cards!

GOCARDS.COM GAMEDAY BREAKDOWN

Cards need to keep the mo in the ACC

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The Cardinals return home tonight to play Georgia Tech. They built up a lot of positive momentum during the road trip and have everything headed in the right direction. The key in this game tonight is to keep building on that momentum as they continue down the road in conference play.

Freshman David Johnson has come into his own over the last few weeks and is starting to make a name for himself not only amongst the Cardinal faithful but on a national level as well. I wrote last week that I was looking forward to seeing what he had against Duke’s elite freshman. He dominated.

Johnson converted on 8 of 12 attempts, hitting 2 free throws, finishing with 19 points and 7 assists. He is that final piece of the puzzle for this Louisville Basketball team. He makes his team better. Want to see him continue to build on that. Now he will start being one of those names circled on the opposing team bulletin board.

A guy that has had his name circled on that board all season is Jordan Nwora. Some teams are going to be successful in slowing him down but his ability to still have an impact is a difference-maker for this team. He only had 6 points and 2 assist at Duke but led his team grabbing 8 rebounds. This is a great stat for him and shows that this dude is a gamer.

Jordan is the dude. Things will only get better for him the more his other teammates start to come around. Can’t circle them all.

Another one of those guys that appears to be getting his game to come back around is Malik Williams. Slowed down by an injury to start the season Malik has 37 points, 26 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in the last four games. Heading into this season I thought he could be one of the best post defenders/shot blockers in the country. He is starting to show some of that.

Louisville has won four straight and is one of the hottest teams in the country right now. It’s due to guys starting to understand and fill some of those roles that were expected of them. Good things are ahead if this team continues to build on that.

I only mentioned a few guys here but others are starting to find their rhythm as well. Fresh, Ryan and Darius come to mind. These guys all have that one thing they do well and are starting to do that for their team. Fresh providing quality minutes at the point, Ryan hitting clutch threes, and Darius playing lockdown D.

Tonight’s game is about keeping all of that momentum rolling in the right direction. Georgia Tech will try to stop that momentum with its deliberate attack on offense. The Yellow Jackets’ slow-paced offense will eliminate possessions for Louisville. Due to the slow pace, I expect Tech to hang around in this one for a bit.

It will come down to the three-point shot. Louisville who ranks 13th in the country in three-point percentage will make enough of them to pull away while Georgia Tech who ranks 322nd in three-point percentage will not be able to hit enough of them to stay in this one.

Not really about the final margin of victory here tonight and more about the things the Cardinals do to get it. Have to keep that Mo.

Go Cards!

GOCARDS.COM GAMEDAY BREAKDOWN

Cards are in the money round…

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I headed into this week pretty confident that Louisville couldn’t really hurt themselves. I do think they are now in a position to help their seeding for the NCAA Tournament. That starts tonight in the money round of the ACC Tournament. It will be a rubber match between the Cardinals and Tarheels

Its been a long time since that game where Louisville trounced UNC by 21 on their home court back in January. A game that was never in question. North Carolina returned the favor in a 10 point win of their own against Louisville in the Yum Center back in February.

North Carolina doesn’t have too many issues heading into this game. They seem to have distanced themselves from those sketchy games in mid-January and have been on a seven-game win streak since. Louisville was able to sneak up on this team early on and were hitting everything they threw up that day. I don’t think anyone will do that to UNC again.

For North Carolina, it was about figuring out that they had to play hard. Louisville is still figuring it out and that has a lot to do with finding other ways to score when the outside shot isn’t falling. Over the last few weeks you can see them working on this but boy they really love that jumper. With this Louisville group, its been live by the three and die by the three. They’ll need a few to drop tonight and will have to crash the boards. They can’t let this UNC squad rebound and get out in front of them. Can’t chase them the whole game as they did back in February.

If Louisville wants to win this game they’ll have to take it. I don’t feel like they’ve gone out and just took one in a long time. Win this game and have a chance to move up a few lines. Play hard and lose this team could still have some great momentum heading into next week.

Go Cards!

Red and White Scrimmage Team 105 Squad Goals

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Red and White Scrimmage Team 105 Squad Goals

Coach Mack walked on campus and the players were ready. We have a great core group of guys. They are guys who want to be coached and they really bought in pretty quick. The physical transformations are very obvious. Nobody gonna just take the ball from this group. And you can just see the extra bounce in their game.

Jordan Nwora and VJ King will be the straw that stirs the drink this season. They are both bigtime guys and there won’t be too many better on the floor in any game this season. This coaching staff has given both of these guys an environment they can thrive in. They led the way Sunday. King scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three, and snagged five rebounds. Nwora recorded a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Really like what I see out of Christen Cunningham. He has a real nose for the lane and is really crafty off the dribble. He puts his head down and goes. He’s gonna force a lot of help situations this season. Nwora and McMahon will feed off those dump outs. He’s gonna run the offense but ”CC” is gonna score points. He led the Red team in scoring with 15, grabbed five rebounds and handed out four assists. Solid!

My sleeper for this season is Malik Williams. He is starting to realize that his game is in the post. I like that he has the versatility to step out and shoot that three but good things happen when he is jumping off of that block. He had a couple of really strong moves Sunday that were legit. He had a good scrimmage scoring 11 points and hauling in six rebounds.

Once he sheds the ring rust Steven Enoch is going to be big time. And he is a big dude. He already has a solid post presence but once he gains some confidence watch out. His goal should be to dunk the ball every time he gets it. We will see that beast eventually. Enoch pitched in 10 points and eight rebounds Sunday.

These are the guys that stood out at the scrimmage and I think you can expect them to stand out for most of this season. I will give an honorable mention to Dwayne Sutton. He has a blue collar game. Not gonna bust out on the stat sheet but is going to do all the little things and will have that one tempo changing play that stands out. He finished with seven points and four boards.

There is still a lot of talent and ability left on this roster folks. Ryan Mac left from that great 2015 Class. He has a lot of ability. VJ King the lone 2016 recruit is one of the most highly touted in the history of the program. He was a 5* Top 25 guy. It’s all there if the right buttons are pushed. The 2017 Class of Nwora, Williams, Perry and Thomas was top 10. All of these guys have upside for days. Thomas left the program but I think the other three are ready to step into their roles this season. Enoch is also an elite talent. Once he learns to put it all together. Say what you will about Rick but he didn’t leave our cupboard empty.

Not going to get too confident after an intrasquad scrimmage but you can feel the change and that’s exciting. If this team meets its squad goals then they could be a special group.

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GameDay… Next man Up.

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Next man up has kinda been the theme of this young football season for our Louisville Cardinals. Guys stepping up on the offense and defensive side of the ball when called on. You might feel like this Louisville team is struggling and in some aspects they are. But the young guys on this football team are flourishing.

With 129 yards rushing in the last game Malik Cunningham had one of the highest single-game rushing totals ever by a Louisville QB. In his first career start at linebacker, Robert Hicks led the Cardinals in tackles with 11 against WKU. He is the first Cardinal to do that since Dorian Ethridge last season. While freshman defensive end Jarrett Jackson had three tackles and the game-winning sack. He showed a lot of promise for a second straight week.

When these young Cardinals ran off the field last Saturday night they carried a lot of enthusiasm into the locker room. Even tho it was only a win over Western Kentucky they appeared to have some of that swagger back I had seen glimpses of on the field in Orlando. It’s going to take another big effort from these young guys on Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville.

The Cardinals open up their 5th season against a Virginia team that is currently 2-1 as well, with a loss to Indiana 20-16 sandwiched in between wins over Richmond 42-13 and Ohio 45-31. In that Ohio game, Virginia QB Bryce Perkins had a solid outing with 379 yards and three scores, while Jordan Ellis posted three more scores and 171 yards on the ground. Olamide Zaccheaus went off for 247 yards and two TDs to lead the Cavs in receiving.

The Virginia offense has another dimension to it this season with the ability of Perkins to make plays with his legs. But make no mistake about it this guy can also do some damage with his arm. Louisville 85th in total defense, 94th in rushing defense and 56th in passing defense will have a special challenge ahead of them in week four. They need to be aggressive enough to keep this offense in front of them but not be too aggressive overrunning their coverage. If Louisville can keep Perkins in check on the ground, and CBs Rodjay Burns and P.J. Mbanasor both very fast and talented can keep this defense from getting beat on the outside I really like our chances. Virginia is 13th nationally in converting third downs. The Louisville defense has to get off the field on Saturday.

The mobile QB has been the Virginia Defense Kryptonite. And with a steady dose of Cunningham and Dae Williams I think this Louisville team will find the end zone a few times. And I’d like to see our WR’s come to life this week as I think they could pose a real challenge for the Virginia secondary. Virginia Coach Bronco Mendenhall said after their game against Ohio last week: “Our secondary is not playing consistently, but Bryce [Hall] and Darrius Bratton are,” “Our safety play is inconsistent. Our corner play is actually consistent.” If Cunningham and Williams can establish the run and force the Virginia secondary up into tight coverage I really like our chances of beating them with the deep ball. Dez Fitzpatrick, Seth Dawkins, sand Jaylen Smith can sure talk a mean game. Now its time to play one.

I’m really hoping to see an inspired team performance on Saturday afternoon. With conference play getting started its gut check time for both the veterans and rookies on this Louisville football team. If they answer the call in the conference opener it could give them some great momentum moving forward. If not it could be a long season. Can’t wait for another exciting day of College football. L’s Up and go cards…

The 50th Meeting Between the Cards & Cats

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We are just a few weeks removed from the Cats and Cards doing battle on the gridiron to end the regular season of college football. On Wednesday night they will take the battle to the basketball court. This week we have flown our flags a little higher and wore our gear with that little extra boost of pride. This is the Cards and the Cats and it just doesn’t get any bigger in college basketball.

“Two elite teams meet once again, eternal bragging rights (at least for another year) Hall of Fame coaches who can’t stand each other. It’s not always a pretty watch, but it’s compelling TV and the best soap opera in the sport at the moment.” -Sports Illustrated

It is the eve of one of the best rivalries in college sports… If you grew up in the state of Kentucky then you chose your side very early in your life. I was singing the Louisville fight song to my son on the night he was born. I picked a side 30 years ago and have never regretted my decision. I love my Cardinals and I love this rivalry. Rivalries are what define sports and every competition needs a great rivalry. We have one of the best rivalries in all of sports and it deserves the credit. The Rivalry has given us many enjoyable moments and now it’s time to have another.

This will again be a highly anticipated Battle of the Bluegrass with both teams ranked within the top 10. It has been the Cats who have won the last 8 out of 10 in this battle head-to-head including 4 straight, but when looking at their entire body of work these teams have had similar success in the last 30 years. A series that started in 1913 these old rivals will meet for the 50th time on Wednesday night. Kentucky holds the all-time lead in this series 34-15.

NCAA Final Fours

Kentucky – 17 (Tied 2nd all-time)

Louisville – 10 (Tied 6th all-time)

NCAA Tournament Championships

Kentucky – 8 (2nd all-time)

Louisville – 3 (Tied 7th all-time)

NCAA Tournament Appearances

Kentucky – 54 (1st all-time)

Louisville – 41 (5th all-time)

Kentucky beat North Carolina 103-100 in Las Vegas in its last game as Malik Monk scored a UK freshman record 47 points and De’Andre Fox totaled 24 points and 10 assists. The Wildcats are among the top five nationally in scoring (3rd in the nation, 95.2 ppg), assists (4th, 19.9 apg), scoring margin (4th, +23.5), offensive rebounds (5th, 15.7 per game), and blocked shots (5th, 7.1 bpg). Fox is eighth in the nation averaging 7.2 assists. Fox and Bam Adebayo were preseason All-SEC first team selections, while Monk and Isaiah Briscoe were second team All-SEC preseason picks. Kentucky is No. 9 in the RPI, No. 4 in the Sagaring Ratings and No. 4 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 18.

Louisville leads the nation in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency through Dec. 18. The Cardinals are fifth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.359), 11th in scoring defense (59.4 ppg), fourth in blocked shots (7.2 per game), 22nd in three-point field goal defense (.287), 24th in turnover margin (+4.6), 11th in rebound margin (+9.3), fifth in rebounds per game (45.0), third in offensive rebounds per game (16.1) and 15th in scoring margin (+19.1). Six of the Cardinals 11 opponents this season have scored under 60 points. Eight of Louisville’s 11 opponents this season have shot below 36 percent from the field and four have shot below 32 percent. Eastern Kentucky shot 35.6 percent in UofL’s last game when the Cardinals limited the Colonels to 16 first-half points. It was the third time UofL has held a team under 20 points in a half this season.

This game as most of them have in the Pitino/Calipari era will come down to good offense vs good defense… The best way to beat Kentucky this season is to play great lock-down defense against their back-court and not let Fox have his way in the lane and not let Monk have many open looks from deep. The Louisville guards also need to brace up in the face of the Wildcats’ defensive harassment. Kentucky still has a lot of length and talent in their front-court but unlike previous seasons this Louisville team has plenty of talent and height of their own to challenge them here. According to Kenpom’s advance analytics the Cards are #9 in effective height and #19 in average height. The cats are #16 in effective height and #59 in average height.

The Cardinals X-factors on Wednesday night will be the front-court players. If Anas, Mango, Johnson and Spalding can play great defense and grab those offensive/defensive rebounds I really like our chances. They have to neutralize the Kentucky bigs. I also think our bench scoring will come into play in this one. There are always a lot of fouls called in these games. The Cardinals have 327 bench points already this season. Per Kenpom Louisville is ranked 54th in bench minutes. I’ve heard them mock David Levitch and Ryan McMahon… but so did the experts before Tim “Wichita” Henderson led the Cardinals to the Championship game in 2013.

This will be one of the biggest tests of the year for both of these teams. Each has to play to their strengths and attack the others weakness, but as I mentioned above with the player always coming out of nowhere there will be a scenario play out that nobody expected. These rivalry games are packed with emotion and that along with the home crowd will also factor in. I’m looking forward to a great game and an opportunity to knock off this Kentucky group. It has been too long. Should be another great one in the series… Go Cards!

Louisville Baseball Hottest Ticket In Town

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Louisville baseball dates back to 1909. There is no rich history and contending for conference Titles and fifth place finishes was the norm for 96 years. The program was decent but lacked the consistency to be on the other level. That all changed when Dan McDonnell took over as coach in 2007. Now hosting NCAA Regionals are the norm. The Cardinals will host their fourth straight NCAA Regional on Friday night.

Scanning the radio shows this week and the flavor was much the same. It wasn’t basketball or football conversations that dominated the airwaves. Cardinal Nation is all a buzz for Louisville Baseball. Not only are folks excited to get out and watch this team play on Friday night they are also looking forward to showing Coach Dan McDonnell some love for signing his new 10 year contract.

The Cardinals are coming into this tournament as the #2 seed in the country. Expectations are at an all-time high. This team has a roster oozing with Major League potential and seems to be peaking at the right time. With a great defense and an offense manufacturing runs at will this Louisville team will be hard to beat.

We often talk about how far the football program has come up over the years but I think one could argue that there hasn’t been a bigger rise from the ashes story than with the baseball program. If you are hoping to watch the Cardinals play tonight but don’t have tickets good luck. The Louisville session is sold out and there aren’t even any seats to be had on the secondary sites. The Cardinal Nine and Coach Dan McDonnell are the hottest ticket in town.

More on this years team and the NCAA Tournament from GoCards.com

The Battle for the Bourbon Barrel

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The Cardinals and Commodores played their last game against each other last May. It was Vandy that came out with the hot bats in that game taking an early 5 run lead before a little rally in the 6th by Louisville. It was Vandy who walked away with the win in that game 5-2. Before that these teams had last played in Omaha back in 2014 where Vandy eventually went on to win their first National Championship. That is a grand trophy indeed, but when it comes to the Louisville Vs Vanderbilt series there is another trophy that is one of the coolest in all of college baseball “The Barrel”

The Cardinals and the Commodores are far from strangers to one another. In fact this has become one of the most competitive rivalries in college baseball. The programs, separated by only 175 miles, became regular foes in the NCAA Regionals (4 times in last 7 seasons) due to the close proximity. From that “The Battle of the Barrel” game was born in 2012. What started as a typical midweek game has evolved into something much larger a true rivalry.

Louisville is just 7-24 all-time against Vanderbilt in a series that dates back to 1971, and our Cardinals have come out on the losing end lately dropping the last two. The Cards do hold a current 3 game win streak in Nashville. Today at 5:00pm this great college baseball rivalry will again take center stage its “The Battle of the Barrel”. Be sure to tune in to see who walks away with this super masculine emblem of greatness. Go Cards!

The game, originally slated for 7 p.m., but adjusted due to the threat of inclement weather, will be televised on ESPNU. Radio coverage of the game will begin on 1450 WXVW and transition to 93.9 The Ville at 6 p.m. Live stats for all Louisville baseball games are available at GoCards.com.

Louisville Basketball Officially Signs Two More “Louisville Men”

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Both Frankie Hughes and VJ King have signed their paper work and are officially part of the Cardinal Nation. These two young men have yet to make a basket or win a game in a Louisville uniform but both have quickly become fan favorites.

Amidst the recent scandal that rocked the Louisville basketball program Frankie Hughes came out of nowhere to pledge his loyalty to Coach Pitino and the Cardinals. Hughes said after his commitment to Louisville “its two sides to every story. I want to go to Louisville and play for Coach Pitino and I believe in Coach Pitino.’” “I told him (Pitino) that I had his back,” Hughes said. “I said, ‘I’m a loyal guy, I’ll stay loyal to you.’” The commitment by this young man was very encouraging and come at a time when most were questioning if Coach Pitino would have any problems on the recruiting trail.

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VJ King has been committed to Coach Pitino and the Cardinals since back in June, but with the recent dark cloud over the basketball program some have worried about King who is one of the top players in the country in the class of 2016. Tonight VJ put those worries to rest saying in the below tweet tonight that “People may have questioned, but I never wavered. I believe in the Louisville family!” Again this is a very positive sign moving forward and will no doubt have an impact as coach Pitino moves forward in his recruiting efforts of 2016 and beyond.

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In successful programs like the University of Louisville tradition never graduates. The program is rich and vibrant because many great young men have come in and cared enough to give their very best. Many chapters have yet to be written, and there is not a doubt in my mind that Frankie and VJ are going to add to that outstanding tradition. These two young men have already proved their loyalty and in today’s world that means a whole lot. Welcome to the Cardinal Family guys and thank you for wanting to be a part of something special. Go Cards!