Our Cardinals are AAC Champions after beating the Huskies 71-61 in the AAC Tournament. This is the fifth straight win over the Huskies and we end the series with them for the foreseeable future as Louisville is now ACC bound. The win tonight gives the Cardinals their 40th NCAA Tourney birth, three straight league tournament titles, and they have won 19 of their past 20 post-season games. All of this to go with their share of the regular-season title with Cincinnati. This season has been another remarkable one, and now it’s time to go win six more in the next couple of weeks.

As expected UCONN played a pretty solid game, but just couldn’t overcome the 14 point lead the Cards built in the first half. It’s a tall task to do that against the Cardinals defense. The Cardinals forced 13 turnovers and scored 13 off of those turnovers. They had 8 steals and held the Huskies to 25% three point shooting and 44% Field goal shooting. The Cardinals kept constant pressure on their back-court and made it hard for them to get anything consistent going. Another very positive stat was that the Cardinals out-rebounded the Huskies 38-33 after being beat up on the boards last night.

Montrezl Harrell finished off his AAC tourney with a monster outing getting his tenth double-double of the year and earning a spot on the all-tourney team. He had 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. You can’t say enough about the progression of this kid over the last 3 or 4 months, and the writing was pretty much on the wall after he had such a great off season winning his gold medal. Folks that saw him in the summer predicted the kind of year he has had and they were right on the money. He has flourished in Rick’s system and now it’s time for him to help the Cards get #4.

Russ Smith had another great showing as well scoring 19 points with 3 assist and 5 steals. He was the tournaments most outstanding player. After the performance tonight he is 10th overall in assist for a season, top 5 in scoring and ties Peyton Siva for the all-time steals lead. We are some lucky folks to be witness to the Russ phenomenon. Players like him only happen once a lifetime and we now have our Tyra, Unseld, Griffith, Ellison. We will see that #2 hoisted to the rafters someday. Can’t wait to see what he pulls off in the NCAA Tourney.

Luke Hancock had 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist and while that performance doesn’t jump off the page at you it’s his leadership that stood out in this one. A reporter at the game overheard Luke telling Terry to “calm down and be serious” when the young fella was being a little goofy before the game. When ask about the nets after the game Luke responded: “I walked right by them. We didn’t do it last year until the end and we’re not doing it this year.” Cool hand Luke!

Chris Jones who earned a spot on the all tourney team had a good night in his home town scoring 11 points and 4 rebounds. He is playing well and has adapted very nicely in his role on this team heading into the NCAA Tourney.
I’ve gotta give mention to Mr Hustle Stephan Van Treese for his 8 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 steals. At one point we were up 20 and he was diving on the floor for a loose ball. He brings so much to the table that goes unnoticed. Having a kid like this on your team come Tourney time is huge.
And last but certainly not least is our fab freshman Terry Rozier who showed some moxie tonight with some great plays. He had 7 points. I have a feeling that he will replace Russ as a fan favorite next season. He’s got a huge upside and he’s itching to get his moment.

Now we celebrate and enjoy another great Cardinal Basketball achievement. It’s been an awesome run and we’ll find out tomorrow evening what the road will look like for this team to go after #4. There’s a lot of talk about seeding, but I don’t think that matters much when a team is focused and tuned in. To be the best you have to beat the best. Last season we had a 1 seed, but played probably 5 of the best teams to win a title. So I say bring it on! Ready for the Madness to begin. Go Cards!

Cardinals celebrate another Title:

Luke after the game:

Chris Jones after the game:

Stephan Van Treese after the game:

Montrezl Harrell after the game: