Welcome aboard...

It's now official. Despite an 11th hour push from Cal (and a scholarship offer?? At least a scholarship indication) Kentucky's Mr. Basketball will be joining the Cardinals in the Fall. I could belabor the point that if the positions were reversed, and UofL been spurned after offering a scholarship to our intrastate rival's walk-on player, well let's just say you'd be reading countless and continuous articles stroking the UK ego.

But there's more important things at play here than coaching war/pissing contests, like actually becoming a good basketball team. Elisha Justice, with his shooting stroke, his ball handles, and most importantly, his head for the game, he's staring at a huge opportunity to prove his worth for a team that struggled in all those areas last season.

Welcome aboard, Mr. Justice. You made the right choice.

  

Ease his (our) pain...

I agree with Eric Crawford (and plenty others): expanding the ncaa tournament from 64 to 96 teams next year is a terrible idea. The plan is for the top eight teams of each region to receive a bye during the first round, and for the bottom eight teams in each region to play the 32 additional teams added to the tournament. The winner of those games plays the teams that got the first round byes. To make room for the extra round, games would be played on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the second week -- in other words, the part of the week that teams currently spend recharging their batteries and anticipating their Sweet Sixteen matchups. I like those heady days as is, spent analyzing your opponent and getting hyped that the possibility of a Final Four appearance is suddenly only a weekend's play away. Assuming you make it past the first weekend, of course. But I digress...

Crawford blogged about the plans for expansion over the weekend. Even while committing a HUGE cardinal sin by using a Field of Dreams allusion in a negative context (that movie is sacrosanct and should only be used for good, Eric... Mr. Red, whose life philosophy originated from that movie, will likely erupt into another manic fury when he sees the transgression), Crawford made some important and salient points about the negative effects of expansion. To summarize his arguments: 1) it's bad for the players because it keeps them on the road for a full week, 2) the tournament is wildly popular now; if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and 3) it opens the door for future expansions.

All valid points... and I would add to the list that expanding the tourney will suck the drama out of the mid-major conference tournaments and will reduce the importance of bubble team's performances in the major conference tournaments. Most repugnant, it will place the ncaa's decision-making process completely into the hands of the networks, who are the ones spearheading this decision. Yeah yeah, maybe they control the process already and I am being naive. But do this, surrender this decision to ESPN and CBS, rather than concentrating on fixing football which is what the college sports world overwhelmingly desires, and you can remove even the pretense that universities, their alumni, and their fan bases have a say.

Expanding the tournament is a bad idea. The way it's set up now, it actually means something when you make the tournament. Expansion to just under a hundred teams will diminish its quality and prestige. For most teams, having your name called on Selection Sunday suddenly won't be as thrilling. Want to use a Field of Dreams quote the right way? Nothing sums up better the stark importance of playing well enough during the season to make the field of 64 -- or the consequences of failing to do so -- than one of Shoeless Joe's other (more underrated) lines: when Ray Costella argues that it should be him, rather than Terrence Mann, who gets to venture into the cornfields, Shoeless Joe replies, "but you weren't invited." Exactly.

Read Crawford's post here.

A title game afterthought

Last night right before the start of the championship game, I saw a friend post on facebook something to the effect of, "Settling down on my couch now to watch Kentucky win the title... wow, their fans must be excited, they talked about this day all year... wait, what? The Cats aren't playing?" Among many comments in response, her sister wondered what they would do with the banner they had already hung.

Thought that was pretty funny... kudos ladies.

***ADDENDUM***
Mr. Red here. For my money, the best part is hearing Cats fans talk about how difficult it is to watch the rest of the tournament because it's clear they are so much better than the teams still playing. Sometimes I wonder if they know how basketball works.

Ashley to cornerback?

Potentially big news from Cards CJ beat writer CL Brown: Charlie Strong and the coaching staff are apparently so high on redshirt freshman running back Jeremy Wright that they have started lining up Darius Ashley at cornerback and are considering moving him there permanently. Cards fans will recall that Ashley -- who rushed for 164 yards against West Virginia last year -- offered last season one of the few glimmers of hope for our future; I recall in particular my colleague's description of his performance against Cincinnati. I don't know how good is Jeremy Wright, but his spring play thus far must be pretty damn impressive. I guess it also makes sense given that as a defensive coach, Charlie Strong logically wants the best athletes on the defensive side of the ball. Still... Ashley playing the corner? Call me uncertain for now. One thing is for sure: Darius, who infamously editorialized on facebook his thoughts on Kragthorpe's decision not to play him early last season, would probably get ample playing time at cornerback, perennially our most depleted position the past few years.

Thoughts on the weekend

Hope you had a better weekend than me. If you've ever had a dog with long-hair battle through 48-hours of diarrhea, you know what I'm talking about. On the plus side, I'm so desensitized to muckery right now I could crawl through the Shawshank sewers. Actually, I'm not sure that's a good thing. Needless to say, neither of us strayed far from the manor this weekend, so in between showers, I was able to indulge one of my favorite pastimes, following sports and sports media and getting annoyed by things. Here's a few...

* In what's becoming an annual ritual, national sportwriters throw a festival to usher in March madness, but then try to separate themselves from the herd, and slowly turn on it as the tournament goes on. This year it was complaints about the lack of top-seed sizzle in the Final Four, and jabs about the level of play in the Butler-Michigan State grindfest.

Those that want the offensive expertise (or defensive lethargy) need to stick with the NBA. It is college bball, after all. As the tourney goes on, the knuckles get whiter, defenses step up, and scoring totals lessen. I watched Butler-Michigan State and saw two teams laying it all on the line, each possession a lifetime. I was enthralled.

* In football news, the Cards defense showed signs of a pulse, they held the offense in check after being steamrolled in the first scrimmage. The bad news is that it might tell us more about the offense's deficiencies as well. We should all take a step back and show some respect for the lingering damage a category 5 Hurricane Steve can have on a program. For now let's follow Coach Strong's advice, "We are pretty short on giving praise to guys".

* The lasting image from the Final Four has to be Bobby Huggins cradling a pained and hysterical De'Sean Butler, who may have jeapordized his NBA future with a devastating knee injury late in their losing effort against Duke. Even then, however, the kill-joys were circling. J.A. Adande twittered:

That Huggins-Butler scene would have been more touching if Huggs hadn't stopped to gripe at the refs first.

Eric Crawford quickly followed with, "Agreed". First of all, barking at the refs is how coaches support their players, it's second nature to them. Plus, I think you can allow him a few seconds to let the trainers get out there to assess the injury. It's not like coaches are supposed to sprint onto the court like hysterical soccer moms. Once it became clear it was a career-jeopardizer, he was there in moments. I'm actually developing a soft spot for Huggins, and that scares the shit out of me. Kinda like my dog. Ha! I kill me.

* Screw it, let's go a little deeper into the Twilight Zone. The over-the-top Duke bashing needs to stop. There does seem to be some bizarro reverse-racism at play, and it's become sooo mainstream now that Duke can rightfully play the "us against the world" card. That's a powerful force, and as their utter dismantling of WVU shows, they're comfortable playing the villain.

* The latest chapters of As the Blue Turns have been thoroughly enjoyable. In this episode, freshman Daniel Orton makes an unexpected declaration for the NBA draft, UK fans go beserk until some idiots post ridiculously offensive comments on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, prompting him to reply to said fans, prompting the expected outcry from the rest of Big Blue Nation to the effect of, "Don't listen to them Daniel, we loooooove you, please come back, all teams have fans like that! What? They do!"

Come to think of it, I think I've seen this episode before.

* And finally, how do UK fans react to a disappointing tournament end, a mass exodus of players, staring at a team next year that, at best, will be talented and young, and at worst, overmatched and young? Well, you write more factually inaccurate articles spouting baseless opinions of course! Rather than get your own house in order, let's just repeat Calipari owns the state, Pitino can't recruit, Porcinis, etc. etc. Sheer repitition and wishful thinking makes things true, ya know.

I won't go through it line by line, I've already given it more treatment than it's worth, but I will say that the pendulum does seem to be swinging back to Louisville's favor with the stability provided with Pitino's extension, and what are those guys called, oh yea, returning players. If Marquis Teague commits to the Cardinals this week, all but guaranteeing the Cards the top recruiting class in 2011, I'll double down on these thoughts with a longer post.

Just what we need around here, longer posts.

***UPDATE***
Okay, fine, I'll criticize one line. First, BTI tries to make a point of pride by stating that UK is poaching on potential Louisville commit Elisha Justice. If Cal does indeed walk on water, one wonders why he would even bother recruiting other school's walk-ons, especially from a mid-major program like Louisville.

Second, the author says that with only "one call" from Cal, and now Justice is now "up in the air". That's just not the case. Elisha said he still feels that walking-on at Louisville is the best fit for him, and his coach has stated that the only way he would reconsider is if UK offers him a 4-year scholarship guarantee. And UK is supposed to be the one sitting in the power-chair here??? My head hurts. Look, I'm all for reciprocating hatred, but we can't have a proper rivalry without agreeing on some basic ground rules of logic. Much of this just doesn't even make sense.

Quote of the Day II

"Once a kid commits, you back off and respect his decision. At least that's the way I always looked at it."

--Denny Crum today, on reports that Calipari is continuing to recruit Louisville commit Elisha Justice

Pitino: "I've been out this year more recruiting, than any time in my life."

Follow the link for two minute video of Pitino talking about "bumps in life," his contract extension, recruiting and next year.

Key quotes:

- "If there ever comes a day where I don't have the energy to recruit against the likes of some of these great recruiters out there, if I don't have the energy to do these four individual instructions today, then regardless of [inaudible], I'd step away from it. But I do have boundless energy now, and I do have strong desire..."

- "The one thing we want to improve on more than anything else is that we want to get back to being a great defensive team... We have to change our defense, we have to play more man-to-man... we weren't gifted athletically [this year]."

- "Probably the biggest thing we have to do is we've got to make Peyton Siva into a great point guard."

- "The guys really overachieved this year, and I'm not knocking the talent when I say that."

Quote of the Day

"Can't one guy tackle a running back?!?"

-an exasperated Charlie Strong in practice, perhaps realizing the extent of the rebuilding job ahead of him

You betcha!

Wager accepted, Mr. Red. And now that it's on, I just want to note how foolish a financial transaction this is on your part -- strapped as you are for cash -- because this is a bet I will win going away. Originally, I did not intend to write such a full-throated defense. But after rereading my analysis and watching a few of the highlight reels once more, I am doubly confident future events will declare me prophetic, and your position misguided. In fact, let's up the ante: If Kyle Kuric doesn't start in the home opener next season, I'll depart the city, high-tail it out of Louisville, and settle somewhere up north. Sayonora Derby City. "It's happening here," no longer. Kiss my Cardinal ass goodbye.

Why so cocky, you ask? First, it is easy enough to debunk the rationale applied by Mr. Red that Kuric simply is unacceptable at small forward and that incoming freshman Justin Coleman deserves the nod instead. No argument here that Kuric ideally is better suited at shooting guard. And Mr. Red and I both agree (in sharp disagreement with the Card Chronicle poster that Red mentions) that Jared Swopshire at small forward is a nonstarter. But I don't see what you gain immediately by replacing Kuric in the lineup with Coleman. Both are athletic. Both have major hops. Both can rebound (I know Kuric rebounds, and I assume that Coleman can too). Both can hit the three. But Kuric will be a junior; Coleman, promising as he is, will be an inexperienced freshman. So what gives? I initially suspected Mr. Red's gripe was that Kuric was too short to play small forward at 6 foot 4. So, logically, Kuric should be replaced by Coleman, who is -- wait for it -- 6 foot 4. If this is the criteria, what we really need to be talking about is how Preston Knowles holds down the starting spot at shooting guard, tipping the scale as he does at all of 6 foot 1.

Of course, height doesn't count for everything. Knowles will be a senior, Kuric a junior, and Coleman only a freshman. Experience is not a perfect predictor of a season of effectiveness (see Smith, Jerry), but it provides a jumping off point. Furthermore, looking at Pitino's record for starting freshman players in their first game, history suggests that he goes with the upperclassmen over the talented freshmen phenoms whenever possible. Did Francisco Garcia start in his first game? Nope, he came off the bench. Taquan Dean? Nada. Earl Clark? Hell no, he rode the pine until only late in his freshman year. Terrence Williams did start his first game as a freshman -- the season after our Final Four Team, when the departure of Garcia and Ellis Myles had left our forward cupboard bear. Edgar Sosa started his first freshman game too... alongside Will Scott! (and over Andre McGee), obviously some non-serious tinkering going on there. I doubt Pitino will be horsing around when Louisville opens its new palace next fall. Instead, look for Pitino to salute Kuric's gritty style and also to satisfy the home crowd, whose collective memory of Kuric's performance during the Freedom Hall Finale will still be fresh on their minds.

Third, it's worth acknowledging that the only opinion that makes the difference in this wager is Pitino's. (alert the athletic department: he'll want to know the pressure he's under) Here's what Pitino said about Kuric during his postseason analysis on his blog:

*Kyle Kuric- He will cherish that Syracuse game for the rest of his life. Good
athlete who must improve going left and develop a consistent jump shot. He has a
tendency to fall back and look at the ball instead of the rim on his jumper.
These are easy things to fix. He runs and jumps well. Kyle has many areas that
with hard work, will take a major step forward. He will battle to start at the
small wing position.

Easy things to fix... runs and jumps well... major step forward... will battle to start at the small wing position. I don't know yet what are Pitino's initial thoughts on Coleman. But it seems obvious to me who Ricky has in mind for the 3 spot next year. Does that guarantee it's the right move? No. Do I agree it is the right move? Yes. Does it make me the early favorite to win this bet and make Mr. Red eat his words? Absolutely.

Fourth: while this wasn't Mr. Red's point, I want to push back against this idea suggested by the Card Chronicle poster, that guys who are role players early in their career never turn into valuable players later. While the blogger is correct in suggesting that the occurrence is hardly typical (that's what makes it great when it does happen), what he seems to be really suggesting is that substantial improvement from any of our current players is unexpected and not possible. Weird thing is, in the same breath, he mentions the poster child for self-improvement over the course of his career: Larry O'Bannon. Hardly recruited out of high school and unheralded in his first few years in college (sound familiar?), O'Bannon averaged 5 and 2 points in his freshman and sophomore seasons respectively, then averaged 10 and 15 points his junior and senior years. Is Kyle Kuric, or any of our other guys, really so different? Is it outside the realm of possibility that Kuric will build next year on an unexpectedly strong sophomore season? I'm not guaranteeing Kuric to be the next O'Bannon, but since when did we get so cynical about these guys?

In sum, I think it is likely that Pitino goes with experience over hype (though let's hope the hype is well-deserved!), the known over the unknown, Kuric over Coleman. If it's the wrong move, Justin Coleman will earn his way into the starting lineup soon enough. But firing up the lights at the new arena for the first time, Pitino is more likely to give Kuric the honor. If nothing else, Kuric probably earned it for the importance of what he did against Syracuse, a game that will go down in Cardinal lore. Yes, I am a self-professed "Kuric-lover": there's no "uncomfortable" about it. However, Kyle Kuric starting at small forward next season is a solid enough bet and likely enough outcome that I can already suggest, with confidence, to you Mr. Red, that you go ahead and start fundraising that $13.99 needed to purchase my case of Select. And we both know how advertisement-less blogs don't pay very much, so you'd better start your efforts early. Cards fans: if at any home football games next fall, amidst the cheer and banter of tailgating and in the shadows of the new expansion, you happen upon a "Cardinal Laws" bake sale stationed adjacent to the ticket gates, kindly consider patronizing your local blogger.

Justice in jeopardy?

Some interesting chess is being played over Cardinal commit Elisha Justice. It's been a cause celebre for Matt Jones at KSR for awhile, but now there seems growing smoke around the Justice-to-the-Cats rumors, and it's time to investigate whether there's any fire.

It may seem to be a lot of fuss over a 5'10'' walk-on who recently had scholarship offers from only Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville University. But as you can see in the end video, the newly crowned Mr. Basketball isn't your average walk-on. What he lacks in overall athleticism he more than makes up for in basketball instincts, ball handling skills, and a silky shooting touch. This tournament showed that heady players, even without blazing speed, are worth their weight in gold in March.

So, it's not surprising that UK is interested. He's good, and there's more than a little toddler-like jealously, some "I want it because you want it" at play. And with the MASS exodus of players from this year UK team, they'll have scholarships to burn, and can afford to take a chance. Despite the best efforts of UK fans pretending that everything is fine, that this is all part of Cal's plan, there's no way that this level of defection was ever contemplated. There's a very real possibility they will only return 4 players to the team next year.

So, the point is, though UK fans will be loathe to betray their recently recaptured "swagger", behind the scenes I'm fairly certain there will be some grumbling and disenchantment with the way things are shaping up, perpetual rebuilding and complaints about youth. One way to placate the discontented would be to snatch away a homegrown hero away from a rival, a sharpshooter from the hills of eastern Kentucky, especially one of the, umm, paler variety, to add some pluck to go along with the glitz of the next crop of one-and-doners.

And yes, I'm aware that some of this may just be posturing to get the Cards to burn a scholarship. Rick Pitino has made no secret of the fact that he's eyeing a monster recruiting class in 2011. Rest assured, he'll think long and hard before handing out another precious scholly.

I'll defer to his judgement, but I'd welcome bringing him aboard on scholarship. Getting him for free was just too good to be true, he's too good a player. Give him the spot that may be reserved for Gorgui Sy Dieng. The Cards are chock full of post-players at the moment (Samuels-Jennings-Buckles-Goode-Van Treese). As much as I look forward to a top-class in 2011, I also want to be good next year, and think we can be. We need another guard, especially one as deadly from behind the arc as Justice.

It's another situation of trying not to out-think yourself. If you see a player you like, you take the sure thing and offer him a scholarship. The other variables will work themselves out down the road. As you can see below, Justice is worth fighting for.

  

Reflecting on the point

Looking back, is it really all that surprising that this past year's team never functioned at the "team" level? Sosa at point just wasn't natural. Was never destined to work. Never produced team ball. Consensus seems to have emerged since the end of the season that Pitino should have played Siva at point all year long, as it would have been a better long-term investment and would have allowed Sosa to play at the two. That's not my take: I think given Siva's lack of strength and size and experience, that would indeed have been a better long-term investment, but at the expense of a few victories during a year that we needed every victory we had to make the tournament. Any year we can help it, no season should be surrendered to rebuilding if there's even the slight chance to go all-out competitive. So despite the fact that I was, at times, enamored with the possibility, I wouldn't say that I have joined the ranks of those questioning the fact that Pitino didn't permanently move Sosa to the two. Either way, that controversy is mitigated next year, and I think we can look forward to the development of a fluent offense, with the potential to become truly dynamic if Siva can cut down on turnovers.