Cards Die Slowly against 'Cuse, 58-49

Louisville bricked its way to another underwhelming and uninspired half-court performance, in no way excused by the fact that it came against the #2 team in the land. 33 percent shooting from the field. 7 assists. 8 percent from beyond the arc -- you read that right.

Stats here. It ain't pretty. As we head into tourney time, offensively we're getting worse.

This game had the announcers, the halftime crew, the twittersphere and anyone still paying attention  all marveling at the same thing: this Louisville team, which earlier in the year rose as high as #4 in the country, is lost. It doesn't know what its identity is or will be. And the regular season is over.

So here we go into the Big East Tournament, with zero momentum, no half-court game, and multiple confidence issues. Not what we would have hoped.

Unfortunately, this team increasingly reminds of the frustrating and underachieving squad of two seasons ago. Not individual-by-individual, but as a group. It's the same lack of offensive firepower that we saw back then.

Something that's been on my mind recently. It's sad if it turns out to be true, but when the history of Pitino's Golden Years is written, it may turn out that the best chance we had at making a run at postseason glory was last year's team -- the "bridge" year.

I love each of the guys on the squad this year; they're all class acts. But there's no getting around the fact that the Cards haven't gelled as a team, and that's a partial indictment of the coaching. No games left but tourney games, and there's no getting around it that as of today, Louisville appears headed for nowhere.

Go Cards.

Some venting

Senior night ended like my senior prom. Exceedingly dull, notable only for an inability to score. It's a tough needle to thread, trying to capture the right attitude at this point in the season. Last night was emotional having said goodbye to the seniors, and there was no victory to leave a refreshing aftertaste. Celebrating the accomplishments of the seniors invariably brings to mind the things they've failed to achieve.

So the pervasive feelings of confliction, confusion, and angst are back again, just like they have been for much of the past three seasons.

In some ways I'm incredibly disappointed with how this season has unfolded. The Louisville Cardinals appear to be broken, at least on the offensive end. Last night, again, the Cards struggled to put the ball in the bucket, endured long scoring droughts, and had fans making worried glances from scoreboard to gameclock: We're on pace to score how many?

I believe Pitino has pressed every button he knows how to press, and it's just not clicking. In fact, it appears to be getting worse. In coach's defense, he wasn't the one that blew a key open dunk, he wasn't the one to miss open looks, and he wasn't the one that turned the ball over 13 times. The players bear some responsibility for not playing up to their abilities.

But, as we all know, the buc stops with man at the helm. I just keep remembering Pitino's arrogant admonition last season after the Big East tournament loss, that "maybe next time we'll bring more fans with us". Who needs Madison Square Gardens? Louivillians can go to the 7th Region tourney and watch high schoolers display more hi-octane offense.

To make matters worse, fans are constantly being told up is down and black is white. One day a 50 point game against Syracuse is exactly what we're aiming for, the next the Cards are looking to push tempo and run run run, we were never at war with Eurasia we're at war with East Asia. So not only are we playing poorly, but everyone's confused as to what exactly the gameplan is that we're failing to accomplish.

On the other hand, it's March. To have a ticket punched is to have a chance. It's a festive time and wallowing in angst does no good. The team is full of likable players, ones that represent the university, the program, and the city well even in defeat. It's been few and far between, but we have seen this team play good basketball this year. It's in them somewhere.

Sometimes there's nothing to do but throw your hands up, stop worrying, and just enjoy the ride even if you have no idea how long it will last. That's just what I intend to do.

March is full or surprises, and a Cardinal run in the Dance is still possible. But fans are having to accept this as a matter of sheer faith, cause right now there's very little tangible evidence to support it.

Go Cards.

Come see this guy April 6

Buy your tickets for the Derby Festival Classic here. Full rosters were released today, available here. And guy you're really coming to see is right below. 

Linebacker U gets another

Former Trinity standout Jordan Whiting just announced via twitter that he is transferring from Ohio State to the Cards. Whiting is a four-star 6'1'', 238lbs linebacker; he played on Bob Beatty's championship teams while in high school earning All State, Max Preps, and Bluegrass Player of the Year honors. He was an honor roll student, wrestled and also ran track.

After redshirting his freshman year, Whiting sat out a game in 2011 for receiving impermissible benefits. He languished on the Buckeye depth chart and did not record a tackle last season.

Whiting is coming back home and will be looking for more time on the field. He has great ability and is a welcome addition to the loaded linebacking corps that Charlie Strong has assembled.

He will be eligible to play in 2013. Welcome aboard, young man. Go Cards.

Cards fumble one away, fall to Bulls 58-51

Louisville lost to South Florida tonight after another hideous display of offensive basketball. The Cards let opportunities slip through their fingers all night long, but especially in the crucial final minutes. Chane Behanan missed an open dunk, Kuric missed an open three, and Chris Smith fumbled a pass away while streaking to the basket.

USF may be an improved basketball team, but this loss in a pretty damning indictment of UofL's chances of accomplishing anything in March. Being utterly incapable of scoring the basketball will do that, I suppose. Despite Rick Pitino boasting about spending 85% of his practice time on the defensive end, it turns out none of that matters when your team struggles to cross the 50 point barrier nightly.

There is no excuse, and that's what's most depressing, cause the simplest answer is staring us straight in the face. We're just not that good.

I want to sleep on it before delving into this one anymore, tomorrow we'll start the search for silver-linings. Go Cards.

VillenHD presents UofL-Pitt

#L1C4

One of the things I notice every time I get on a roll going to the gym is how bored I get listening to my music. I probably have 2,000 songs on my iPhone yet I seem to cycle back through the same 100 or so. So from time to time I decide to turn off the tunes and listen to some sports talk on the I Heart Radio app. It gives me that "hey, I'm here, but I'm not working hard" feeling I like to have from time to time. Around here you get 790 and 840, and I decided to go for some local flavor tonight.

Among the topics of conversation on Lachlan McLean's show tonight was Jared Swopshire. As many of you know, Swop has been hampered by injuries while at UofL and still has a year of eligibility left. However, as Coach Pitino indicated in his presser today, the Junior (eligibility)/Senior (credit hours/Pitino wills it so) will join Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric in the Senior Day festivities prior to tip-off tomorrow night.

I'll be the first to admit being underwhelmed by Swopshire's performance while at UofL, yet considering the injuries and positions he's been asked to play, I can't say we should've expected 20 and 10 every night, either. He's a skinny 4 or a 3 without a decent mid-range game, and he never seemed to find comfort in either spot, finally being relegated to a back-up 5 with the loss of Van Treese.

Having said that, I think he's getting a raw deal. By all accounts, Swopshire doesn't want to leave UofL to find a fifth year of eligiblity elsewhere. Pitino claims it's better for Swop to find somewhere else to play and get more minutes. When asked if he'd rather play for a team that can be successful or for a team that'll give him more minutes per game, he said (I'm paraphrasing) a place where both situations would happen would be ideal, but out of the two, he wants to be on a successful team. Pitino, on the other hand, says we're out of scholarships, and, well, that's that.

Yes, we're out of scholarships for next year, assuming Rozier steps foot on campus. We knew Swopshire was most likely going to be the Card without a chair when the music stopped. Still, this doesn't sit well with me. He's never been in trouble, always been considered a great teammate and will graduate on time, yet he's out the door to make room for a six foot combo guard that will most likely ride the pine next year anyway.

We recently started touting #L1C4 as a new way to brand ourselves Twitter-style with Louisville First, Cards Forever. This springs from Pitino's belief (this year, anyway) that our players play for the names on the front of the jersey, no doubt contrasting himself with Calipari's blatent "players first" philosophy. I think it's a bit naive to ask 5-star recruits to give yourself to the program when the only reason they're coming to you is because they have to kill a year in college before they go pro, yet I admire the sentiment enough to tolerate it, and maybe even embrace it if it wasn't coming from a coach who has so openly done things with a "Pitino-first" mentality. But when you're pushing a senior out because he's got an extra year due to injury, and it doesn't sound at all like Pitino has even tried to figure out a way to keep him around (Walk-on? Academic scholarship?), #L1C4 rings hollow to me.

Best of luck to Swopshire as he pursues his basketball career elsewhere. I'll miss him as much as I'll miss Chris and Kyle. I just wish he got to finish the way every player should: On his own terms.

Cinci's finest

Really interesting story on Chane Behanan's upbringing in one of the worst neighborhoods in Cincinnati...

Pitino presser, Kuric almost went evil edition

Proud of his seniors. Exemplify what you want from senior athletes. Will evaluate Jared Swopshire's situation after the season to determine the best path for him. Chris Smith likely headed overseas. Kuric strongly considered walking-on at Duke. Swop's situation is a scholarship number crunch, but even if he had one to offer he would suggest going elsewhere to play more minutes, said not going to happen behind Chane Behanan. "Getting his butt kicked by T-Will" in practice was important part of Kuric's development. Once he watched the Pitt game-tape, thought team played really well. Gorgui "hitting the wall" a little bit, legs giving out, is playing too many minutes. UofL didn't attack quickly enough out of the press against Pitt. Is very impressed with USF, believes Stan Heath is a very underrated coach. Kenny Klein joke. Hadn't heard anything about the Occupy Louisville protest outside of game tomorrow. Respects everyone's rights, but thinks protesting outside of a college basketball game is a little silly.

A few Pitt leftovers

 I'm a little late getting my game-reactions out there, but that's mostly because it was a contest that made you want to go do your taxes or clean out your refrigerator for want of excitement.

The big story afterwards was the question of tempo. Rick Pitino lamented the Cards getting bogged down in these slugfests and promised that this week practice would focus on getting up and down the floor. Like Mr. Black alluded to immediately after the game, this approach dodges the issue of our halfcourt woes. Like it or not, we're going to have to be able to score in these kind of games, the kind that March Madness always seem to turn into.

By all means, the Louisville Cardinals should try and get out on the break as much as possible, but I don't think that alone will get us very far in the Dance. If I had to point to one thing to immediately focus on, it would be the shocking stat that Chane and Gorgui combined for only 8 shots. Chane didn't attempt a shot until deep into the second half.

Way too little of an impact for our bigs in the scoring column. Other thoughts on the victory that launched a thousand "a win's a win" comments...

Peyton Siva had a strong game. He turned the ball over 4 times and got some criticism for taking the ball too deep in the lane without a plan, but I'm more inclined to forgive when no one else is helping him attack. I know Kuric and Chris Smith aren't traditional slashers, but I think they could be more aggressive driving to the hole to get some more dynamic ball-movement. Blackshear could be that guy, but it looks like he's not going to be ready in time to reliably contribute this season.

You guys remember this DeJuan Wheat character? Apparently he's kind of a big deal.

With two straight games without a field goal, I'm forced to downgrade Chris Smith's solid status to slightly gelatinous.

The most positive thing to take away from the game was the effectiveness of the press. The Cards were very active and ball-hawked well (13 steals) but I also couldn't shake the feeling that it had as much, if not more, to do with whatever has become of Pitt basketball than it did about UofL. But if the goal is to speed the game up, the Cards can't let up one inch of intensity with the pressure.

Gorgs needs to watch himself with the flagrant fouls. That's the second clothesline foul that jumps to mind from the past few games.

Rick is absolutely right when he says Russ Smith has won 4 or 5 games for us this season. Louisville would be lost without him. How this season will ultimately be remembered is still up the air, but right now I think the emergence of Russ has to be the lead storyline.

Rebounding continues to be spotty. A 12-board deficit is really worrying. If you're going to clang, you gotta bang.

Ryan White junior highlights

Trinity's Ryan White verbals to Louisville

Charlie Strong said a major goal for his program was to get us back to a place where the elite local talent want and expect to play football for the University of Louisville. He just took a big step forward in that project today, as Trinity junior Ryan White, All-State defensive back, gave his verbal commitment to the Cardinals.

Charlie. Strong. Train. Etc. Etc. This is big, as Jody Demling reports, the Cards now have 2 of the state's Top 5 prospects committed for '13 and are in solid shape with the others. I'm thinking this Strong hire just may work out.

Siva post-game

Cards Beat Pitt 57-54

Every win is a good win this late in the year. So that point shouldn't be lost. That said, it's a little difficult to come away from today's victory with more confidence about our March chances than we had going into the game.

There were some signs of improvement and recovery from the loss to Cincinnati. Kyle shot his way back into form with 17 points on the strength of 4 three-pointers. Russ Smith had a Russ type of day (I know, the analysis around here is getting pretty lazy) with 18 points and 4 steals. Rick sung his praises after the game, though he did have to wonder aloud about his poor free throw shooting -- 3 of 6 from the line... (C'mon Russ! Just think of it as a floater!) The Cards had 13 steals to Pittsburgh's 7, but were outrebounded 37-25 (shudder).

But Louisville again got sucked into a halfcourt game. Again failed to score above 60. Looking over the stat sheet, the principal flaw is glaring: we couldn't get our big men involved, which blows my mind if the game is halfcourt. Chane finished with 6 points, Gorgui had 5. In a slowed-down game, they attempted 8 shots between them.  Think about that.

Stats here.

After the game, Rick said that he pleaded with his guys, as he has all year, not to allow their opponent to slow down the game. I think that's a losing battle and flawed strategy heading into the tournament... even Pitino's best Louisville team, the '05 team, was beyond competent in the half-court. Don't get me wrong, we should do everything we can to increase the tempo. But we've only got two games left in the regular season, and Rick's still begging for a faster tempo. It's just not going to happen, not always.

We have to have some half-court answers; I keep coming back to an expanded role for Gorgui and Chane. My sense is that most Cards fans are also placing their hopes on Wayne Blackshear as the halfcourt X-factor. Here's hoping we can all be right, but if Fat Wayne doesn't get caught up to speed soon... well, we're running out of games.

Sorry not to be more upbeat following a Cards victory, especially on a day that we retired the jersey of DeJuan Wheat; hopefully Mr. Red, who was at the game, has some brighter points to share. But win or lose, I see the same warning signs and blinking red lights. I'll give it to these guys, though, they may not be the Masters of the Comeback like last year's team, but they find ways to grind out victories even when apparently driven out of their game plan. A tweak here, a tweak there... you never know. Gotta believe.

Beat South Florida. Beat Syracuse. Go Cards.