dec. 30 issue

VOLUME XV • NUMBER 19DECEMBER 30, 2010

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT DECEMBER 30, 2010

DECEMBER 30, 2010 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 3

E D I T O R I A L S T A F F

GENERAL MANAGER - Jack Coffee

SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR - Russ Brown

OPERATIONS MANAGER - Howie Lindsey

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES - Mickey Clark, Betty Olsen and Blanche Kitchen

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS - Dave Klotz, Shelley Feller, Gail Kamenish,

Howie Lindsey and Chuck Feist

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS - Matt Willinger, Jeff Wafford,

Jason Puckett and Rick Cushing

DESIGNER - Scott Stortz

COPY EDITOR - Rick Cushing

The Louisville SportsReport is printed in Kentucky and based in Louisville. It is published weekly in January, February and March, monthly in April, May, June and July and weekly mid-August through late December by Louisville Sports News, L.L.C., in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville Sports News, L.L.C.: Owner and General Manager - Jack Coffee. The SportsReport was founded in 1996. United States Postal Number: 015255

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VOLUME XV, NUMBER 19DECEMBER 30, 2010

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13 HAPPY FACES IN ST. PETEUofL fans whooped it up in St. Petersburg, Fla., after the Cards beat Southern Miss in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. It

was UofL’s fi rst bowl win since the 2007 Orange Bowl.

Charlie Strong sought to avoid the obligatory Gatorade bath after his team beat Southern Miss 31-28 in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, but the players didn’t allow him to avoid the dousing.

W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 CARDS WALLOP MORGAN STATE IN FINAL TUNE-UP FOR CATS By Howie Lindsey5 HOT-SHOOTING CARDS WILL TRY TO STAY ON FIRE, BURN CATS By Russ Brown6 DIENG, NEW LINEUP, HELP CARDS CRUSH GARDNER-WEBB By Russ Brown7 THREE-POINT SHOOTING, FAST PACE DO IN HILLTOPPERS By Rick Cushing8 BUCKLE UP: CARDS AND CATS SET TO RENEW BITTER RIVALRY By Jack Coffee9 MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW - KENTUCKY10 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey & Russ Brown11 MEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW - SETON HALL12 BEEF BOWL MVP SHOWS HE HAS THE WRIGHT STUFF By Russ Brown13 CARDS SHOW SOUTHERN MISS THE BEEF IN BOWL COMEBACK By Russ Brown15-16 BEEF ‘O’ BRADY BOWL PHOTO GALLERY

17 FOUNDATION LAID, CARDS INTEND TO KEEP GOING FORWARD By Russ Brown18 BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S BOWL IS JUST THE START FOR THE

CARDINALS IN THE STRONG ERA By Jack Coffee19 RECRUITING: STRONG LANDS TWO ELITE FLORIDA PLAYERS By Howie Lindsey20 FINAL 2010 FOOTBALL SEASON STATS21 RECRUITING: PITINO REELS IN ANOTHER 2012 STUD By Howie Lindsey22-23 BIG EAST NOTEBOOK: GEORGETOWN LOOKING GOOD AS BIG

EAST GRIND BEGINS By Russ Brown24 TOP TOM LANE25 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULES, STATS26 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: CARDS RETURN HOME FROM VEGAS

WITH WIN OVER NO. 21 NEBRASKA By Howie Lindsey28 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY

FEATURES AND CONTENT:

7 SIVA LIGHTS UP THE TOPPERS Peyton Siva was named Big East Player of the Week

after torching WKU for 29 points last Wednesday. “Peyton Siva was fantastic,” coach Rick Pitino said.

26 SALVAGE JOB IN VEGASThe women’s basketball team opened the Duel in the Desert Classic with losses to Marist and Houston but

ended it with a victory over No. 21 Nebraska.

By Howie LindseyIn any normal season, a win over Mor-

gan State would be a respectable victory. The Bears won MEAC titles the past two seasons and have beaten Arkansas, Mary-land and Marshall those seasons. But not

this season. The Bears (4-6 with an

RPI in the 230s at game time) were no match for No. 20/22 Louisville (11-1) Monday night at the KFC Yum! Center. UofL built an early 26-7 lead and got 31 points from Preston Knowles and 25

from Kyle Kuric en route to a 104-74 vic-tory.

“Louisville is very good, and coach (Rick) Pitino does a great job of getting those guys to play to their strength,” Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman said. “... They shot the lights out. He does a great job of getting them to play. He could have kept pressing the whole game, but there is no telling what it would have been when it was all over.”

The Cardinals poured it on early with full-court pressure defense. UofL was up 12-2 by the fi rst media timeout and capi-talized on seven Morgan State turnovers in the fi rst seven minutes. After a timeout by Bozeman, the Bears closed within 12-5, but the Cardinals responded with a 14-2 run helped along by two threes by Kuric and one by Rakeem Buckles.

Bozeman tried what he could to get his team back into the game, but an ava-lanche of turnovers doomed his team in the fi rst half. Morgan State fi nished the fi rst half with 20 turnovers, and Louisville turned those turnovers into 26 points. Louisville’s press was oppressive.

“We were very good at the press to-night,” Pitino said. “Once I took it off, I think we lost our defensive intensity. I think a team like this can very easily win their league. They need to handle the basketball a little better, obviously, be-cause they made a lot of careless turn-overs. But outside of that, they are going to win their league.”

The Bears drew within 28-14 with just under 11 minutes left and then 41-24 with 5:12 to go, but the Cardinals ended the half on a 17-4 run. Louisville fi nished the fi rst half shooting 58.3 percent over-all (21 of 36) and 75 percent from three-point range (9 of 12). The Cardinals domi-nated every statistical category and had a 58-28 lead at the intermission.

“The old basketball cliche says that shooting cures a multitude of sins,” Pi-

tino said. “That was the case tonight. I haven’t seen shooting like the last two games in a while. It is just good passing, two guys (Knowles and Kuric) shooting 13 of 19 from the three.... Even though we didn’t play good defense tonight, we did press well in the fi rst half.”

Knowles and Kuric were absolutely on fi re. Knowles fi nished 9 of 14 overall and 6 of 9 from three-point range. He also was 7 for 7 from the free-throw line. Ku-ric was just as good, going 9 of 13 overall and 7 of 10 from three-point range.

“It just came from practice,” Kuric said, crediting his hot shooting to his teammates. “The fi ve that we have out there, the ball moves a lot better. We screen-away, we work to get open and we do anything we can to get somebody an open shot. It doesn’t have to be the same guy, but that is the way it worked out to be in the fi rst half. We got an of-fensive rebound, kicked it out and got an open three.”

Knowles said he didn’t expect to have a big game tonight.

“Because I didn’t feel good before the game,” he said. “I literally had to stretch for like an hour before we got on the bus to come to the game. My body was ter-rible. It was a miracle how I played how I did. I have to credit my teammates for getting me open looks.”

Peyton Siva had 29 against Western

Kentucky last game. This game it was Knowles and Kuric. Knowles said that is what makes this Louisville team danger-ous.

“It is just pick your poison,” Knowles said. “Any of us could go big on any given night. You could tell two games ago I was, last game it was Peyton, and this game it was me again and Kyle had a great game. You never know who it will be.”

Louisville appeared sluggish to start the second half as Morgan State cut Lou-isville’s lead to 23, but a quick 10-0 run helped by threes from Russ Smith and Knowles pushed the lead to 74-41 with just over 14 minutes left. The rest of the game was largely academic as Louisville’s lead never dipped below 26 points.

Pitino spent most of his post-game press conference talking about how bad Louisville’s defense was in the second half. The Cardinals maintained their 30-point halftime lead, but both teams scored 46 points. That made Pitino extremely frus-trated with his team’s defense.

“It sucked,” Pitino said. “I will give you the Hubie Brown clinic: a) We got beat off the bounce; b) We didn’t trap the post when we were supposed to; c) We didn’t close out well enough; d) We didn’t trap up on the baseline when we were sup-posed to; and e) We didn’t talk in transi-tion. It is tough playing with a lead.”

Said Siva, “Yeah, we haven’t really been

keeping our opponents low on the shoot-ing percentage, and that is one thing wehave to do.”

NOTEBOOK: * Morgan State was ousted from the

NCAA Tournament last season by WestVirginia. The 15th-seeded Bears lost tothe second-seeded Mountaineers 77-50.In 2009 they lost to No. 2 seed Oklahoma82-54 in the fi rst round.

* The game before facing Louisville, Morgan State was clobbered by No. 2Syracuse 97-55 on Dec. 20. It’s their larg-est loss of the season.

* Bozeman is infamous for a recruit-ing and sexual harassment scandal atCalifornia, where he coached from 1992-96. He was found to have paid for JelaniGardner’s parents’ travel expenses overthe course of two seasons for a total of$30,000. At nearly the same time, he wasaccused of making lewd phone calls toa female student at Cal. He was saddledwith a “show cause” order by the NCAAand was essentially black-balled from col-lege basketball until Morgan State gavehim a second chance in 2006. Since thenhe’s led the Bears to the NIT in 2007-08and back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

* Both Louisville and Kentucky will have faced Mid-Eastern Conference foesprior to Friday’s big game. Kentucky facedCoppin State Tuesday night in Rupp Are-na after press time.

PAGE 4 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT DECEMBER 30, 2010

RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

Preston Knowles had 31 points against Morgan State Monday night.

Knowles was phenomenal from long-range, hitting 6 of 9 three-point

shots. He also hit all seven of his free throws. - photo by Dave Klotz

U O F L L E D B Y L I G H T S - O U T S H O O T I N G F R O M K N O W L E S , K U R I C

CARDS WALLOP MORGAN STATE IN FINAL TUNE-UP BEFORE CATS

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY



By Russ BrownLouisville has been on fi re from the

three-point line lately -- and from every-where else on the fl oor for that matter -- but with Kentucky coming to town coach Rick Pitino realizes the open looks the Car-dinals have been getting against lesser op-ponents will be harder to come by.

In its last three games, romps over Gardner-Webb (78-49), Western Kentucky (114-82) and Morgan State (104-74), No. 22/20 UofL has shot a blistering -- and al-

most unheard of -- 54.3 percent (44 of 81) from behind the arc. Overall in those three games the Cards are shooting 53.4 percent (100 of 187).

But something has to give because No. 11/12 UK, which was 9-2 go-ing into Tuesday night’s

game against Coppin State, has allowed opponents to shoot just 28.7 percent from three-point range and 38.0 overall.

“Quite frankly, I haven’t seen shooting like the last two games in a while,” Pitino said. “The shooting in the last two games was spectacular. But we’re not going to get the looks that we’ve been getting in the next game (UK), obviously. So we have to do a better job executing.”UofL’s hottest shooters have been guard

Preston Knowles and forward Kyle Kuric, who combined for 56 points on 18-of-27 shooting in the win over Morgan State Monday night when both notched career highs. Knowles exploded for 31 points, and Kuric had 25.

Knowles drilled 6 of 9 from three-point land, while Kuric swished his fi rst fi ve treys and fi nished 7 of 10.

Both Pitino and the players credit excep-tional passing for creating the open shots, but they are well aware that good defensive teams will shut off the passing lanes and close down on shooters, making precise ex-ecution tougher.

“It’s going to come down to our execu-tion and us maintaining the game plan,” UofL point guard Peyton Siva said. “We’re moving the ball really good and everybody is getting open shots, and that’s one thing we have to maintain. Everybody is willing share the ball.”

Said Pitino: “We are a good shooting team, but I believe we’re a good shooting team because of the passing. The passing and the unselfi shness have been very good. Any time you pass the ball well, you shoot the ball well. When you get really good ball movement, you get great shots.”

Asked what it would take to continue that type of shooting against the Wildcats, Pitino answered, “Pray hard.” Then he add-ed: “A top-10 team is not going to give you

those looks. So you have to work hard and execute because they are a terrifi c defensive team.”

Kuric said he knows UK coach John Cali-pari will devise a game plan that will involve telling his players not to back off from the Cards on the perimeter.

“They are going to take that fi lm (of the Morgan State game) and they are going to really get into us and pressure us,” he said. “We have to have confi dence, and we have to drive by them and get someone else an open shot.”

Pitino said he hasn’t been pleased with his team’s defense, even though the Cards had 14 steals against Morgan State, 47 de-fl ections and forced 26 turnovers.

“It sucked,” Pitino said of Louisville’s de-fense. “I am worried about our defense, es-pecially transition-wise.”

Western Kentucky shot 44.4 percent and Morgan State 46.4.

“We haven’t been keeping our oppo-nents low on shooting percentage, and that’s one thing we have to do,” Siva said.

Said junior center Terrence Jennings: “We haven’t done a good job at times in

our transition defense, and we know that is a big key to Kentucky’s offense. We need to focus on that and come out ready to play. This is the biggest game all year, so my guys have got to be ready. We have a little more size, but they shoot the ball as well as we do and they run just as well as we do.”

After Monday night’s game, Pitino said he had watched UK only in its loss to Con-necticut in the Maui Invitational semifi nals but had seen enough to know that the Cards face a big challenge.

“I know they are a much different team than last year,” he said. “They are just as fast as they were last year in terms of push-ing the pace, and they shoot it great, which they didn’t last year. They take you off the bounce very well and are a very good de-fensive team.”

One advantage UofL has is its balanced scoring attack that doesn’t allow a defense to focus on one or two players. Six Cards are averaging 8.4 points or more, and all six have been the high scorer at one time or another.

“It is just pick your poison,” Knowles said. “Any of us could go big on any giv-

en night. You just never know who it willbe. Whoever plays the better defense willwin.”

Last season, UK’s 71-62 win in Rupp Arena got ugly at the start and resembled astreet brawl more than a college basketballgame. There were 51 personal fouls andfi ve technicals. There was also a scuffl e inthe 2008 game.

The Cards don’t expect a repeat of last year’s meanness, but they won’t back awayeither, although Siva expects some extreme-ly physical play and possibly some words tobe exchanged.

“Most likely, because it’s UofL vs. Ken-tucky,” he said. “Their coach is preparingthem to be tough, and our coach is prepar-ing us to be tough, and that’s what it’s go-ing to come down to. They have anothergreat freshman class and they’re playing re-ally well right now, so we’ve got to comeout and execute.”

Knowles was adamant in insisting that there won’t be any extracurricular activitylike there was last season.

“It got chippy, but it got chippy with the wrong people,” Knowles said. “That won’thappen this year, take my word for that.This is a totally different team. There’s bet-ter leadership this time around and every-one wants to play, so it will be a differentkind of game.”

While saying he knows the intensity will be sky-high, Jennings also believes the cur-rent club is more suited to handling it bet-ter.

“It is a big game, of course, but we know what we have to do and we can’t let anyoutside factors play into to where we don’tcome out ready to play,” he said. “Stuff isgoing to happen, but as long as we are fo-cused in, we’ll be successful.

“Last year it was just a hostile environ-ment. We knew as soon as we got off thebus what we were walking into. Now theyhave to come to us. Fortunately, we’re alittle bit more conservative and we have alittle bit more mature people over here.”

UofL certainly hopes to get off to a better start than it did last season when it missed18 of its fi rst 19 shots and fell behind 11-1and 18-5 before rallying within 27-19 athalftime.

Kentucky has won four of the last six meetings, but UofL has taken two of thelast three. The Wildcats lead the series 27-14 and are 13-7 since 1990.

“It’s going to be very intense,” UofL ju-nior forward Chris Smith said. “It’s in ourhome arena, the new KFC Yum! Center,and it’s just going to be a great atmospherefor college basketball. I’m pumped up forthis game. It should be a great one.”

Junior transfer Chris Smith came off the bench to hit 3 of 5 shots and

score seven points against Drexel, which beat UofL 52-46 two weeks

ago. Coach Rick Pitino made a lineup shuffl e after the Drexel game,

inserting Smith, Kyle Kuric and Gorgui Dieng in the starting lineup.

- photo by Dave Klotz

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN

P I T I N O W A N T S T O S E E B E T T E R D E F E N S E , T O O

HOT-SHOOTING CARDS WILL TRY TO STAY ON FIRE, BURN CATS


By Russ Brown

University of Louisville basketball coach

Rick Pitino has predicted that freshman

Gorgui Dieng will become a “special player”

for the Cardinals, and in UofL’s 78-49 victory

over Gardner-Webb on Dec. 18 in the KFC

Yum! Center, the 6-10 center already looked

the part.

Getting his fi rst career start as Pitino jug-

gled his lineup, Dieng scored eight points,

recorded a career-high 11

rebounds and tied his ca-

reer high for blocks with

seven as UofL boosted its

record to 9-1.

Dieng, who also had

seven blocks against Flor-

ida International on Dec.

1, became the fi rst Louisville player to get

at least seven blocks twice in the same sea-

son since Beau Zach Smith in 1995-96 (vs.

Morehead State and Southern Miss). Dieng’s

blocks were the most for the Cards since

Kendall Dartez had nine against Holy Cross

on Dec. 7, 2003.

“I don’t think he knows a whole lot what

he’s doing yet, but I think he tries to be a

factor on every play,” Pitino said. “Because

of his length, he can erase a lot of mistakes.

He really listens. He’s not full of himself. He’s

fundamentally trying to be a better basket-

ball player, and by doing that he’s really help-

ing the team.”

Dieng was one of three new starters in the

UofL lineup, a move Pitino had promised the

day before the game because he was dissat-

isfi ed with several areas of the Cards’ play

-- rebounding, defense and offensive execu-

tion -- in the 52-46 loss to Drexel four days

earlier.

Pitino also started Chris Smith and Kyle

Kuric, benching center Terrence Jennings

and forward Mike Marra, who had missed

20 of his previous 21 shots. Forward Rakeem

Buckles wasn’t available due to a concussion

suffered against Drexel.

Pitino said he would stick to the new

lineup for the foreseeable future as UofL

continues to prepare for its Big East opener

against Seton Hall on Jan. 5 in the KFC Yum!

Center.

“When (the new starters) were in the

game, the other team shot less than 20 per-

cent,” Pitino said. “(Gardner-Webb) made

their mini-comeback when I substituted. I re-

ally liked it a lot. The ball movement is better.

Everything is better.

“I’m hoping this is the lineup we go with

for a while. Like I’ve said from the beginning,

it’s very diffi cult to gauge this team, but now

I think I have a good handle on it.

“With this team there will be a lot of bumps

in the road, so we can’t get too down. We

can’t consume ourselves with a loss because

there are going to be a lot of losses with this

team. We’ve got to consume ourselves with

how to win, not concern ourselves with tak-

ing a loss. By the time we play Seton Hall,

we want our lineup intact, we want to know

what our strengths and weaknesses are and

try to do something about it.”

Of course, Gardner-Webb (6-8) of the Big

South Conference bears no resemblance to a

Big East team, or even to Drexel. Furthermore,

the Runnin’ Bulldogs were playing without in-

jured leading scorer Jon Moore (15.5 ppg), so

UofL’s dominance was predictable.

The Cards outrebounded the visitors 45-25,

shot 50.8 percent and held Gardner-Webb to

31.6 percent. UofL took control of the game

with a 20-0 run in the fi rst half to go up 29-7

and was not threatened thereafter.

Preston Knowles led the Cards with a ca-

reer-high 24 points and nine rebounds.


Louisville coach Rick Pitino explained a defensive concept to his team during a recent huddle. Pitino said he wants his

team to thrive on ball movement and intense defense. - photo by Dave Klotz


DIENG, NEW LINEUP, HELP CARDS CRUSH GARDNER-WEBB

Freshman Gorgui Dieng has been in the starting lineup since the Drexel. He played

well against Gardner-Webb and Western Kentucky, but he took a step back against

Morgan State. - photo by Dave Klotz


10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASON10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONCARDINAL BASKETBALL

By Rick CushingThe University of Louisville’s fi rst road

test of the season -- last Wednesday night in Bowling Green against Western Kentucky – turned out to be … well, not even a pop quiz, much less a test.

Whatever you want to call it, the Cards aced it, burying the Hilltoppers 114-82 be-hind a fl urry of three-pointers and an ava-lanche of layups.

It was the most points ever scored by the winner in the 75-game UofL-WKU series that dates to 1926 (the previous high was 107 by UofL in 1974), and it was the most points by UofL in any game since a 115-76 victory over Tennessee State on Dec. 20, 1999.

The chief executioner for UofL (10-1) was sophomore point guard Peyton Siva, who scored a career-high 29 points, hitting 4 of 7 three-point shots and making several driving layups. He also had a career-high eight assists and two steals in 29 minutes of playing time.

“Peyton Siva was fantastic,” coach Rick Pitino said. “He ran the point really well, he found the right people, and he scored. He has really improved his game.”

The Cards’ second-leading scorer was Chris Smith, who was making his second consecutive start after Pitino shuffl ed his lineup following a 52-46 loss to Drexel on Dec. 14. Smith had 18 points, hitting 8 of 12 shots, including 2 of 3 treys, and adding six rebounds. Preston Knowles and Rakeem Buckles had 15 points apiece, and each made three treys, with Knowles going 3 for 9 and Buckles 3 for 3.

Pitino was particularly pleased with Buck-les, who missed the previous game against Gardner-Webb with a concussion following consecutive non-productive games against UNLV and Drexel.

“I was really pleased with Rakeem,” Pitino said. “He has really come around. This was his fi rst really good all-around game in about a month.”

In fact, Pitino was well-pleased with ev-erybody. “It was our best game of the sea-son, and then some,” he said. “We could have beaten a lot of great teams tonight the way we played. We were on fi re. Everything went right. I can’t say anything bad about anybody. Even the bus driver who brought us here did a great job.”

The atmosphere at the start of the game was electric, with a full house of rabid WKU fans urging on their Toppers. A vociferous student section let the Cards have it from the moment they took the court for warm-ups, and they rained boos and catcalls on the players when UofL’s starting lineup was introduced. Then the lights dimmed and a two-minute highlight fi lm of WKU basketball history was projected on the video boards at opposite ends of E.A. Diddle Arena, followed by the P.A. announcer’s pronouncement that another legend would be created tonight.

For the fi rst 12 minutes and 29 seconds the game ran true to the script WKU had written, with the teams trading mini-runs. UofL led just 25-24 with 7:31 left in the half, at which point the outcome seemed to be in serious doubt. Suddenly, it all changed.

After scoring 25 points in the fi rst 12:29, the Cards ripped off 32 points in the fi nal

7:31 of the half. Smith started a 15-6 run over the ensuing 3½ minutes with a jumper. Then came a steal by Kyle Kuric that led to two free throws by Siva, a steal by Gorgui Dieng that led to a three-pointer by Russ Smith, a layup by Dieng off an assist by Siva, a jumper by Siva, a driving layup by Knowles, and a layup by Chris Smith.

After a WKU basket made it 40-32, the Cards closed out the half with a 17-4 run that included fi ve three-pointers (by Knowles, Buckles, Siva and two by Kuric), a dunk by Buckles and two blocks by Dieng, who also was making his second start since the lineup shuffl e. The 6-10 freshman fi nished with eight points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.

“He was terrifi c,” Pitino said. “He passed the ball well out of the post, and he affected a lot of shots. They credit him with just two blocks, but he altered a lot more.”

It was 57-36 at the half as UofL shot 68.8 percent overall (22 of 32), including 62.5 percent from beyond the arc (10 of 16), and held a commanding 22-10 advantage on the boards. The Cards also were coming up with virtually every loose ball, and they were pres-suring WKU’s shooters into going just 11 of 31 (35.5 percent), including 3 of 8 on treys (37.5 percent).

In the latter stages of the half the Top-

pers (5-7) appeared to be gassed as a result of UofL’s fast pace, with WKU star Juan Pat-tilo failing to make it past midcourt on two straight UofL fast-break baskets and sucking for air. Coach Ken McDonald promptly pulled Pattilo from the game.

“I thought the pace really got to them,” Chris Smith said. “We wanted to knock the air out of them.”

By the close of the fi rst half the student section had turned its ire away from the Cards and onto the referees, questioning their eyesight, integrity, competence and the identity of their benefactors. (“Who’s paying you?” the chief antagonist in the fi rst row of the student section yelled to a referee stand-ing just 10 feet away during a timeout. The referee turned to the student and calmly an-swered, “Do you want to keep that seat?”)

Another student yelled, to no one in par-ticular: “These refs, man, they’re killing us. We’re playing 5 on 8.”

Actually, 13 fouls were whistled on the Cards in the fi rst half to just six on the Top-pers, whose fans were frustrated.

WKU got the fi rst basket of the second half, but any hopes of a comeback were quickly erased by the Cards with a 20-7 run over the ensuing 4½ minutes. Chris Smith again got things rolling with a three-pointer, and the run included steals by Smith, Siva and Dieng,

two layups and four free throws by Siva (whowas 9 for 10 from the line overall), a layup byDieng and a jumper by Knowles.

The student section had turned relatively quiet by then, except when WKU switched froma man-to-man to a zone with about 15 minutesto go. “Real good move,” one student bellowedderisively. “They’re making all their outside shots,so we switch to a zone. Real smart.”

Man-to-man or zone, it really didn’t mat-ter. The Cards were getting open looks allgame long as the Toppers, for whatever rea-son, just weren’t getting after it defensively.It seemed that 70-80 percent of UofL’s three-point shots were taken without a hand in theshooter’s face, and the fi nal shot chart cred-ited the Cards with 17 made layups. It was81-49 with 12:17 to play when the crowdstarted to don their coats and fi le out intothe cold night.

The teams concluded the less-than-titanic struggle by playing to a 33-33 draw overthe fi nal 7:43, with less that half the crowdaround to see Russ Smith end things with alayup at 00:39.

The Cards shot 64.6 percent for the game (42 of 65), including 16 of 30 on treys (53.3percent). They outrebounded WKU 38-30and had 25 assists on their 42 baskets.

“It all starts with passing,” Pitino said.Said Chris Smith: “We’re like brothers. We

share the ball. That’s a key for us, and it’s a lotof fun. Every game could be anybody’s game.This was a good experience for us. It wasn’t astough as we thought it might be, but it was arivalry game on the road. Their crowd was intoit – until we took them out of it.”

Siva was surrounded by the press after the game, and they wanted him to talk abouthis outstanding effort. He defl ected all thepraise. “I still made fi ve turnovers,” he hum-bly said.

Buckles admitted he had been working on his outside shot in explaining his 3-for-3 shoot-ing on treys, and he said he didn’t want to talkabout the big showdown with Kentucky onDec. 31. “We’ve got to play Morgan State (onDec. 27) fi rst,” he said. “We won’t start look-ing at Kentucky until after Monday.”

Western was led by Sergio Kerusch with 21 points and Pattillo with 19.

SPRAINED ANKLE SIDELINES MARRASophomore forward Mike Marra suffered

a sprained right ankle in practice last Tuesdayand missed the WKU game. He appeared onthe bench sporting a walking boot and likelywill be sidelined 2-4 weeks.

Marra, who started the fi rst nine games this season before losing his starting job afterthe Drexel game, is averaging 9.3 ppg, 2.8rpg and 2.7 assists per game. He was in a se-rious shooting slump (1 for 21) over the threegames preceding Gardner-Webb, when hewent 4 for 8, but he’s shooting just 34 per-cent overall this season (32 for 94), including27 percent on treys (20 for 74).

Also missing the WKU game was fresh-man backup point guard Elisha Justice,who suffered a concussion against Gardner-Webb. Justice, who is averaging 4.7 points,1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 15.5 minutesof playing time, is expected to be back forthe Seton Hall game.

Point guard Peyton Siva was lights out against Western Kentucky, hitting 8 of 13 shots, including 4 of 7 treys, and

scoring a career-high 29 points. He also had a career-high eight assists. “I still made fi ve turnovers,” the

humble sophomore said. - photo by Dave Klotz

C A R D S P A S S F I R S T R O A D T E S T W I T H F L Y I N G C O L O R S

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It’s that time of year again: Christmas, the start of a new year, my birthday and, oh yes, the UK vs. UofL basketball game. I have to register a complaint about the scheduling of this game during a time of good tidings and joy between Christmas and New Year’s Day. There’s too much stress related to the holiday season to add this game during a time when most fans are off work and enjoying the down time. For some reason the result of the basketball game seems to be of more concern to the fans than the football game. I haven’t fi gured out why yet, but it might have something to do with the relatively recent success of the two schools’ football programs vs. the historical success in basketball at both schools. Regardless, the chat-ter of ridicule and braggadocio seems to increase around the time of the annual basketball series.

Louisville’s fi rst win over Kentucky came 95 years ago on Feb. 27, 1915, by a score of 26-15 at the new YMCA gym at Third and Broadway. Earlier in the season after failing to score a fi eld goal in the fi rst half in Lexington, UofL lost to UK 18-14. That UofL team had no offi cial coach but was led by star player Clarence Rodgers. The following season Louisville joined the fl edgling Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference along with Transylvania, Central (Centre), Georgetown and Berea. Before joining the group Louisville had to agree not to play Kentucky, which was “blacklisted” because of using an ineligible player (hmm … sounds fa-miliar). Not wanting to drop Kentucky because it was its top revenue game, UofL brokered an agreement with the KIAC schools that allowed Kentucky to “withdraw” from the league, pay back dues and schedule KIAC opponents. That same year UofL added the school of graduate studies to its downtown campus that included the schools of medicine, law and liberal arts.

The following season Louisville won its fi rst game in Lexington on Feb. 12 -- 26-22 -- but lost the return match in Louisville 32-24. The Cardinals did win all their games against KIAC competition to capture the league championship their fi rst year in the league. In spite of the hard work to keep Kentucky on the schedule, UofL would go four seasons before playing the Wildcats once in 1922, losing 29-22. The next meeting between the two didn’t occur until 1959 in the NCAA Mideast Regional in Evanston, Ill. Coach Peck Hickman’s squad won 76-61 in a loss that legendary UK coach Adolph Rupp compared to Pearl Harbor.

That was the last time the teams would play until another NCAA Mideast Regional clash in 1983, won by the Cards in overtime 80-68. That game in Knoxville, Tenn., started the ball roll-ing for a renewed series between the archrivals. Wilting under pressure from the state legisla-ture, fans and even some UK trustees, UK athletic director Cliff Hagan met with Louisville AD Bill Olsen in Frankfort to seal the deal after the 1983 season and agree that the teams would play on a home-and-home basis from then on. The next meeting was the fi rst game of the season the following Nov. 26. Kentucky has won 18 of 28 games since the series resumed.

How about the future? Will Rick Pitino and future UofL coaches be able to make up the won-loss gap between the teams? What about this year? Will Pitino’s lower-rated recruits match-up with Kentucky’s as the Wildcats have signed the nation’s top class in 2009, 2010 and 2011? This year’s contest in the KFC Yum! Center will give Cards fans a glimpse into what the potential results will be of coach John Calipari’s NBA feeder system installed at the University of Kentucky. With four fi ve-star recruits from last season having been drafted into the NBA, a new set of fi ve-stars await the Cards on Friday night.

Since this is only the second year of Calipari’s experiment in college basketball dominance, there are still a lot of unanswered questions:

· What are the expectations of the UK fans for a team that year after year includes 4-5 one-and-done NBA players? Will fans be satisfi ed with a Final Eight or even a Final Four? Will anything less than a national championship be acceptable?

· Will the UK fans embrace a new set of stars each season? Will their loyalty be tested without some continuity from players?

· Will the rabid UK fan base accept continued losses to teams that have fi ve losses in another league after dominating the SEC -- such as happened last season when West Virginia downed the Big Blue – and having the top recruiting class year after year?

· How will Calipari keep the team focused when four or fi ve of the starters every year are starry-eyed for the NBA and the big money?

· Year after year outstanding college athletes are enticed by agents and brokers dan-gling the big money awaiting them after the season. How do the UK coaches and ad-ministrators ensure improper contact never occurs with their players, thus jeopardizing UK’s NCAA eligibility?

· When recruiting 4-6 top recruits annually, how does the coach persuade the second-tier players that make up the foundation of a program to come to his school with the prospect of rarely getting to play?

· How long can a program in the NCAA crosshairs avoid the possibility of an illegal recruit such as Eric Bledsoe or Enes Kanter causing the school to pay the price if caught?

· What will be the reaction of life-long Kentuckians when local star players sit the bench year after year as new players come into the program (i.e. Jon Hood)?

· What if there is a lean year when top recruits decide to go to Europe or don’t make the grade? How do you develop a strong bench when fi ve new star recruits come into the program and leave after one season year after year?

· How long can an academic institution put up with athletes who don’t even go to class in the second semester before leaving for an NBA career?

These and other issues are yet to be played out and will eventually have an impact on the UofL vs.UK basketball rivalry.

BUCKLE UP: CARDS AND CATSSET TO RENEW BITTER RIVALRY

COMMENTARY BY JACK COFFEE [email protected]

Peyton Siva switched to his left hand to get off a shot over Drexel’s Sa. Givens two weeks ago. Siva made just 3 of 9 shots and had more turnovers (4) than assists (2) as the Cards fell 52-46. He’ll have to fare better if the Cardinals are going to beat Kentucky Friday. - photo by Dave Klotz


BASKETBALL PREVIEW - KENTUCKY

By Rick CushingSEASON SO FARAs everyone around here knows, the University of Kentucky

again signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, their latest version of the one-and-done Wildcats. Last season it produced a 35-3 record, an SEC championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but UK fell short of the Final Four when West Virginia exploited its weakness – shooting – and knocked off the Cats in the Elite Eight.

UK lost four freshmen (we hesitate to call them student-athletes) to the NBA last spring, plus junior Patrick Patter-son, so coach John Calipari reloaded. This class has been hurt because top big man Enes Kanter, who’s 6-11, has been declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA (an appeal has yet to be decided upon), but it appears superior to last sea-son in at least one respect – it contains a shooter. The 6-4 Doron Lamb set a school record for a freshman by scoring 32 points last Tuesday in an 89-52 victory over Winthrop. He hit 7 of 8 three-point shots in eclipsing the freshman record of 31 points set by Jamal Mashburn on Feb. 3, 1991, against Georgia.

The Wildcats made 12 of 22 treys overall against Win-throp, so packing the defense in and daring UK to beat you from outside – as West Virginia did so effectively – could be problematical this season.

The Wildcats started the season 6-0 before losing to Con-necticut 84-67 in the final of the Maui Invitational. After another victory, UK suffered a narrow loss (75-73) at North Carolina, but it has rebounded to win four straight heading into Tuesday night’s home game against Coppin State. UK is currently 9-2 and ranked 11th in the country.

COACH:Calipari, who’s in his 19th season, is 491-145 heading

into the Coppin State game. He’s off to the best start of any coach in UK history at 46-5. Tubby Smith’s 43-5 start in the 1998 and 1999 seasons was the previous record. Adolph Rupp was 41-7 after his first 48 games.

Last season Calipari recorded his fifth straight 30-win season – a first in NCAA history -- and his seventh over-all. Seven 30-win seasons ties him for the third-most with UConn’s Jim Calhoun.

Calipari also is the nation’s winningest coach over the last five-plus seasons at 180-19. Kansas’ Bill Self is second at 166-27, with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski third at 157-33.

Calipari is the only coach ever to lead three schools to a No. 1 ranking (UMass in 1995 and ‘96, Memphis in 2008 and UK last season), and he has taken two schools to the Final Four (UMass in 1996, Memphis in 2008). He also is the only coach to have two Final Four appearances vacated because of NCAA violations. He has not been technically implicated in either of those cases, however.

GUARDS:The Wildcats employ three guards in their dribble-drive of-

fense, with 6-3 freshman Brandon Knight running the show. Knight was rated the top point guard in the 2010 recruiting class, and he was named to the Naismith Award Preseason Watch List (the award goes to the nation’s top player). He has lived up to his billing, averaging 17.5 ppg, second on the team, and leading the team at 3.5 assists per game. He also leads at 3.8 turnovers per game. He’s shooting 44 percent overall (66 of 150), 34.3 percent from three-point range (24 of 70).

Lamb is not a starter but is third on the team in scoring at 14.2 ppg. He’s shooting 51.5 percent overall (51 of 99), a scin-tillating 55.6 percent from beyond the arc (25 of 45). UofL will have to pay extra special attention to Lamb on Friday.

The other two starting guards are 6-6 DeAndre Liggins and 6-7 Darius Miller, both juniors. Liggins is fouth on the team at 10.4 ppg, with Miller fi fth at 9.6 ppg. Liggins is shooting just 41.4 percent overall (36 of 87) but is at 42.9 percent from three-point range (12 of 28). Miller is at 46.7 percent overall (35 of 75), 50 percent from beyond the arc (17 of 34). Both rebound well, Liggins at 4.1 rpg, Miller at 5.1. Liggins averages 3.0 as-sists per game, Miller 2.0. Liggins is tied with forward Terrence Jones for the team lead in steals with 15.

BIG MENThe 6-8 Jones is the leading freshman in the country in

scoring (18.2 ppg) and rebounding (9.6 rpg). He is tied for fi rst among freshmen with fi ve double-doubles. He leads the team in blocks with 22. Jones is shooting just 43.7 percent overall (69 of 158), however, 33.3 percent on treys (10 of 30).

In Kanter’s absence, 6-10 senior Josh Harrelson is the start-ing center and has been a pleasant surprise as a rebounder. He’s second on the team at 9.4 rpg but leads in offensive re-bounds with 40. He’s not much of an offensive threat at 5.0 ppg. He’s shooting 58.1 percent (25 of 43) as he stays close to the basket – he’s 1 of 2 on three-point shots.

Harrelson’s backup is 6-11 junior Eloy Vargas, who’s averag-ing 2.9 ppg and 3.5 rpg. Neither post player is much of a passer, with both having only two assists this season.

MISC:UK is shooting 45.4 percent overall, a good 41.6 percent from

beyond the arc. That would appear to be the focus of UofL’s de-fense – bothering the three-point shooters. UK has been tough defensively, holding foes to 38 percent shooting overall, a stingy 28.7 percent on treys. Opponents are averaging just 62.9 ppg.

ALL-TIME SERIES:UofL and UK have met 41 times in a series that dates to 1913,

with the Wildcats holding a 27-14 advantage. They won a bruising contest 71-62 last year, although the Cardinals took the previous two meetings. UofL coach Rick Pitino is 4-5 against UK, a school he guided to an NCAA title in 1996. He coached at UK for eight seasons, going 6-2 against the Cards. KE

NTUC

KY W

ILDCA

TS

Friday, Dec. 31Kentucky at Louisville

12 PM noon

NO NAME POS YR EXP HT/WT HOMETOWN

0 ENES KANTER F FR. HS 6-11/262 ISTANBUL, (STONERIDGE PREP)

1 DARIUS MILLER G JR. 2V 6-7/228 MAYSVILLE, KY (MASON COUNTY HS)

2 STACEY POOLE JR. G FR. HS 6-4/195 JACKSONVILLE, FL (PROVIDENCE HS)

3 TERRENCE JONES F FR. HS 6-8/244 PORTLAND, OR (JEFFERSON HS)

4 JON HOOD G SO. 1V 6-7/202 MADISONVILLE, KY (MADISONVILLE HS)

5 JARROD POLSON G FR. HS 6-2/185 NICHOLASVILLE, KY (WEST JESSAMINE HS)

12 BRANDON KNIGHT G FR. HS 6-3/185 FT. LAUDERDALE, FL (PINE CREST HS)

20 DORON LAMB G FR. HS 6-4/195 QUEENS, NY (OAK HILL ACADEMY)

30 ELOY VARGAS F JR. JC 6-11/250 MOCA, (MIAMI-DADE CC)

34 DEANDRE LIGGINS G JR. 2V 6-6/210 CHICAGO, IL (FINDLAY PREP )

55 JOSH HARRELLSON F SR. 2V 6-10/275 ST. CHARLES, MO (SW ILLINOIS CC)

2010-11 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL ROSTER

2010-11 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME NOVEMBER Nov. 12, 2010 East Tenn State W, 88-65 Nov. 19, 2010 at Portland W, 79-48 Nov. 22, 2010 Oklahoma W, 76-64 Nov. 23, 2010 Washington W, 74-67 Nov. 24, 2010 at Connecticut L, 84-67 Nov. 30, 2010 Boston U. W, 74-67

DECEMBER Dec. 4, 2010 at N. Carolina L, 75-73 Dec. 8, 2010 Notre Dame W, 72-58 Dec. 11, 2010 Indiana W, 81-62 Dec. 18, 2010 Mississippi Valley W, 85-60 Dec. 22, 2010 Winthrop W, 89-52 Dec. 28, 2010 Coppin St. 7:00 pm ET Dec. 31, 2010 at Louisville 12:00 pm ET

JANUARY Jan. 3, 2011 Pennsylvania 7:00 pm ET Jan. 8, 2011 at Georgia 4:00 pm ET Jan. 11, 2011 Auburn 7:00 pm ET Jan. 15, 2011 LSU 4:00 pm ET Jan. 18, 2011 at Alabama 9:00 pm ET Jan. 22, 2011 at South Carolina 6:00 pm ET Jan. 29, 2011 Georgia 4:00 pm ET

FEBRUARY Feb. 1, 2011 at Ole Miss 7:00 pm ET Feb. 5, 2011 at Florida 9:00 pm ET Feb. 8, 2011 Tennessee 9:00 pm ET Feb. 12, 2011 at Vanderbilt 1:00 pm ET Feb. 15, 2011 Miss. State 7:00 pm ET Feb. 19, 2011 South Carolina 4:00 pm ET Feb. 23, 2011 at Arkansas 8:00 pm ET Feb. 26, 2011 Florida 4:00 pm ET

MARCH Mar. 1, 2011 Vanderbilt 9:00 pm ET Mar. 6, 2011 at Tennessee 12:00 pm ET

Coach: John CalipariLast season: 35-3,14-2 SEC

Overall record: 489-145 (19th year)A Kentucky: 44-5 (one year)

Cats will try to replace fi ve fi rst-round NBA Draft picks from last season

DARIUS MILLERDARIUS MILLER

T E A M B R E A K D O W N


CARDINAL FOOTBALL VS. RUTGERS PHOTO GALLERY

Wow, it’s been a remarkable two weeks since we last published. We missed publishing last week because of the timing of the bowl game. We typically print Tuesday morning, but the bowl game was

on Tuesday night last week. Then, because the postal holiday was just three days later, our ability to get the magazine to you would have been delayed until Monday. That’s the day before we printed again! The GOOD news is that we’ll add an issue in April so you’ll get more coverage of the spring sports and spring football practice.

Louisville’s 31-28 victory in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St.

Petersburg, Fla., seemed to be a microcosm of the season. The Cardinals got down by two touchdowns early, just as they had done against Kentucky and Oregon State. Then Louisville fought back to tie the score at 21, then 28, before winning on a fi eld goal by Chris Philpott with 6:30 to go. The Cardinals opened the season with a loss to Kentucky and then two weeks later lost to Oregon State, but they fought back to go 6-6 and qualify for a bowl. Then they fi nished with a winning record by winning the bowl game. It was a wild game, but after this season we likely shouldn’t have expected anything different.

Raise your hand if you saw this coming. Some of the bowl festivities for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which is scheduled for Thursday, have been cancelled due to heavy snowfall in the New

York area. As cool as it is to have a bowl game in Yankee Stadium, and as much as we love traveling to New York City for anything, much less a week-long stay for a bowl game, we have to wonder whether having an outdoor bowl in New York in late December is such a good idea. Most of the players and coaches from Syracuse arrived in New York via Amtrak, and most of their followers will have to do the same if they want to get to the city. The roads are a mess due to 11-15 inches of snow in the area and up to 50 mph wind gusts around the city. According to news reports, more than 1,000 fl ights into and out of New York City have been cancelled due to the weather. Some of the Syracuse players were fl ying directly to New York from a stop home for the Christmas break. Many of those players won’t make it back until Sunday or Monday. “That’ll be challenging,” Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said on Saturday. “We may be missing some tomorrow, but most should be here by Monday night.”

Things are fl ying high for Louisville football right now. Not only did the Cards overachieve and make a bowl this season, they won it. Also, coach Charlie Strong is pulling in some of the top recruits

in the nation. Last week he secured commitments from two of Florida’s fi nest - Miami Northwestern quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and cornerback/wide receiver Eli Rogers. Bridgewater is the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the nation, according to Rivals.com. He’s also one of the Top-100 recruits in the nation overall. That puts him in rare company where Louisville is concerned. The only other Top-100 recruits in UofL history have been record-setting quarterback Brian Brohm, amazing athlete Michael Bush and freshman phenom Deantwan “Peanut” Whitehead, whose career was cut short due to a spinal condition. And Rogers is no slouch himself. He’s ranked as one of the Top 100 recruits in Florida, an honor that puts him in the same category as UofL stars Kolby Smith, Elis Dumervil, Will Gay and Rodney Gnat.

We loved seeing Strong celebrating with his team and UofL fans after the bowl victory. What an awesome scene after that game! After sprinting away from a Gatorade bath, Strong hugged

his players and coaches and shook hands with the opposing team. Then he jogged to the end zone, hopped up on a picnic table and saluted the fans with a victorious fi rst pump. If you haven’t seen the video, be sure to check it out on CardinalSports.com. After the game, Strong sent out this message on Twitter: “I am so proud of this football team for everything they accomplished this season! This is just the beginning! Go Cards!”

What is going on at West Virginia? Bill Stewart is still their coach, and they took on North Carolina State Tuesday in the Champs Sports Bowl (after this week’s LSR was published). But

other than that, everything else seems to be changing. The Mountaineers brought in Dana Holgorsen from Oklahoma State as their new offensive coordinator, with the promise that he would become head coach after next season. Many believe major staff changes are right around the corner. The big story before the bowl was just how much - rather how little - the Mountaineers had practiced. The team took a week off for fi nals, then skipped a day of workouts for the bowl as a Christmas present from Stewart. Then the team took another day of bowl prep and spent it at Universal Orlando Resort. When asked about the light work load, Stewart assured fans they had nothing to worry about. “We’ve worked very, very hard, very, very diligently, and have been after the task at hand and that is to beat the North Carolina State Wolfpack,” he said. “Your Mountaineers have worked just like mine mules in typical West Virginia workmanlike fashion. We’re not totally ready, but now the mental preparation begins.” What an odd quote.

We all knew that 8-4 Connecticut would get blasted by the national pundits for making a BCS bowl. The cries of, “They don’t deserve it,” and, “Yank the BCS bid from the Big East,” have been

a hot topic in newspaper columns across the country. While we think the take-their-bid crowd should take a hike, we also can’t help but shake our heads at the awful showing by UConn fans for their team’s fi rst-ever BCS bid. The Huskies will take on Oklahoma Saturday night in the Fiesta Bowl, but most of their fans have decided to stay home. According to the Connecticut Post, the school has sold approximately 4,600 of the 17,500 tickets it was allotted for the game. UConn must pay for any unsold tickets -- at nearly $200 per ticket on average -- and could be on the hook for millions of dollars in unused tickets and hotel rooms. Part of the trouble is lack of interest. The other trouble is stubhub.com. The tickets selling through the University are priced at $190, $235 and $255. Tickets for the Fiesta Bowl are selling on stubhub.com as of press time for $12. That is bad news for the school.

We think it is safe to say the Big East is MUCH better than most people predicted this season in basketball. After losing so much talent to the NBA last season, the league was expected

to take a major step back. Ha, no way. In last week’s poll, fi ve of the top nine teams in the nation were from the Big East. That is amazing. Check this out: Going into Monday night’s Connecticut-Pittsburgh game, the Big East had three of the nation’s eight undefeated teams (Cincy, Connecticut and Syracuse) and fi ve of the nation’s 13 teams with one loss (Pittsburgh, Louisville, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Villanova). Big East teams are a combined 151-36 (.807) this season and are 110-9 (.924) at home.

Probably the most overrated team in the league right now is Cincinnati. The Bearcats are getting a lot of press for being 12-0, but if you take even a cursory glance at their schedule you will

understand why their record is unblemished. The Bearcats have played only one team rated in the RPI top 100, and that is No. 89 Dayton. They have played seven teams rated 250 or higher. By comparison, Louisville - which has taken more than its fair share of criticism for its schedule this season - has played three RPI top-25 teams (No. 9 Butler, No. 13 UNLV and No. 17 Drexel) and just one team (Florida International at 306) ranked above 250.

Baseball and softball seasons are just around the corner, and the fundraising dinners for both sports are just under a month away. The softball team will welcome two-time Olympic

gold medalist Michele Smith for a dinner on Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Galt House Hotel. For more information on tickets and tables, call Lisa Pinkston at 502, 852-7854. The baseball team will host its leadoff dinner on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the South Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center. This year’s dinner will feature Cy Young Award runner-up Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals and Louisville Bats manager Rick Sweet. For ticket and table information, call 502, 852-0706.

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C O M M E N T A R Y B Y H O W I E L I N D S E Y


BASKETBALL PREVIEW - SETON HALL

By Rick CushingSEASON SO FARThe Pirates began the season with a new coach, Kevin Wil-

lard, and high hopes. Willard, a former assistant at UofL and whose father, Ralph, is the current UofL Director of Basketball Operations, inherited a team that went 19-13, 9-9 last sea-son and returned four starters, including the Big East’s third-leading scorer in 6-5 senior Jeremy Hazell and top rebounder in 6-8 junior Herb Pope.

But Hazell, who averaged 20.4 ppg last season and was av-eraging 24.0 ppg in the fi rst three games, hasn’t played since suffering a broken left wrist on Nov. 19 against Alabama. That would have sidelined him until mid-January, but last weekend he was shot under his right arm during a burglary attempt at his family’s home in Harlem and now may not play again this season. The school may seek a medical redshirt for Hazell so he can return next season.

Pope, who collapsed last summer because of a heart de-fect and was hospitalized for a month, underwent an opera-tion and was cleared to return, but his production, so far, has not matched last season’s, when he was the Big East’s only double-double performer (11.5 ppg, 10.7 ppg). This season he’s at 7.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg and has been limited to just 23.3 minutes a game.

Willard’s chief task was to improve Seton Hall’s defense, which allowed 74.5 ppg last season, 15th in the Big East and 313th in the country. So far, so good, as opponents this season are averaging just 63.5 ppg, tied for ninth in the Big East. But the Pirates’ scoring also is down, from 80.1 ppg last season, fourth in the Big East, to 70.7 ppg this season, 14th in the league. Consequently Seton Hall is 6-6 following a 69-61 loss to visiting Richmond (10-3) last Sunday. The Pirates will open conference play Tuesday (Dec. 28) against South Florida. They also will play at Cincinnati on Friday before taking on UofL next Wednesday.

COACH:Willard left UofL to take his fi rst head coaching job at Iona

in 2007. He inherited a team that was coming off a two-win season and won 12 games in his fi rst season. The Gaels again won 12 games in 2008-09, but they were 21-10 last season, leading Seton Hall to tab him as the man to revive a program that has enjoyed success in the past.

Willard turned it around at Iona by stressing defense, so it appears he’s the man for the job at Seton Hall. With his heri-tage – the son of a longtime coach – and the fact that Rick Pi-tino always spoke highly of him, the Pirates fi gure to be headed in the right direction.

GUARDS:Hazell, who was named second-team all-Big East last sea-

son, was the fi rst Seton Hall player to average more than 20

ppg in consecutive seasons in 32 years. He was on track to break Terry Dehere’s all-time scoring record at the Hall until being hurt. Hazell’s absence has led to a change in the Pirates’ offense, which now involves more passing and patience.

“We put in a new offense where everybody touches the ball,” said junior point guard Jordan Theodore.

Hazell had 25 points against UofL last season as Seton Hall won 80-77.

Theodore, a 6-0 junior, is averaging 12.5 ppg, and is the team leader with Hazell out, and he is leading the team at 5.1 assists per game. He had 17 points and four assists against the Cardinals last season.

But the Pirates haven’t been able to replace Hazell’s scor-ing. His replacement in the starting lineup, 6-3 senior Jamel Jackson, is averaging just 6.1 ppg, and in his last two games he went scoreless against Dayton (a 69-65 loss) and got two points against Richmond.

The chief backup in the backcourt is 6-2 senior Keon Law-rence, who is averaging 3.25 ppg. He was a starter last season and scored 10 points against UofL.

Another key backcourt reserve is 6-5 senior Eniel Polynice, who is averaging 4.2 ppg.

BIG MENJeff Robinson, a 6-6 senior who is averaging 12.4 ppg and

6.3 rpg, starts at one forward. He had 12 points and eight re-bounds against UofL last season.

Manning the middle is Pope. Although his numbers are down this season, he is coming off two good games on the boards: 12 rebounds against Richmond, 11 against Dayton. He scored just nine points against Richmond and four against Dayton, however. He’s shooting just 37.9 percent from the fi eld.

The third starter in the frontcourt is 6-6 freshman Fuquan Edwin, who is averaging 9.1 ppg and 4.0 rpg, although he has averaged 13.2 ppg and 7.3 rpg over his past four games.

The principal frontcourt reserve is 6-8 sophomore Ferrakohn Hall, who is averaging 5.4 ppg and 3.3 rpg.

MISC:The Pirates were an average shooting team last season –

44.5 percent, ninth in the Big East – but this season they are last in the Big East at 41.7 percent. They are tied for ninth in three-point shooting at 33.1 percent, about the same as last season. But they are next to last in the league in offensive re-bounding percentage at 0.306.

Depth also has been a problem, especially since Hazell went down, so UofL’s fast-paced offense could wear on the Pirates.

ALL-TIME SERIES:UofL and Seton Hall have met 13 times in a series that dates

to 1948, with the Cardinals holding an 8-5 advantage. Although Seton Hall won last year and in 2008 in South Orange, N.J., the Cardinals won the last fi ve times the Pirates came here.

NO NAME POS HT WT YR HOMETOWN 1 ANALI OKOLOJI F FR. 6-8/220 BROOKLYN, NY (IMPACT ACADEMY)

2 KEON LAWRENCE G SR. 3V 6-2/177 NEWARK, NJ (WEEQUAHIC HS)

10 JORDAN THEODORE G JR. HS 6-0/174 ENGLEWOOD, NJ (PATERSON CATHOLIC)

14 ENIEL POLYNICE G SR. 2V 6-5/220 SARASOTA, FL (BOOKER)

15 HERB POPE F JR. 2V 6-8/236 ALIQUIPPA, PA (NEW MEXICO STATE)

21 JEREMY HAZELL G SR. 2V 6-5/188 BRONX, NY (PATTERSON SCHOOL, N.C.)

22 JAMEL JACKSON G SR. 2V 6-3/202 BROOKLYN, NY (TECHNICAL CAREER INSTITUTE)

23 FUQUAN EDWIN G-F FR. 6-6/205 PATERSON, NJ (PATERSON CATHOLIC HS)

25 FERRAKOHN HALL F SO. HS 6-8/220 MEMPHIS, TN (WHITE STATION)

30 DARNELL GATLING G SR. 2V 5-9/150 BROOKYLN, NY (LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY)

32 JEFF ROBINSON F SR. HS 6-6/230 COLUMBUS, NJ (UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS)

33 PATRIK AUDA F FR. 6-9/225 BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC (CANARIAS BASKETBALL ACADEMY)

42 AARON GERAMIPOOR F-C FR. 6-11/225 MANCHESTER, ENGLAND (CANARIAS BASKETBALL ACADEMY)

SETO

N HA

LL P

IRAT

ES2010-11 SETON HALL BASKETBALL ROSTER

Wednesday, Jan. 5Seton Hall at Louisville

7 PM

2010-11 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME NOVEMBER Nov. 12, 2010 at Temple L, 62-56Nov. 14, 2010 Cornell W, 92-68 Nov. 19, 2010 Alabama W, 83-78Nov. 21, 2010 Xavier L, 57-52 Nov. 22, 2010 at Clemson L, 64-58 Nov. 29, 2010 St. Peter’s W, 57-52

DECEMBERDec. 8, 2010 at Arkansas L, 71-62Dec. 11, 2010 at Massachusetts W, 104-79Dec. 13, 2010 LONGWOOD W, 78-51Dec. 19, 2010 NJ TECH W, 68-45Dec. 22, 2010 Dayton L, 69-65Dec. 26, 2010 Richmond L, 69-61 Dec. 28, 2010 South Florida 7:00 p.m. Dec. 31, 2010 at Cincinnati 8:00 p.m.

JANUARYJan. 5, 2011 at Louisville 7:00 p.m. Jan. 8, 2011 Syracuse 12:00 p.m. Jan. 12, 2011 at DePaul 9:00 p.m. Jan. 15, 2011 at Pittsburgh 7:00 p.m. Jan. 18, 2011 Georgetown 7:00 p.m. Jan. 22, 2011 Rutgers 12:00 p.m. Jan. 25, 2011 at Syracuse 7:00 p.m. Jan. 30, 2011 Providence 3:00 p.m.

FEBRUARYFeb. 2, 2011 at West Virginia 7:00 p.m. Feb. 5, 2011 Connecticut 7:00 p.m. Feb. 12, 2011 at Rutgers 7:00 p.m. Feb. 15, 2011 Villanova 8:00 p.m. Feb. 19, 2011 at Marquette 9:00 p.m. Feb. 26, 2011 at Notre Dame 7:00 p.m.

MARCH

SETON HALLCoach: Kevin Willard

Last Season: 19-13, 9-9 Big EastOverall record: 51-55 (fourth seasons)

At Seton Hall: First seasonPirates in a new direction

after dumping nutty Gonzalez

JEREMY HAZELLJEREMY HAZELL

T E A M B R E A K D O W N


By Russ BrownIt’s safe to say that Jeremy Wright has

staked his claim to the starting running back

spot for the University of Louisville next sea-

son. However, while the sophomore-to-be is

the heir apparent to 1,000-yard rusher Bilal

Powell, he isn’t about to take anything for

granted.

Or even acknowledge

that he’ll be the front-

runner for the position

when spring practice

opens in a few months.

“I just look at it as

whatever Coach wants

me to be, I’m going to go

out there and give 100

percent,” Wright said after his impressive

performance in UofL’s 31-28 victory over

Southern Mississippi in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s

Bowl last week. “If that’s the case (as the

starter), I’ll have to take over that role. But

I’m just glad things worked out the way

they did this season.”

Barring an injury, it’s diffi cult to see any-

one but Wright lining up at halfback for the

opening offensive play when the Cards kick

off their 2011 season against North Caro-

lina.

Other than Wright, the only returning

running back is senior Victor Anderson, who

endured an injury-plagued season, missing

four games completely -- including the bowl

game -- and carrying just six times in the fi -

nal three regular-season games. Anderson’s

best performance came against Arkansas

State, when he gained 108 yards on 18

tries. He fi nished with 286 yards on 64 car-

ries (4.5 average), with no touchdowns.

Although Wright played in Powell’s shad-

ow this year as a redshirt freshman, he came

through with fl ying colors when called upon.

Most notably, when Powell missed the Syra-

cuse game with an injury Wright gained 98

yards on 19 carries and scored two touch-

downs to help UofL to a 28-21 victory in the

Carrier Dome on Nov. 6.

The 5-11, 198-pound native of Clermont,

Fla., ripped off a 64-yard touchdown run in

Louisville’s 40-13 rout of Rutgers in the reg-

ular-season fi nale. Then he capped off 2010

by racking up 165 all-purpose yards against

USM, including a 95-yard kickoff return for

a TD that was the catalyst for the Cards’

win. He was named UofL’s Most Valuable

Player for his contributions.

UofL senior guarterback Justin Burke, for

one, thinks Wright has a bright future.

“Jeremy is going to be a superstar,” Burke

said. “He runs so low to the ground and has

a burst. He just hits the gash and goes. Jer-

emy is quiet. You never really know what

that kid is thinking. But he’s so talented. As

he gets older, he’ll start getting more vocal

and he’ll become a big part of the offense.

“I think you have already seen fl ashes of

how good he is going to be. He doesn’t even

know how much talent he has. I think he is

just one of those guys who doesn’t realize it

yet. You watch him and you are like, ‘Dang,

he is just running so smoothly.’ You wonder

if he is running hard, but he really is.”

Offensive lineman Josh Byrom called

Wright “a phenomenal athlete,” adding, “I

knew when he came in as a freshman and

ran on our scout team that he was going to

be an unbelievable back.”

Wright and the other halfbacks will be

dependent upon an almost entirely new of-

fensive line to open up running room. The

only returning starter will be junior center

Mario Benavides. Not only do regulars Byron

Stingily (LT), Mark Wetterer (LG), Byrom (RG)

and Greg Tomczyk (RT) depart, but UofL

also will lose two backups -- guard Conrad

Thomas and tackle Jeff Adams.

But both Benavides and Wright are confi -

dent the replacements will perform well.

“It’s obviously hard to replace those four

guys,” Benavides said, referring to the se-

nior starters. “I can’t even tell you how

much they’ve meant to me and the offense,

the whole team, but the great thing about

making a bowl game is you get bowl prac-

tices.

“So a lot of young guys have gotten some

reps, and I think that has helped prepare our

guys. It’s going to be bumpy, I’m sure, but I

think our coaches have done a really good

job because they know the situation for

next year. They’re no dummies. Young guys

make mistakes, but I think we’ll be fi ne.”

Said Wright: “I think the seniors left be-

hind something special and everyone will

pick up on what we accomplished this year,

and it will just fl ow for us.”

Wright said this season was a valuable

learning experience and credited running

backs/special teams coach Kenny Carter

with accelerating his development.

“I learned a wide range, a variety of

stuff,” Wright said. “When I came in as a

redshirt freshman I didn’t get the attention I

was used to in high school, so it was a hard

time for me. But Coach Carter helped me

learn the progressions, routes, protections

... taught me a lot.”

Carter also provided the encouragement

that led to Wright’s crucial 95-yard kickoff

return against Southern Miss. It came on

the second play of the fourth quarter, just

after the Golden Eagles had taken a 28-21

lead.

“Coach Carter really emphasized all year

that we could return a kick, but we never

got it done,” Wright said. “So he thought

tonight would be a perfect night to do it

if we just executed, and that’s what every-

body on the kickoff team did. We defi nitely

needed it, and there was nothing Southern

Miss was going to do to stop us from get-

ting it.”

Said Benavides: “Wow. I was just like,

‘Please run this back, please,’ and sure

enough he did. Jeremy is just one of those

special players who only comes along every

so often, and we’re lucky to have guys like

him on this team. Any given moment, he

can break one.”

It was only the second kickoff return for a

TD in Louisville bowl history, the fi rst coming

when Zek Parker went 91 yards in the 1999

Humanitarian Bowl against Boise State. The

UofL record for a kickoff return TD is 100

yards by six different players, most recently

by JaJuan Spillman against Rutgers in 2006.

RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONCARDINAL FOOTBALL

Redshirt freshman Jeremy Wright was named UofL’s

Offensive MVP of the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl after running a

kickoff back 95 yards for a TD in the fourth quarter to tie

the score at 28. Wright, who also gained 31 yards on six

carries, is the heir apparent to the starting tailback spot next

season.- photo by Dave Klotz


R I S I N G S O P H O M O R E S H O U L D S U C C E E D P O W E L L A S S T A R T E R

BEEF BOWL MVP SHOWS HE HAS THE WRIGHT STUFF FOR 2011


By Russ BrownST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Early in the sec-

ond quarter of last Tuesday night’s Beef’ ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, with Southern Mississippi lead-ing Louisville 21-7, the scoreboard in Tropicana Field showed the Eagles ahead only 18-7.

That prompted a chant of “Change the score, change the score,” from the contingent of Southern Miss fans. The score changed all right, but not in the way those fans meant.

After a shaky start by the Cardinals that looked as if they had spent too much time on St. Pete Beach and probably had the Golden Eagles (8-5) wondering, ‘Where’s the beef?’ UofL (7-6) rallied to pull out an entertaining and hard-fought 31-28 victory in front of 20,017

fans, probably three-fourths of them from Louisville.

The comeback capped a resurgent season, enabling the Cards to post their fi rst winning season in four years and avoid the embarrass-ing double whammy of losing to the fourth-place team in Conference USA and becoming the fi rst Big East team to lose a bowl game to a team from a non-BCS conference (the Big East is now 12-0).

It also put the fi nishing touches on a suc-cessful inaugural season for coach Charlie Strong, a rookie head coach at 50 years old, and was UofL’s fi rst bowl triumph since beat-ing Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl at the end of the 2006 season.

Chris Philpott’s 36-yard fi eld goal with 6:?? left gave UofL its fi rst lead of the night and provided the winning points.

“Before the game, I said, ‘Just give me 60 minutes, guys. That’s all we need,’” Strong said. “’Tomorrow, you have all day to rest. You can really have a great Christmas. Those pres-ents are fun to open when you win a game.’

“It was so important for our fans, it was

so important for the city of Louisville. It’s so big, just where we started out from. Now they have something they can ... say, ‘Now we’re headed in the right direction.’”

It was by no means a dominating perfor-mance by UofL -- its offense essentially played only half the game, generating just 12 yards in the fi rst quarter and a meager six in the third against one of the most generous de-fenses in the FBS -- but it was good enough and characterized a season in which nothing came easy.

Louisville’s MVP Award, voted by the me-dia, went to sophomore running back Jeremy Wright, whose electrifying and record-setting 95-yard kickoff return early in the fourth quarter tied the score at 28, gave the Cards a much-needed lift and provided the impetus for the victory.

But the award just as easily could have gone to a trio of seniors -- quarterback Justin Burke, linebacker Brandon Heath or corner-back Johnny Patrick, all of whom made sig-nifi cant game-changing contributions.

Burke threw two touchdown passes while completing 20 of 32 for 178 yards, with no interceptions. Heath played every snap at line-backer and led the team in tackles with 10, including a sack. Patrick blocked a Southern Miss fi eld-goal attempt with the score tied at 21 in the third period and forced a fumble that set up a game-tying touchdown in the second quarter.

“This was a total team effort, which is what this team has been about all season,” Strong said.

Southern Miss junior quarterback Austin Davis earned his team’s MVP award by com-pleting 19 of 32 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns while also catching the fi rst TD pass of his life on a razzle-dazzle play in the second quarter. With his two TD tosses, Davis became USM’s career leader in that depart-ment with 53, eclipsing Lee Roberts and Brett Favre. Going into next season, he is just 299

short of the 7,695 yards Favre threw for from 1987-90.

Burke threw scoring passes of 11 yards to Cameron Graham and 10 yards to Josh Chich-ester, both on third-down plays.

UofL looked fl at at the beginning on both sides of the ball as Southern Miss scored on its fi rst two possessions while the Cards lost a fumble and couldn’t muster a fi rst down until their fi fth possession.

Wide receiver Quentin Pierce stunned UofL with a 32-yard TD reception on his team’s fourth play, and USM made it 14-0 at the 10:12 mark when Desmond Johnson broke through the left side of Louisville’s line and rambled 62 yards for a TD en route to a ca-reer-best 107 yards rushing.

“It wasn’t so much what Southern Miss did,” Strong said. “The fi rst touchdown they throw the ball over our head, the second one we don’t get over and the guy breaks a long run. It wasn’t so much what they were doing, it was us. I kept saying, ‘You guys need to get going, don’t worry about them. You need to start playing the way we need to play.’”

Sure enough, the Cards showed their re-siliency and determination by rallying for 21 points in the second quarter and a 21-21 deadlock as the defense regrouped and the offense fi nally came alive.

Given good fi eld position at the USM 45-yard line after a punt, UofL moved 45 yards in eight plays, with Graham’s 11-yard catch making it 14-7.

The Golden Eagles used some trickery to move ahead 21-7 on the next series. On a double reverse, wide receiver Pierce threw a 17-yard TD pass to Davis, who made a one-handed grab.

Again, though, UofL responded. Burke drove his team 80 yards in nine plays, throw-ing the 10-yard TD pass to Chichester to make it 21-14. Then on USM’s next possession, Pat-rick forced a fumble by receiver Johdrick Mor-ris and linebacker Antwone Canady recovered

on USM’s 27 to set up a 6-yard touchdownrun by Bilal Powell that tied the score with1:18 left in the half.

“I fi gured Louisville would respond and get back in the game,” Davis said. “Give thema lot of credit for doing what they did. Thatwas tough. We went up 14-0, 21-7, and theynever gave up. Their defense played hard allnight, and they were very good.”

Southern Miss opened the second half with an impressive drive, only to stall at the UofL12, where Patrick blocked a 29-yard fi eld-goalattempt by Danny Hrapmann.

“I told Johnny, ‘If the blocker comes down, you’re going to be unblocked, go block thefi eld goal,’” Strong said. “Johnny is very tal-ented, he has a lot of ability, so you expecthim to go make plays.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Davis threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to a diving ZekeWalters on the fi rst play of the fi nal period toput USM on top again, 28-21.

But Wright immediately snatched the mo-mentum away from USM with his 95-yardkickoff return to tie the score at 28. Wrightcaught the kick near the middle of the fi eld,then angled left and chugged down the side-line.

Wright said special teams coach Kenny Carter told him on the previous kickoff, whichended in a touchback, that the Cards hadpicked up all their blocks and he might beable to spring one next time.

“Coach Carter was like, ‘If you catch it clean and think you can return it, go aheadand return it,’” Wright said. “It was amazing.I just thank all the people that were blockingfor me. We needed a game-changer, and wewere able to do that all together.”

“That’s always what you want to do when a team goes up,” USM coach Larry Fedorasaid. “You want the opportunity to returnthe ball and seize the momentum back, andthat’s exactly what they did. We had a break-down, and they did a great job of blocking itup. They grabbed the momentum right back.That was huge.”

On their next possession, the Cards drove from their own 14-yard line to the GoldenEagles’ 18 and Philpott kicked the 36-yardfi eld goal that proved to be the game-win-ner.

UofL’s defense forced Southern Miss into a three-and-out, and then it was up to theCards’ offense to hold onto the football andkeep the losers from getting another chance.Taking over with 4:44 remaining, UofL ranseven plays -- the biggest a 28-yard run byPowell -- and punted, leaving USM only sev-en seconds for a desperation pass from itsown 3-yard line.

Then it was time to start the celebration that UofL players and fans had been eagerly,and impatiently, awaiting for four years.

“This team all season long has been able to just fi ght through adversity,” Strong said.“We’ve gotten better each game. Nobodyever gave us a chance. To watch this foot-ball team fi ght through so much adversity, gowork so hard, develop trust, develop com-mitment, that’s what it’s all about, getting afoundation within the program.”

RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONCARDINAL FOOTBALL

The offi cial fl ipped the coin to start the festivities in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s

Bowl as UofL senior co-captains Justin Burke (13), Johnny Patrick

(19) and Brandon Heath looked on. Southern Miss won the toss but lost

the game. - photos by Dave Klotz


A S U S U A L , S E N I O R S L E A D W A Y T O 3 1 - 2 8 V I C T O R Y

CARDS SHOW SOUTHERN MISS THE BEEF IN BOWL COMEBACK

Junior Chris Philpott kept his head down and stroked the game-winning fi eld goal from 36 yards out with 6:30 left to play. The holder was junior Josh Bleser.


LOUISVILLE VS. UCONN PHOTO GALLERY


BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S BOWL PHOTO GALLERY

Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis was met by a

picture-perfect tackle courtesy of a UofL’s Brandon Heath

Victor Anderson (20), Malcom Tatum (90) and Malik Curtley (25) were among the UofL

players who climbed into the stands to join the celebration after the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.


BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S BOWL PHOTO GALLERY

Senior tight end Cameron Graham prepared to fl ip the ball to the offi cial after catching an 11-yard TD pass from Justin Burke in the second quarter to cut USM’s lead to 14-7.

Senior quarterback Adam Froman exchanged a celebratory hug with

freshman Deon Rogers after the game.

Greg Scruggs and Malcom Tatum combined to deliver a hit that forced USM’s Kendrick Hardy to fumble. USM recovered this time. - photos by Dave Klotz

Senior tackle Jeff Adams raised his helmet in triumph after the game.

Special teams/running backs coach Kenny Carter grimaced after receiving a chilly Gatorade shower following the game. Carter had told Jeremy Wright that he might be able to spring one just before Wright returned a kickoff 95 yards for a TD.


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

By Russ BrownUniversity of Louisville football coach Char-

lie Strong has repeatedly credited the Cardi-nals’ senior class with being the key to their success this season. It was a year highlighted by UofL’s fi rst bowl win (and trip) in four sea-sons and was the fi rst time it had won two road games in the Big East since 2006.

“All the credit should go to these seniors for turning this program around,” Strong said shortly before the Cards edged Southern Mis-sissippi 31-28 in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla., last Tuesday. “They decid-ed they were going to lead us to a bowl game. These players were itching to win. That’s what has made this so special.”

When Strong took over from Steve Kragth-orpe after the 2009 sea-son, his biggest challenge was convincing the play-ers to buy into his system, discipline and goals. That mission was accomplished, and UofL fi nished with a 7-6 record, its fi rst winning slate since 2006.

Now those 25 seniors Strong constantly has praised have played their

last game in a UofL uniform, and Strong faces a different kind of challenge for his second season. The Cards lose 13 starters -- eight on offense, fi ve on defense -- many of them key players, not to mention six backups.

“Truly a great senior class,” Strong said. “It’s been fun. I wish we had them for another year. It would really be fun then.”

But the foundation has been laid for future success, and Strong intends for the program to keep moving forward, not take a step or two backwards. However, next year’s senior class will be only 17 strong.

“It will be a different challenge because you don’t have these 25 guys around and the leadership they provided, and it’s a small class next year,” he said. “Still, though, we can build on this (bowl) win.

“It was a total team effort, that’s what this team has been about the whole season be-cause we have developed and we will contin-ue to develop in this program. This is so great because now you get to go into the offseason with a bowl win. What these guys have struc-tured is a foundation.

“What’s really critical now is that you have structure within this program, you feel like you can go back and look at what you had this season when nobody truly believed you could get it done.... Now no one can ever tell you what you can’t do. It’s going to help with recruiting, help move this program forward.

“The main thing we have to do now is go recruit some players. What was good was to have a winning season, so now the expecta-tions will be bigger and the standards are go-ing to go higher and higher. It’s critical we get the right fi t for this program.”

Strong already is off to a fast start in the recruiting race for 2011, with commitments from fi ve-star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater of Miami Northwestern High School and his four-star teammate, wide receiver Eli Rog-ers. Bridgewater chose the Cards over Miami, LSU, Florida and Tennessee, among others. Also committed is highly touted quarterback DaMarcus Smith of Louisville Seneca High.

UofL’s senior class was the third-largest in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, eclipsed only by Hawaii (28) and TCU (26). Conversely, though, the Cards also played 23 true or red-shirt freshmen -- albeit many in only token roles or appearances -- which tied for fourth in the FBS.

Senior wide receiver Doug Beaumont said his classmates are proud to have established a

legacy, “knowing we had been the stepping-stone of Coach Strong’s success, and also the Louisville team coming back.”

Offense is where Strong and his staff face the biggest rebuilding job. Quarterbacks Jus-tin Burke and Adam Froman, leading rusher Bilal Powell (1,305 yards, 11 TDs) and all but one starter on the offensive line -- center Ma-rio Benavides -- are gone.

The upside is the receiving corps, where wideouts Josh Bellamy and Andrell Smith, along with tight end Josh Chichester, return. That trio combined for 13 of Louisville’s 22 touchdown receptions and 1,084 yards.

Bridgewater and Smith will compete for the starting quarterback spot, with junior Will Stein and freshman Dominique Brown also in the mix.

“We lose two really good quarterbacks,” Benavides said. “But ever since I’ve been here, I’ve always felt if you put Will in the game he’ll get it done. So I’m not really worried about that. Maybe a couple of freshmen will come in and somehow do really great. But if not, we’ve got Will and I have confi dence in him to get the job done. We lose Bilal, which is a big deal, but Jeremy Wright is more than capable of holding his own, so I’m not too worried about the running back or receiver positions.

“On the offensive line, I have more than enough faith in the young guys to step in be-cause they’ve watched guys like Mark (Wet-terer) and the others get the job done.”

Among the promising line prospects Bena-vides mentioned are sophomore Alex Kupper, junior Ryan Kessling, and freshmen Jake Smith and Kamran Joyer.

Defensively, the losses aren’t as severe. UofL fi nished 12th in total defense in the FBS, allow-ing 304.67 yards per game, and 15th in scor-ing defense (18.67 ppg), and defense should again be the Cards’ strong suit next season.

The defensive line returns fi ve of its top eight players, three of whom were freshmen -- end B.J. Butler and tackles Brandon Dunn and Roy Philon -- who combined for 17 starts.

Entering this season, the biggest question mark on defense was the inexperienced sec-ondary, but in 2011 that group will be more solid. Cornerbacks Johnny Patrick and Bobby

Burns depart, but the safeties could be the best tandem in the Big East, with strong safe-ty Hakeem Smith, the league’s Rookie of the Year, and free safety Shenard Holton. Smith led UofL with 88 tackles, and Holton was sec-ond with 74.

Brandon Heath and Antwone Canady are signifi cant losses at linebacker, but junior Dex-ter Heyman and sophomore Daniel Brown both played well late in the season, and Pres-ton Brown, who was a true freshman, should also be a major factor.

“We lose a lot of guys, but we have some good guys coming back,” Daniel Brown said. “I think the defense is going to be more ex-citing. Game by game, you saw the defense come up big, and I think we’re just going to move on from here. There are a lot of spots to fi ll, but we also have a lot of guys coming back to have an understanding of the defense and will step up. I’m already excited about next year.”

The kicking game is in good hands, or feet, with senior-to-be Chris Philpott, who kicked the decisive 36-yard fi eld goal against South-ern Miss. Philpott hit on 14 of 18 FG attempts, with a long of 46 against Arkansas State. He was 37 of 39 on extra points and recorded a personal-best 16 touchbacks on kickoffs.

UofL, coming off back-to-back last-place fi nishes in the Big East, was picked by the con-ference coaches in the preseason poll to make it three in a row this year. And, in truth, that prediction wasn’t very far off base.

UofL went into the season fi nale at Rutgers -- dubbed the Basement Bowl by some media wags in the Northeast -- needing a victory to avoid a last-place fi nish. The Cards romped 40-13, but had they lost they would have fi n-ished in a three-way tie for last with Rutgers and Cincinnati at 2-6.

As it was, the Cards were 3-4, tied for fi fth with USF in the eight-team league, but tripled their Big East win total from the previous sea-son.

The arc of UofL’s season was a series of ups and downs that ended on a high note. The Cards wobbled out of the gate with losses to Kentucky and Oregon State in their fi rst three games, then steadily improved and looked

good in the middle part of the season, but lost three of four before routing Rutgers to become bowl eligible.

Strong said the possibility of winning seven games never entered his mind. And he called the 28-21 victory over Syracuse in the Car-rier Dome on Nov. 6 the turning point for the Cards, even though they lost their next two games at home -- against South Florida (24-21in OT) and West Virginia (17-10). The victo-ry over the Orange broke an 11-game losing streak on the road in the Big East.

“You can never underestimate players, especially as many seniors as we had on this team,” Strong said. “Once they started buy-ing into the program, I knew we would win more than three or four games because when we came into the program there was no re-sentment. Guys start believing in you, then they start talking your language and you say, ‘OK, we got ‘em.’

“The Syracuse game was really big for this program, to win a conference game on the road. Our players started having a different look, started having confi dence, started re-ally deep down believing in themselves. They started feeling good about themselves.”

Benavides believes the Cards can continue to move forward and can reload instead of re-build, despite losing so many seniors.

“That’s tough,” he said. “Like Coach Strong said, they’re irreplaceable. But we’re not asking guys to fi ll in and be them, we’re asking them to come in and do their own job. We’ve got a lot of young talent, so I’m excited to see these guys grow and I’m glad I’ve got two more years.

“There’s a lot to be said about tradition on every level -- high school, college, pro. Teams that build tradition by winning get on a roll, the ball seems to bounce their way. I don’t know how exactly to put it, but building a tradition and going to bowl games, success becomes a habit, regardless of who’s graduat-ing and who’s not.”

Louisville once had that tradition, play-ing in nine consecutive bowl games from 1998-2006. Maybe the three seasons before Strong’s arrival will turn out to be just a rela-tively brief interruption in that tradition.

UofL coach Charlie Strong leaped onto a table and gave the fans a jubilant fi st pump after the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. Inset: Freshman Jeremy Wright streaked through a couple of Southern Miss defenders en route to his 95-yard kickoff return for a TD in the fourth quarter that tied the score at 28. - photos by Dave Klotz


B U T U O F L M U S T O V E R C O M E L O S S O F 2 5 S E N I O R S

FOUNDATION LAID, CARDS INTEND TO KEEP GOING FORWARD


COFFEE BREAK

By Jack CoffeeThe 2010 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl is now his-

tory, but the participation of the University of Louisville in a bowl is an indication of the re-birth of Cardinals football. Much like the 7-5 John L. Smith team that played in the 1998 Motor City Bowl, the 2010 Cards are starting to work their way back up the college football bowl ladder.

UofL lost 48-29 to Marshall in the 1998 Motor City Bowl in a game that featured two future pro quarterbacks -- Chris Redman and Chad Pennington – with the outcome deter-mined by the Cards’ inability to run the ball. They fi nished with 336 yards passing but only 66 rushing to Marshall’s 202. That 1998 invi-tation to a bowl game was UofL’s fi rst in fi ve seasons and only the sixth in school history.

But that turnaround of UofL football from a 1-10 record in Ron Cooper’s fi nal season started a nine-year run of bowl games that culminated in a victory in the 2007 Orange Bowl.

The Motor City Bowl started the second progression of UofL football to bigger and more lucrative bowl games. Louisville’s fi rst bowl excursion was the 1957 team led by Lenny Lyles and Gil Sturtzel that went 9-1 and played in the Sun Bowl on Jan. 1, 1958, and defeated Drake 34-20. The game was at-tended by 13,000 fans and had a payout of

$16,500. Twelve seasons later (in 1970) Lee Corso led the Cards to the short-lived Pasa-dena Bowl and a 24-24 tie with Long Beach State. Although I was unable to determine the payout UofL received, the school lost money on the trip, maybe explaining why the Pasa-dena Bowl lasted only four years.

In 1977 Vince Gibson took the Cards to the Independence Bowl and a payout large enough to pay expenses. The attendance was 18,500, and UofL lost to Louisiana Tech 24-14. It would be 13 long years before Lou-isville would go to another bowl, but when Howard Schnellenberger’s 1990 team demol-ished Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl with a $2.2 million payoff, it represented a pinnacle for UofL football. The progression from Sun Bowl to Fiesta Bowl took 33 years but resulted in extreme prestige for the school and an addi-tional $2,183,500. Three seasons later Schnel-lenberger would take the Cards to the Liberty Bowl and its much smaller payout and prestige in his second-to-last season as head coach.

The second Louisville progression from the lowly Motor City Bowl to the pinnacle of post-season success was much faster and more lucrative than the fi rst journey to bowl prominence for the Cards. Following the 1998 Motor City Bowl UofL would receive bids to eight straight bowl games, making nine con-secutive years of bowl participation. Again it

was a progression as the 1999 team went to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise (brrr), Idaho, and a $750,000 payout that matched the Mo-tor City Bowl.

The following two years UofL would go to the Liberty Bowl as Conference USA champs and its $1.5 million payout and larger crowds. Again it was cold and Cards fans were now yearning for a warm-weather bowl, but as members of C-USA the faithful were recon-ciled to the fact that the Liberty Bowl was the best UofL could do for a post-season contest. In 2003 it was off to Mobile and another $750,000 payout (the minimum mandated by the NCAA at the time) after getting an invite to the GMAC Bowl as runner-ups in C-USA. That was not the warmer climate the fans were hoping for as a break from Louisville’s winter weather.

The following year (2004) was another chilly trip to Memphis as C-USA champs for the third time and a 44-40 victory over the now-celebrated Boise State Broncos, then ranked No. 10 in the country. The fi rst of back-to-back warm-weather bowl games came the following season as UofL, then rep-resenting the Big East as a second-place team, was invited to the Gator Bowl and a $2.5 mil-lion payout, the largest in school history. But that sum seemed paltry as the Cards fi nished fi rst in the Big East the following season and

received their fi rst bid to a Bowl Champion-ship Series game.

Jan. 2, 2007, was the day that Cards fans had been looking forward to and hoping forsince the 1958 Sun Bowl. It was the epito-me of big-time college football as the Cardsplayed in a storied bowl game in the warmestof climates -- the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla.The payout was $17 million and put Louisvilleon par with the top football programs in thecountry. Winning the game was icing on thecake. The second bowl progression for theUniversity of Louisville had taken the Cardsfrom $750,000 to $17 million in only nineseasons.

Now the Cards start their third bowl pro-gression with a win in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’sBowl in St. Petersburg, Fla., with a $1 millionpayout, an amount in the middle of non-BCSgames For Cards fans the money made onthe game is secondary to the participation oftheir team in a bowl game. The presence of15,000 UofL faithful the week before Christ-mas is testament to the willingness of UofLfans to support the school in any bowl gameand travel long distances to do so.

Like the previous bowl progressions, coach Charlie Strong looks like the person to takethe Cards to the top of the bowl world, theBCS. My gut feeling is that it won’t take nineyears this time.

BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S BOWL IS JUST THE START FOR THE CARDINALS IN THE STRONG ERA

Senior running back Bilal Powell let the crowd and sophomore center Mario Benavides know who’s No. 1 after scoring a touchdown in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. Powell pointed to the

sky in celebration after each touchdown this season. - photos by Dave Klotz

UofL’s award-winning cheerleaders led the fans in a C-A-R-D-S cheer during the game.

Senior Justin Burke, who was 20 of 32 for 178 yards and two TDs with no interceptions, was interviewed on ESPN after the game.

UofL players and fans had a good time at a bowl bash in the hours after the game.


FOOTBALL RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Howie LindseyShortly after he was hired last Decem-

ber, University of Louisville football coach Charlie Strong installed a large sign in the Cardinals’ meeting room that reads: Take Another Step. He points to that sign as a way to keep his players and the program as a whole focused on moving forward.

A win on the road: Another step for-ward.

Landing the top players in Louisville: An-other step forward

A conference win on the road: Another step forward

Six wins and making a bowl: Another step for-ward

The program took the latest major step forward last Monday when Strong secured commitments from two of the top high

school football players in the state of Florida - Teddy Bridgewater and Eli Rogers.

The pair of top-rated recruits from Miami Northwestern High are two more jewels in what promises to be UofL’s top recruiting class since the recruiting rankings began in the late 1990s. As it stands right now, the class is stocked with 22 prospects, 20 of whom are rated three stars or better.

“We committed this morning,” Rogers told CardinalSports.com last Monday. “We just called and told them. Teddy called fi rst, then I called Coach (Clint) Hurtt right after. I talked to Coach Strong, too. They were just excited to add me to the family.”

Bridgewater, the No. 2 dual-threat quar-terback in the nation, and Rogers commit-ted to Strong by phone. They will take Lou-isville’s already solid recruiting class into a realm the Cardinals have never seen before - the top 25 on Rivals.com.

Rogers is a three-star receiver/cornerback who is a Florida Top-100 recruit. He is one of the top receivers in Florida this season (No. 13) and was recently selected to play in the UnderArmour All-American game in Orlando.

The two former Miami commitments traveled together to Louisville the weekend of Dec. 10 for an offi cial visit. For Rogers, that visit was the catalyst for his commit-ment.

“The visit basically sold me,” he said. “Once I went to the practice and actually saw what I am going up against and the opportunity for me.”

Bridgewater, a U.S. Army All-American, gives Louisville a needed boost at the quar-terback spot. Given the graduation of UofL’s top two QBs, the program needs two quar-terbacks in this class. They already had se-cured a commitment from Elite 11 quarter-back DaMarcus Smith from Louisville Seneca H.S., the top passer in the state of Kentucky this season. Now they have Bridgewater, the top quarterback in South Florida.

Bridgewater will be one of just four high school recruits in UofL history to be ranked in the Rivals Top 100 - the others being run-ning back Michael Bush, quarterback Brian Brohm and defensive end Deantwan “Pea-nut” Whitehead.

All three of the above played as true freshmen and were immediate contributors on some of Louisville’s best teams. Bush and

Brohm are now in the NFL, while White-head’s career was cut short by a medical issue. If Bridgewater can have that type of impact, Louisville may be back to contend-ing for conference championships sooner rather than later.

Strong has succeeded in building a coaching staff that can sell Louisville as a program, and he has succeeded in building hope in a fan base that just a year and a half ago was mourning the loss of a nation-ally competitive football team. Strong has succeeded in convincing Bridgewater and Rogers that Louisville - not Miami, Florida State, South Florida, Georgia or LSU - is the spot for them.

Fans can watch Rogers in the UnderAr-mour All-American Bowl Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. on ESPN. He will be wearing No. 10 for the Red squad. The game will be played at Tropicana Field, the same location as Louisville’s bowl game this season.

Fans can watch Bridgewater in the U.S. Army All-American game Jan. 8 at noon on NBC. The Cardinals could have two recruits in that game if defensive back Gerod Holli-man, a former Ole Miss commitment from Miami Southridge, also commits to the Cardinals, who are hard after him. The 6-0, 180-pound safety is also rated among the Top-100 recruits in the nation.

FLORIDA TOP 100Bridgewater (No. 16) and Rogers (No.

96) aren’t the only Florida Top-100 recruits in Louisville’s class. Port St. Lucie defensive back Calvin Pryor is rated No. 64, and Mi-

ami Central wide receiver Charles Gaines Jr. is rated No. 70.

Another Florida Top-100 recruit, Miami defensive tackle Elkino Watson, visited Louisville recently and has the Cardinals near the top of his list. Watson (6-2, 275), a three-star defensive tackle from Booker T. Washington H.S., made an offi cial visit to Louisville last weekend. Upon returning home, he talked to Cardinalsports.com’s Josh Helmholdt about the visit and his fu-ture plans.

“It was good,” Watson said. “I had a very nice time up there in Louisville, Kentucky.”

Watson, who is rated as the No. 33 defensive tackle and the No. 66 player in Florida, currently holds offers from Duke, Florida, FIU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Minnesota, Rutgers, UCF and South Florida, among others.

Rumors were that he was scheduled to visit Florida last weekend before Urban Meyer’s resignation caused him to change plans. Regardless of the situation, Watson ended up in Louisville for his fi rst offi cial visit.

When asked what the highlights of the trip were, Watson said: “One thing I liked the most was the basketball game. And the stadium was pretty nice. The whole facilities are nice, period.”

Watson, who is being recruited by UofL defensive line coach Hurtt, said the Cardi-nals’ coaching staff was clear that he would get an opportunity to play early on in his career, likely as a true freshman. Watson acknowledged that is something that inter-ests him.

Watson mentioned being hosted by such players as Greg Scruggs and Hakeem Smith. “It helps (Louisville) a lot on my decision that I look forward to making,” he said. “I just have to consult with my family, my coaches and my girlfriend.”

Watson said he has only one other offi -cial visit scheduled - to Florida State on Jan. 6.

RECRUITING FOR 2012 UNDER WAYWhile Strong is putting the fi nishing

touches on the 2011 class, his staff alreadyis hard at work identifying and recruitingthe top targets in the 2012 class. This earlyin the process it is diffi cult to assess whichprospects are at the top of Louisville’s list,but 21 prospects have told Rivals.com thatLouisville will offer them a scholarship.

Based on early interest and offers, Lou-isville Seneca defensive tackle Tyrone Pear-son (6-3, 265) appears to be one of the topprospects in the state of Kentucky for the2012 class. He is preparing to participatein one of the nation’s top combines nextweek, where he could move his stock tonew heights.

“Everything is looking great right now,” he said. “I’m just getting ready for the(Army) All-American Combine. I’ve talkedto guys who have been previously downthere like DaMarcus Smith. They said togive it 110 percent every second. There’s notime for slacking, so if you’re going to slack,don’t even go.”

Pearson has already received offers from Louisville, Kentucky, Illinois and WesternKentucky. He made another recent visit toUofL to check out the Cardinals.

“I got to see one of their bowl practic-es,” he said. “The intensity level was veryhigh. You could see all the emotion buildingup. Everybody was on the same page - theplayers and the coaches.”

Louisville has certainly piqued Pearson’s interest at this early stage of the process.Being that it’s his hometown school hashelped.

“Everything stands good with Louisville right now,” he said. “I have been falling inlove with the Cardinals since I was a littlekid, and just to see the team get built up isamazing.”

Another junior who reports an offer from Louisville is Zeke Pike (6-5, 220), rated thetop quarterback in Kentucky for 2012. Heattends Dixie Heights H. S. in Edgewood.He’s visited Louisville numerous times andreports offers from Alabama, Auburn, Cin-cinnati, Florida, Iowa, UCLA, Tennessee and,of course, Louisville and Kentucky.

2011 FOOTBALL COMMITMENTSPROSPECT POS HOMETOWN HIGH SCHOOL HT. WT. 40 RECRUITING NOTE Teddy Bridgewater QB Miami, Fla. Northwestern 6-2 180 4.5 No. 2 dual-threat QB in the nationJamon Brown DT Louisville Fern Creek 6-3 305 - Kentucky Top 10, city’s top linemanChris Dukes DB Cincinnati Colerain 5-10 184 4.43 Fast and physical cornerbackAaron Epps OL Tucker, Ga. Tucker 6-6 238 4.9 Tall, lean TE could be an OL in collegeTerrell Floyd DB Port St. Lucie, Fla. Port St. Lucie 5-10 186 4.5 No. 63 ATH in the nation, No. 99 overall Fla.Charles Gaines WR Miami Miami Central 6-1 190 4.42 Offers from Florida State, Arkansas, S. CarolinaJalen Harrington SS/LB Louisville Fern Creek 6-3 215 4.7 Kentucky Top 15, top sleeper in the cityEddie Johnson LB Selma, Ala. Selma 6-2 218 4.6 Big linebacker just moved schoolsJacquese Kirk DB Jasper, Ala. Walker 5-11 160 4.4 Alabama Top 25, elite recruitRyan Mack OL Memphis, Tn. Wooddale 6-4 310 -- Tennessee Top 10, elite recruitJohn Miller OL/DL Miami, Fla. Miami Central 6-2 295 -- Short but productive linemanJerrell Moore RB Louisville Fern Creek 5-11 175 4.4 Kentucky Top 10Deiontrez Mount DE Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. FWB High 6-6 202 4.7 No. 26 Weakside defensive end in the nationDeVante Parker WR Louisville Ballard 6-2 180 4.49 Kentucky Top 5, top WR in KentuckyCalvin Pryor DB Port St. Joe, Fla. Port St. Joe 6-1 190 4.5 No. 28 safety in America, No. 62 in Fla.Eric Robinson-Berry DB Indianapolis Warren Central 6-1 175 4.45 Fast DB with great football IQEli Rogers WR/DB Miami, Fla. Northwestern 5-10 180 4.4 No. 67 WR in the nation Mike Romano OL Pt. St. Lucie, Fla. Treasure Coast 6-4 269 5.1 Solid-bodied OLZay Sharp RB Griffi n, Ga. Spalding 6-2 200 4.5 Great speed, sizeDaMarcus Smith QB Louisville Seneca 6-1 180 4.5 Elite 11 QB, top QB in KentuckyRobert Terrell LB Russellvile, Ala. Russellville 6-1 249 4.6 Alabama Top 40John Wallace K Cecilia, Ky. Central Hardin 6-1 175 -- Ky.’s top kicker

STRONG LANDS TWO ELITE FLORIDA PLAYERS


BRIDGEWATERBRIDGEWATER ROGERSROGERS


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

NAME G ATT GAIN LOSS NET AVG TD LG AVG/GPowell, Bilal 12 229 1488 83 1405 6.1 11 85 117.1 Wright, Jeremy 11 59 334 7 327 5.5 4 64 29.7 ANDERSON, Vic 10 64 302 16 286 4.5 0 20 28.6 DONNELL, Blayne 13 25 109 5 104 4.2 0 17 8.0 Froman, Adam 9 36 147 72 75 2.1 2 19 8.3 BROWN, D. 10 20 62 3 59 3.0 0 9 5.9 Stein, Will 3 2 22 0 22 11.0 0 15 7.3 PHILPOTT, Chris 13 1 21 0 21 21.0 0 21 1.6 Bellamy, Josh 13 1 12 0 12 12.0 0 12 0.9 Burke, Justin 8 21 56 48 8 0.4 0 19 1.0 Evans, Zed 12 3 9 8 1 0.3 0 7 0.1 Pascley, Troy 2 1 0 10 -10 -10.0 0 0 -5.0 TEAM 4 10 0 35 -35 -3.5 0 0 -8.8 Total.......... 13 472 2562 287 2275 4.8 17 85 175.0 Opponents...... 13 471 2315 439 1876 4.0 14 67 144.3

LOUISVILLE OPPONENTSCORING 343 252 POINTS PER GAME 26.4 19.4 FIRST DOWNS 244 220 RUSHING 110 99 PASSING 118 98 PENALTY 16 23 RUSHING YARDAGE 2275 1876 YARDS GAINED RUSHING 2562 2315 YARDS LOST RUSHING 287 439 RUSHING ATTEMPTS 472 471 AVERAGE PER RUSH 4.8 4.0 AVERAGE PER GAME 175.0 144.3 TDS RUSHING 17 14 PASSING YARDAGE 2522 2176 COMP-ATT-INT 217-363-8 188-343-9 AVERAGE PER PASS 6.9 6.3 AVERAGE PER CATCH 11.6 11.6 AVERAGE PER GAME 194.0 167.4 TDS PASSING 22 16 TOTAL OFFENSE 4797 4052 TOTAL PLAYS 835 814 AVERAGE PER PLAY 5.7 5.0 AVERAGE PER GAME 369.0 311.7 KICK RETURNS: #-YARDS 45-1147 53-1256 PUNT RETURNS: #-YARDS 23-290 20-102 INT RETURNS: #-YARDS 9-104 8-102 KICK RETURN AVERAGE 25.5 23.7 PUNT RETURN AVERAGE 12.6 5.1 INT RETURN AVERAGE 11.6 12.8 FUMBLES-LOST 14-8 17-10 PENALTIES-YARDS 103-829 85-676 AVERAGE PER GAME 63.8 52.0 PUNTS-YARDS 67-2690 73-3108 AVERAGE PER PUNT 40.1 42.6 NET PUNT AVERAGE 37.1 37.5 TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME 31:01 28:59 3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS 71/178 60/176 3RD-DOWN PCT 40% 34% 4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS 7/13 4/8 4TH-DOWN PCT 54% 50% SACKS BY-YARDS 39-256 17-124 MISC YARDS 8 0 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED 43 32 FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS 14-18 10-19 ON-SIDE KICKS 1-1 1-1 RED-ZONE SCORES (34-41) 83% (24-31) 77% RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS (25-41) 61% (17-31) 55% PAT-ATTEMPTS (41-43) 95% (28-29) 97% ATTENDANCE 354,537 197,317

FINAL 2010 LOUISVILLE FOOTBALL

SEASON STATISTICST E A M S T A T S

R U S H I N G

PUNT RETURNS NO. YDS AVG TD LONG Beaumont, Doug 14 213 15.2 1 74 Bellamy, Josh 7 63 9.0 0 18 RADCLIFF, Scott 2 14 7.0 0 10 Total.......... 23 290 12.6 1 74 Opponents...... 20 102 5.1 0 28

INTERCEPTIONS NO. YDS AVG TD LONG PATRICK, Johnny 5 99 19.8 1 35 Ashley, Darius 2 2 1.0 0 2 Scruggs, Greg 1 3 3.0 0 3 HOLTON, Shenard 1 0 0.0 0 0 Total.......... 9 104 11.6 1 35 Opponents...... 8 102 12.8 1 80

KICK RETURNS NO. YDS AVG TD LONG Wright, Jeremy 16 489 30.6 1 95 ANDERSON, Vic 13 393 30.2 0 67 Bellamy, Josh 7 167 23.9 0 35 BROWN, D. 4 52 13.0 0 15 DONNELL, Blayne 4 46 11.5 0 21 TEAM 1 0 0.0 0 0 Total.......... 45 1147 25.5 1 95 Opponents...... 53 1256 23.7 1 100

R E T U R N S

DEFENSIVE LEADERS GP Solo Ast Total TFL-Yds No-Yds Int-Yds BU PD Qbh Rcv-Yds FF Kick Saf Smith, Hakeem 13 62 26 88 6.0 - 20 1.0 - 7 1 1 . 1 - 0 1 HOLTON, Shenard 13 54 20 74 2.0 - 8 . 1 - 0 1 2 . . . . Heath, Brandon 12 50 20 70 8.5 - 30 3.0 - 22 . 2 2 . . . Brown, Daniel 13 43 11 54 10.0 - 44 3.0 - 21 . . . 2 1 - 0 1 PATRICK, Johnny 13 43 6 49 6.5 - 19 1.0 - 6 5 - 99 12 17 1 . 1 Heyman, Dexter 13 31 17 48 4.5 - 14 2.0 - 9 . 2 2 . . . Tatum, Malcolm 13 26 18 44 7.0 - 25 4.5 - 22 . 1 1 1 . 2 Burns, Bobby 13 29 8 37 1.0 - 3 . . 3 3 1 1 - 0 . . Gnat, Rodney 13 21 8 29 10.5 - 63 9.0 - 59 . 1 1 3 1 - 0 2 CANADY, Antwone 11 18 9 27 1.0 - 10 1.0 - 10 . . . 1 2 - 0 . Butler, B.J. 12 19 4 23 6.0 - 23 2.5 - 14 . . . . . . Evans, Mike 11 13 7 20 4.0 - 26 3.0 - 21 . . . . . . Ashley, Darius 8 16 4 20 3.0 - 26 3.0 - 26 2 - 2 1 3 . . 1 Savoy, William 13 9 7 16 3.0 - 13 1.0 - 9 . 1 1 1 . . Scruggs, Greg 12 9 5 14 5.5 - 23 2.0 - 16 1 - 3 1 2 . 2 - 0 1 Dunn, Brandon 11 9 5 14 . . . . . . . . . Philon, Roy 9 7 5 12 0.5 - 1 . . . . 1 . . . High, Tim 11 6 5 11 . . . . . . . . . Brown, Preston 13 4 6 10 1.0 - 1 1.0 - 1 . . . . . . Rogers, Deon 11 3 4 7 . . . . . . 1 - 0 . . PERRY, Senorise 9 6 1 7 . . . . . . . . . SIMIEN, Terence 6 5 2 7 1.0 - 3 . . . . . . . . Sowell, Eugene 7 5 . 5 . . . 1 1 . . . . Salmon, Randy 7 2 3 5 1.0 - 2 1.0 - 2 . . . . . . Donovan, Grant 2 2 3 5 . . . 2 2 . . . . RADCLIFF, Scott 12 2 2 4 . . . . . . . . . Beaumont, Doug 11 2 2 4 . . . . . . . . . MITCHELL, M. 6 1 3 4 1.5 - 7 . . . . . . . . Bellamy, Josh 13 4 . 4 . . . . . . . . . Evans, Zed 12 2 2 4 . . . . . . . . . PHILPOTT, Chris 13 3 1 4 . . . . . . . . . Meagher, Zach 8 3 1 4 . . . . . . . . .

D E F E N S E

NAME G RUSH REC PR KOR IR TOT AVG/GPowell, Bilal 12 1405 158 0 0 0 1563 130.2 Wright, Jeremy 11 327 12 0 489 0 828 75.3 ANDERSON, Vic 10 286 61 0 393 0 740 74.0 Beaumont, Doug 11 0 440 213 0 0 653 59.4 Bellamy, Josh 13 12 401 63 167 0 643 49.5 GRAHAM, Cameron 13 0 470 0 0 0 470 36.2 Smith, Andrell 13 0 377 0 0 0 377 29.0 CHICHESTER, J. 12 0 317 0 0 0 317 26.4 DONNELL, Blayne 13 104 41 0 46 0 191 14.7 BROWN, D. 10 59 32 0 52 0 143 14.3 COPELAND, D. 8 0 113 0 0 0 113 14.1 Froman, Adam 9 75 27 0 0 0 102 11.3 PATRICK, Johnny 13 0 0 0 0 99 99 7.6 Nord, Nate 9 0 36 0 0 0 36 4.0 Stein, Will 3 22 0 0 0 0 22 7.3 PHILPOTT, Chris 13 21 0 0 0 0 21 1.6 RADCLIFF, Scott 12 0 6 14 0 0 20 1.7 Nochta, Pete 8 0 17 0 0 0 17 2.1 Burke, Justin 8 8 0 0 0 0 8 1.0 Dominguez, Kai 3 0 4 0 0 0 4 1.3 Scruggs, Greg 12 0 0 0 0 3 3 0.2 Ashley, Darius 8 0 0 0 0 2 2 0.2 Evans, Zed 12 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.1 TEAM 4 -35 0 0 0 0 -35 -8.8 Total.......... 13 2275 2522 290 1147 104 6338 487.5 Opponents...... 13 1876 2176 102 1256 102 5512 424.0

A L L - P U R P O S E

Name TD FGs Kick Rush Rcv Pass DXP Saf Points Powell, Bilal 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 84 PHILPOTT, Chris 0 14-18 41-43 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 83 CHICHESTER, J. 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 30 GRAHAM, Cameron 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 30 Bellamy, Josh 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 30 Wright, Jeremy 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 30 Smith, Andrell 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 18 Froman, Adam 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 12 Beaumont, Doug 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 12 Brown, Daniel 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 6 PATRICK, Johnny 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 6 TEAM 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 2 Total.......... 43 14-18 41-43 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 343 Opponents...... 32 10-19 28-29 1-2 0 0-1 0 0 252

S C O R I N G O F F E N S E

NAME GP EFFIC CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD LONG AVG/GFroman, Adam 9 136.5 132-218-4 60.6 1633 11 57 181.4 Burke, Justin 8 130.5 75-129-3 58.1 790 10 29 98.8 Stein, Will 3 131.1 9-14-0 64.3 72 1 29 24.0 BROWN, D. 10 -200.0 0-1-1 0.0 0 0 0 0.0 Beaumont, Doug 11 326.8 1-1-0 100.0 27 0 27 2.5 Total.......... 13 133.7 217-363-8 59.8 2522 22 57 194.0 Opponents...... 13 118.2 188-343-9 54.8 2176 16 62 167.4

P A S S I N G

NAME G NO. YDS AVG TD TD LONG AVG/GBeaumont, Doug 11 41 440 10.7 1 44 40.0 GRAHAM, Cameron 13 40 470 11.8 5 39 36.2 Bellamy, Josh 13 29 401 13.8 5 44 30.8 Smith, Andrell 13 25 377 15.1 3 42 29.0 CHICHESTER, J. 12 22 317 14.4 5 48 26.4 Powell, Bilal 12 18 158 8.8 3 57 13.2 ANDERSON, Vic 10 11 61 5.5 0 15 6.1 COPELAND, D. 8 8 113 14.1 0 39 14.1 DONNELL, Blayne 13 8 41 5.1 0 10 3.2 Nord, Nate 9 4 36 9.0 0 20 4.0 BROWN, D. 10 3 32 10.7 0 20 3.2 Wright, Jeremy 11 3 12 4.0 0 10 1.1 Froman, Adam 9 1 27 27.0 0 27 3.0 Nochta, Pete 8 1 17 17.0 0 17 2.1 Pascley, Troy 2 1 10 10.0 0 10 5.0 RADCLIFF, Scott 12 1 6 6.0 0 6 0.5 Dominguez, Kai 3 1 4 4.0 0 4 1.3 Total.......... 13 217 2522 11.6 22 57 194.0 Opponents...... 13 188 2176 11.6 16 62 167.4

R E C E I V I N G


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

By Howie LindseyThe University of Louisville has been on

a recruiting roll. First, Rick Pitino added a commitment from top-10 combo guard Rodney Purvis on Dec. 11. Then last Wednesday the Cardinals added a second recruit to its 2012 class when Negus Web-ster-Chan committed.

A native of Canada, Webster-Chan attends Huntington (W.Va.) Prep, which has become a feeder school of sorts to the Cards. The 6-foot-6 small for-ward is the third Hun-tington Prep player to commit to UofL in two years - joining current

Cardinal Gorgui Dieng and signee Justin Coleman (who failed to qualify academi-cally and ended up at Marshall).

“My mom and I were looking for a school that was strong both academi-cally and athletically,” Webster-Chan told Rivals.com. “Louisville was a clear choice because it met these criteria. I felt it was the right fi t for me.”

According to Rivals.com evaluator Jerry Meyer, Webster-Chan should be a good fi t for Pitino.

“At 6-foot-6 and 175 pounds, Webster is a small forward with a versatile game and a physique that is still developing,” Meyer wrote. “He fi ts well into Louisville’s interchangeable style of play.”

Ranked No. 121 in the Rivals150 (No. 26 small forward), Webster-Chan has been described as a top-50 talent by several scouts, and many believe he’ll rise in the rankings the next time they are produced. He also was being recruited by Cincin-nati, Iowa State, UNLV and West Virginia, among others.

Webster-Chan played for the Cana-dian National Team last summer and was watched by recruiters from UofL, Ken-tucky, Syracuse and Duke, among others. He recently visited Kentucky and Louisville before he committed to the Cardinals last week.

“I think I am an all-around player,” he said. “I love to play defense. I can rebound and pass, and I still have a lot of room to get better.”

Webster-Chan has numerous highlight tapes on YouTube showing him dunking with ease, sprinting the court to catch alley-oop passes and driving through de-fenders for layups. His coach, Rob Fulford, described him as very skilled but said he needs to work on being more consistent

with his effort. PUERTO RICO TALENT?Most people assumed that part of the

reason that Pitino agreed last week to coach the Puerto Rican national team was a chance to check out the national team’s younger talent. The most talented player on the Puerto Rican junior squad is junior shooting guard Ricardo Ledo.

A Louisville recruit even before Pitino agreed to coach the Puerto Ricans, Ledo surprised many in the recruiting world with a commitment to Keno Davis and Provi-dence last week. The 6-foot-4, 180-pound scorer, who is rated No. 7 overall in the 2012 class, according to Rivals.com, at-tends South Kent (Conn.) Prep, the same school that produced current UofL fresh-man Russ Smith.

Ledo committed to the Friars on Christ-mas Day, saying that he likes the early playing time available.

I like that Providence is so close to my

home,” he told Rivals.com. “Also, from Day One I will be on the court. They want me to score.”

Ledo, or anyone from the class of 2012, can’t sign with a school until November, and most analysts believe a commitment to Providence won’t slow down recruiters from Connecticut, Kentucky and Louisville from pursuing him.

Ledo has wowed scouts this season. “The scary thing about Ledo is that the

6-foot-4 guard is still so rough around the edges and has plenty of room to im-prove,” Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi wrote after seeing Ledo at the National Prep Showcase in November. “A near elite-level athlete, he routinely creates his own offense off the dribble, and he’s got a dazzling array of fl oaters that he can fi nish from differ-ent angles and spots on the fl oor. He’s a dangerous shooter well beyond the three-point line and doesn’t get enough credit for his clever passing. On the other hand,

he’s also a bit wild and not a very disci-

plined player at this point. If he irons out

the loose ends and plays with consistent

effort, the sky is the limit for the No. 7

player in the class of 2012.”

Pitino will be coaching the Puerto Ri-

can national team during in the 2011

FIBA Americas Championship basketball

tournament to be played in Mar del Plata,

Argentina, from Aug. 25-Sept. 8. Puerto

Rico must fi nish among the top two teams

to advance to the 2012 Olympics in Lon-

don.

“I’m deeply honored to be coaching the

Puerto Rico national team,” Pitino said. “I

know their backs are against the wall in

needing to fi nish among the top two in

a 10-team tournament to qualify for the

Olympics, and that’s probably what at-

tracted me the most. That’s when compet-

itive people rise to the occasion. The more

they talked about the pride and passion

among their players and country, the more

I became interested. I wanted the experi-

ence to benefi t the University of Louisville

as well. The timing works out perfectly so

as not to confl ict with our responsibilities

at UofL.”

There are three current NBA players

from Puerto Rico - Carlos Arroyo, Renaldo

Balkman and Jose Juan Barea. Pitino won’t

just get a look at the talent on the Puerto

Rican teams, he’ll also have a chance to

see the other nine teams - Argentina, Bra-

zil, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic,

Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezu-

ela.

There are currently fi ve NBA players

from Canada, four each from Argentina

and Brazil, three from the Dominican Re-

public and one each from Cuba, Panama

and Venezuela.

SMITH-RIVERA BACK ON MARKET

One of the top three point guards in

the class of 2012, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera

from Indianapolis North Central High, was

being recruited by UofL before he commit-

ted to Xavier earlier this year. But on the

day after Christmas Smith-Rivera decom-

mitted to the Musketeers and told recruit-

ing services he was back on the market.

Sources close to his recruitment say

Louisville, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio State

and Purdue would be his top schools now

that he is not committed. The question for

Louisville is how he and Purvis would share

the backcourt. Both are 6-foot-3 combo

guards who like to score.

PITINO REELS IN ANOTHER 2012 STUD

UofL coach Rick Pitino has been reeling in the talent in recent weeks. After signing

four top recruits for next season earlier in the month, he got commitments from two

highly rated players in the 2012 class in recent weeks. - photo by Dave Klotz



KFC Yum! Center OPENING PHOTO GALLERYSELECTED FALL SPORTS SCHEDULESBIG EAST BASKETBALL

By Russ BrownRick Pitino is backpedaling as fast as

he can from his preseason pick of St. John’s as the probable Big East 2011 basketball champion, which probably means the University of Louisville coach was just feeling contrary on the day he filled out his ballot.

At any rate, Pitino’s new pick for the title is No. 9 George-town (11-1). Because Pitino is apparently keeping his options open from day to day, next week’s choice might be Pittsburgh, Connecticut or Syra-cuse, but who’s keep-

ing score?Of course, with the conference

race just getting under way this week when a handful of contenders will start scrambling for position, it’s anybody’s guess who will land in Madison Square Garden March 9-13 as the No. 1 seed in the league tournament.

But what has become undeniably ap-parent is that the Big East was seriously underestimated by coaches and media alike back in October. Instead of tak-ing a step or two backwards, the con-ference looks as strong as ever -- and maybe even stronger.

Big East football may be a laughing-stock, but Big East basketball is king, and it doesn’t look as if it is going to abdicate the throne. In the past de-cade the Big East has made six appear-ances in the Final Four, by five different schools.

It’s the deepest league in the coun-try again this season, with an incredible five teams ranked in the top 10 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls, and two more among the top 25, including Louisville (11-1) at No. 22/20. When the smoke clears, the 16-mem-ber conference may boast as many as eight NCAA Tournament teams.

“I think there are some great, great teams in the Big East,” Pitino said. “You have Connecticut, and George-town I think is tremendous. That’s who I pick to win the league. I always look for seniors, and they have nine seniors. Georgetown to me is very, very impres-sive.... They shoot it so well you’ve got to pressure them, and then they kill you with the backdoor. Any time a team

shoots great you’ve got to get up on them, and that’s when they back-door you to death.”

The Hoyas lead the Big East in both overall field-goal percentage (52.8) and three-point percentage (42.6), and they’re second in the nation in the for-mer category. Point guard Chris Wright is No. 2 in the league in assists at 6.3 per game.

Pittsburgh was the overwhelming preseason choice of the coaches as the league favorite, and Pitino said he also has been impressed by UConn and Syracuse.

“You pick your poison wherever you go,” he said. “(The conference) is probably equally as good as the last few years, if not better. Strange thing this year because everybody underrat-ed Syracuse and everybody underrated UConn. We know Notre Dame is a very good basketball team, and everybody probably underrated Georgetown.”

Pitino dodged the question when asked whether UofL, which was tabbed eighth, was also underrated. “Obvious-ly, Connecticut was more underrated

than us,” he said.Here is how the preseason poll

stacked up: 1. Pittsburgh. 2. Villanova. 3. Syracuse. 4. Georgetown. 5. West Virginia. 6. St. John’s. 7. Notre Dame. 8. (tie) Louisville, Marquette. 10. Con-necticut. 11. Seton Hall. 12. Cincinnati. 13. USF. 14. Providence. 15. Rutgers. 16. DePaul.

The conference race got right down to business Monday night with a na-tionally televised showdown between No. 4 UConn (10-0) and No. 6 Pitt (12-1) in the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. But easily the team with the most difficult early schedule is No. 15 Notre Dame (11-1), which faces No. 9 Georgetown, No. 5 Syracuse (13-0) and UConn in succession. That’s three top-10 teams in 10 days with a combined record of 34-2. At least only Syracuse is on the road.

“I don’t know if anybody has ever started league play off like that -- we certainly haven’t,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “When you have an 18-game league schedule, I don’t know how much you can concentrate on,

‘God, look at the first week, look at this stretch.’ It’s trying to methodically work your way through it. One-game win streaks are a thing to celebrate in our league.”

Brey agrees with Pitino that George-town could be the best team in the conference.

“There’s not a team playing bet-ter than Georgetown in the country right now,” Brey said. “They’re in an unbelievable rhythm, a very confident group. A skilled offensive group. I’ve been impressed with their transition -- one of the reasons they’re shooting a high percentage is they’re getting easy baskets in transition. They’re re-ally running more than I’ve seen them run.

“It’s an older group that’s played to-gether for a while, they know who theyare. It’s certainly come together verywell for them.”

While the Irish face multiple major challenges early, the Big East scheduleis set up for a fast start for Louisville,which will play three of its first fiveconference games at home, with oneof the road games at lowly USF, wherethe Cards have never lost under Pitino.UofL’s biggest test in the first two weeksof the league season will come on Jan.12 at No. 8 Villanova (10-1).

Louisville will be the last team to open conference play when it hostsreeling Seton Hall (6-6) on Jan. 5.

DIXON: HUSKIES NO SURPRISEPrior to playing UConn, Pitt coach

Jamie Dixon said the Huskies’ successthis season “shouldn’t be a surprise.”UConn features the nation’s leadingscorer in junior guard Kemba Walker(26.5 ppg) and won the Maui Invita-tional by beating Kentucky and Michi-gan State.

“We look at our things, and rank-ings come out, you go through ourleague and you have to pick somebodyninth and 10th that has won year afteryear,” Dixon said. “Last year we werein the same spot -- picked ninth andfinished second. It shouldn’t be a sur-prise. Syracuse a few years back, everyyear I would say they’re rebuilding. I’vegiven up on that. Connecticut, samething. They’re going to have good play-ers ready to go, and they’re going tobring good players in, and their coach


Georgetown coach John Thompson III may have the best team in the Big East this season

according to Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

L E A G U E M U C H S T R O N G E R T H A N E X P E C T E D

GEORGETOWN LOOKING GOOD AS BIG EAST GRIND BEGINS


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

has won a lot of games.”In the last 10 years UConn and Pitt

each have won three conference cham-pionships and two league tournament crowns.

“We have certainly been two of the better programs in the Big East over the past decade, and we have been fortunate enough to be one of the best over the past couple decades,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “Pitt is just a terrific basketball team. There’s no rea-son to think they’ll do anything less than what we thought they would do, and that’s be one of the best teams in the country.”

Of the 6-1 Walker, Calhoun said: “He’s certainly developed into one of the better players we’ve ever had. He’s pretty special.”

CALHOUN RIPS SCHEDULECalhoun has been outspoken in his

criticism of Big East scheduling. He thinks the conference slate shouldn’t begin until the first week in January be-cause it’s tough to get a team ready to play league games during the holiday season.

“It’s a big, big game for two days after Christmas,” Calhoun said of his team’s game at Pitt. “I don’t think Connecticut should be playing Pitt on Dec. 27. Let’s give everyone a chance to get through the holiday season. When you’re trav-eling two days after Christmas to play the best team in the league.... I’m just not talking about us. I’m talking about some of the other games this week. I personally don’t like it.

“If it comes down to the end and

people are looking for high seeds for the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, I wouldn’t want to see a game two days after Christmas cost somebody.”

Aside from the aforementioned teams, here’s how some of the other Big East teams stand going into confer-ence play:

St. John’s (7-3), under new coach Steve Lavin, won the Great Alaska Shoo-tout but has since lost to Fordham and St. Bonaventure. Still, the Red Storm, which will visit the KFC Yum! Center on Jan. 19, is a dangerous team.

Neither Marquette (9-3) nor West Virginia (8-2) is ranked despite their re-cent histories of success. Both have qui-etly worked to replace standout seniors (Lazar Hayward, Marquette; Da’Sean Butler, WVU).

The Mountaineers, who upset UK on their way to the Final Four last sea-son, have the talent in Kevin Jones, Joe Mazzulla and Casey Mitchell to make a run at a top-three league finish. The Golden Eagles have won at least 10 games in each of their first five seasons in the conference.

Cincinnati (12-0) is unbeaten de-spite losing its two best players, Lance Stephenson and Deonta Vaughn, and coach Mick Cronin thinks this is his best team. The Bearcats are off to their best start since 2003-04 when they won their first 13 games. But they’ve played an extremely soft schedule and must prove they can be a consistent winner in the Big East.

Rutgers (9-2) and Providence (11-2) are both improved but may not be quite

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ready to make a run at a first-division finish, while USF (6-6) and DePaul (6-7) will fight it out for last place, as usual.

HAZELL MAY REDSHIRTUofL’s defensive challenge against

Seton Hall just got easier. The Pirates will definitely be without leading scor-er/long-range bomber Jeremy Hazell for their Jan. 5 game in the KFC Yum! Center, and he may be out for the en-tire season.

Hazell, already recovering from wrist surgery, was shot and wounded un-der his right arm during a burglary at-tempt at his family’s home in Harlem last weekend. He was treated and kept overnight at a New York hospital, then released.

Hazell underwent surgery for a bro-ken wrist on Dec. 2 and was expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The senior guard began this season on pace to surpass Terry Dehere as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said Hazell may not play again this year and could apply for a medical redshirt season. Hazell has played in only three games this season.

“There’s a pretty good chance he

could not come back this year,” Willardsaid. “We’re going to do whatever isbest for Jeremy. If he’s not going to be100 percent and it will hurt his draftstatus or making money the year after,then we’ll make the decision to redshirthim.”

Seton Hall has struggled since Hazell went down, going 4-5 and droppingback-to-back games against Daytonand Richmond. The loss to the Spi-ders came on the heels of blowing a14-point second-half lead against theFlyers.

“Once we lost Jeremy, we kind of lost our way a little bit,” said Willard,who apologized to fans for Seton Hall’sperformance in the 69-61 homecourtloss to Richmond on Sunday. “It’s justkind of where we are right now. There’snot too many options we have. We justhave to try to stay consistent withineach game. That’s probably the mostfrustrating thing about watching us. Soyeah, I’m really concerned.”

The Pirates will have two Big East games under their belt by the time theyreach Louisville. They entertained USFTuesday night and will play at Cincin-nati New Year’s Eve.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun ripped Big East schedulers for having his team square off against

Pittsburgh so close to Christmas.


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONBIG EAST NOTEBOOK

D

MAKE YOUR PICKSLAST WEEK:

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Each week members of our esteemed media panel will try to prove they are smarter than sportscaster Tom Lane. Longtime

Louisville SportsReport subscribers will remember that our media members used to test their basketball knowledge

against a dog, but that proved to be far too challenging. The panel will battle it out by trying to pick the winners of 10

games per week during the college basketball season to earn the honor of top dog in the LSR’s Top Tom contest.

ZACH McCRITE93.9 THE TICKET


KENTUCKY AT LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLEGEORGETOWN AT NOTRE DAME NOTRE DAME GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAMEILLINOIS AT IOWA ILLINOIS IOWA ILLINOISTEMPLE AT VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVAFLORIDA AT XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER XAVIERMINNESOTA AT MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATESOUTH FLORIDA AT CONNECTICUT UCONN UCONN UCONNOHIO STATE AT INDIANA OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATEWEST VIRGINIA AT MARQUETTE WEST VIRGINIA MARQUETTE MARQUETTENOTRE DAME AT SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE

JACK COFFEESPORTSREPORT


U OF L PRESIDENTJAMES RAMSEY


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LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAME GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAME NOTRE DAME GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAME

ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOISVILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA

XAVIER FLORIDA XAVIER XAVIER FLORIDA XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER FLORIDA XAVIERMICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE

UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONNOHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE

WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA MARQUETTE WEST VIRGINIA MARQUETTE MARQUETTE MARQUETTE WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIASYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE

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LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE UK LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE NOTRE DAME NOTRE DAME GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAME GEORGETOWN GEORGETOWN NOTRE DAME ILLINOIS ILLINOIS IOWA ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS ILLINOIS VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA VILLANOVA FLORIDA XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER XAVIER MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE MICHIGAN STATE UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN UCONN OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE OHIO STATE WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA MARQUETTE MARQUETTE MARQUETTE WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE

S A C K E D A N D T H E N S O M E

A JUBILANT BUNCH OF FOOTBALLERS CELEBRATED WITH A JUBILANT BUNCH OF FOOTBALLERS CELEBRATED WITH THE BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S TROPHY AFTER THE CARDINALS BEAT THE BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S TROPHY AFTER THE CARDINALS BEAT SOUTHERN MISS 31-28 IN ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. SOUTHERN MISS 31-28 IN ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.

TROPHY IS COMING HOME

Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis got blasted on this Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis got blasted on this sack by linebacker Dexter Heyman and end Rodney Gnat.sack by linebacker Dexter Heyman and end Rodney Gnat.


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

2010-11 WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME RECORD OCTOBER 30 Indiana Wesleyan (Exh) KFC Yum! Center W, 67-42 NOVEMBER 12 TENNESSEE KFC Yum! Center L, 63-50 0-114 at Ohio University Athens, Ohio W, 84-47 1-117 HOUSTON BAPTIST KFC Yum! Center W, 100-34 2-1 19 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 97-43 3-123 at Xavier Cincinnati, Ohio L, 71-59 3-226 at Old Dominion Norfolk, Va. L, 69-65 3-329 at IPFW Fort Wayne, Ind. W, 100-74 4-3DECEMBER 2 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 96-37 5-35 KENTUCKY KFC Yum! Center W, 78-52 6-311 DAYTON KFC Yum! Center W, 69-55 7-315 at Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio W, 78-40 8-3 18-20 Dual in the Desert Las Vegas, Nev. 18 vs. Marist Las Vegas, Nev. L, 68-74 8-419 vs. Houston Las Vegas, Nev. L, 80-92 8-5 20 vs. Nebraska Las Vegas, Nev. W, 65-51 9-528 UT-MARTIN KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. JANUARY 4 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 9 PITTSBURGH KFC Yum! Center NOON 12 at Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 15 at Connecticut Hartford, Conn NOON22 CINCINNATI KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 26 at Marquette Milwaukee, Wis. 8 p.m. 29 RUTGERS KFC Yum! Center 6 p.m. FEBRUARY 1 GEORGETOWN KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m.6 at Villanova Philadelphia, Pa. 2 p.m. 13 WEST VIRGINIA KFC Yum! Center 5 p.m. 16 at Syracuse Syracuse, NY 7 p.m. 19 at USF Tampa, Fla. 2 p.m.23 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 26 SETON HALL KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m.28 at Providence Providence, RI 7 p.m.MARCH 4-8 BIG EAST Tournament Hartford, Conn. TBA

2010-11 MEN’S SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT (TELEVISION) SITE TIME/RES RECORDOCTOBER Sun. 31 NORTHERN KENTUCKY / exhibition KFC Yum! Center W, 83-66 -- NOVEMBER Thur. 11 KENTUCKY WESLEYAN / exhibition KFC Yum! Center W, 96-54 -- Tues. 16 BUTLER (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center W, 88-73 1-0 GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUTSat. 20 JACKSON STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 62-45 2-0Mon. 22 CHATTANOOGA KFC Yum! Center W, 106-65 3-0Sat. 27 MARSHALL (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 80-66 4-0 DECEMBER Wed. 1 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 92-55 5-0 in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT Sat. 4 SOUTH ALABAMA KFC Yum! Center W, 97-70 6-0 Wed. 8 SAN FRANCISCO (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 61-35 7-0Sat. 11 UNLV (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center W, 77-69 8-0 in BILLY MINARDI CLASSIC Tues. 14 DREXEL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center L, 52-46 8-1Sat. 18 GARDNER-WEBB (ESPN3) KFC Yum! Center W, 78-49 9-1 Wed. 22 at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky. W, 114-82 10-1Mon. 27 MORGAN STATE KFC Yum! Center W, 104-74 11-1 Fri. 31 KENTUCKY (CBS) KFC Yum! Center Noon 35-3 NCAA JANUARY Wed. 5 SETON HALL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 19-13 NIT Sun. 9 at USF Tampa, Fla. Noon 20-13 NIT Wed. 12 at Villanova (ESPN/2) Philadelphia, Pa. 7 p.m. 25-8 NCAA Sat. 15 MARQUETTE (ESPN2) KFC Yum! Center 11 a.m. 22-12 NCAA Wed. 19 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 17-16 NIT Sat. 22 at Providence (ESPNU) Providence, R.I. 5 p.m. 12-19 Wed. 26 WEST VIRGINIA (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 31-7 NCAA Sat. 29 at Connecticut Storrs, Conn. Noon 18-16 NIT Mon. 31 at Georgetown (ESPN) Washington, D.C. 7 p.m. 23-11 NCAA FEBRUARY Sat. 5 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 8 p.m. 8-23 Wed. 9 at Notre Dame (ESPNU) South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 23-12 NCAA Sat. 12 SYRACUSE (ESPN/2) KFC Yum! Center Noon 30-5 NCAA Wed. 16 at Cincinnati (ESPN/2) Cincinnati, Ohio 7 p.m. 19-16 NIT Fri. 18 CONNECTICUT (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center 9 p.m. 18-16 NIT Tues. 22 at Rutgers (ESPNU) Piscataway, N.J. 9 p.m. 15-17 Sun. 27 PITTSBURGH (CBS) KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 25-9 NCAA MARCH Wed. 2 PROVIDENCE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 12-19 Sat. 5 at West Virginia (ESPN/2) Morgantown, W. Va. Noon 31-7 NCAA Tues. 8-Sat. 12 Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden New York City

## SUMMARY GP GS Min/G FG% 3PT% FT% Reb/G Ast/G Stl Blk Pts/G 02 Knowles, Preston 11 10 25.4 .403 .373 .826 3.7 2.1 19 2 13.7 03 Siva, Peyton 11 11 22.8 .526 .294 .745 2.7 4.7 23 1 12.1 33 Marra, Mike 10 9 24.7 .340 .270 .750 2.8 2.7 12 4 9.3 23 Jennings, Terrence 11 9 22.3 .529 .000 .619 5.6 1.1 6 27 9.1 05 Smith, Chris 11 2 18.5 .538 .522 .800 3.7 1.5 8 2 8.5 04 Buckles, Rakeem 10 8 22.2 .476 .421 .571 7.6 1.9 10 3 8.4 10 Dieng, Gorgui 10 2 14.6 .714 .000 .571 4.7 0.5 4 26 6.2 14 Kuric, Kyle 9 3 20.4 .413 .375 1.000 2.8 1.2 8 1 6.0 24 Smith, Russ 4 0 8.5 .533 .667 .600 0.3 1.8 5 0 5.8 22 Justice, Elisha 10 0 15.5 .364 .278 .621 1.8 1.9 4 0 4.7 00 Goode, George 10 0 7.2 .611 .000 .667 1.0 0.1 3 3 2.4 44 Van Treese, Stephan 11 1 11.2 .688 .000 .235 3.2 0.4 10 2 2.4 15 Henderson, Tim 9 0 4.3 .364 .250 .500 0.7 0.4 2 0 1.1 TM TEAM 11 0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 1.8 0.0 0 0 0.0 Total.......... 11 .471 .346 .652 40.0 18.2 114 71 81.9 Opponents...... 11 .365 .290 .640 35.8 9.7 70 23 60.1

SCORING GP FG FGA FG% 3FG FGA 3PT% FT FTA FT% PTS PTS/G KNOWLES, Preston 11 52 129 .403 28 75 .373 19 23 .826 151 13.7 SIVA, Peyton 11 41 78 .526 10 34 .294 41 55 .745 133 12.1 MARRA, Mike 10 32 94 .340 20 74 .270 9 12 .750 93 9.3 JENNINGS, Terrence 11 37 70 .529 0 0 .000 26 42 .619 100 9.1 SMITH, Chris 11 35 65 .538 12 23 .522 12 15 .800 94 8.5 BUCKLES, Rakeem 10 30 63 .476 8 19 .421 16 28 .571 84 8.4 DIENG, Gorgui 10 25 35 .714 0 1 .000 12 21 .571 62 6.2 KURIC, Kyle 9 19 46 .413 12 32 .375 4 4 1.00 54 6.0 SMITH, Russ 4 8 15 .533 4 6 .667 3 5 .600 23 5.8 JUSTICE, Elisha 10 12 33 .364 5 18 .278 18 29 .621 47 4.7 GOODE, George 10 11 18 .611 0 3 .000 2 3 .667 24 2.4 VAN TREESE, Stephan 11 11 16 .688 0 0 .000 4 17 .235 26 2.4 HENDERSON, Tim 9 4 11 .364 1 4 .250 1 2 .500 10 1.1 Total.......... 11 317 673 .471 100 289 .346 167 256 .652 901 81.9 Opponents...... 11 217 595 .365 60 207 .290 167 261 .640 661 60.1

TOTALS GP Min O-Reb D-Reb Tot Reb PF DQ Ast TO Ast/TO Hi Pts KNOWLES, Preston 11 279 5 36 41 29 2 23 17 1.35 24 SIVA, Peyton 11 251 5 25 30 30 2 52 33 1.58 29 MARRA, Mike 10 247 6 22 28 15 0 27 16 1.69 23 JENNINGS, Terrence 11 245 26 36 62 32 1 12 13 0.92 14 SMITH, Chris 11 203 15 26 41 8 0 16 13 1.23 18 BUCKLES, Rakeem 10 222 27 49 76 25 0 19 19 1.00 17 DIENG, Gorgui 10 146 23 24 47 20 2 5 8 0.63 15 KURIC, Kyle 9 184 7 18 25 15 0 11 5 2.20 17 SMITH, Russ 4 34 0 1 1 7 0 7 7 1.00 9 JUSTICE, Elisha 10 155 2 16 18 19 0 19 5 3.80 12 GOODE, George 10 72 5 5 10 8 0 1 2 0.50 8 VAN TREESE, Stephan 11 123 18 17 35 14 0 4 7 0.57 8 HENDERSON, Tim 9 39 0 6 6 6 0 4 2 2.00 4 Total.......... 11 2200 146 294 440 228 7 200 148 1.35 114 Opponents...... 11 2200 135 259 394 229 - 107 202 0.53 82

## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G 23 Schimmel, Shoni 14-14 28.6 .470 .404 .800 3.4 5.1 28 2 16.3 33 Reid, Monique 14-6 24.1 .572 .250 .676 5.4 1.9 23 6 15.8 11 Burke, Becky 14-8 24.3 .451 .406 .850 3.1 1.3 16 0 8.4 25 Gibbs, Tia 14-14 24.8 .426 .396 .688 4.3 1.6 36 4 8.3 03 Vails, Sheronne 14-8 21.6 .474 .000 .686 3.3 0.6 15 30 8.1 45 Hines, Keshia 14-14 21.4 .563 .000 .532 6.4 1.3 28 23 7.5 31 Taylor, Asia 10-6 13.8 .366 .000 .529 4.4 1.2 8 2 3.9 05 Tay, Charmaine 13-0 15.4 .349 .364 .516 3.2 1.8 10 1 3.8 04 Slaughter, Antonita 14-0 10.6 .372 .389 .667 2.5 0.4 7 0 3.7 20 Harrington, Polly 8-0 6.3 .375 .200 .667 0.9 0.0 5 1 2.6 10 Johnson, LaToya 5-0 7.2 .800 1.000 1.000 1.2 0.6 1 0 2.2 01 Harper, Shelby 11-0 10.7 .143 .071 .750 0.7 1.3 7 0 0.9 30 Story, Rachel 12-0 6.8 .167 .000 .750 0.9 1.2 3 0 0.4 TM TEAM 14-0 0.0 .000 .000 .000 3.4 0.0 0 0 0.0 Total 14 .463 .374 .653 40.1 17.1 187 69 77.8 Opponents 14 .363 .304 .646 36.2 10.7 112 38 57.6

SCORING GP FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3PT% FT-FTA FT% PTS PTS/G Schimmel, Shoni 14 87-185 .470 38-94 .404 16-20 .800 228 16.3 Reid, Monique 14 87-152 .572 1-4 .250 46-68 .676 221 15.8 Burke, Becky 14 37-82 .451 26-64 .406 17-20 .850 117 8.4 Gibbs, Tia 14 43-101 .426 19-48 .396 11-16 .688 116 8.3 Vails, Sheronne 14 45-95 .474 0-1 .000 24-35 .686 114 8.1 Hines, Keshia 14 40-71 .563 0-0 .000 25-47 .532 105 7.5 Taylor, Asia 10 15-41 .366 0-0 .000 9-17 .529 39 3.9 Tay, Charmaine 13 15-43 .349 4-11 .364 16-31 .516 50 3.8 Slaughter, Antonita 14 16-43 .372 14-36 .389 6-9 .667 52 3.7 Harrington, Polly 8 6-16 .375 1-5 .200 8-12 .667 21 2.6 Johnson, LaToya 5 4-5 .800 1-1 1.000 2-2 1.000 11 2.2 Harper, Shelby 11 3-21 .143 1-14 .071 3-4 .750 10 0.9 Story, Rachel 12 1-6 .167 0-3 .000 3-4 .750 5 0.4 Total 14 399-861 .463 105-281 .374 186-285 .653 1089 77.8 Opponents 14 280-772 .363 77-253 .304 170-263 .646 807 57.6

TOTALS GP MIN OFF DEF TOT PF FO A TO A/TO HI Schimmel, Shoni 14 401 14 33 47 24 0 72 54 1.3 26 Reid, Monique 14 338 28 48 76 23 0 27 28 1.0 27 Burke, Becky 14 340 6 38 44 11 0 18 16 1.1 21 Gibbs, Tia 14 347 14 46 60 31 1 22 21 1.0 13 Vails, Sheronne 14 302 21 25 46 36 1 9 25 0.4 22 Hines, Keshia 14 299 38 52 90 54 4 18 40 0.5 15 Taylor, Asia 10 138 22 22 44 21 0 12 15 0.8 9 Tay, Charmaine 13 200 15 26 41 21 0 24 17 1.4 9 Slaughter, Antonita 14 149 12 23 35 11 0 6 8 0.8 11 Harrington, Polly 8 50 5 2 7 9 1 0 5 0.0 10 Johnson, LaToya 5 36 1 5 6 3 0 3 2 1.5 9 Harper, Shelby 11 118 0 8 8 19 0 14 9 1.6 4 Story, Rachel 12 82 1 10 11 7 0 14 8 1.8 2 Total 14 2800 199 363 562 271 7 239 255 0.9 100 Opponents 14 2782 184 323 507 252 - 150 337 0.4 92

MEN’S BASKETBALL INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATS


WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Howie Lindsey After suffering losses in the fi rst two

games of the Duel in the Desert Classic in Las Vegas, the University of Louisville sal-vaged its trip by defeated reeling No. 21 Nebraska 65-51 a week ago Monday.

Freshman point guard Shoni Schimmel led three Cardinals in double fi gures with 22 points. Monique Reid added 13 points, and Tia Gibbs had 12.

UofL (9-5) used an 8-0 run to turn an 11-10 defi cit into a seven-point lead with 9:41 left in the fi rst half. The Cardinals used their pressing de-fense to force the Corn-huskers into mistakes. Nebraska made 19 turn-overs in all, which the

Cards converted into 23 points.After Nebraska (7-4) drew within 18-16

three possessions later, the Cardinals re-sponded with a 9-0 run to take their fi rst double-digit lead at 27-16 with 6:51 left before halftime.

A three-pointer by freshman forward Antonita Slaughter just before the half-time buzzer gave the Cards a 35-22 lead, but the Cornhuskers weren’t done yet. They closed within 41-38 before an 8-0 run by Louisville pushed the margin back to double-digits with 9:01 left.

Nebraska got no closer than fi ve points the rest of the way, and the Cardinals closed the game on an 8-2 run.

UofL shot 40 percent overall, 37.5 per-cent from behind the arc, while holding Nebraska to 32.8 percent overall, 30.8 percent on treys. But Nebraska’s poor shooting wasn’t all Louisville’s defense. The Huskers shot just 55.6 percent from the line.

Nebraska entered play in the Duel in the Desert at 7-1 but went 0-3, losing to Marist, Houston and UofL.

It was Louisville’s second victory over a ranked team this season. The Cards de-molished No. 8 Kentucky 78-52 on Dec. 5. Louisville’s fi rst two games in the Duel in the Desert Classic weren’t as good. CARDS DROP BACK-TO-BACK GAMES

With fi ve straight wins going into the Duel in the Desert, the young Cardinals appeared to have fi gured some things out. But all those things, plus a few more, seemed to befuddle them during back-to-back losses to Marist and Houston to start the round-robin tournament.

The Cardinals fell to Marist 74-68 on Saturday, Dec. 18, in large part due to an inability to stop Corielle Yarde. She made 8 of 12 shots, including 3 of 5 treys, and scored 25 points as Marist improved to 7-2. Yarde also had 10 rebounds

Louisville’s veterans - senior post Kes-hia Hines and juniors Reid (forward) and Becky Burke (shooting guard) - totaled 28 points between them. Schimmel had 26 points but struggled from the fi eld, going 10 of 26, and had just two assists.

Marist jumped out to 13-4 lead to start

the game. After the fi rst timeout, the Car-dinals went on a 7-2 run to close within 15-11 with 12:29 remaining in the fi rst half. The Red Foxes responded with an 11-2 run, taking their biggest lead of the half at 26-13 at the seven-minute mark. The Cards were able to cut the lead to 35-26 at the break.

Louisville opened the second half with a 14-6 run. Tia Gibbs capped the run with a three-pointer to make it 41-40 with 15:46 remaining. But just as soon as Lou-isville crawled back into the game, Marist pushed back with a 10-0 run that gave the Red Foxes a 51-40 lead with 13:29 left. UofL cut the margin to six with just over six minutes left, but Marist hit 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory. REID BREAKS 1,000 IN HOUSTON LOSS

On Sunday, UofL fell 92-80 to unranked Houston (8-1). Reid was a bright spot for the Cardinals with 27 points. With her 18th point of the game she surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career, becom-ing the 21st Cardinal to score 1,000 points and the fi fth player to reach that milestone in her junior year.

The Cougars (8-1) jumped to an early 21-11 lead and fi nished the fi rst half in front 50-37. In between the double-digit leads, the Cards rallied to tie the score at 32 before a 10-0 Houston run put the Cougars back in the driver’s seat.

Louisville’s attempt to get back into the game was foiled by turnovers. After the Cards tied the score at 32, they commit-ted six turnovers in the next fi ve minutes, all but one of which resulted in Houston points.

In the second half Louisville fell farther and farther behind as Houston took ad-vantage of the Cardinals’ off-target shoot-ing. The Cougars built their largest lead of the game at 87-62 with 5:25 left before a late Louisville rally cut the fi nal margin to 12 points.

In addition to Reid’s 27 points, Schim-mel had 23 and Gibbs had 10.

CARDS NAB BIG EAST WINBefore heading off to Las Vegas, Louis-

ville won its fi rst Big East game of the sea-son on Dec. 15. The Cardinals rolled over hapless Cincinnati 78-40 with the help of fi ve players scoring in double fi gures.

Louisville started the game with a 13-0 run and led 26-2 with just under nine min-utes to go in the fi rst half. The Bearcats (5-3, 0-1) were simply outmatched in all phases as Louisville led by 20 or more for all but 1:39 the rest of the game.

Reid and Burke each had 13, Gibbs add-ed 11, and Schimmel and freshman center Sheronne Vails each had 10. Schimmel fi n-ished with a career-high eight assists.

UPCOMING GAMESUofL returned home to face Tennessee-

Martin Tuesday night after this week’s edi-tion of the Louisville SportsReport went to press Tuesday morning. The Cardinals will host 11-1 St. John’s next Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center at 7 p.m.

Louisville freshman Shoni Schimmel fl ew through the air as she went up for a layup in a recent game at the Yum! Center. The Cardinals hosted

Tennessee-Martin Tuesday night.


CARDS RETURN HOME FROM VEGAS WITH WIN OVER NO. 21 NEBRASKA


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN

D


WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY

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Freshman guard Shoni Schimmel is leading the team with 16.3 points per game and 5.1 assists per game. She is second on the team with 28 steals and is hitting 40.4

percent of her three-point shots.

Louisville coach Jeff Walz’s team is 1-0 in the Big East after beating Cincinnati in their fi rst league game in

mid-December.

Freshman guard Charmaine Tay has 10 steals and 24 assists through 13 games this season while only averaging 15 minutes per game.

Junior Monique Reid passed 1,000 points for her career against Houston last week. The Fern Creek native is averaging 15.8 points per game this season, second on the team.

Junior Becky Burke passed over an opponent. Burke is averaging 1.3 assists per game. She’s third on the team in scoring with 8.4 points per game.

Sophomore Tia Gibbs is fourth on the team in scoring with 8.3 points per game. She leads the team in steals with 36. - photos by Shelley Feller

Sophomore Shelby Harper is a crowd favorite for her hustle and tenacious defense.

dec. 30 issue

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