louisville sportsreport: dec. 8 edition

VOLUME XVI • NUMBER 17DECEMBER 8, 2011

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT FEBRUARY 3, 2011

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DECEMBER 8, 2011 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

GRAPHIC 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 XVI, NUMBER 16 • DECEMBER 8, 2011

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W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 BELK BOWL TICKETS, CAF TERRACE SEATS6 2011-12 BOWL CALENDAR8 CRITICISM OF BIG EAST NEEDS TO GO TOWARD BCS By Jack Coffee10 BUCKLES RETURN SHOULD BOOST SAGGING OFFENSE By Russ Brown12 LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY14 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY 16 LOUISVILLE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULES

17 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey 18 VOLLEYCARDS ADVANCE TO SECOND ROUND, FALL TO PURDUE 18 CARDINAL STARS OF THE WEEK By Howie Lindsey19 RECRUITING: CARDS HOST JUCO TIGHT END By Jeff Wafford20 MEN’S SOCCER PHOTO GALLERY22 TRAVEL TO THE BOWL FOR JUST $215 PER PERSON24 CARDINAL KIDS: PHOTOS OF THE YOUNGEST CARDINAL FANS

15 ‘DISCOURAGING’ EFFORTLouisville coach Jeff Walz was frustrated with his team’s competitiveness after a 74-54 loss to archrival UK Sunday. “We’ve just got to compete harder .... It’s just amazing how many loose balls we didn’t even dive after,” he said.

5 CARDS HEADED TO CHARLOTTECharlie Strong likes his team’s clash with NC State in the Belk Bowl, Dec. 27. “To end the year with a high-quality bowl game versus a tough opponent like NC State is a great way to end the year,” he said.

21 THIRD TIME IS NOT A CHARMLouisville beat UCLA 5-4 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season. Then they beat the Bruins 2-0 to start the season in August. UCLA got the last laugh with a 1-0 double-overtime win Saturday.

9 COMEBACK CARDS TREATING PITINOWith the help of a layup from Peyton Siva with 1.4 seconds left in overtime, Louisville came from behind to beat Vanderbilt, 62-60. “It’s a treat to coach this team because you see great comebacks,” Rick Pitino said.

LOUISVILLE SOCCER LOSES MATCH, GAINS FANSNearly 5,000 Louisville fans (some of whom carried large cutouts of players’ heads) packed Cardinal Park for the Cardinals’ match against UCLA Saturday night. UofL fell 1-0 in double overtime, but the crowd stayed after the loss and applauded the team’s extraordinary effort. The game could be the fi nal soccer game in Cardinal Park. Fundraising is going full steam ahead on a new soccer stadium on Floyd Street so the Cardinals won’t have to install thousands of temporary seats like they did prior to Saturday’s match.

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7 A TEST FOR TEDDYNorth Carolina State boasts the nation’s top interceptor, David Amerson, who leads the nation with 11 interceptions. The Wolfpack defense will be a tough test for Louisville freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

11 KYLE KURIC IS IRONMAN?Senior co-captain Kyle Kuric played all but two minutes of Louisville’s overtime win against Vanderbilt Friday night. Not that he minds. “No, never. Never,” Kuric said when asked if he’d ever ask to come out of a game.

LOUISVILLE FANS HEADING TO CHARLOTTE

PAGE 4 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT DECEMBER 8, 2011

LOUISVILLE ATHLETICS

FOR DAILY UPDATES ON LOUISVILLE SPORTS - FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, RECRUITING AND MORE - LOG ON TO CARDINALSPORTS.COM

Ticket orders for the University of Louisville’s appearance in the Belk Bowl against NC State to be played Dec. 27 in Charlotte, N.C., will be accepted immediately. The game will be played at Bank of America Stadium at 8 p.m. ET.

UofL football season ticket holders will be e-mailed instructions for the online purchase of tickets, priced at $90 for club level seats, $70 for lower level seats and $40 for upper level seats. Season ticket-holders will receive priority on tickets by logging on to “Manage My Cardinal Account” through the TICKETS tab on www.UofLsports.com. To ensure priority consideration, applications and appropriate payment must be received by Dec. 9.

Ticket orders will also be accepted from the general public through a similar online procedure. If you do not have a My Cardinal Account, you will be prompted for the appropriate information through the online process. Complete directions are available online. Questions may be directed to the UofL ticket offi ce at (502) 852-5151 or 852-5863. The UofL ticket offi ce is open weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Those purchasing tickets will be informed by email when tickets will be available to be picked up at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Tickets will not be mailed.

Additional information on the Cardinals’ participation in and events surrounding the Belk Bowl will be provided on the Cardinals’ web site at www.UofLsports.com as it becomes available.


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

By Russ BrownWhen the University of Louisville football

team takes on North Carolina State in the Belk Bowl in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 27, it will be facing a club that traveled a similar path to bowl eligibility.

Both teams got off to wobbly starts but re-grouped and fi nished strong. UofL (7-5) started 2-4, then won fi ve of its last six games, while N.C. State (7-5) stood 2-3 be-fore winning fi ve of its last seven, including three

of its last four.“When this football team was 2-3, there

weren’t a lot of people that believed we could win fi ve of the next seven games,” said coach Tom O’ Brien, the former Boston Col-lege coach who is in his fi fth season at the Raleigh, N.C., school.

Ditto for the Cardinals, who fi nished in a three-way tie with Cincinnati and West Vir-ginia for fi rst place in the Big East Confer-ence with a 5-2 record. The Wolfpack was fourth in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 4-4.

“This team had to grow up as we went along, and that led to a lot of ups and downs,” N.C. State senior tight end George Bryan said. “We were a totally different team the second half of the season.”

UofL will be making its second straight bowl appearance, while N.C. State claimed a bowl berth for the third time in four years. The 10-year-old Belk Bowl, formerly the Meineke Car Care Bowl, will kick off at 8 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.

“Charlotte is close in proximity for our fans and could be an easy drive after the Christmas holiday,” UofL athletic director Tom Jurich said in a statement. “This game is a reward for a great coaching job by Charlie (Strong) and his staff, and a great reward for our team, which exceeded everyone’s expec-tations and won the Big East title.”

In the preseason poll of Big East coaches the Cards were picked to fi nish seventh in the eight-team league, but they were in the running for their second Bowl Championship Series berth until the fi nal weekend of the season.

UofL needed Connecticut to upset Cincin-nati last Saturday. Instead, the Bearcats won 35-27 to create the three-way title tie, and West Virginia (9-3) got the Big East’s auto-matic BCS spot because it was the highest-rated team in the fi nal BCS standings at No. 23. The Mountaineers (9-3) will face No. 14 Clemson (10-3), the ACC champ, in the Or-

ange Bowl in Miami on Jan. 4.This was supposed to be a rebuilding sea-

son for UofL, with the loss of 25 seniors, but the Cards overcame early upset losses to FIU and Marshall to fi nish strong, including a 38-35 upset of then-No. 22 West Virginia in Morgantown for their fi rst win over a top-25 team in Strong’s two seasons.

The Cards were one of the youngest teams in the FBS, with 10 freshmen starters on of-fense and defense and 11 sophomores on the two-deep chart, including fi ve starters.

“I’m so proud of our football team and coaching staff to be 2-4 earlier this season and end this year by winning fi ve of the last six games and becoming Big East champi-ons,” Strong said in a statement. “We have fought through a lot of adversity this year, and to end the year with a high-quality bowl game versus a tough opponent like N.C. State is a great way to end the year.”

Like UofL, the Wolfpack had one notable victory, 37-13 over then-No. 7 Clemson. It seems the Wolfpack has either been very good or very bad (see a 34-0 loss to Florida State), and O’Brien has called it a “transition season.”

After an opening victory against Liberty, N.C. State lost three of its next four games. But the Wolfpack won three of its fi nal four games and rallied from a 41-14 third-quarter defi cit in a wild 56-41 win over Maryland in its season fi nale.

“Our team is thrilled about the opportu-

nity to play in the Belk Bowl,” O’Brien said in a statement. “This is a great reward for their tenacity and refusal to give up this season. It’s also a great reward for our fans, who al-ways play a major role in our success. With a quality opponent like Louisville, it should be an exciting game.”

The bowl will be almost like a home game for N.C. State, whose campus in Raleigh is only 167 miles from Charlotte, which will be nearly a 500-mile, seven-hour-plus drive for Louisville fans. The Wolfpack is one of eight ACC teams that will play in a bowl.

“Charlotte always rolls out their Southern hospitality to visitors,” N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow said. “We have a fi rst-class competition venue for the game and easy travel to the city for thousands of Wolf-packers. That is a terrifi c combination.”

The victory over visiting Maryland (2-10) represented N.C. State’s biggest comeback in school history. Junior quarterback Mike Glennon threw for fi ve touchdowns and ran for another one as the Wolfpack scored 42 consecutive points.

On the season, the 6-foot-6 Glennon has completed 62.4 percent of his passes (262-420-11) for 2,790 yards and 28 touchdowns. Five Wolfpack receivers have racked up 300 or more yards in receptions, led by 6-0 senior T.J. Graham with 39 catches for 641 yards and fi ve TDs. Graham also is a danger-ous punt and kickoff returner.

But the Wolfpack’s marquee player resides

on the other side of the ball. That’s sopho-more cornerback David Amerson, who leadsthe FBS with 11 interceptions and is one ofthree fi nalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, giv-en to the top defensive back in college foot-ball. (The other fi nalists are Mark Barron ofAlabama and Morris Claiborne of LSU).

Amerson, who has four more thefts than any other player in the country, needs just onemore to rank among the top three in NCAAhistory. He broke the 73-year-old school re-cord for interceptions in a single season (9)that was set by Art Rooney in both 1937 and1938. The Greensboro, N.C., native also hasfi ve passes broken up and 16 passes defend-ed, the latter ranking fourth in the nation.

Amerson’’s teammate, junior free safety Brandon Bishop, has fi ve interceptions.

Along with disrupting opponents’ pass-ing game, the Pack also has been good atforcing and recovering fumbles. They havecreated 36 turnovers, second in the FBS onlyto Oklahoma State’s 42, and they rank sixthin turnover margin at plus-14, or 1.17 pergame.

Senior linebacker Audie Cole ranks 10th nationally with four forced fumbles, and ju-nior safety Earl Wolff has dislodged three,which is second in the ACC.

UofL and N.C. State have played two com-mon opponents in North Carolina and Cincin-nati. The Cards lost to the Tar Heels 14-7 inChapel Hill, while the Pack beat them in Ra-leigh 13-0. However, N.C. State was blitzedby the Bearcats 44-17, while the Cards lostonly 25-16 after leading at halftime.

UofL owns a 3-0 record against the Pack, having beaten them 26-2 in 1951, 35-14 in1994 and 27-10 in 2007.

Big East teams have played in the Belk Bowl seven times and have won the lastthree in down-to-the-wire fashion -- USF31-26 over Clemson, Pittsburgh 19-17 overNorth Carolina and West Virginia 31-30 overUNC.

The bowl has averaged almost 60,000 fans a year, with three sellouts. In addition,the game has reached more than 25 milliontelevision households. More than 43,000tickets already have been sold to this year’sgame, which has a payout of $1.7 million toeach team.

Bank America Stadium, built in 1996, is home to the Carolina Panthers of the NFL.

Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster. UofL football season-ticket holders were tobe emailed instructions about purchasingtickets online. Orders for the general pub-lic also must be made online at www.uofl -sports.com.

Priority will be given to applications re-ceived by Friday.

Teddy Bridgewater prepared to take a snap against Pittsburgh. The freshman quarterback will face a ball-hawking North Carolina State defense in the Belk Bowl. The Wolfpack have intercepted 24 passes this season, including 12 by sophomore cornerback David Amerson, who leads the nation. - photo by Howie Lindsey

L I K E C A R D S , U P - A N D - D O W N P A C K S T A G E D A S T R O N G F I N I S H

UOFL’S BELK BOWL FOE, N.C. STATE, HAS SIMILAR RESUME’

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN

LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT DECEMBER 8, 2011

2011 BOWL MATCHUPS


OPPONENT PREVIEW

HEAD COACHHEAD COACHTOM O’BRIENTOM O’BRIEN

DB DAVID AMERSONDB DAVID AMERSON

2011 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULTSept. 3, 2011 Liberty (ESPN360) W 43-21

Sept. 10, 2011 at Wake Forest (Ray/Com) L 34-27

Sept. 17, 2011 South Alabama (ESPN360) W 35-13

Sept. 22, 2011 at Cincinnati (ESPN) L 44-14

Oct. 1, 2011 Georgia Tech (ABC) L 45-35

Oct. 8, 2011 Central Michigan (ESPN360) W 38-24

Oct. 22, 2011 at Virginia (ESPNU) W 28-14

Oct. 29, 2011 at Florida State (ESPNU) L 34-0

Nov. 5, 2011 North Carolina (Ray/Com) W 13-0

Nov. 12, 2011 at Boston College (Ray/Com) L 14-10

Nov. 19, 2011 Clemson (ABC) W 37-13

Nov. 26, 2011 Maryland (Ray/Com) W 56-41

Dec. 27, 2011 Louisville 8:00 pm ET

2010 RESULTSDATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULTSept. 4, 2010 Western Carolina W 48-7

Sept. 11, 2010 at UCF (CBSC) W 28-21

Sept. 16, 2010 Cincinnati (ESPN) W 30-19

Sept. 25, 2010 at Georgia Tech (ESPN) W 45-28

Oct. 2, 2010 Virginia Tech (ABC) L 41-30

Oct. 9, 2010 Boston College (Ray/Com) W 44-17

Oct. 16, 2010 at East Carolina (CBSC) L 33-27

Oct. 28, 2010 Florida State (ESPN) W 28-24

Nov. 6, 2010 at Clemson (Ray/Com) L 14-13

Nov. 13, 2010 Wake Forest (ESPN360) W 38-3

Nov. 20, 2010 at North Carolina W 29-25

Nov. 27, 2010 at Maryland L 38-31

Dec. 28, 2010 West Virginia W 23-7

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FAST FACT:DAVID AMERSON LEADS

THE NATION WITH 11 INTERCEPTIONS, FOUR MORE THAN ANY OTHER

PLAYER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL.

WOLFPACK BREAKDOWN

TUESDAY DECEMBER 27, 2011

LOUISVILLEVS.

NC STATECHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINABANK OF AMERICA STADIUM

8 PM • ESPN

BY RICK CUSHINGThe Wolfpack began the season

as somewhat of a mystery team. They were coming off a 9-4 campaign that included a 23-7 victory over No. 22 West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl, but gone from that team was All-ACC quarterback Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin and was able to play one very successful

season there as a graduate student. The team also lost its top three receivers and top defensive player, although plenty of talent remained on the defense.

Wilson’s exit was controversial, with some saying that coach Tom O’Brien forced him out because he was annoyed with Wilson’s fl irtation with professional baseball and his uncertain status each spring and summer. O’Brien signed Wilson’s release last spring and said his decision was made easier after rising junior Mike Glennon looked good at QB in spring drills. The 6-foot-6 Glennon was considered one of the top QB prospects in the nation in high school.

After N.C. State lost three of its fi rst fi ve games, however, its only victories coming against Liberty and South Alabama, while Wisconsin was climbing into the top 10 behind Wilson, O’Brien’s decision came under considerable fi re. But the Wolfpack regrouped, winning fi ve of their last seven games to quiet the critics and land N.C. State in the Belk Bowl opposite Louisville.

During its end-of-the season run, N.C. State suffered a demoralizing 34-0 loss to Florida State on Oct.29 but bounced back to beat archrival North Carolina13-0, beat then-No. 7 Clemson 37-13 and ended its season with a wild 56-41 victory over Maryland when the Wolfpack rallied from a 41-14 defi cit by scoring 42 unanswered points.

The Cardinals will face a team that struggles to run the ball (107th in the country at 108.17 rushing ypg), does much better through the air (52nd in the country at 238 ypg), and has a fairly stout defense (39th in the country overall, yielding 351.92 ypg) that excels in forcing turnovers (sixth in the country at plus-14). A big part of that is due to sophomore cornerback David Amerson, who leads the country with 11 interceptions. He broke a school record that stood for 73 years.

OFFENSEGlennon, a classic pocket thrower who weighs 225 pounds,

rebounded from a shaky start to fi nish with 28 touchdown passes as opposed to 11 interceptions. He was 262 of 420 (62.4 percent) for 2,790 yards (10.6 a completion, 232.5 a game). His backup, freshman Tyler Brosius (6-3, 233), was 8 of 13 for 66 yards and a TD.

Glennon’s favorite target was senior wide receiver T.J. Graham (6-0, 180), who caught 39 passes for 641 yards (16.4 yards per catch, 53.4 ypg) and fi ve TDs, with a long of 87 yards. Graham also returns punts and kickoffs. He averaged 12.1 yards on punt returns (12th in the country), with an 82-yarder for a TD, and he averaged 22.5 yards on kickoff returns, with a long of 46 yards. He is 19th in the country in all-purpose yards at 146 per game. He was named fi rst-team All-ACC.

Three receivers each have caught four TD passes – senior WR Jay Smith (6-2, 209), freshman WR Tobias Palmer (5-11, 175) and senior TE George Bryan (6-5, 265), who made fi rst-team All-ACC last season and second team this season. Seven others have caught TD passes.

The ground game is led by junior James Washington (6-0. 180), who has rushed for 852 yards (4.0 per carry,71.0 a game) and seven TDs, with a long of 46 yards. He’s also a capable receiver (39 catches for 300 yards - 7.7 per catch, 25.0 per game) with a long of 29 yards. He does not have a TD receiving, however.

Redshirt freshman Tony Creecy (6-0, 196) is the second-leading rusher with 366 yards (3.7 per attempt, 33.3 per game)

and one TD, with a long run of 27 yards.The offensive line returned three starters but has allowed

32 sacks (2.66 a game), which is 99th in the country, and has not cleared the way for much of a running game.

Freshman Niklas Slade has made 10 of 15 fi eld-goal attempts, with a long of 45. He’s just 2 for 6 from beyond 40 yards.

DEFENSEAmerson (6-3, 185) leads a ball-hawking defense. He

averaged 12.7 yards on his 11 INT returns, with a long of 47 yards, and he returned one pick for a TD. He was named fi rst-team All-ACC.

Junior free safety Brandan Bishop (6-2, 210) has fi ve INTs (tied for 11th in the country), junior strong safety Earl Wolff (6-0, 201) has three, and junior cornerback C.J. Wilson (5-11, 179) has one, which he returned 59 yards for a TD. The Wolfpack has 24 interceptions in all. Bishop also returned a fumble 33 yards for a TD.

Wolff leads the team in tackles with 99, closely followed by senior linebacker Audie Cole (6-5, 239) with 98. Cole also is second on the team with 9.5 tackles for a loss and is tied for fourth with 3.5 sacks.

Tied for the team lead in sacks with 5.5 each are sophomore DE Darryl Cato-Bishop (6-4, 281) and junior middle linebacker Terrell Manning (6-3, 224), a second-team All-ACC performer who is tied for 26th in the country with 13 tackles for a loss. Freshman DE Art Norman (6-1, 225) has 4.5 sacks, and junior DT Brian Slay (6-3, 290) has 3.5. Slay also has returned a fumble 52 yards for a TD.

N.C. State is tied for 11th in the country with 33 sacks in all, 41st in rushing D at 132.42 ypg and 55th in passing D at 219.50 ypg.

The punting game leaves something to be desired, with freshman Will Baumann averaging just 37.4 yards a punt.

PLAYER TO WATCHAmerson appears to be headed to the NFL, and UofL

quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had best be aware of where Amerson is situated when he makes his reads. In addition to his INTs, Amerson is fi fth on the team with 54 tackles, including one for a loss, and has fi ve pass breakups.

TEAM STRENGTHSN.C. State’s ability to create turnovers can greatly infl uence

a game.TEAM WEAKNESSThe O-line has been less than sterling.COACHING BIOO’Brien, 63, has led N.C. State to three bowls in his six

seasons at the school. So far he is 1-1. Overall at N.C. State he is 32-30 from 2007 to present. Before that he had a very successful run at Boston College, where he was 75-45 in 10 seasons (1997-2006) and was 6-0 in bowl games. In 16 seasons he is 107-75.

Before becoming a head coach he was an assistant at Navy, his alma mater, from 1975-81 and at Maryland from 1982-96. O’Brien served nine years in the Marine Corps, attaining the rank of Major.

COMMON OPPONENTSBoth teams played Cincinnati and North Carolina this

season, with the Cards going 0-2 and the Wolfpack 1-1. UofL lost to UC 25-16 and to UNC 14-7. N.C. State lost to UC 44-17 and beat UNC 13-0.

ALL-TIME SERIESThe teams have met just three times, with UofL holding a

3-0 advantage. The Cards won 26-2 in 1951, 35-14 in 1994 and 27-10 in 2007, O’Brien’s fi rst year at N.C. State.

BOTTOM LINE: O’Brien has an admirable record in bowl games (7-1), so he has proven he knows how to prepare a team for postseason play, but the Cards should be able to handle the Wolfpack and make Charlie Strong 2-0 in bowl games.


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLCOFFEE BREAK

As expected, the whinny-woo-woos are out in force with the Big East securing a spot in the BCS. Just turn on the sports talk shows, especially on ESPN, and listen to the “weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth” (that’s a Biblical term for extreme emotional distress) that follows when BCS participation discussions ensue. It seems that to many of the clattering class the Big East is not worthy of a spot in the prestigious (translate $$$) Bowl Champi-onship Series, which is not a series at all but a money machine for the haves of college football. In the minds of many “experts,” the Big East is not a have and they don’t intend to allow them to become one in the future.

ESPN commentators are the most egregious when talking about the BCS and the Big East. Comments from ESPN lip movers Brad Edwards, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Rod Gilmore and Craig James such as “thinking about the Big East gives me a headache” show a bias that makes the viewer won-der whether ESPN has an agenda. The “nattering nabobs of negativity” (history quiz - who said that?) sitting behind studio counters giving opin-ion as if it were fact are not the only ones whining about the Big East and the BCS. Josh Martin of the Bleacher Report, using a Thanksgiving analogy, said “the Big East simply doesn’t belong at the big kids’ table.” He makes a snarky case as to why the Big East should lose its automatic qualifi er status with the BCS. All of these geniuses at no time were hin-dered by fact as they lamented the “undeserving Big East.” Let’s look at

the facts.Most of the Big East naysayers make the case that the Big East is not worthy of a BCS

bid because it does not have schools with football tradition and doesn’t win on the fi eld. Although the Big East lost a lot of tradition with the departure of Virginia Tech and Miami, there are schools with a long history of college football. Rutgers played in the fi rst colle-giate game, while both Syracuse and Pitt have been national champions in football -- nine times for Pitt, in fact. They seem to forget that as for now Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Syracuse are members of the Big East until 2014. Besides, college football might become more exciting with some new faces on the scene.

On the fi eld the Big East has been much more profi cient than the ACC, for example, but no one seems to want to discuss the reality of the weakness of the ACC. The Big East has a much better record than the ACC in bowl games since the Big East breakup in 2005 and the entry of Cincinnati, USF and Louisville to the league. Last bowl season the Big East went 4-2 while the ACC had a 4-5 record; in 2009 the BE was 4-2 and the ACC 4-6. In 2006, when the Big East was predicted to be weak after the defection of Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, the league was 5-0 in bowl games, including two wins over ACC teams.

To perpetuate this myth, the “experts” refer to the last two BCS blowouts of Big East teams to support their lie. Last season UConn lost to Oklahoma 48-20 and was ridiculed as undeserving and not able to play with the “big boys.” No mention is ever made that the ACC representative to the BCS, Virginia Tech, lost to Stanford 40-12, and Tech was much higher-rated than UConn. Maybe the media bias plays out in the very polls that rank the teams.

In 2009 Cincinnati was crushed by Florida in Tim Tebow’s last game. Tebow had his best game as a collegian and Florida was superb, the best the Gators had been all season. There is no mention that UC head coach Brian Kelly resigned on Dec. 11 to take the Notre Dame job; nor that interim head coach Jeff Quinn was named Buffalo coach on Dec. 21; and that new head coach Butch Jones was hired three weeks before the game but didn’t participate. What makes the situation even worse is that Kelly called the plays on offense during the season and quarterback Tony Pike had four interceptions against Florida.

Those who complain about the Big East should direct their sermonizing toward the BCS “system” instead of at one league. The “system” was created to try to bring order to the chaos of selecting a national champion. After the Bowl Coalition (1992-1995) and the Bowl Alliance (1995-1998) failed to assuage the critics, the BCS was formed to supposedly put fairness into selecting the teams to play for a national championship. The powers that be from the six major conferences (the Mountain West was not formed until 1999) along with the bowl committees formed the present BCS system. Now the same critics are fi nd-ing much wrong with that “system.”

The “system” that so many love to hate has many fl aws, so why continuously bludgeon the Big East? That same “system” excludes a good football conference, the Mountain West, from having an automatic qualifi er. It also allows schools that perpetually dwell at the bottom of a major conference to share in the wealth (the SEC will receive $56 million this year) yet can’t win enough games to become bowl eligible in spite of playing a sched-ule loaded with weak FBS schools and one from the FCS. As University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban said when asked about two teams from the same conference playing for a national championship, “The system that we have is the system. It is what it is.” That says it all.

As with so many other issues, the media creates a false scenario and then builds on their own (un)reality until it becomes fact. The idea that the Big East is the weakest conference with an automatic qualifi er to the BCS is a myth, and a little research by the “experts” would shed more light on that truth. The truth is that the BCS is no better than its prede-cessors and needs to go away, and probably will.

CRITICISM OF BIG EAST NEEDS TO GO TOWARD BCS INSTEAD

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BOB MONTGOM E RY HAS BE E N S E RVI NG TH E COM M U N IT Y S I NCE 1960 .

JACK COFFEEJACK COFFEE

Teddy Bridgewater has completed 66 percent of his passes this season (167 of 253) for 1,855 yards and 12 TDs with nine interceptions. He set a single-season school record for passing yards by a freshman. - photo by Howie Lindsey

2005 UTAH 35 PITTSBURGH 7 2006 WEST VIRGINIA 38 GEORGIA 35

2007 LOUISVILLE 24 WAKE FOREST 13

2008 WEST VIRGINIA 48 OKLAHOMA 28

2009 VIRGINIA TECH 20 CINCINNATI 7

2010 FLORIDA 51 CINCINNATI 24

2011 OKLAHOMA 48 CONNECTICUT 20

OVERALL RECORDBIG EAST 3-4

BIG EAST vs. ACCB C S S I N C E 2 0 0 5

AUBURN 16 VIRGINIA TECH 13

PENN STATE 26 FLORIDA STATE 23

LOUISVILLE 24 WAKE FOREST 13

KANSAS 24 VIRGINIA TECH 21

VIRGINIA TECH 20 CINCINNATI 7

IOWA 24 GEORGIA TECH 14

STANFORD 40 VIRGINIA TECH 12

OVERALL RECORDACC- 1-6


LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL

S I V A ’ S L A Y U P B O O S T S H O M E W I N S T R E A K T O 1 5

COMEBACK CARDS TREATING PITINO, TRICKING OPPONENTSBy Russ BrownIn the 14 months the KFC Yum! Center

has served as the home for the University of Louisville men’s basketball team, fans have learned not to leave early to beat the traffi c even if the Cardinals aren’t playing well and look as if they’re hopelessly behind.

Not if they want to see another inspiring rally by their favorite team. And visiting clubs surely know by now that they face a daunt-

ing task trying to steal a victory in the Cards’ new luxury hoops palace.

Going into Wednes-day’s game against IUPUI (2-7), sixth-ranked UofL (7-0) has won 15 in a row and compiled a 25-2 re-cord in the Yum! Center, with eight of those vic-

tories having come after trailing by nine or more points, including the memorable “Mir-acle on Main” win over Marquette last sea-son.

The Cards wrote the latest chapter in their collection of comeback stories by overcom-ing two late defi cits to defeat No. 20/19 Van-derbilt 62-60 in overtime last Friday night on Peyton Siva’s last-second layup.

That victory, which came after Louisville trailed 43-34 with under nine minutes re-maining and with Vandy (5-3) dominating the game, prompted UofL coach Rick Pitino to note that he’s having more fun than any season since he guided unheralded Provi-dence College to a surprising Final Four ap-pearance in 1987.

“This team epitomizes everything you want in a team in terms of rooting for each other and not giving up,” Pitino said. “Right now, because of all of our injuries, we’re not a very cohesive offensive basketball team, but we are playing incredible defense and playing with incredible effort each night out. It’s a treat to coach this team because you see great comebacks. There are times when you think they’re dead, and then you look up and we win the game.”

The Cards also are incredibly confi dent. By now, they must feel that they can’t lose on their homecourt, or at least that they’re nev-er beaten until the fi nal buzzer. Only twice have they failed to mount game-winning rallies in the Yum! Center -- a 52-46 loss to Drexel and a 78-63 defeat by Kentucky.

Overall, the Cards are 5-1 in overtime games the last two-plus seasons, includ-ing two on the road and one on a neutral court.

“It’s just our mindset,” senior forward Kyle Kuric said. “No matter how much we’re down or how much time is left, we’re not going to lose, not going to give up. At home or on the road, we’ve got to come together as a team and come back, get stops and pull it out.”

Pitino said it’s the experience in nail-biters that helps his team stay poised and have the moxie and fortitude to keep chipping away at a defi cit. Last year the Cards were involved in an incredible 14 games that were decided by eight or fewer points, including nine when the margin was four points or less.

“We’ve been winning close games for the past two years, so I don’t think we have to learn, because we learned how to win last year and we only lost two players,” Pitino said.

Kuric said departed guard Preston Knowles, who contributed a number of clutch baskets and key defensive plays, set the tone for UofL’s never-day-die attitude last season and that his infl uence has lin-gered this year.

“It started last year,” said Kuric, who hit two big shots during UofL’s late surge against the Commodores. “We were down a lot and came back. It started with Preston, and he left that to some of us when we’re in that situation. We have to replace that, and now Peyton and Chris (Smith) are stepping up more. It’s something we have because of last year.”

Vandy found that out the hard way. The Commodores had silenced the crowd of 22,728 by taking the lead at the start of the second half and building it to nine points with 8:48 remaining. UofL failed to score on six straight possessions and was struggling both offensively and defensively, enduring a 5 1/2-minute scoring drought.

But with the Cards looking to be on their heels, Siva said Pitino delivered an encourag-ing message.

“Coach P really gave us a spark about never backing down,” he said. “Coach P told us, ‘We got this, we got this.’ He really gave us a lot of confi dence, told us to play within

ourselves and continue to play hard. Coach P is a great coach, a great motivator. He drew up some plays, everybody really dug in and we knocked down some key shots.”

As the Commodores stalled, the Cards regrouped and set the stage for another ex-citing fi nish. Siva had a chance to win the game in regulation but deferred to freshman Chane Behanan, who missed a point-blank layup. Given a second chance, Siva held on to the ball and fi nished with a fl ourish in a play reminiscent of his driving layup against West Virginia last year, except this time he wasn’t challenged and didn’t fall down.

Not only did UofL trail Vandy by nine points in regulation but fell behind by fi ve in the extra session, then held the visitors with-out a fi eld goal for the last 4 1/2 minutes.

After Vandy’s John Jenkins (27 points) had tied the score for the 10th time, 60-60, on two free throws with 12.2 seconds left in OT, Siva drove the lane and made an unmolested fi nger-roll layup with 1.4 seconds left for the winning basket.

“In the overtime, Coach P told me to stop shooting threes and start attacking the bas-ket like good pros do,” said Siva, who was 0 for 4 on treys. “So the last play, I was like, ‘I’ve got to make this layup and get these guys out of here because they’re making it too close.’ I got in the lane, they didn’t step up and I made the layup. Coach P was hap-py. If I had missed that one I probably would have gotten my neck rung.”

Kuric said he has seen those kinds of

plays from Siva on numerous occasions -- ingames, pickup get togethers in the summerand in practice. With more to come, un-doubtedly.

“We have a lot of confi dence in Peyton,” Kuric said. “He steps up all the time andmakes big shots like we need him to. It’s dif-fi cult to stop him. He’s going to cross over,and by the time you realize it, he’s so lowand quick that he’s right by you, so he’s verydiffi cult to guard one-on-one like that.”

Said Jenkins: “He’s a really fast guard. He got in the lane at will. He’s a good player.”

Said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, whose veteran but injury-depleted teamwas playing its fi rst true road game: “It wastwo teams really, really getting after eachother. They just made one more play thanwe did.”

Was Siva surprised that the path down the lane parted like the Red Sea and no Vander-bilt defender rotated over to try and blockhis shot or draw a charge?

“Not really,” he said. “The last time we ran that play I got Chane the bounce pass,so I guess they wanted to stop that one andthey played him.”

Siva was referring to Behanan, who cut underneath and took a perfect bouncepass from Siva at the end of regulation butleft his layup short. Before the OT started,Siva tried to console his teammate.

“Chane was consumed about that miss, as any person would be,” Kuric said. “Hewas very upset coming into the huddle, soPeyton had to pick him up. Peyton told him,‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll go to you again.We’ve got fi ve more minutes and we’ve gotto win this game. You can’t focus on thatshot.’”

Behanan certainly had no problem with Siva going it alone on the last play of theovertime.

“I love Peyton,” Behanan said. “I always count on him to make big plays. Big-timeplayers make big-time plays, and that’s whathe was tonight.”

Despite Siva’s efforts, Behanan was still re-gretting his blown opportunity when the OTstarted, so Pitino pulled him briefl y to settlehim down.

“I still had that missed layup in my head,” Behanan said. “I was just speechless. Icouldn’t believe I blew a wide-open layup. Awide-open layup. I literally cried. Tears cameout and Coach Pitino saw that and got onme. Coach pulled me out and told me togather myself before he put me back in. I satout for a minute or so and then told him Iwas ready to go back in.”

Shortly after Behanan re-entered the game, he converted a three-point play off alayup to start Louisville’s second comebackof the evening. He fi nished with 14 pointsand 12 rebounds for his third double-doubleof the season. He also had two steals anda blocked shot with just one turnover in 29minutes.

“There are going to be a lot of tough games,” Behanan said. “I have to listen,learn from my mistakes and move on. I thinkI’ve grown up a lot.”

Peyton Siva went up for a shot against Vanderbilt last Friday. The junior point guard scored 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including the game-winning layup (on cover) with 1.4 seconds left. - photo by Gail Kamenish




BUCKLES’ RETURN SHOULD BOOST CARDS’ SAGGING OFFENSEBy Russ BrownRick Pitino has contended since the sea-

son opened that defense has to be the trademark of his current University of Lou-isville basketball team, and his players are proving him right because so far they’ve been offensively challenged.

Heading into this week’s home games against IUPUI (2-7) Wednesday night and Fairleigh Dickinson (1-6) Saturday after-

noon, the No. 5/4 Car-dinals (7-0) are on pace to become the lowest-scoring Louisville team in at least 62 years.

UofL is averaging only 67.7 points per game, which ranks No. 213 in Division I. Only one of Pitino’s Louisville teams

has scored fewer than 71 points per game -- the 2006 club that averaged 69.9 ppg. A year-by-year statistics table in the UofL media guide that goes back as far as 1950 reveals that only two other teams have av-eraged fewer than 70 ppg -- 1950, 68.7 ppg, and 2001, 69.5 ppg.

The Cards are in the middle of the D-I pack at No. 160 in fi eld-goal percentage at 43.9, which is 13th in the Big East Confer-ence. Against Vandy, UofL suffered two six-minute scoring droughts.

On the other hand, UofL has one of the stingiest defenses in the nation. In the latest available NCAA statistics the Cards ranked second in fi eld-goal-percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 34.2 per-cent, and they are third in scoring defense, surrendering only 50.9 ppg.

Most of Pitino’s past teams wherever he has been have been noted for their up-tempo style, but this season the Cards have been more methodical and their offense hasn’t been as smooth, with the shot clock often ticking below 10 seconds before a shot goes up. Sometimes, “plodding” could best describe UofL’s half-court sets.

Ironically, Pitino says Louisville’s strong defense has contributed to its uncharac-teristic offensive struggles, in essence slow-ing the game down. UofL is averaging just 54.7 shots per game, compared to 60 last season. Only once have the Cards launched as many as 60 attempts this season, and that was in the overtime win against Van-derbilt. They’ve scored more than 70 points just twice -- against Long Beach State and Tennessee-Martin.

“It’s a catch-22,” Pitino said. “The way we play defense with all of our switching, pressing, running and jumping, it slows the game down rather than speeds it up. We can speed it up by getting in a white press, with a man on the ball and trap right away, and that makes (the opponent) speed up. But we don’t want that because we don’t have that much of a bench right now. So when we get healthy we will speed it up a little bit. But right now it’s very good for us to play it close to the vest.”

Help is on the way for the offense, with the return of sophomore forward Rakeem Buckles expected to give the Cards a boost

in that department. Pitino said Buckles, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate liga-ment (ACL) in his right knee against Pitts-burgh last Feb. 27 and hasn’t played since, will see limited duty against IUPUI, then play more against Fairleigh Dickinson if ev-erything goes well.

“We know we’re going to improve of-fensively,” Pitino said. “We’ve got Rakeem back, so we’re going to get a lot better of-fensively.”

When the 6-8 Buckles returns to full health, he defi nitely will provide UofL with a signifi cant, if not overpowering, weapon in the interior. Before he was injured he had started 10 games and was averaging 6.8 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds while shooting 48 percent.

“With Rakeem, you’re getting a veteran who has been through the wars, knows the Big East and can more than hold his own against any player he’ll go up against,” Pi-tino said. “Rakeem is very good defensively as well. So that’s going to be a big addition for us.”

In addition to a lack of depth that pre-vents an all-out fast-break attack at this point and the effect of the defense on the offense, Pitino said UofL misses guard Pres-ton Knowles, who led the Cards last season at 14.6 ppg.

“In order for us to win with this team, defense has to be our staple,” Pitino said. “When Preston left, a big part of our of-fense left.... He had the ability to do a lot of things, from three-point shots to getting shots off screens. So Preston was a big part of our outside game, and then you take away (the injured) Mike Marra and we have to now rely on defense to get us Ws.”

One player who sometimes provides a spark for UofL’s offense in a backhanded

sort of way is free-wheeling sophomore guard Russ Smith, who is erratic and un-predictable but also can be effective. In the 79-66 victory over Long Beach State Smith scored a career-high 11 points, hit 5 of 11 shots and had just one turnover in 27 min-utes. However, against Vandy he missed 6 of 7 shots and fouled out in only 23 min-utes, although he was turnover-free and dished four assists.

“Russ gave me a nervous breakdown,” Pitino said. “You like to have some sort of pulse of what your players are going to do. I have no idea what he’s going to do, but I love the young man, I love coaching him because he’s such a great kid. You need a player like that who’s going to come in and break down the other team’s defense. It kills everybody’s scouting report with Russ in the game because he doesn’t know any of the plays.”

The Cards think a more free-fl owing, ef-fective offense will come when they have a full complement of players and become more accustomed to playing with various combinations.

“It’s just something we’ve got to work on and get a better fl ow,” junior point guard Peyton Siva said. “But our defense is doing great right now.”

Said senior forward Kyle Kuric, who leads UofL in scoring at 12.4 ppg: “We need more movement. We have to try to become more like we were last year, pen-etrate and kick it, penetrate and kick it, get more ball movement and more player movement. I think it will come as we play more. We’re not exactly the team we were last year. Our chemistry isn’t to the point it was last year, but it’s getting a lot better.”

BIG EAST WINS CHALLENGEThe Big East won the Big East/SEC Chal-

lenge 8-4, not that Pitino really cared orthinks it proved anything.

“I coached in the SEC, and any year it could be the SEC (winning the Challenge),”Pitino said. “The last two years the Big Easthas been the best conference in basketball,and last year we won the national champi-onship and (the SEC) had a little bit of a dip.But it’s really not about that. It’s really moreabout the Big East allows us to recruit in ourareas (because of its success) and basketballright now is taking a backseat to football(in the SEC). I don’t think it matters much.I don’t think it’s any telling sign that we’rebetter than the SEC.

“The ACC was so brilliant because they said, ‘Look, we know we’re not going tobe the SEC in football, so let’s be No. 1in basketball again. Let’s rob the Big Eastof two of their best traditions (Pittsburghand Syracuse).’ And they were brilliant indoing it, so now we’ve got to be equallybrilliant and we’ll still have a great confer-ence. We’re always going to be strong inbasketball.”

Asked if the Big East’s victories made a statement, Kuric laughed and replied,“You might say that, but I’m not going tosay it.”

MARRA WILL HELP YOUNGSTERSMarra underwent surgery last week to

repair the torn ACL in his right knee andwill miss the rest of the season, but thejunior swingman will remain close to theteam soaking up all the knowledge he canin preparation for a coaching career.

“Mike aspires to be a coach,” Pitino said. “He’s very smart in basketball knowl-edge. He’ll help guys like Angel (Nunez)and all the other young guys who arecoming in, like Kevin (Ware) and Wayne(Blackshear). Mike will be a great help tothem.”

A comment by UofL coach Rick Pitino to an ESPN commentator drew a smile from

Peyton Siva, who was the Star of the Game after making the last-second shot to lift the Cards to a 62-60 victory over Vanderbilt in

overtime. - photo by Gail Kamenish




By Howie LindseyKyle Kuric is becoming the iron man of

the University of Louisville basketball team, and despite the downside to that role, he’s not about to give it up willingly.

The 6-foot-4 senior forward leads UofL in minutes played with 254 for an average of 36.28 minutes per game, which ranks fi fth in the Big East Conference. The leader is Connecticut forward Jeremy Lamb at 38.86 mpg.

Last Friday’s 62-60 overtime victo-ry against visiting Vanderbilt was a typi-cal example of Kuric’s durability this sea-son. He played all but two minutes of the 45-minute contest, including all 20 min-utes of the fi rst half. His only break came at the 13:15 mark of the second half and covered a media timeout, which gave him a little extra rest.

“Coach always says, ‘Your stamina is really good, you never look tired,’” Kuric said. “I’m very excited it appears that way, because I’m exhausted. I sit there and pray for timeouts by their coach or our coach sometimes, but it’s just something you’ve got to overcome.”

Would Kuric ever ask to come out, as players on other teams occasionally do by raising their hand to signal their coach.

“No, never. Never,” he said emphatically. “Coming from my freshman year, you get in, you’re excited, you don’t want a break. Six minutes a game as a freshman, so no, I never want to be taken out.”

Kuric averaged 5.5 minutes per game as a freshman, 13.9 as a sophomore and 28.1 last season, when he started 19 games and averaged 10.8 points, second on the team to Preston Knowles’ 14.5.

Kuric is in this situation because numer-ous injuries have left the Cards short-hand-ed for experienced subs on the front line. With juniors Rakeem Buckles, Mike Marra and Stephan Van Treese all sidelined, Jared Swopshire is the only available front-line sub, and he has to fi ll in at all three posi-tions -- small forward, power forward and center.

“We have no backup for Kyle,” UofL coach Rick Pitino said. “We have to have him in the game because he is very smart and knows what to do. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Some much-needed rest for Kuric might be on the horizon, however, because the 6-8 Buckles, who is recovering from knee surgery and hasn’t played since Feb. 27, is due back on a limited basis for Wednes-day’s game against IUPUI (2-7) in the KFC Yum! Center. That will give Pitino more fl exibility and comes at a good time, with Fairleigh Dickinson arriving Saturday for a nationally televised game (CBS, 4 p.m.).

“Rakeem is making strides,” Pitino said. “It will give us a sense of relief that we can put him in a game and he knows what to do.”

So does Kuric, especially with the game on the line. He hit two diffi cult, pressure-packed shots in the comeback win over Vanderbilt, prompting teammate Peyton

Siva to observe: “You see Kyle Kuric, he’s the one with ice in his veins. Kyle’s a great player, and you’ve just got to love having him on your team.”

Although he had an uncharacteristic seven turnovers against Vandy, one more than his total for the previous six games, Kuric led UofL with 15 points and also grabbed fi ve rebounds. He delivered two huge baskets within a span of just 26 sec-onds in the fi nal minute of overtime.

First, he took a pass from Siva in his favor-ite spot, the left corner, and swished a three-pointer even though his angle was slightly behind the backboard and he was closely guarded. That gave the Cards their fi rst lead of the OT, 58-57, with 59.5 seconds left.

“Kyle didn’t want to shoot that ball, but I yelled, ‘Shoot it Kyle,’” Pitino said. “I’ll live with it if we miss it from Kyle’s corner. But he had to shoot that shot. It was a dif-fi cult shot, it was contested, he was a little bit behind the backboard, but that’s a shot he makes in his sleep.”

Said Kuric: “I didn’t realize I was behind the backboard until after I shot it, but Pey-ton penetrated and threw me the ball in the corner. I backed up a little bit, heard someone yell, ‘Shoot it,’ and I thought, ‘OK, why not?’ So I did, and thankfully it went in.”

Kuric, who leads UofL in scoring at 12.1 points per game and in three-pointers with 12 (of 32), said he wasn’t sure who told

him to shoot.“If it wasn’t Coach, it was Peyton,” the

Evansville, Ind., product said. “But I proba-bly would have shot it anyway. Because of Peyton and Chris (Smith) and the talent we have, when they make a good pass to you and you can take a shot and you don’t, you’ll catch more fl ak for not shooting it than if you shot and missed it.”

With Kuric’s deadly eye from the corner, it would seem that opposing defenses would go to great lengths to keep him from get-ting off a shot in that area, but few have been successful. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin told his players before last year’s 63-54 upset win that if Kuric got open for a shot from the corner, whoever was sup-posed to be guarding him wouldn’t play the rest of the season. In that game, Kuric was held to one trey in four attempts. But until defenses start taking away his corner connection, he’ll continue fi ring.

“I’m very comfortable with it,” he said. “It just happens to be our offense.... Somebody comes off the pick and roll and I go get in the corner, so after four years of getting in the corner I’m pretty used to the shot.”

Kuric also scored UofL’s next basket af-ter Vandy had tied it at 58-all, dribbling into the lane and hitting a 12-foot jumper off a set play.

“During a timeout, I told Kyle they were going to expect him in the corner,” Pitino said. “I told Peyton to come off the screen

and throw a fl ip pass. Kyle got his defend-er up in the air and made a great play, andso did Peyton.”

Said Kuric: “Coach designed a play for Peyton to come off a pick and do a pitch-back, and I was going to come around andshoot it, but he (the defender) was there. SoI just naturally shot-faked and he fl ew at it.”

For the most part, Pitino has been urg-ing Kuric to expand his game this season,to shot-fake and create more mid-rangejumpers or to move more to get openshots rather than just going and stand-ing in the corner. Kuric said he would liketo use more of the same moves that helpmake Vandy’s John Jenkins so successful.Jenkins led all scorers with 27 points, hit-ting 9 of 15 shots, including 5 of 11 fromthree-point range.

“It has to be something more like Jen-kins, who does a shot-fake, takes a coupledribbles and gets an open shot,” Kuric said.“I have to incorporate that a lot more.”

UofL (7-0) heads into its two games this week having been ranked in the top 10since the preseason and currently at No.4/5, but Kuric said the Cards have to pre-tend they’re not highly ranked.

“It’s awesome,” he said of the ranking, “but if we lose a game here early in theseason, it’s over like that. We can’t thinkjust because we’re No. 4 we’re just goingto show up and win. We have to get themindset of last year that we’re not rankedand we’re underdogs every game.

“Other teams might have more talent, and we understand that. We know we’renot going to win just because we’re play-ing at home or whatever, so we have tocome out with that intensity and aggres-siveness and get stops. We weren’t evenranked coming into last year, so if we’renot as talented this year again, who cares?We’re going to play our game and we’regoing to get wins because of it.”

NO RELIEF: KURIC SAVORS HIS IRON MAN STATUSKyle Kuric hoisted a runner in the lane against Vanderbilt. The senior forward scored a team-high 15 points, including fi ve in a span of just 26 seconds in the fi nal minute of overtime. He canned a three-pointer from the corner, then hit a 12-footer just to the left of the lane. - photo by Gail Kamenish


WOMEN’S BASKETBALLLOUISVILLE BASKETBALL PHOTO GALLERY

Gorgui Dieng got one of his two blocks against Vanderbilt. The sophomore center also had seven points, eight rebounds and three assists. - photo by Gail Kamenish

Freshman Chane Behanan slammed one home against Vandy. He had a double-

double of 14 points and 10 rebounds but missed a layup at the buzzer to end

regulation. - photo by Gail Kamenish


WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Sophomore guard Shoni Schimmel had

17 points, fi ve assists, four rebounds and four

steals but also hit just 3 of 12 three-point shots and had fi ve turnovers.

Senior Becky Burke looked to inbound the ball against Kentucky. Burke had 11 points but just one rebound, no assists and four turnovers. - photos by Howie Lindsey

Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies hit one of her four three-pointers over the out-stretched arm of Bria Smith.

Louisville’s Cierra Warren and Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies both tried to grab a rebound as Louisville’s Monique Reid looked on.



By Howie LindseyIt was billed as a battle of top-15 teams,

but only one showed up for most of the fi rst half. No. 10/11 Louisville scored six of the fi rst eight points before falling behind 40-23 at the half en route to a 74-54 loss to No. 12/10 Kentucky Sunday in Lexington.

Despite the early points, Louisville’s lack of effort and competitiveness had coach

Jeff Walz fuming after the game.

“We’ve just got to compete harder,” he said. “It’s just a little discouraging compared to how hard we com-peted at Florida State against a very talented Florida State team. Then

to come up here and not compete, it’s just amazing to me how many loose balls we didn’t even dive after. You’ve got to do that in games like this.”

The Cardinals (7-2) competed better in the second half, but their awful fi rst-half performance put them so far behind they couldn’t recover. UofL missed 16 of 24 shots, committed 15 turnovers and was outrebounded 17-15 in the fi rst half, and ended the half with four players with two fouls apiece - Shoni Schimmel, Sara Ham-mond, Cierra Warren and Asia Taylor.

“Hopefully, it’s a learning experience,” Walz said. “We’ll watch fi lm and break things down.... I tried to explain to them that there was a 17-point difference in the second half and that they continue to play the way they always play. You can’t dig yourself that big of a hole and expect to come back.”

The hole was deep. Louisville took an early 6-2 lead on a pair of layups off of steals and a rebound tip-in, but Kentucky (8-0) cut the margin to one on a three by Amber Smith and then tied the score on 1 of 2 free throws by Smith.

Back-to-back buckets by Brittany Hender-son put UK ahead 10-6. Louisville cut the margin to one on a three by Becky Burke, but the Wildcats answered with a three by A’dia Mathies. A bank shot in the post by Samantha Drake pushed Kentucky’s lead to 15-9 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the half.

Things got worse for Louisville. Burke’s three at the 13:14 mark was Louisville’s only fi eld goal from the 15:40 mark until a layup by Bria Smith with 7:07 remaining. Louis-ville trailed 25-12 by that point.

Louisville fi nally started coming alive with a 6-0 run that cut the margin to 25-16, but the Wildcats answered. They caught a break when Mathies had a pass bounce off of her and roll out of bounds, but the ball was given back to UK. The Wildcats then got a three from Keyla Snowden to go up 28-16.

A jumper by Bra-Sheyn Ali pushed Ken-tucky’s lead to 30-16 with just under six min-utes left, but a steal and layup by Schimmel

and a steal by Warren and two free throws by Monique Reid cut the margin back to 10 at 30-20. Again, Kentucky answered, out-scoring Louisville 10-3 over the fi nal four minutes of the half.

“They didn’t do anything differently,” Walz said. “We gave up offensive re-bounds. We cut it to 10 and then all of the sudden we didn’t go to the glass. We had made a run there and I had told our kids, ‘If we can cut it to 10 by 10 minutes to go in the second half, it was going to be a ball game down to the wire.’ Because all of the sudden, then you’ll start making the threes. When you’re up 18 or 19, the basket is aw-fully big. But when it starts getting to where each shot matters, it starts to get a little tighter. Unfortunately for us, we never got to that point. We just made shots a little more diffi cult for them.”

A pair of free throws by Samantha Drake started the second half well for Kentucky, putting the Cats up by 19. Louisville cut the margin to 46-32 by the 17-minute mark, but a 1-of-2 trip to the line by Mathies and a three by Goss on an inbounds play pushed the lead back to 18 at 50-32.

The Cardinals cut the lead to 50-37 with just over 14 minutes left, but another UofL turnover led to an easy bucket and Kentucky pushed its lead to 53-37 by the 12-minute mark. The teams traded threes and UK led 56-40 at the under-12 media timeout.

“We cut the lead to 12 or 13 twice and miss a wide open layup down the lane and then that turns into back-to-back threes,” Walz said. “You just can’t do that.”

Kentucky was led by 20 points from Louisville native Mathies. She was a differ-ence maker at both ends of the court, out-hustling Louisville players to loose balls and making quick defensive adjustments.

“I think that A’dia was really focused to-day, and she is a good player,” UK coach Matthew Mitchell said. “That is clear to ev-erybody in the building that she is a talented player. I don’t think there is any doubt that she sensed this was a big game and a big rivalry. She was tremendously focused and prepared well.”

Schimmel fi nished with 17 points to lead Louisville but hit just 3 of 12 threes. Burke had 11 points and Smith 10. Reid, Louisville’s leading scorer, fi nished with nine points and eight rebounds with four turnovers.

Drake, who fi nished with 10 points, said the Wildcats were motivated by Louisville’s 26-point victory last season in the KFC Yum! Center.

“Yeah, actually we took it very person-al,” Drake said. “Being rival teams here in the state of Kentucky, and Kentucky being a basketball state, having Louisville defeat us took a toll on us. We were ready for pay-back this year, and that’s what we came out and did.”

Louisville will host Gardner-Webb Satur-day at noon before opening its Big East slate against Cincinnati on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. in Cincinnati.

Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies (left) and Kastine Evans trapped Louisville’s

Shelby Harper near halfcourt. Kentucky forced 26 turnovers

during their 75-54 win Sunday in Lexington. - photo by Howie Lindsey

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY

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

WALZ TROUBLED BY ‘DISCOURAGING’ EFFORT IN UK LOSS

Louisville coach Jeff Walz argued a call with lead referee Beverly Roberts. The game was plagued by poor offi ciating and included 42 fouls called and a half-dozen carrying calls. - photo by Howie Lindsey


2011-12 MEN’S SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME / RESULTS OCTOBER10/14/11 Red-White Scrimmage KFC YUM! CENTER White, 86-8510/22/11 Red-White Scrimmage KFC YUM! CENTER Red, 105-6010/26/11 vs. PIKEVILLE * KFC YUM! CENTER W, 74-55NOVEMBER 11/03/11 vs. BELLARMINE * KFC YUM! CENTER W, 62-54GLOBAL SPORTS INVITATIONAL11/11/11 vs. TENNESSEE-MARTIN KFC YUM! CENTER W, 83-4811/13/11 vs. LAMAR KFC YUM! CENTER W, 68-4811/19/11 at Butler Indianapolis, Ind. W, 69-5311/22/11 vs. ARKANSAS STATE KFC YUM! CENTER W, 54-2711/25/11 vs. OHIO KFC YUM! CENTER W, 59-5411/28/11 vs. LONG BEACH STATE KFC YUM! CENTER W, 79-66DECEMBERBIG EAST / SEC CHALLENGE12/02/11 vs. #19 VANDERBILT KFC YUM! CENTER W, 62-6012/07/11 vs. IUPUI KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.12/10/11 vs. FAIR. DICKINSON KFC YUM! CENTER 4:00 p.m.BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME SHOOTOUT12/17/11 vs. MEMPHIS TV KFC YUM! CENTER 4:00 p.m.12/20/11 vs. C. OF CHARLESTON KFC YUM! CENTER TBABILLY MINARDI CLASSIC12/23/11 vs. WESTERN KENTUCKY KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.12/28/11 vs. GEORGETOWN # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.12/31/11 at Kentucky TV Lexington, Ky. 12:00 p.m.JANUARY01/03/12 at St. John’s # TV New York, N.Y. 7:00 p.m.01/07/12 vs. NOTRE DAME # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 4:00 p.m.01/10/12 at Providence # TV Providence, R.I. 7:00 p.m.01/14/12 vs. DE PAUL # KFC YUM! CENTER TBA01/16/12 at Marquette # TV Milwaukee, Wis. TBA01/21/12 at Pittsburgh # TV Pittsburgh, Pa. 9:00 p.m.01/25/12 vs. VILLANOVA # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.01/28/12 at Seton Hall # Newark, N.J. TBAFEBRUARY02/04/12 vs. RUTGERS # KFC YUM! CENTER TBA02/06/12 vs. CONNECTICUT # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.02/11/12 at West Virginia # TV Morgantown, W.Va. 12:00 p.m.02/13/12 vs. SYRACUSE # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.02/18/12 at DePaul # Chicago, Ill. TBA02/23/12 at Cincinnati # TV Cincinnati, Ohio 9:00 p.m.02/26/12 vs. PITTSBURGH # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m.02/29/12 vs. USF # KFC YUM! CENTER TBAMARCH03/03/12 at Syracuse # TV Syracuse, N.Y. 4:00 p.m.BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) 03/06-10/12 TBD TBA * - Exhibition game, # - Big East Conference game

2011-12 WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME / RESULTS

OCTOBER

10/30/11 VS. LINDSEY WILSON * KFC YUM! CENTER W, 118-41

NOVEMBER

11/13/11 at Missouri State Springfi eld, Mo. W, 73-64

11/15/11 at #4 Texas A&M College Station, Texas L, 76-58

11/17/11 at Eastern Kentucky Richmond, Ky. W, 77-53

11/20/11 vs. XAVIER KFC YUM! CENTER W, 62-44

11/22/11 vs. AUSTIN PEAY KFC YUM! CENTER W, 78-60

11/25/11 at #24 Florida State Tallahassee, Fla. W, 85-76

11/26/11 at Florida A&M Tallahassee, Fla. W, 86-66

11/29/11 vs. MURRAY STATE KFC YUM! CENTER W, 105-62

DECEMBER

12/04/11 at Kentucky Lexington, Ky. L, 74-54

12/10/11 vs. GARDNER-WEBB KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m.

12/14/11 at Cincinnati # Cincinnati, Ohio 7:00 p.m.

12/17/11 at Portland Portland, Ore. 5:00 p.m.

12/19/11 at Washington State Pullman, Wash. 10:00 p.m.

12/28/11 vs. UT-MARTIN KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m.

JANUARY

01/03/12 vs. MARQUETTE # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.

01/08/12 at St. John’s # TV Queens, N.Y. 1:30 p.m.

01/11/12 vs. SOUTH FLORIDA # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.

01/14/12 at Rutgers # Piscataway, N.J. 2:00 p.m.

01/18/12 vs. PROVIDENCE # KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.

01/22/12 at Georgetown # TV Washington D.C. 5:00 p.m.

01/28/12 vs. VILLANOVA # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m.

01/31/12 at DePaul # TV Chicago, Ill. 9:00 p.m.

FEBRUARY

02/04/12 at West Virginia # Morgantown, W.Va. 4:00 p.m.

02/07/12 vs. CONNECTICUT # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 7:00 p.m.

02/11/12 vs. SYRACUSE # KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m.

02/14/12 at Pittsburgh # Pittsburgh, Pa. 7:00 p.m.

02/20/12 vs. NOTRE DAME # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 2:00 p.m.

02/25/12 vs. DEPAUL # TV KFC YUM! CENTER 12:00 p.m.

02/27/12 at Seton Hall # South Orange, N.J. 7:00 p.m.

MARCH

BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP: Hartford, Conn.

03/02-8/12 TBD TBA


WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

We are really looking forward to heading to Charlotte, N.C., for the Belk Bowl two days after Christmas. Given that most families will be off of work and school is out and there aren’t any other Lou-isville games that night, the Dec. 27 timing of the bowl should be

just right for a big Louisville crowd in Charlotte. Plus, Charlotte is just seven-plus hours away by car from Louisville. The Belk Bowl, formerly the Meineke Car Care Bowl, is the Big East’s No. 3 bowl pick. With Notre Dame taking the No. 2 spot, the Champs Sports Bowl, the Belk Bowl was Louisville’s best option after the Orange Bowl. The bowl is right in North Carolina State’s backyard, so the Wolfpack will have a clear advantage in terms of fan support, but we venture to guess there’ll be a large, rowdy Louisville crowd down there as well. Louisville has always traveled well to bowl games, especially bowls that are within driving distance.

That UofL received a bid to the No. 3 Big East bowl over Cincin-

nati, which tied with West Virginia and the Cards atop the league, is higher ranked and has a better record, is a testament to the very GOOD support UofL gets from its fans. Belk Bowl offi cials

knew they would get a larger crowd of visitors by inviting UofL than if they had invited Cincinnati to Charlotte to see a rematch of the Bearcats and Wolfpack. Hats off to Cards fans!

We’ve been bombarded for the past fi ve days with rumors that coach Charlie Strong is a candidate for job openings at other schools. Emails and calls from other reporters and bloggers from UCLA to Texas A&M to Ole Miss to Penn State have called inquiring

about Strong. So far, the only job opening we believe Louisville fans should really be worried about is the spot at Texas A&M. Now that the Aggies are going into the SEC, they are looking for a recruiter and coach with SEC ties who can turn their program back into a national power. Of the coaches believed to be their top-three candidates - Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, Strong and Alabama defensive coor-dinator Kirby Smart - Strong is the best of the bunch, in our opinion. From Louisville’s standpoint, the Cardinals have done everything they possibly can to secure Strong’s loyalty. Vice President for Athlet-ics Tom Jurich signed Strong to a new contract earlier this season that makes him one of the top-25 highest-paid football coaches in America. Strong has one of the highest-paid coaching staffs in the country, and Jurich is routinely praised as being one of the best athletic directors in the nation to work for. On top of all that, Strong has a monster team coming back next season, and Jurich is the man who gave Strong his shot at being a head coach after 27 years of being an assistant coach.

So far, the players are handling all the rumors well. “I’d like to say that is a testament to him and all the players here and the whole staff really,” junior center Mario Benavides said. “Really, it is kind of a compliment when stuff like that comes out. As far as

being concerned when we hear that he is up for other jobs? Not really because, I mean, the attitude that I get from him is that he loves it here and we love him, so I feel like he is fully committed to the program. If anything, it is a compliment to the program.” When asked whether Strong had talked to the players about all the job rumors, Benavides replied: “No, not really, because he pays as much attention to them as we do, which is not very much. I think he is happy here. Whatever he decides is best for his family - but he has us going on a roll here and I think he likes the players here and the community, so we don’t really talk about it.”

After a really good Friday that included men’s basketball’s come-from-behind victory over Vanderbilt, swimming and diving having a big day at the USA Long Course Nationals and volleyball advancing past Ball State in the fi rst round of the NCAA Tourna-

ment, Saturday and Sunday weren’t as kind. It was a tough couple of days. Saturday night the vol-leyball team fell to Purdue in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the men’s soccer team fell to UCLA in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Then Sunday, the women’s basketball team got rocked in Lexington by archrival UK. That 20-point loss was one of the most frustrating games we’ve witnessed in a while.

We’re still eight months away from the 2012 London Olympic Games, but we already know there will be at least one Cardinal competing. With a time of 1:01.44 in the 100-meter breaststroke at the AT&T Winter National Championships Friday in Atlanta, Car-

los Almeida punched his ticket to the London Olympics. The native of Portugal had to make the cut of 1:01.57 to become a member of Portugal’s Olympic contingent. Almeida broke the Portuguese national record for the 100-meter breaststroke on the fi rst day of competition in the 14th FINA World Swimming Championship in Shanghai last year (1:02.13). He fi nished third last spring in the 100-breast at the NCAA Championships, the highest fi nish ever for a UofL swimmer.

What an awful feeling it must be for a senior when his or her final season comes to an end. Standing next to UofL’s bench at Cardinal Park Saturday night after UCLA’s 1-0 double-overtime victory in the Elite Eight was a tough experience. Just

moments prior to UCLA’s sudden-victory goal 1:31 into the second overtime, Louisville’s players had been sprinting around the field, chasing the soccer ball being passed by UCLA’s players. Suddenly, a misdirection goal sent UCLA’s players and coaches sprinting across the field and jumping into a big pile as UofL’s players collapsed in heaps on the field. The Cardinals’ seven seniors were hit the hardest. All-American Colin Rolfe stood in stunned silence for a moment, then pulled his jersey over his head, folded in half and sat on the field. Fellow senior Nick DeLeon hit his knees immediately. He bowed his head and then covered his face. Rolfe, DeLeon and their teammates gave every bit of effort they could muster and had their team just a goal away from a return trip to the College Cup (soccer’s version of the Final Four). It was a heartbreaking scene.

Rolfe, DeLeon and the Louisville senior class will be extremely tough to replace. “They built this

program,” coach Ken Lolla said Saturday night. This senior class is as GOOD as it gets. The No. 15 Cardinals ended the season with five seniors in the starting lineup. Rolfe finished his career third all-time in goals with 33 and will go down as one of the best players in UofL history. Austin Berry is an All-Big East first-team defender who is considered one of the top-five MLS prospects in the nation. Goalkeeper An-dre Boudreaux owns school records with 37 career shutouts, including 11 this season. Nick DeLeon was a play-making midfielder with a professional future. Midfielder Kenney Walker had some of the best services we’ve ever seen on a UofL soccer field and was All-Big East second team. Fellow seniors Jimmy Crick and Mark Knight also were key cogs in Louisville’s rise from a good program to a national power. There is a lot of young talent on Louisville’s roster, but it is difficult to imagine another senior class meaning as much to the program’s success as this group.

Take this as sour grapes if you will, but the officiating in the Louisville-Kentucky women’s basketball game was as bad as we’ve seen in a major sporting event in a long time. A game between two top-15 teams should have a much better crew

than the slow and inaccurate team of Beverly Roberts, Frank Steratore and Metta Roberts. They missed so many calls because they were simply too slow to get ahead of the action on the court. Beyond that, there were several times when the official underneath the basket would stay silent while an official near half-court would make a call on action in the paint. It was embarrassing and, unfortunately, it happens far too often in women’s college basketball. As the sport continues to grow in popularity and skilled play, the level of officiating is not keeping up with the level of athleticism in the game. Not even close.

Speaking of things in need of fixing: LSU and Alabama play-ing for the national championship is a farce, but not for the reason you might think. While most of the rest of the world is talking about how unfair it is for a rematch to decide the

national championship, we agree with Courier-Journal columnist Eric Crawford, who pointed out that both Alabama and LSU are still on NCAA probation for previous rule violations. Neither of them is free from probation until the summer of 2012. That means in the NCAA’s two marquee sports the last three champions crowned will be rule violators. Auburn won the BCS football title in 2010, Connecticut won the 2010 NCAA basketball championship, and now either Alabama or LSU will win the BCS football title in 2011. The NCAA can talk about cleaning up its athletic programs all it wants, but until violators get stiffer penalties it doesn’t mean much.

We understand that a true 16-team playoff in football is un-realistic, but we continue to believe a plus-1 BCS model would be a much better option than our current system. A seeded four-team playoff to decide the champion would have worked

great this season. No. 1 seed LSU would play No. 4 Stanford in one game, and No. 2 Alabama would face No. 3 Oklahoma State in the other game. The winners would square off a week later for the national title. And please, let’s get this done in the first two weekends of January for everyone’s benefit. Nobody wants to see college football stretch past mid-January for a season that started in August.

GOOD

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

BAD

BAD

GOOD

UGLY

GOOD

BAD

BAD

GOODGOOD

GOOD

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

KEN LOLLAKEN LOLLA


First-year volleyball coach Anne Kordes fi nished the 2011 season with two big feath-ers in her cap.

First, her short-handed squad continued Louisville’s streak of seven straight years with at least a share of a Big East title. The Cardi-nals won the Big East regular-season crown this season.

Second, her team swept Ball State 3-0 in the fi rst round of the NCAA Tournament, ad-vancing to the second round for the second straight season.

“We are proud of how well we did this season, but disappointed in how it ended,” Kordes said Saturday night after the Cardi-nals fell 3-1 to Purdue in the NCAA second round.

Kordes’ Cardinals will return nine of 11 players for 2012, including star outside hit-ters Lola Arslanbekova and Emily Juhl and setter Taylor Brauneis.

CARDS TOP BALL STATEIn the fi rst round of the NCAA Tournament

last Friday, Arlsanbekova had a match-high 19 kills and eight digs to lead the Cardinals to a 25-22, 25-15, 25-20 victory over the Ball State Cardinals.

“We were able to move the ball around and spread out their defense and try to at-tack their smaller blockers because their mid-dles are big,” Kordes said. “One big factor tonight was our passing. It was crisp, and we were able to stay in system. We stayed in our game plan, and that is key for us.”

UofL (24-8) hit .304 and outblocked Ball State 9-3. Juhl had 10 kills and 11 digs for a double-double, and Brauneis had her ninth double-double of the season with 32 assists and 10 digs. Ball State fi nished the season 25-8.

“We are very excited to get a win in the NCAA Tournament, and I want to congratu-late BSU on their fantastic season,” Kordes

said. “I thought their middles and their rightside did a great job tonight against us.”

Arlsanbekova, the Big East Player of the Year, was diffi cult for Ball State to contain.She hit .385 and was scoring equally wellfrom both the front and back row.

“Lola always has a great game,” Brauneis said. “I can set her up against a single block,a double block or no block, and she puts itdown.”

CARDS FALL TO PURDUEUofL advanced to play host Purdue (29-

4) in the second round after the Boilermak-ers swept Morehead State Friday night. TheCardinals came out fi ring against the favoredBoilermakers and won the fi rst set 25-14.

After the teams battled to a 28-26 Purdue win in the second set, it was all Boilermakersafter that. They won the fi nal two sets 25-11and 25-16 to advance to the Sweet 16.

“I thought the momentum had changed after we won the fi rst set,” Kordes said. “Wewere up and in control that whole set butthen came out after the break and got downearly on our own mistakes. That is tough tocome back from. But I give credit to Purduefor feeding off their crowd’s energy and put-ting together a great atmosphere and stayingin their system.”

Junior outside hitter Tanya Lukyanenko had 10 kills and two blocks for UofL, butthe Cards hit just 0.83 for the match. Purdueseemed to key on Arslanbekova, Louisville’sstar, holding her to just 10 kills (well belowher season average of more than 16 pergame). She hit minus-0.47 for the game.

UofL’s Kaitlynn James had 10 kills and eight digs, and Brauneis had 36 assists andtwo blocks.

“I thought Kaitlynn James did a great job of attacking the block,” Kordes said. “Shewas just phenomenal.”

VOLLEYCARDS ADVANCE TO NCAA SECOND ROUND, FALL TO PURDUE

LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

CARDINAL STARSKAREN FERGUSON-DAYES - WOMEN’S SOCCERAfter leading the Louisville women’s soccer program to its best season in school history, Karen Ferguson-Dayes was named the 2011 NSCAA/Mondo Regional Coach of the Year for the Northeast on Saturday during the NCAA College Cup festivities in Kennesaw, Ga. Ferguson-Dayes, who also was selected as the 2011 Big East Conference Coach of the Year, led the Cardinals to a school-record 14 victories, their fi rst Big East Conference National Division championship and their fi rst NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. Making its third NCAA Tournament appearance ever, all during Ferguson-Dayes’ tenure, UofL beat Dayton in the fi rst round and eliminated No. 4 seed and previously unbeaten Memphis in the second round before falling to No. 1 seed Florida State in the Sweet 16.

CARLOS ALMEIDA - MEN’S SWIMMINGWith a time of 1:01.44 in the 100-meter breaststroke at the AT&T Winter National Championships last Friday in Atlanta, Carlos Almeida will be going to the London Olympics. The native of Portugal had to make the cut of 1:01.57 to become member of his national team for the Olympics. Almeida fi nished third last spring in the 100-breast at the NCAA Championships, the highest fi nish for a UofL swimmer ever.

PEYTON SIVA - MEN’S BASKETBALLThe junior from Seattle scored 14 points, including the game-winning basket with 1.4 seconds left, to lift then-No. 6 Louisville past No. 19/20 Vanderbilt 62-60 in overtime Friday night at the KFC Yum! Center. Siva played 40 of 45 minutes, hit 6 of 11 shots, had seven rebounds, fi ve assists and a steal with four turnovers. “He’s got blinding speed and is a terrifi c basketball player,” coach Rick Pitino said after the game.

CHRISTINE EXETER - WOMEN’S SOCCERThe honors continue for Louisville’s phenomenal sophomore goal-scorer from Pickering, Ontario. Monday night Exeter was named one of six fi nalists for Canadian Under-20 Player of the Year. Named Big East Rookie of the Year last season as a freshman, Exeter lit the Big East on fi re this season with 14 goals and three assists, including fi ve game-winning goals. She was named fi rst-team All-Big East and was the league’s Offensive Player of the Year this season.

GISSELLE KOHOYDA - WOMEN’S SWIMMINGThe sophomore from Midland, Mich., fi nished fi fth in the 200-breast (2:27.31) at the AT&T Winter Long Course National Championships on Saturday at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center in Atlanta. “We had a great showing at the USA Nationals,” coach Arthur Albiero said. “Gisselle had a breakthrough weekend, with top-10 fi nishes in both breaststroke events. We had lots of second swims from our freshmen and sophomores.” Kohoyda made the national B-Cut in two events as a freshman, the 100- and 200-breast. She fi nished fi fth in the Big East in the 100 and fourth in the 200 at the conference championships as a freshman.

LOLA ARSLANBEKOVA - VOLLEYBALLThe junior from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, had a match-high 19 kills and eight digs to lead UofL to a 25-22, 25-15, 25-20 victory over Ball State in the fi rst round of the 2011 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Friday evening in Holloway Gymnasium on the campus of Purdue University. Louisville fell 3-1 the following night to Purdue in Round 2. Arslanbekova fi nished the season as a fi rst-team All-Big East performer for the second straight season and was named the Big East Player of the Year. She led Louisville this season with 576 kills in 33 matches for a .277 hitting percentage.

DEREK FATHAUER - MEN’S GOLF The 2008 UofL graduate fi nished tied for 30th in the fi ve-round, PGA Qualifying Tournament Monday. There’s good news and bad news in that fi nish. By virtue of being in the top 50, Fathauer earned a fully exempt Nationwide Tour card for the fi rst 10 events of 2012. The bad news? He did not get a PGA Tour card. The top 25 players and ties received PGA Tour cards for 2012. Fathauer fi nished just two shots back from a three-way tie for 24th.

FERGUSON-DAYESFERGUSON-DAYES

ALMEIDAALMEIDA

SIVASIVA

EXETEREXETER

KOHOYDAKOHOYDA

ARSLANBEKOVAARSLANBEKOVA

FATHAUERFATHAUER

HOWIE LINDSEY’SHOWIE LINDSEY’S

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RECRUITING NOTEBOOK


By Jeff WaffordRyan Hubbell, a tight end from Iowa West-

ern Community College, made an offi cial visit to the University of Louisville last weekend. Hubbell, who has offers from Akron, FIU, Lou-isville, Memphis, Missouri State and North-ern Illinois, arrived in Louisville on Friday and wrapped up his offi cial visit on Sunday.

“It was good,” the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Hubbell said when asked how the trip went. “I was pretty impressed with everything. Overall, it was a pretty good trip.”

After arriving on Friday, Hubbell attended a football practice and then headed down-town to see the basketball Cardinals take

on Vanderbilt in the KFC Yum! Center, where UofL head coach Charlie Strong received a huge ovation when shown on the scoreboard screen.

“He did (get a huge ovation),” Hubbell noted. “It was a pretty crazy at-mosphere. I’m not used

to anything like that. We don’t have anything like that back here.

“(On Saturday), we went through all the football facility stuff and met with the strength coaches and other coaches. Then we met with the academic people and a pro-fessor and talked about that side of things. It was pretty basic stuff.”

Hubbell, who is expected to graduate in December and enroll in the school of his choice in January, acknowledged that the Cardinals coaching staff let him know tight end is a position where they need to add im-mediate depth. Once he arrives on campus, Hubbell would have three years to play his fi nal two seasons of eligibility.

“(The visit) defi nitely helped them,” Hub-bell said. “I had never been down there be-fore, so I was impressed.”

Hubbell said he plans to visit Northern Il-linois this weekend and then he’ll make a college decision following that trip. He said UofL and NIU are the fi nal two schools he is considering.

FLORIDA THREE-STARS TRIO TO VISITUofL had a huge amount of success re-

cruiting Florida last year, and the Cards are working the Sunshine State hard again this year. This weekend they’ll play host to three-star defensive end Pedro Sibiea (6-3, 251) and a pair of his Homestead H. S. teammates.

Sibiea will travel to Louisville for an offi cial visit with two three-star teammates who are committed to Miami - Herb Waters (6-1, 170, WR) and James Burgess Jr. (6-0, 200, LB).

“I’m always open to new things, so I want to see what Louisville has to offer,” Sibiea said when asked what he was hoping to see at UofL.

Homestead is located in Southern Florida, an area where Louisville recruiting coordina-tor and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt has recruited hard since being hired by Strong.

“Coach Hurtt is from down here, and we

already have a lot of respect for him,” Sibiea said. “He’s been telling me he likes the way I play and how I explode off the ball and get off of the offensive linemen. He said it would be really big to have me up here.”

Sibiea said he knows a couple of Hurtt’s recruits from last year - quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and defensive back Gerod Holli-man. “I went to the U.S. Army Combine last year and met with Brigewater,” Sibiea said. “We talked it up and we’re real cool. And then me and Gerod are real cool, so I know both of those guys.”

True freshmen have been able to get play-ing time in both of Strong’s seasons at UofL, with several earning starting roles, but Sibiea

didn’t indicate that was a huge deal to him.“How I feel about it is if I play early, then

they see the ability in me and I’ve shown them I’m an instant playmaker,” he said. “At the same time, if I don’t play until my sopho-more or junior year I get to grow into the college atmosphere and get used to it, so it works either way for me.”

While Sibiea admitted he would like to play with Burgess and Waters in college, he also noted that he is making his own deci-sion. “As far as us three playing together, it may happen and it may not, but if they don’t go where I go, I wish them the best in their future endeavors,” he said.

Sibiea said he also is considering Cincin-nati and Indiana, and “a couple of other Big East and ACC schools are trying to make a push.” He also has a visit to FIU scheduled for Jan. 13.

FUTURE CARDINAL WINS TITLEJoe Manley (6-7, 307), a three-star offen-

sive lineman from Bowling Green H.S. (Ky.), helped his team win the 5-A state champi-onship by routing Anderson County 55-3 last weekend. It was the second state title in school history – the other was in 1995.

While stats weren’t available for offensive linemen, Manley was a huge part of a Bowl-ing Green offense that scored on fi ve of its fi rst six possessions and led 34-3 at halftime.

Manley plans to sign with Louisville in

February. Before that, he intends to make anoffi cial visit here in late December or earlyJanuary.

CARDS WORKING ON ACETailback Anthony “Ace” Wales (5-9, 170)

is likely the best player in the city of Louisvillethis year, and the UofL coaching staff may bein a down-to-the-wire recruiting battle withKentucky to gain his services.

The Central H.S. product, who is rated as a three-star player, also was considering Il-linois, but the fi ring of Illini coach Ron Zooklast week has left that situation in doubt. Itnow appears that Wales’ decision will comedown to the Cats and Cards.

Coaches from both programs visited Wales early last week. The main focus ofboth conversations was the future – of bothhead coaches at UK and UofL, and the fu-ture conference affi liation of the Cards.

“I got a lot of updates I wanted to know,” Wales told Rivals.com. “I wanted to knowif coach (Joker) Phillips was still going tobe there (at Kentucky) the next four years,because I’ve been hearing rumors that hewasn’t going to be ... and talking about mestaying at the position and playing runningback.”

Wales likely will make an offi cial visit to UK on Dec. 30, the same weekend the Wild-cats and Cardinals battle on the basketballfl oor on New Year’s Eve.

Just a couple of weekends prior to that Wales likely will make an offi cial visit toLouisville. He met with UofL running backscoach Kenny Carter early last week.

“My main question for them was, what conference are they going to be in?” hesaid. “And also if Strong and them wouldtake a (job with a) bigger team in the nextfour years, whether I will be able to counton them to be there the next four years. Ifelt they have always kept it real with meand looked me in my eyes and told me thetruth.”

What was Carter’s response for which league he thought the Cardinals would landin?

“He said they would be in the Big 12, no doubt,” Wales said, adding: “I thought thatwas good. That’s a nice conference, that andthe SEC. Either one, I’d be playing againstthe best, the Texases and Oklahomas (in theBig 12). It would be a good experience forme at both schools. Wherever I go, I’ll beplaying to win.”

When asked whether it would affect his opinion of UofL if the Cardinals were to stayin the Big East, Wales said, “No, it reallywouldn’t.”

When asked whether he would prefer for Louisville to join the Big 12, Wales said,“Yes, sir, I’d probably say so. With them be-ing in the Big East and Kentucky in the SEC,I know I’d play against better competition inthe SEC, going against LSU, Alabama, Ar-kansas, South Carolina, schools like that. Butthat would be really nice if Louisville got thechance to play in the Big 12.”

CARDS HOST JUCO TIGHT END

JEFF WAFFORDJEFF WAFFORD

2012 FOOTBALL COMMITSPROSPECT POS HOMETOWN HIGH SCHOOL HT. WT.Sid Anvoots OL Indianapolis, Ind. Bishop Chatard 6-4 285Big, tough offensive lineman from a strong program in Indianapolis.

Joshua Appleby K Harvest, Ala. East Limestone 6-3 230Rated one of the top kickers in the Southeast. Appleby fi gures to replace senior Chris Philpott.

Hunter Bowles TE Glasgow, Ky. Glasgow 6-6 245Strong tight end with a big frame could easily develop into an offensive lineman. Bowles’ Dad played baseball for Kentucky.

Demetrius Frazier ATH Brunswick, Ga. Brunswick 5-10 174Extremely quick athlete could play any number of positions at the collegiate level.

Abraham Garcia OL Miami, Fla. University 6-6 339Big, physical lineman is nicknamed “Nacho.” A three-star lineman with several other BCS offers before he picked Louisville

Will Gardner QB Douglas, Ga. Coffee County 6-5 190Louisville’s top choice at quarterback in the 2011 class. Also had offers from Alabama and Mississippi State.

DeAndre Herron OL Avon, Ind. Avon 6-5 325Big, heavy and mean offensive lineman just set a school record with seven pancakes in one game.

Gerod Holliman DB Miami, Fla. Milford Academy 6-0 185Four-star defensive back is ranked the No. 2 overall prep school athlete in the class of 2011. Elite safety prospect.

Kevin Houchins DB South Euclid, Ohio Brush 5-11 175Fast with speed to burn. Likely a cornerback, but could also return kicks.

Patrick Jean LB Port St. Lucie, Fla. Treasure Coast 6-3 200Three-star linebacker with great size and speed from a program that produced UofL players Deon Rogers and Mike Romano.

Larry Jefferson DE College Park, Ga. Banneker 6-5 218Reminds of BJ Dubose or Aaron Epps. Tall, athletic lineman who will gain weight, strength.

T.C. Klusman OL Cincinnati, Ohio Elder 6-4 270Clone of Eric Wood? Maybe. Same height, same weight and same high school.

Joe Manley OL Bowling Green, Ky. Bowling Green 6-7 307Has a long way to go to live up to his massive potential. Raw but huge frame.

Devontre Parnell DB Winnsboro, SC Fairfi eld Central 5-11 163Four-star defensive back is among the best cover men in the nation for 2011.

Daqual Randall LB Palmetto, Fla. Palmetto 6-0 225Short but strong linebacker with speed to play outside at Louisville.

Brandon Snell WR Miami Gardens, Fla. Carol City 5-11 160Could he be the fastest wide receiver in Florida for 2011? Maybe. Scouts really like him.

RYAN HUBBELLRYAN HUBBELL


LOUISVILLE SOCCER

Colin Rolfe pulled his jersey over his head and clutched his head as UCLA celebrated in the background after Louisville lost 1-0 in double overtime Saturday night.

Seniors Kenny Walker and Andre Boudreaux embraced after

Louisville’s season-ending loss. The pair are two of three fi fth-

year seniors (the other is Austin Berry) that coach Ken Lolla said

helped build the program.

Louisville’s Kenney Walker (18) advanced

the ball past three UCLA defenders in the fi rst half of Saturday’s 1-0 double-

overtime loss Saturday at Cardinal Park.

Nick DeLeon looked to score a goal after he got a lead on UCLA

defender Andy Rose.

Louisville defender Austin Berry (24) implored the

crowd to cheer as UCLA’s Patrick Matchett was given a yellow card for play involving

midfi elder Nick DeLeon. - photos by Howie Lindsey

Louisville All-American and Hermann Trophy candidate Colin Rolfe was checked by

one, two and even three UCLA defenders at all times Saturday.

Here Andy Rose, Shawn Singh and Evan Ranyr boxed him in.

By Howie LindseyLast December the University of Louis-

ville men’s soccer team knocked off UCLA 5-4 in the NCAA Regional Finals to advance to the program’s fi rst College Cup. Then in August the Cardinals beat then-No. 4 UCLA 2-0 to kick-start a season full of promise. Matched up with the Bruins again in the Regional Final last Saturday night, Louisville didn’t fare as well, losing 1-0 in a double-overtime heartbreaker in front of a crowd of almost 5,000 fans at Cardinal Park.

Louisville (14-7-2), which controlled much of the action in its season-opening victory over the Bruins, controlled most of the fi rst half Saturday but seemed to lose possession more and more as the game went on. That lack of possession fi nally re-sulted in a UCLA (18-4-1) goal 1:31 into the second sudden-victory overtime period.

“I thought it was two different halves,” UofL coach Ken Lolla said. “I thought the fi rst half we were very good. We put them under quite a bit. Unfortunately, we didn’t get anything out of it from a goal stand-point. Then in the second half I thought they had us defending for a little bit. We got it back and had some pretty good chances as well, but the second half was more even. I thought we were pretty good in the fi rst half and faded in the second half.”

The Cardinals had chances early but couldn’t get the ball past UCLA’s tough back line and goalkeeper Brian Rowe. Lolla said that was the biggest difference between the August win and the December loss.

“We got an early goal,” Lolla said of the August win. “I think that was a huge dif-ference. I thought had we capitalized on an opportunity or two early it would have changed the game (Saturday). We didn’t get that. They kept hanging around and got the win.”

UCLA’s defense hasn’t given up a goal in any game since Oct. 22. That run includes a school-record eight straight shutouts by Rowe.

“It’s obviously impressive to go eight matches without a goal,” UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo said. “We only allowed two goals during conference play. We preach keeping the ball and keeping possession, so it is diffi cult for a team to score against you if they don’t have the ball. Brian Rowe is also a big part of that. He’s grown so much during his fi ve years, and what he has done for us has been tremendous. It is a tribute to how we defend as a team, our back four and his goalkeeping.”

Said Lolla: “I don’t know about their other games, but tonight I know they worked hard defensively, and they put a lot of numbers around the ball. I thought we should have scored a goal tonight. We had opportunities but didn’t take them. I think it was a little bit of their work and a little bit of us not taking advantage when we had a shot.”

Salcedo said his team is vastly different now than it was in the season-opener.

“From preseason on we preach mov-ing the ball and circulating the ball from one side to the other, and quite frankly it takes some time to teach doing that,” he said. “You see a team come here in Au-gust versus the team out there tonight, and it is night-and-day different. We are now a team that understands what it takes to win games. We have grown, and we are extremely motivated to get better every day.”

Since beating UCLA to open the season, Louisville has had its struggles. The Cardi-nals lost seven games and tied two, losing their preseason No. 1 ranking but staying in the top 25 all season.

The Cardinals found their shape in Oc-tober and won six of seven games during a strong late-season surge.

“I told our team that I am very proud of them,” Lolla said. “This was not the way we expected it to end, but there were mo-ments in the season that we were strug-gling a little bit results-wise. And I give our guys a lot of credit because they never made excuses for it and always kept work-ing hard and they persevered to get to this point and could have gone ever further still. I was proud of not only how they played to-night, but how they responded during the year.”

UCLA’s defense and relentless midfi eld-ers and forwards proved too much for the Cardinals. The Bruins advanced to this weekend’s College Cup in Hoover, Ala., to face No. 1 North Carolina in the national semifi nals.

“I thought part of it was they were a little bit fresher, especially with their at-tacking guys -- they were rotating them quite a bit,” Lolla said. “We had a couple of guys that were struggling for whatever reason. Kenney (Walker) had to sub in the fi rst half, and Michael Roman had to come off as well. When guys like that are strug-gling energy-wise, I think it depletes us a bit. They were fresher. I think that was a difference.”

Said Salcedo: “I thought we had the better play throughout the second half and defi nitely in the overtimes.... I think we have a lot of depth and Louisville wasn’t as fresh. We saw them not picking up balls in midfi eld as much and guys needing to be subbed. I thought our depth was very solid tonight.”

That freshness fi nally paid off when UCLA’s Ryan Hollingshead sent the ball into the box to Patrick Matchett. Matchett found Reed Williams, who slipped the ball past Louisville keeper Andre Boudreaux in-side the left post for the game-winner in the 102nd minute.

“The guy got it somehow - I don’t re-member - on our left side,” Boudreaux said. “He started dribbling at us and Austin (Berry) had to step to him to keep him from dribbling straight into the goal. He cut it across to an open guy inside the 18, and he hit a good shot.”

LOUISVILLE SOCCER


THIRD TIME WAS NOT A CHARM FOR CARDS VS. UCLA

Louisville players sat in saddened silence after

UCLA’s double-overtime, sudden-victory goal ended

the Cardinals’ hopes of heading back to the College

Cup. - photo by Howie Lindsey


Call (502) 636-4330 to reserve your spot today!

C U T O F F F O R R E S E R V A T I O N S A N D P AY M E N T I S D E C . 1 5 , 2 0 1 1 .

N O R E F U N D S A F T E R D E C . 2 0 , 2 0 1 1 .

A L L B O W L T I C K E T S P U R C H A S E D S E P A R A T E LY T H R O U G H U N I V E R S I T Y

O F L O U I S V I L L E T I C K E T O F F I C E ( 5 0 2 ) 8 5 2 - 5 1 5 1 .

Bowl trip from $215 per person*You will not fi nd a better tour for the money.

December 27, 2011 – Tuesday (Game Day)Let us do the driving! We will board a deluxe motorcoach in Louisville Tuesday morning and arrive at our hotel, The Holiday Inn

Express, in the Charlotte suburb of Gastonia at 3:00 p.m. (Lunch a la carte). After freshening up and dropping bags at the hotel, we will board the motorcoach for a quick 25-30-min transport to the Belk Bowl Fan Fest at the stadium.

Gametime is 8 p.m. After game, we will provide motorcoach transportation back to the hotel.

December 28, 2011 – WednesdayEnjoy a complimentary hot breakfast at the hotel. We will depart at 9 a.m. for a deluxe motorcoach ride back to Louisville (Lunch a la carte). We will arrive back in Louisville at approximately 6 p.m. making sure to give fans enough time to make Wednesday

night’s men’s basketball game vs. Georgetown at 7 p.m.

Tour Includes: One night lodging at the Holiday Inn Express-Gastonia with breakfast, travel escort, travel insurance and deluxe motorcoach

transportation. Tickets sold separately.Tour Cost:

Double Occupancy $235.00 per person Triple Occupancy $220.00 per person*Quad Occupancy $215.00 per person Single Occupancy $270.00

Travel First-Class with the Louisville SportsReportto Louisville’s bowl game vs. North Carolina State

APRIL 21, 2011 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 19

LOUISVILLE BASEBALL

LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT DECEMBER 8, 2011 L

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT’S CARDINAL KIDS

DO YOUKNOW A

CARDINALKID?

SUBMIT A PICTURE OF YOUR CARDINAL KID BY

SENDING AN EMAIL TO:

[email protected]

Mason Kitchen’s family are strong Louisville fans.

Brittany Jean-Mary, age 5, enjoyed a recent Louisville

football game. Her father, Brian, is UofL’s linebackers coach.

Proud Papa and Nana (Bob & Rita Butler) submitted this picture of Aidan Butler, age 6, as he cheered on the Cards against Marshall.

Henry and Grant Davidson posed for a quick picture before the start of a UofL home game.

Chad Smith and his children, Kayleigh and Chase, at the Red and White scrimmage. Chad is the brother of former Cardinal football kicker Nate Smith.

John F. and Debbie Waizenhofer submitted this picture of their granddaughter, Sydney Elizabeth Waizenhofer Hill, enjoying Papa John’s and a great job by Coach Strong!

louisville sportsreport: dec. 8 edition

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