louisville sportsreport

VOLUME XV • NUMBER 13NOVEMBER 11, 2010

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LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 11, 2010

NOVEMBER 11, 2010 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT PAGE 3

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

GENERAL MANAGER - Jack Coffee

SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR - Russ Brown

OPERATIONS MANAGER - Howie Lindsey

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES - Mickey Clark, Betty Olsen and Blanche Kitchen

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

Howie Lindsey and Chuck Feist

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS Matt Willinger, Jeff Wafford,

Jason Puckett and Rick Cushing

DESIGNER - Scott Stortz

COPY EDITOR - Rick Cushing

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

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7 ALL THE WRIGHT MOVESRedshirt freshman Jeremy Wright was named Big East

Offensive Player of the Week after his 98 yard effort against Syracuse Saturday. Wright and reserve QB Justin

Burke helped the Cards break an 11-game league road losing streak Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

Phenomenal sophomore Andrell Smith stretched to make a leaping touchdown grab against Syracuse Saturday. Smith and the Cardinals picked up their fi rst Big East road win in more than two seasons Saturday. - photo by Dave Klotz

5 BOWLS ARE ON THE CARDS’ MINDSSenior quarterback Justin Burke, who could be

pressed into service for a second-straight week if Adam Froman isn’t healthy by Saturday, says the

Cardinals are trying not to think about bowls just yet. That’s hard to do when UofL is just one win away.

W H A T ’ S I N S I D E

4 CROSS COUNTRY: LOUISVILLE SET TO HOST NCAA CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL

By Howie Lindsey5 USF IS THE FOE, BUT BOWLS ARE ALSO ON CARDS’ MIND By Russ Brown6 GAME STATS - SYRACUSE, LOUISVILLE DEPTH CHART7 BURKE, CARDS END ROAD WOES THE WRIGHT WAY AT SYRACUSE By Russ Brown8 FALL HAS BEEN A STERLING SEASON FOR LOUISVILLE’S

SPORTS TEAMS By Jack Coffee9 CARDS’ O-LINEMAN GET THEIR WISH: RUNNING THE ‘ROCK’ By Russ Brown10 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY By Howie Lindsey11 RISING CARDS BUYING INTO STRONG’S BELIEF SYSTEM By Russ Brown13 MEN’S SOCCER: UOFL ENTERS BIG EAST FINAL FOUR AS A

CLEAR FAVORITE By Howie Lindsey15 RECRUITING NOTEBOOK: PITINO SET TO SIGN AT LEAST FOUR By Jeff Wafford

16 WOMEN’S SOCCER: YOUTHFUL CARDS COMPLETE A GOOD BUT ‘DISAPPOINTING’ SEASON

By Howie Lindsey16 FIELD HOCKEY: LOUISVILLE AWAITS NCAA SELECTION TUESDAY

NIGHT By Howie Lindsey17 BIG EAST NOTEBOOK: BIG EAST EXPANSION IS OFFICIAL, BUT

TARGETS AREN’T CLEAR By Russ Brown18 MEN’S SOCCER: A PACKED CARDINAL PARK COULD HELP UOFL IN

NCAA SOCCER TOURNAMENT By Russ Brown18 CARDINAL STARS OF THE WEEK By Howie Lindsey19 GAMEDAY PREVIEW - SOUTH FLORIDA By Rick Cushing20 LOUISVILLE AND SOUTH FLORIDA ROSTERS21 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULES22 TOP TOM LANE24 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: WOMEN WILL OPEN ARENA TO SOLD

OUT CROWD By Howie Lindsey

FEATURES AND CONTENT:

24 PACKED YUM! CENTERFreshman Shawnta Dyer and the UofL women’s basketball team will open the season (and the

KFC Yum! Center) with a showdown against No. 4 Tennessee Friday. Monday the University announced

that all 22,000 tickets were sold for the event.

By Howie LindseySaturday morning at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer

Park in eastern Jefferson Country, some of the nation’s fastest distance runners will take off in a race that will decide which teams will compete for the national cham-pionship later this month.

“We’re looking for-ward to playing host to a tremendous region,” UofL cross country coach Brice Allen said. “We know the Big East Conference champion-ship is a tremendously competitive race, but

our regional race has become one of - if not the - most competitive regional races in the country.”

Fresh off a runner-up fi nish at the Big East Championships, the UofL men’s team moved up to No. 20 in this week’s national cross country poll. The Cards will now face one of the toughest regional fi elds in the

nation as they host the 2010 NCAA South-east Regional race Saturday at 10 a.m. The top two teams qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships, but the next three or four teams could get at-large bids this year, according to Allen.

“Right now, we’re likely to see six teams from our region qualify for the national championships, which would be the most of any of the nine regions across the coun-try,” he said. “Will that happen on that day? That remains to be seen.”

He says it could even be more than six.“I believe it is actually deeper than

that,” he said. “I believe there are seven or eight teams that could qualify for the NCAA Championships from this region. We could have a situation where one of the highly ranked teams gets upset Sat-urday, which would then push both them and the darkhorse team ahead of them into the NCAA Championships. It is going to be great racing.”

Louisville is currently ranked sixth in the

Southeast Region. N.C. State is ranked fi rst, North Carolina second, Virginia third, Duke fourth and William and Mary fi fth. UofL will be racing to pass those teams in front of them, but also to stay ahead of seventh-ranked Eastern Kentucky and eighth-ranked Richmond.

“I would love if it if our fans came out dressed in red and yelled for the Cards this Saturday at Tom Sawyer Park,” Allen said. “It’s quick. It’ll be fun and fast.”

Allen said he likes what he sees in terms of weather for the race.

“If nothing else, the forecast looks like the ground is going to be hard, so we are out of the mud,” Allen said. “We’re look-ing forward to that.”

Louisville will need strong performances from team leaders Michael Eaton, Matt Hughes and Tyler Byrne, as well as from fourth and fi fth runners Luke Lovelace and Gordon Dooley.

Eaton, a redshirt senior, had one of the best races of his career at the Big East

Championships when he fi nished second,and Allen hopes he’ll do the same Satur-day.

“He was 32nd place as a true freshman fi ve years ago,” Allen said. “Since thenhe’s fi nished 11th, then seventh and now asecond-place fi nish. It was a great day forhim. He was very intelligent in the way heraced. It is what I’ve come to expect fromhim. He was patient, but he really came onstrong the last part of the race.”

Hughes and Byrne also fi nished in the top 15 at the Big East Championships.

“Any time you can get three all-confer-ence athletes, three of the top 15 runnersin the league, it is quite a fi nish,” Allensaid. “We knew going in that if a team gotthree in the top 10 they’d win the champi-onship. We were hoping we could do that,but Syracuse nipped us there. We wereclose.”

Fans should arrive by 9:30 a.m. for best viewing of the race, which will be com-pleted by 10:40.

PAGE 4 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 11, 2010

RECRUITING NOTEBOOK10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONCROSS COUNTRY

LOUISVILLE SET TO HOST NCAA CROSS COUNTRY REGIONAL

HOWIE LINDSEYHOWIE LINDSEY

GET ALL THE LATEST NEWS ON THE CARDINALS AT WWW.CARDINALSPORTS.COM

By Russ BrownTo have suggested a couple of months

ago that Louisville’s football team was a good bet to end its three-year bowl drought would have been pure folly. Now, though, it’s not so far-fetched. In fact, it almost seems likely. This has become a season on

the brink.Incredibly for a team

picked to fi nish last in the Big East this season, if UofL (5-4, 2-2) beats South Florida (5-3, 2-2) at noon Saturday Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, the Cardinals could pos-sibly earn the distinction of becoming one of the league’s fi rst bowl-eligi-

ble teams.West Virginia (5-3, 1-2) could reach the

magic six-win number about the same time, because the Mountaineers also kick off at noon against Cincinnati in Morgantown. Pittsburgh (5-3, 3-0) could do the same by winning at Connecticut Saturday night, and Syracuse (6-3, 3-2) -- needing seven wins because two of its victories have come against FCS teams -- will qualify if it beats host Rutgers.

Many coaches are reluctant to talk to their players about the big picture, preferring to concentrate on the one-game-at-a-time cli-che’. But UofL coach Charlie Strong has em-phasized the importance of the Cards being bowl-worthy from the very beginning.

Not only would it be a notable accom-plishment and accelerate Strong’s rebuilding program, but he feels it’s important to re-ward UofL’s 27 seniors. Louisville’s last bowl trip came in 2006 when it beat Wake For-est in the Orange Bowl to fi nish 12-1 and ranked sixth in the fi nal Associated Press poll.

If the Cards falter against USF, they’ll still have two more opportunities to get their sixth win -- against West Virginia at home on Nov. 20 and at Rutgers (4-4, 1-2) on Nov. 26.

“You have a senior group that for four years haven’t been anywhere and you want to get them to a bowl,” Strong said. “Right now they’re playing their best football for us, they’re playing very well and we want some reward for them at the end of the day.

“But we still play three teams and if we stub our toe all three of those teams can beat us. So we still have to be very cautious. We have to prepare the right way and con-tinue to do the things we have to do to win football games.”

One of those seniors, quarterback Justin Burke, says the Cards haven’t lost sight of the fact that they can’t focus on their bowl prospects at the expense of preparations for their next opponent -- in this case, USF.

“A bowl game would be huge,” Burke said. “That’s the goal every time you go into a year, but we just want to go win this next one. Bowl eligibility is all well and good, but we still have three Big East games left to win and that’s the season right there. We started the season with UK, then we had the non-conference, but this is the Big East, this is what matters. And that’s what we’ve had our sights set on the whole year.

“Everyone has the taste when you get so close to something. But you have to win each week and focus on the next opponent because if you start looking toward Decem-ber or January you’re not going to make it through November.”

Said offensive lineman Josh Byrom: “Trust me, getting the seniors to a bowl game is on our minds, but we’ve got to take it one step at a time.”

And six wins is no guarantee that a bowl bid would be forthcoming, although it’s a pretty safe assumption, given that the Big East has agreements with six bowls outside of its champion going to a BCS bowl.

The bowl lineup: Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 28 in Orlando, vs. ACC; Meineke Car Care, Dec. 31 in Charlotte vs. ACC; New Era Pinstripe, Dec. 30 in Yankee Stadium vs. Big 12; BBVA Compass (formerly Papajohns.com), Jan. 8 in Birmingham, Ala., vs. SEC; AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31 in Memphis vs. SEC or C-USA; Beef O’Brady’s, Dec. 21 in St. Petersburg vs. C-USA.

Every team in the Big East has two con-ference losses except Pitt, which is 3-0, so there are all sorts of scenarios regarding the fi nal standings.

“November is huge for us, as it is for any program, because the whole Big East, they’re all right here (clumped together),” Burke said. “We’re all jockeying for position because you never know what will happen. We probably have to get to seven wins. We still have three games let and we think we can go win all of them. We’re expecting to go into every game and win because we want to be 8-4.

“You have to learn how to win and I think we’re slowly getting to that point. We’ve been in every game and we should have won every game. We should be zero in the loss column, but there’s a couple you give away and there’s a couple you play re-ally well. It’s just being able to believe in yourself, your team and your teammates.

“There’s a trust factor. Coach Strong came in and told us the fi rst day or two we

have the talent, and the coaching staff is unbelievable and if we put those together and have a little belief we can do a lot of good things like we did Saturday (in a 28-20 win at Syracuse).”

Burke will get his second straight start Saturday if Adam Froman hasn’t suffi ciently recovered from a thigh bruise, and Jeremy Wright will once again be UofL’s primary ball-carrier if Bilal Powell is still sidelined by his knee injury. Strong said during his Mon-day press conference that he had no update on the two players.

Starting center Mario Benavides is also questionable with an ankle injury suffered at Syracuse. If he can’t play, sophomore Alex Kupper will make the second start of his ca-reer, having opened against Arkansas State.

Strong said Froman will start against USF if he’s healthy. But Burke threw two touch-down passes and made few mistakes against Syracuse, so Strong will have no qualms if he has to use him again against USF.

“What we try to tell our football team is we don’t need our quarterback to win the game for us,” Strong said. “We need each position to do their job and we just needed Burke to manage the offense, which he did. It was good to see him have success because we may need him again down the stretch. It was good to see him play so well.”

Every game week, Strong selects a theme to hammer at his players as motivation. This week it’s the Cards’ failure to notch back-to-back Big East wins for the past three sea-sons, a shortcoming that could come to an end Saturday since UofL beat Syracuse 28-20 last week.

Their last back-to-back league victories came in the last two games of 2006 when they beat Pitt (48-24) and UConn (48-17).

“Every time we come out to stretch he has a new stat for us every week,” Burke said. “Whether it’s 0 for the last 15 in the Big East, haven’t won a road game in three years, haven’t won a Big East road game in the last 12 or whatever it was. We make fun of him for it, but it hits us a little bit to think

of that. To prove we can go out and do it,that’s what he does it for, that’s how he getsus up and yelling -- to remind us we can godo things like that.”

After a slow start in conference play, USF has fared better recently. The Bulls didn’tscore an offensive touchdown in losing toSyracuse (13-9) and West Virginia (20-6),but have produced 60 points in their lasttwo outings, wins over Cincinnati (38-30)and Rutgers (28-27).

The play of sophomore quarterback B.J. Daniels has been a key. After throwing 10interceptions in the fi rst six games, he hasbeen picked off just once in the last twowhile completing 23-of-33 for 435 yardsand four touchdowns.

“I think it shows a lot of B.J.’s develop-ment,” USF coach Skip Holtz said. “It showshow far he’s come in a couple of weeks. He’splaying with great confi dence right now.He’s at the line, making checks. He’s like atotally different quarterback than a coupleof weeks ago when he was timid. Not physi-cally timid, but mentally and emotionallytimid, not comfortable in the pocket.

“All of a sudden, it’s like the game has slowed down for him. He’s making readsand he’s making throws.”

Running back Moe Plancher, a sixth-year senior, rushed for a career-high 135 yardsagainst Rutgers and senior linebacker Jac-quian Williams and sophomore kicker Mai-kon Bonani earned the Big East defensiveand special teams honors for the week.

Williams had a game-high 11 tackles, in-cluding a crucial sack on fourth down in thefourth quarter as Rutgers drove for a poten-tial go-ahead fi eld goal. Bonani connectedon two fi eld goals, including a season-long47-yarder, and is now 8-for-9 on the sea-son.

“We were 0-2, on the outside looking in, everybody saying it’s broke,” USF coachSkip Holtz said. “We didn’t fl inch. We didn’tchange what we were doing. I think how youplay in November is really what it’s all about.We are playing much better as a team rightnow. Hopefully, we can continue to improveas we go down the home stretch.”

While both teams have effi cient offenses, the game could turn into a defensive battle.Louisville is ranked No. 19 in the FBS in totaldefense, allowing 308.78 yards per game,and is also 19th in scoring defense (18.89ppg). The Bulls aren’t far behind at No. 29 intotal defense (329 ypg) and 26th in scoringdefense (19.63 ppg).

“As a defense we don’t get caught up in stats,” Strong said. “We just know this:when we line up we have to outplay theother team’s defense. We’re not very big,so we can’t just stand in there and lay onblocks; we have to move guys around. Wetry to put them in position to make plays.Our defense understands that they have tooutplay the other team’s defense or we haveno chance at all.”

The Cards will be trying to extend their mastery over the Bulls on their home turf.USF hasn’t won in Papa John’s in three pre-vious tries, including a 24-20 upset win byUofL in 2008 when the Bulls were rankedNo. 14. The Cards won the other two gamesby scores of 41-9 and 31-8.


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

RUSS BROWNRUSS BROWN

Deon Rogers (43), Doug Beaumont (27) Greg Scruggs (6) and the Cardinals high-

fi ved the Louisville fans who made the trip to Syracuse for Saturday’s game.

- photo by Dave Klotz

U O F L A I M I N G F O R 8 - 4 , P O S T S E A S O N R E W A R D

USF IS THE FOE, BUT BOWLS ARE ALSO ON CARDS’ MINDS


OFFENSEQUARTERBACK9 ADAM FROMAN (INJ.) 6-4 218 SR.13 JUSTIN BURKE 6-3 226 SR.RUNNING BACK15 BILAL POWELL (INJ.) 6-0 204 SR.20 VICTOR ANDERSON 5-10 186 JR.28 JEREMY WRIGHT 5-11 193 R-FR.X-WIDE RECEIVER1 JOSH BELLAMY 6-0 205 JR.11 JOSH CHICHESTER 6-9 240 JR.H-WIDE RECEIVER27 DOUG BEAUMONT 5-9 186 SR.89 SCOTT RADCLIFF 5-9 180 SO.Z-WIDE RECEIVER14 ANDRELL SMITH 6-4 212 SO.88 JARRETT DAVIS 5-10 164 FR.TIGHT END83 CAMERON GRAHAM 6-4 242 SR.82 PETE NOCHTA 6-6 245 SR.85 NATE NORD 6-5 233 SO.LEFT TACKLE78 BYRON STINGILY 6-5 300 SR.73 HECTOR HERNANDEZ 6-5 279 JR.LEFT GUARD79 MARK WETTERER (INJ.) 6-5 398 SR.70 CONRAD THOMAS 6-6 325 SR.68 KAMRAN JOYER 6-3 301 R-FR.CENTER55 MARIO BENAVIDES 6-4 295 SO.66 ALEX KUPPER 6-3 289 SO.RIGHT GUARD65 JOSH BYROM 6-5 305 SR.69 JOHN CLARK 6-2 292 JR.RIGHT TACKLE76 GREG TOMCZYK 6-6 287 SR.74 JEFF ADAMS 6-8 295 SR.

DEFENSEFOX END91 WILLIAM SAVOY 6-1 245 JR.44 B.J. BUTLER 6-2 264 FR. 47 MALCOLM MITCHELL 6-2 235 R-FR.DEFENSIVE TACKLE6 GREG SCRUGGS (INJ.) 6-4 273 JR.92 BRANDON DUNN 6-3 282 FR.NOSE TACKLE97 TIM HIGH 6-2 298 SR.93 ROY PHILON 6-3 277 R-FR.95 RANDY SALMON 6-3 291 SO

DEFENSIVE END58 RODNEY GNAT 6-3 255 SR. 90 MALCOLM TATUM 6-3 260 SR.SAM LINEBACKER24 DANIEL BROWN 6-1 215 SO. 39 JACOB GEFFRAD 6-3 201 R-FR.MIKE LINEBACKER46 DEXTER HEYMAN 6-3 238 JR. 2 PRESTON BROWN 6-2 249 FR.52 ANTWONE CANADY 6-0 244 SR.WEAKSIDE LINEBACKER5 BRANDON HEATH 6-1 220 SR.41 EUGENE SOWELL 6-0 208 SR.CORNERBACK42 BOBBY BURNS 5-11 180 SR.8 DARIUS ASHLEY 5-8 186 SO.STRONG SAFETY29 HAKEEM SMITH 6-1 175 R-FR. 23 TERENCE SIMIEN (INJ) 6-3 207 JR.FREE SAFETY36 SHENARD HOLTON 6-1 190 SO. 33 MIKE EVANS 5-10 180 JR.CORNERBACK19 JOHNNY PATRICK 6-0 186 SR.31 CHAMP LEE (INJ.) 6-0 198 R-FR.26 ZED EVANS 5-11 173 R-FR.

SPECIAL TEAMSPUNT RETURN27 DOUG BEAUMONT 5-9, 187, SR., 3V 1 JOSH BELLAMY 6-0, 205, JR., JC89 SCOTT RADCLIFF 5-10, 183, SO., 1VKICK RETURN 12 CHRIS PHILPOTT 6-0, 191, JR., 2V 1 JOSH BELLAMY 6-0, 205, JR., JC45 BLAYNE DONNELL 5-9, 190, SR. 3VHOLDER 4 WILL STEIN 5-10, 185, SO., 1VPUNTER 40 JOSH BLESER 6-1, 201, JR., TR 35 ANDREW FLETCHER 5-8, 162, FR., HSKICKER12 CHRIS PHILPOTT 6-0, 191, JR., 2V35 ANDREW FLETCHER 5-8, 162, FR., HSLONG SNAPPER60 DANIEL WEEDMAN 5-11, 243, SR., 3V65 JOSH BYROM 6-5, 305, SR., 3V

2010 DEPTH CHARTUofL VS. SYRACUSE GAME STATS

GAME STATSLouisville Cardinals (5-4,2-2) vs. Syracuse (6-3,3-2)Date: 11/6/2010 • Site: Syracuse, NY • Stadium: Carrier Dome • Attendance: 40735 SCORE BY QUARTERS 1 2 3 4 SCORELouisville Cardinals 14 0 7 7 28Syracuse Orange 7 10 3 0 20

SCORING SUMMARY:1ST 06:06 LOU - WRIGHT, JEREMY 28 YD RUN (PHILPOTT, CHRIS KICK) 3 PLAYS, 41 YARDS, TOP 1:24, LOU 7 - SYR 0 05:08 SYR - LEMON, ALEC 51 YD PASS FROM NASSIB, RYAN (KRAUTMAN, ROSS KICK) 3 PLAYS, 56 YARDS, TOP 0:58, LOU 7 - SYR 7 01:15 LOU - SMITH, ANDRELL 8 YD PASS FROM BURKE, JUSTIN (PHILPOTT, CHRIS KICK) 6 PLAYS, 59 YARDS, TOP 3:53, LOU 14 - SYR 72ND 05:42 SYR - CARTER, DELONE 8 YD RUN (KRAUTMAN, ROSS KICK) 12 PLAYS, 70 YARDS, TOP 4:53, LOU 14 - SYR 14 00:34 SYR - KRAUTMAN, ROSS 23 YD FIELD GOAL 5 PLAYS, 17 YARDS, TOP 1:44, LOU 14 - SYR 173RD 10:34 LOU - WRIGHT, JEREMY 12 YD RUN (PHILPOTT, CHRIS KICK) 10 PLAYS, 60 YARDS, TOP 4:26, LOU 21 - SYR 17 05:53 SYR - KRAUTMAN, ROSS 42 YD FIELD GOAL 10 PLAYS, 42 YARDS, TOP 4:41, LOU 21 - SYR 204TH 14:26 LOU - CHICHESTER, J. 21 YD PASS FROM BURKE, JUSTIN (PHILPOTT, CHRIS KICK) 12 PLAYS, 90 YARDS, TOP 6:27, LOU 28 - SYR 20

KICKOFF TIME: 12:00 PM END OF GAME: 3:26 TOTAL ELAPSED TIME: 3:26OFFICIALS: REFEREE: JOHN MCDAID; UMPIRE: JEFFREY AKERS; LINESMAN: JON STABILE; LINE JUDGE: HUGH CAMPBELL; BACK JUDGE: BRUCE WILLIAMS; FIELD JUDGE: FOLAYAN KINDRED; SIDE JUDGE: BRYAN PLATT; SCORER: DAN KELLY

TEAM STATS LOU SYRFIRST DOWNS................... 19 17 Rushing..................... 10 7 Passing..................... 8 8 Penalty..................... 1 2NET YARDS RUSHING............. 160 101 Rushing Attempts............ 39 31 Average Per Rush............ 4.1 3.3 Rushing Touchdowns.......... 2 1 Yards Gained Rushing........ 173 132 Yards Lost Rushing.......... 13 31NET YARDS PASSING............. 143 155 Completions-Attempts-Int.... 13-25-0 19-32-0 Average Per Attempt......... 5.7 4.8 Average Per Completion...... 11.0 8.2 Passing Touchdowns.......... 2 1TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 303 256 Total offense plays......... 64 63 Average Gain Per Play....... 4.7 4.1Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 2-1 1-1Penalties: Number-Yards....... 10-67 8-57PUNTS-YARDS................... 6-248 6-261 Average Yards Per Punt...... 41.3 43.5 Net Yards Per Punt.......... 37.0 41.5 Inside 20................... 1 2 50+ Yards................... 2 3 Touchbacks.................. 0 0 Fair catch.................. 0 1KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 5-343 5-288 Average Yards Per Kickoff... 68.6 57.6 Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 42.4 43.4 Touchbacks.................. 0 0Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 3-12-0 4-26-0 Average Per Return.......... 4.0 6.5Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 4-71-0 5-131-0

Average Per Return.......... 17.8 26.2Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 0-0-0Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0Possession Time............... 30:02 29:58 1st Quarter................. 8:02 6:58 2nd Quarter................. 3:24 11:36 3rd Quarter................. 10:19 4:41 4th Quarter................. 8:17 6:43Third-Down Conversions........ 4 of 12 6 of 14Fourth-Down Conversions....... 2 of 2 0 of 0Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 2-2 Touchdowns.................. 2-2 1-2 Field goals................. 0-2 1-2Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 3-21 2-19PAT Kicks..................... 4-4 2-2Field Goals................... 0-0 2-2

INDIVIDUAL STATSRushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg AvgWright, Jeremy 19 98 0 98 2 28 5.2ANDERSON, Vic 10 46 0 46 0 9 4.6Donnell, Blayne 5 22 0 22 0 9 4.4Burke, Justin 5 7 13 -6 0 3 -1.2Totals... 39 173 13 160 2 28 4.1

Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long SackBurke, Justin 13-25-0 143 2 29 2Totals... 13-25-0 143 2 29 2

Receiving No. Yds TD LongGraham, Cameron 3 30 0 19CHICHESTER, J. 2 50 1 29Bellamy, Josh 2 20 0 13Smith, Andrell 2 20 1 12Beaumont, Doug 1 11 0 11ANDERSON, Vic 1 6 0 6Donnell, Blayne 1 4 0 4Nord, Nate 1 2 0 2Totals... 13 143 2 29

Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TBPhilpott, Chris 6 248 41.3 52 1 0Totals... 6 248 41.3 52 1 0

Punts Kickoffs InterceptAll Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.LgBeaumont, Doug 3 12 6 0 0 0 0 0 0BROWN, D. 0 0 0 3 40 15 0 0 0Wright, Jeremy 0 0 0 1 31 31 0 0 0Totals... 3 12 6 4 71 31 0 0 0

DEFENSIVE STATSNo. Player Solo Ast Tot 29 Smith, Hakeem 11 2 13 36 Holton, Shenard 5 2 7 24 Brown, Daniel 6 . 6 19 Patrick, Johnny 5 1 6 42 Burns, Bobby 3 2 5 5 Heath, Brandon 3 1 4 92 Dunn, Brandon 2 1 3 90 Tatum, Malcolm 2 . 2 44 Butler, B.J. 2 . 2 43 Rogers, Deon 2 . 2 52 Canady, Antwone 2 . 2 46 Heyman, Dexter 2 . 2 2 Brown, Preston . 2 2 86 Meagher, Zach 1 . 1 32 Perry, Senorise 1 . 1 58 Gnat, Rodney . 1 1 26 Evans, Zed . 1 1 89 Radcliff, Scott . 1 1 33 Evans, Mike . 1 1 91 Savoy, William . 1 1

DEATH OF A STREAK(Before beating Syracuse 28-20 last Saturday in the Carrier Dome, Louisville hadn’t won a Big East road game in 37 months. Here’s how the streak shaped up):

Date Team Score Oct. 19, 2007 at Connecticut L 21-17Nov. 8, 2007 at #7 W. Virginia L 38-31Nov. 17, 2007 at South Florida L 55-17Nov. 1, 2008 at Syracuse L 28-21Nov. 8, 2008 at Pittsburgh L 41-7Dec. 4, 2008 at Rutgers L 63-14Oct. 17, 2009 at Connecticut L 38-25Oct. 24, 2009 at #5/6 Cincinnati L 41-10Nov. 7, 2009 at West Virginia L 17-9Nov. 21, 2009 at South Florida L 34-22Oct. 30, 2010 at Pittsburgh L 20-3Nov. 6, 2010 at SYRACUSE W 28-20


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

By Russ BrownIts starting quarterback was on the sideline

on crutches due to a thigh bruise. Its 1,000-yard rusher, the young fellow his coach calls the “face of the program,” was standing nearby in warmups, incapacitated by a bum right knee.

More than 40,000 Orange-clad fans were in the Carrier Dome to watch Syracuse take advantage of the momentum from back-to-

back big road wins and become bowl-eligible by winning its seventh game of the season.

To all of which the de-termined Louisville Car-dinals issued a collective ‘So what’ shrug of their shoulders. And showed it is defi nitely a new day

for UofL (5-4, 2-2 Big East) by upsetting the Orange 28-20 to snap a 12-game, three-year losing streak in Big East road games. Syracuse fell to 6-3, 3-2.

The Cardinals can now become bowl eli-gible themselves for the fi rst time in four sea-sons by winning one of their last three games against South Florida and West Virginia at home and Rutgers on the road. UofL’s two conference victories equal the number for the last two seasons combined.

The game, which a month or so ago was dubbed the Basement Bowl, turned out to be nothing of the sort and was an entertain-ing and hard-fought tussle between teams predicted to fi nish seventh and eighth in the league in a preseason poll of Big East coach-es.

With the aforementioned quarterback Adam Froman and running back Bilal Pow-ell out with injuries, backup senior QB Justin Burke took over the controls of the offense and redshirt freshman Jeremy Wright stepped into Powell’s sizeable shoes -- with signifi cant help from Victor Anderson and Blayne Donnell -- to key a punishing running attack behind a physical and resolute offensive line.

Then there was Louisville’s defense, which dominated the second half as the Cards won on the road in the conference for the fi rst time in 37 months -- since a 28-24 win at No. 15/17 Cincinnati on Oct. 13, 2007.

“This win today was just a total team effort -- offense, defense, the kicking game,” coach Charlie Strong said. “We knew we had two of our best players down, and I said to the team early in the week, ‘You’re going to have to start believing in yourselves. You have to realize that even though two guys are down, everyone’s got to play 10 percent better than what they’ve been playing.”

Other elements of the watershed victory included a pair of successful fourth-down gambles by Strong and some good fortune in the form of a dropped sure touchdown pass at the goal line by a Syracuse receiver that represented the go-ahead score in the third quarter.

“Coach Strong told us we’re down a quarterback, down our running back, but so

what,” offensive lineman Josh Byrom said. “We still have our offensive line, we still have our wide receivers, same defense. If everyone else does their job, we have guys who can step in. That’s what makes us a special group -- if one guy is gone, the next guy elevates his level of play and we get a good win.”

Wright certainly rose to the occasion. The Clermont, Fla., product carried 19 times for 98 yards, fi ve more carries and three more yards than he had had all season, and scored touchdowns on runs of 28 and 12 yards.

“I took every rep I could take in practice, and I just wanted to do my best,” he said. “The linemen really encouraged me to just hold onto the ball and do my job.”

Anderson, playing for the fi rst time in a month due to a shoulder injury, added 46 yards and Donnell 22 for a UofL rushing at-tack that produced 115 yards in the second half and 160 for the game against a Syracuse defense that ranked 13th nationally in total defense and hadn’t allowed its three Big East victims -- USF, West Virginia and Cincinnati -- to score more than 14 points in the game.

Burke, making his fi rst start in more than a year, was calm and steady all afternoon in the face of the Orange’s aggressive defenders. He completed 13 of 25 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

“I’m very proud of that offense,” Strong said. “We’ve got two of our best players down, and this team comes in here with an attitude about ‘em. It was so great to see the offense respond like they did.”

Burke’s only appearances this season had been cameos against Memphis, Cincinnati

and Pittsburgh, and he had thrown only seven passes.

“I was a little rusty, obviously, as you would expect, because I hadn’t played for a while,” he said. “But I’m a senior. If it was a fresh-man out there you’d expect some struggles, but I’m expected to go out there and not miss a beat.”

Trailing 17-14 at halftime, UofL took charge of the game by taking the second-half kick-off and marching 60 yards in 10 plays, with Wright’s 12-yard TD run giving the visitors a 21-17 lead they never relinquished. The drive featured eight running plays along with two short pass completions by Burke, to Josh Bel-lamy (7 yards) and Doug Beaumont (9).

“That was real big,” Wright said of his TD. “That gave everyone confi dence and helped us move the game along.”

In the fi rst half UofL used a balanced of-fense that consisted of 14 passes and 13 rushes, but in the second half the Cards kept the ball on the ground 39 times vs. just 11 passes.

“We needed to run the ball and just play physical,” Strong said. “On the road you have to play physical and take the crowd out of the game, and we did.”

The defense helped along those lines, limit-ing Syracuse to a fi eld goal and a meager 62 yards in the second half. With Louisville con-trolling the ball, the Orange got its fi eld goal -- a 42-yarder -- on its only possession of the third quarter to pull within 21-20. That was the only time Syracuse crossed midfi eld in the second half.

“We had a big, strong effort in the sec-

ond half,” said sophomore linebacker DanielBrown, who forced a fumble by Syracuse QBRyan Nassib that set up UofL’s fi rst TD in thefi rst quarter. “We wanted to raise our level ofintensity. Our motto is that we want to shutteams out in the second half.”

A few plays before the fi eld goal, the Cards dodged a bullet when Syracuse wideout AlecLemon got wide open at the goal line butdropped a perfect pass. There was no UofLdefender within 10 yards of him.

“Oh my God,” Brown said. “I was going with a blitz and I turned around and saw himdrop it and I was like, somebody on our teamwent to church and prayed.”

“I took my eyes off of it,” Lemon said. “Then there was nothing I could do about it.Drops happen in a game.”

After the fi eld goal, Burke guided the Cards on a 12-play, 90-yard drive -- their longestscoring drive of the season. It featured thefi rst fourth-down call of the game by Strong.With UofL on the Syracuse 33-yard line andneeding four yards for the fi rst down, Burkerolled right, waited for Andrell Smith to comeopen and completed a 12-yard pass to the6-4 sophomore.

“That was a little luck, I think,” Burke said, grinning. “We’d been having some successgetting out of the pocket and rolling out. Itwas 4th-and-4 and you’ve got to make a play.Sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.Andrell stayed put like he was supposed to,we ran the defense to the right and I boughtsome time and we made a good play. If youthrow a pick, it’s as good as a punt, so it’s a‘make-it play.’ It’s a matter of making a play,and luckily I did.”

On the very next play Burke threw a 21-yard TD pass to Josh Chichester for the fi nalscore.

Strong said he didn’t consider punting on the 4th-and-4.

“We got the ball down there, and we needed to score,” he said. “If we punt, theball’s going out the back of the end zoneand they get it on the 20, so we only gain13 yards. So I said, we’ll throw the fade andlet Andrell catch it. That’s where Burke is soheady; he made a great throw to get him theball.”

Strong rolled the dice and took another chance by going for it on a 4th-and-inchesat Louisville’s 39 with 3:18 remaining in thegame. Burke got the fi rst down with room tospare on a 2-yard quarterback sneak.

“I didn’t think about punting at all,” Strong said. “We needed an inch. Now, if we can’tget an inch the way we were running the ball,there would be an issue there.”

Following the fi rst down, UofL was able to eat more time off the clock and Syracusedidn’t get the ball back until just 33 secondsremained -- at its own 15. Game over.

“Basically, we made mistakes,” Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said. “Credit to Louis-ville. They were able to capitalize on thosemistakes. We had a chance to make someplays. At times we did and at times we didn’t.Nothing comes easy in this game.”


Senior QB Justin Burke wasn’t spectacular during Louisville’s 28-20 win over Syracuse

Saturday, but he effectively managed the Cardinals to a win. And that’s what coach Charlie Strong asked of him. Burke could

start Saturday if injured starter Adam Froman isn’t healthy. - photo by Dave Klotz

U O F L I G N O R E S K E Y I N J U R I E S , P R E V A I L S 2 8 - 2 0

BURKE, CARDS END ROAD WOES THE WRIGHT WAY AT SYRACUSE


Only President’s Award Winner in Greater Louisville 10 out of 11 years!

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Top 10 Certified Used Car Dealer in the Nation

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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 .

The start of the 2010-2011 school year at the University of Louisville was an exciting time for Cardinals fans. Good things were scheduled to happen as the football team opened the season in a newly renovated and expanded stadium, and the basketball team moved its home court from a 56-year-old Freedom Hall to the brand-spanking new KFC Yum! Cen-ter downtown, which is the nicest college basketball arena in the country. Moreover, the football team got a fresh start with a new coach and a rejuvenated fan base. PJCS and the Yum! have attracted thou-sands of Cards fans to games and simply to gawk. No one has been disappointed as UofL can proudly claim some of the best college athletic facilities in the country.

Meanwhile, the fall sports at UofL that don’t draw as much attention as the two biggies are doing just fi ne, thank you. The men’s soccer team has quietly, under the direction of coach Ken Lolla, become the best team in America, and that’s no brag, just fact. The Cards’ fi nal game of the sea-son at home against Villanova two weeks ago ended their undefeated regular sea-son and left them as the No. 1-rated team in the country in all three college soccer polls -- the NSCAA Coaches Poll, the Soc-cer Times Poll and the Soccer America Poll. That makes UofL the undisputed top-ranked men’s soccer team in the country in the fi nal regular-season polls.

The Cards are led by two juniors and a freshman on offense and a senior and a junior on defense. Junior Colin Rolfe is an All-American forward and this week was named the National Player of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer and the Big East Of-fensive Player of the Week on Nov. 1 for his effort in the Villanova game. He has fi ve goals and fi ve assists for the season. Freshman Dylan Mares has been named Big East Rookie of the Week on three oc-casions and leads the team in goals with eight and also has two assists in spite of missing two games with injury. Junior Nick DeLeon has six goals and one assist and has been named Big East Offensive Player of the Week one time. Defensively the Cards are led by senior JT Murray and junior Austin Berry, each of whom has been named Big East Defensive Player of the Week one time.

With the arrival of Lolla in 2006 from the nationally acclaimed Akron Zips, the UofL men’s soccer program began a steady ascent to the top of the Big East’s Red Divison. The Cards have now won the Red Division two years running, and with so many underclassmen playing key roles they seem destined to stay there for the foreseeable future. After receiving a bye in the fi rst round of the Big East Tourna-ment, UofL beat West Virginia 2-0 last

Saturday and will play Notre Dame in thesemifi nals Friday night.

In her 13th season as fi eld hockeycoach, Pam Bustin has led the Cardinalsto the top of one of the toughest confer-ences in the country. After winning onlyone game her fi rst season (the team was0-19 the previous year in the MAC), Bus-tin has totally reversed the fortunes ofUofL fi eld hockey. The 2010 team fi nishedsecond to Syracuse in the Big East, butsince joining the conference in 2005 it hasadvanced to the championship every year.There are 79 schools that play Division Ifi eld hockey, and Louisville is continuouslyin the top 20.

The star of the team is Nicole You-man, who hails from Black Mountain,Australia, and is part of UofL’s British con-nection of Australia and Canada. Youmanis a four-year starter and two-year cap-tain. She has been All-Region and All-BigEast three times and leads the league ingoals (17), assists (19) and points (53) thisseason. She owns the school’s career andsingle-season assists marks, tied a schoolrecord with fi ve goals in a win over Cen-tral Michigan this season and was namedBig East Offensive Player of the Weekthree times.

Rachel Hollenbach of Winfi eld, Pa., isa three-year starter and has scored fourgoals and had two assists this season. Shehas nine career goals and six assists. BothHollenbach and Youman have been se-lected to play in the National Field HockeyCoaches’ Association Division I SeniorGame on Nov. 20. Also named Big EastPlayer of the Week this season were Hay-ley Turner of Australia and Karah Nall ofAssumption in Louisville.

Also sitting in its usual place near thetop of the Big East is volleyball. CoachLeonid Yelin’s team, which has made alate-season run to improve its record to17-6 and 11-1 in the Big East, is presentlytied with Cincinnati for fi rst place in theconference. The Cards will travel to Mil-waukee to take on third-place Marquetteon Friday and fi nishes the regular seasonat Syracuse on Sunday. The team is led byEmily Juhl and Lola Arslanbekova. Juhl,a freshman from Louisville Sacred Heart,and Arslanbekova, a sophomore from Uz-bekistan, have both won Big East honorsthis season.

After getting off to an 8-2 start, thewomen’s soccer team faltered late in theseason but shows promise for the future.Freshman Christine Exeter was namedBig East Rookie of the Year, and redshirtfreshman Angelica Uremovich was namedto the All-Rookie team. Both are from On-tario, Canada.

As usual the Cardinals athletic freighttrain just keeps rolling along.

FALL HAS BEEN A STERLING SEASONFOR LOUISVILLE’S SPORTS TEAMS

COMMENTARY BY JACK COFFEE [email protected]

Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib braced himself for the incoming hit by Louisville

linebackers Brandon Heath (5) and Dexter Heyman (46). Nassib was under pressure

for most the afternoon Saturday. - photo by Dave Klotz


CARDINAL FOOTBALLLOUISVILLE BASKETBALLCARDINAL FOOTBALL

By Russ BrownSYRACUSE, N.Y. -- At halftime of Lou-

isville’s game against Syracuse Saturday in the Carrier Dome, while offensive coordi-nator Mike Sanford was working his way down from the press box, UofL’s offensive linemen had already started lobbying the other assistant coaches.

Their message: They wanted to pound Syracuse on the ground in the second half. And when Sanford, who was calling the plays, walked in, they found out he was on the same page.

“We were telling the coaches we wanted to run the ball, and Coach Sanford came in and said, ‘We’re running the ball,’” offensive right guard Josh Byrom said. “We were excited to hear that. That’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to come out in

the second half and make a statement on our fi rst drive.”

And why not? Sure, the Cards (5-4, 2-2 Big East) were missing leading rusher Bi-lal Powell and were replacing him with a redshirt freshman who’d carried the ball only 14 times this season coming in and a junior who was a veteran but was playing for the fi rst time in a month.

But UofL, which trailed 17-14 at the half, still had its tenacious, senior-domi-nated offensive line consisting of Byrom, left tackle Byron Stingily, right tackle Greg Tomczyk, left guard Mark Wetterer and sophomore center Mario Benavides, the only underclassmen in the group.

“I know this -- our offensive line is a senior-laden group, and we know we can run the football because we’re a physical team,” UofL head coach Charlie Strong said. “I told the offensive line, ‘Guys, just run the football,’ because when we throw it we get behind the chains, and we didn’t want to gamble. They bring a lot of pressure and we didn’t want to get quarterback sacks. You saw the one be-fore halftime, and we didn’t need that.”

Strong was referring to a Syracuse blitz that was on quarterback Justin Burke in a heartbeat, forcing a fumble at his own 22-yard line and leading to a fi eld goal that put the Orange up 17-14.

The run, run, run strategy for the fi nal 30 minutes worked to near-perfection as the Cards dominated time of possession and prevailed 28-20, so expect more of the same against South Florida (5-3, 2-2) Saturday in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, even if Powell doesn’t return to action.

“We want to run the rock, that’s what we love to do,” Bryom said. “As an offen-sive lineman you love to do that because there’s nothing better than knocking a D-lineman off the ball and getting fi rst downs and keeping the clock moving. Plus, it opens up our passing game.”

UofL took the second-half kickoff and marched 60 yards in 10 plays, all but two of them rushes by freshman Jeremy Wright or junior Victor Anderson, with Wright’s 12-yard touchdown run up the middle putting the Cards ahead to stay at 21-17.

“I told them at halftime that we were going to take the opening drive and we’re going to march it down the fi eld,” Strong

said. “Either we’re going to tie the score or get a touchdown.”

“We felt our O-line was really getting a push and stopping the Syracuse defensive linemen from being on us,” Wright said. “We all saw it, so we had to take advan-tage of it.”

UofL put together an even more impres-sive drive on its next possession, moving a season-long 90 yards in 12 plays, with Justin Burke throwing a 21-yard TD pass to Josh Chichester on the second play of the fourth quarter for the fi nal mar-gin. Nine of the fi rst 10 plays were runs, then Burke completed a 12-yard pass to Andrell Smith on a 4th-and-4 to set up Chichester’s TD.

Sanford termed it “old-fashioned foot-ball,” and it certainly was a conservative attack that would have been right at home when the Big Ten was a conference known for its three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust approach to offense.

“Those fi rst two series, we came out and said we’re going to be stubborn run-ning the football,” Burke said. “Just keep going ... four, fi ve yards a carry. Hit some for 10-12 yards. We never hit a really big run, but we were consistent and stayed on track. On fi rst down we made yard-age, second down we made yardage, and we made fi rst down on third down.”

Burke, a senior who was making his fi rst start since Sept. 26, 2009 -- a 30-14 loss at Utah -- said UofL’s successful running at-tack made his job much easier. He attempt-ed only 11 passes in the second half and wound up 13 of 25 for 143 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

“When we get a running game go-ing like that, I really get in a rhythm and I think the offense gets in a rhythm,” he said. “And that’s important for all of us. Those guys on the offensive line tore it up, just gashed them. We were able to stick with our plan in the second half -- the coaches put is in great position and allowed me to play well.”

Said Byrom: “It’s just a confi dence thing. Syracuse is a heavy pressure team, so we fi gured if we could get past that fi rst level of defenders that puts our run-ning back in the open fi eld.... We’re very

confi dent in our running game with the running backs we have, the O-line and the play-calling.”

The Cards controlled the ball for 18 1/2 minutes of the second half and ran 37 plays to Syracuse’s 23.

“The difference in the game was their ability to run the football,” Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said. “That’s what it’s about -- they executed and we didn’t.”

Wright, who entered the game with just 95 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries, fi nished the afternoon with 98 yards on 19 carries, scoring on runs of 28 and 12 yards. He said he knew going into the game that the offensive line had confi dence in his, An-derson’s and Blayne Donnell’s ability to fi ll in adequately for Powell.

“We all had the same trust; they knew what we could do,” Wright said. “Every practice, they see what goes on, so they’re going to have faith, just like the coaches. I just tried to stay relaxed, do what I can do, see the hole and attack it.”

Said Strong: “Jeremy Wright ran so hard. You look out there and say, ‘Wow, look how hard he’s running.’ We have three backs we’re able to rotate, and our offensive line is so good.”

In all, UofL’s rushing attack generated 160 yards -- 115 of them coming in the sec-ond half -- and an average of 4.1 yards per run. Anderson contributed 46 yards on 10 carries, Donnell 22 yards on fi ve tries.

“We’ve got some of the best backs in the country,” Burke said. “Jeremy is going to be a superstar. He runs so low to the ground, and he has a burst. He just hits the gash and goes. Blayne, I think he’s the heart and soul of our team, I really do. He gives it up for the team on special teams. He’s an unbelievable player.”

Byrom says he wasn’t the least bit sur-prised by Wright’s performance.

“Jeremy is a phenomenal athlete,” he said. “I knew when he came in as a fresh-man and was running on our scout team that he was going to be an unbelievable back for us, and he really stepped up today. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He came in there and he was confi dent enough to pave the way, and we were confi dent in him.”

Louisville coach Charlie Strong is the clear favorite to win Big EastCoach of the Year after taking undermanned Louisville on the road for a 28-20 win at Syracuse Saturday. Strong said the Cardinals celebrated wildly in the locker room at the Carrier Dome after the win. - photo by Dave Klotz


The game was over when: Justin Burke gained 2 yards on a quarterback sneak with UofL facing a 4th-and-inches on its own 39-yard line at the three-minute mark. The Cards were able to run most of the remaining time off the clock before punting to Syracuse at the Orange 15 with just 33 seconds re-maining.

“I wasn’t surprised Coach Strong went for it,” Burke said. “I think he believed in what the offensive line had been doing all day, especially in the second half.”

Turning point: Trailing 17-14 at halftime, UofL took the second-half kickoff (from its own 40 after Syra-cuse kicked the ball out of bounds) and methodi-cally moved 60 yards for the go-ahead touchdown to set the tone for the rest of the game.

UofL Offensive Player of the Game: (tie) Burke and redshirt freshman running back Jeremy Wright. Burke, fi lling in for injured starter Adam Froman, managed the game well and completed 13 of 25 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Wright, replacing Bilal Powell, ran for 98 yards and two TDs on 19 carries. Strong praised both players, noting how hard Wright ran and saying that Burke had a “tremendous” game.

UofL Defensive Player of the Game: (tie) Redshirt freshman strong safety Hakeem Smith led all tack-lers with 13 and sophomore linebacker Daniel Brown jarred a fumble loose from Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib and had two tackles for losses. Nas-sib’s fumble was recovered by linebacker Antwone Canady on the Orange 41-yard line midway through the fi rst quarter, and three plays later Wright ran 28 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Who’s Hot: UofL’s defense is on a real roll over the past three games. It shut out Connecticut, gave up only two touchdowns to a Pitt team that had scored a combined 86 points in its previous two games, then dominated Syracuse in the second half. The Cards held the Orange to a mere 62 yards in the fi nal 30 minutes. After closing within 21-20 with 5:53 left in the third quarter, Syracuse managed just one fi rst down on its fi nal four possessions.

Who’s Not: Problems continue to crop up on spe-cial teams, whose performances have been incon-sistent recently. Against Syracuse, Chris Philpott had a 7-yard punt that gave the Orange the ball at midfi eld, and Syracuse also had a 37-yard kickoff return that helped set up its fi rst TD.

On the Rise: UofL’s second-half defense. In the last three games the Cards have given up just 17 points in the last two quarters -- 14 of them against Pitt, and seven of those came after Pitt started at UofL’s 5-yard line following a fumble return.

On the Decline: Penalties are an area that still needs to be cleaned up. UofL was fl agged 10 times for 67 yards at Syracuse and now ranks No. 108 in the FBS in number of penalties per game at 7.89. The Cards are 93rd in yards penalized at 63 per game.

Quotable: “At the end of the game, guys will be dancing around like they could go for a whole ‘noth-er quarter.” -- UofL linebacker Daniel Brown on the Cards’ fatigue level.

RUSS BROWN’S RUNDOWN

UOFL 28, Syracuse 20

V E T E R A N G R O U P ‘ T O R E I T U P ’ I N W I N A T S Y R A C U S E

CARDS’ O-LINEMEN GET THEIR WISH: RUNNING THE ‘ROCK’


SELECTED FALL SPORTS SCHEDULES

The future is bright for Jeremy Wright. The redshirt freshman from Clermont, Fla., looked like a mini-Bilal Powell last Saturday against Syracuse. And that’s a GOOD thing because the real Bilal Powell was on the sidelines in sweatpants. Powell, who was injured last week at

Pitt when his knee collided with the shoulder pad of a tackler he was trying to hurdle, had to be pleased with what he saw Wright do Saturday. He rushed 19 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns against an Orange defense that was supposed to be one of the best in the league. We chose Wright as our cover boy this week for a reason: Without him the Cardinals likely would not have won at Syracuse.

Things were looking BAD for the Cardinals on Friday. Each Thursday the league puts out its offi cial injury list after hearing from each of the team’s coaches. Louisville’s injury list included Powell, the stalwart senior running back, and starting senior quarterback Adam

Froman - both listed as OUT. It also included starting senior offensive lineman Mark Wetterer (questionable) and starting junior defensive tackle Greg Scruggs (questionable), as well as backup junior running back Vic Anderson (probable) and junior safety Terence Simien (probable). That would have been a lot of talent and experience missing because of injuries. Froman and Powell stayed out, but Wetterer started and Scruggs, Anderson and Simien all played.

Louisville was already an underdog going into Thursday night’s injury announcements, but after that the Cardinals were made more than a touchdown underdog. The Cards not only beat the spread, they demolished it - and won the game. The Cardinals trailed only for a

few minutes of game clock. They scored fi rst and scored last, which is usually a recipe for a win. Beyond that, the game was much more interesting than last year’s brutally bad game -- a 10-9 UofL victory. The improvements both programs have made since last season is remarkable. Saturday’s game went a long way toward deciding who will be named Big East Coach of the Year. Prior to Saturday, Syracuse’s Doug Marrone had to be the favorite due to his team’s 6-2 start, but Strong’s win - especially on the road - means that he’s equally in the mix for league Coach of the Year.

It was great to see Seth Hancock’s horse Blame win the Breeder’s Cup Saturday. Who is Seth Hancock? He’s the manager and owner of Claiborne Farms in Paris, Ky., and he’s one of the most infl uential people in the horse industry. And he’s one of the many reasons that

Charlie Strong is in Louisville. Hancock’s infl uence helped bring Louisville Vice President for Athletics Tom Jurich and Strong together. Hancock was so infl uential in the deal that he was in the front row when Strong was introduced to the media for the fi rst time as Louisville’s new coach last December. Hancock is best known as the 23-year-old who took a big chance on a 2-year-old colt named Secretariat in 1972. (And we highly recommend the movie “Secretariat.”) Now Hancock manages a 3,400-acre farm that includes 47 barns, 475 horses and 130 employees.

It’s a GOOD thing Louisville didn’t schedule an exhibition against Bellarmine last Saturday, because the Knights went on the road and knocked off the Xavier Musketeers. Senior Jeremy Kendle made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to give the Knights a 63-61 victory

in the Cintas Center. Bellarmine, which is coached by former UofL assistant Scotty Davenport, was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the NABC preseason poll, but it probably is going to move up in those rankings after knocking off Xavier, one of only two teams in the nation to make the NCAA Sweet 16 in each of the past three seasons. The Knights have 12 players from Louisville and Southern Indiana, four from the Cincinnati area and one from Owensboro. Kendle, a senior from Jeffersonville who led the team in scoring at 17.7 points per game last season, had 10 points and four assists Saturday. Junior Braydon Hobbs, who is from New Albany and averaged 11.1 points per game last season, had just four points but all were free throws as the Knights were 16 of 16 from the line.

The Cam Newton deal - if there was one - is bad for all of college football. Here is what we know now. Former Mississippi State quarterback and current booster John Bond claims he was approached by a talent scout (read: agent runner) named Kenny Rogers who

said he’d need $180,000 to $200,000 for Newton to end up at Mississippi State after transferring from Florida and attending junior college. Bond forwarded all of his information to Mississippi State’s athletic department, which says it declined the offer and reported it to the SEC. Later Newton chose Auburn. We don’t know at this point what caused him to choose Auburn, but the implication is that someone was paid for his commitment. The New York Times’ Pete Thamel reported Thursday that the NCAA is investigating the deal.

College basketball tipped off Monday night, and it marks the beginning of the most active season for college athletics. The month of November has football still going strong, swimming and diving starting up, men’s and women’s basketball starting up, and soccer,

fi eld hockey and volleyball cranking up for their post-seasons. On last Saturday alone, nine different UofL sports had competitions: Football beat Syracuse 28-20, fi eld hockey fell 2-1 to Connecticut in the Big East Tournament, women’s volleyball beat Pitt 3-1, men’s soccer beat West Virginia 2-0, women’s rowing fi nished with four top 10s in the Head of the Hooch competition in Chattanooga, Tenn., men’s tennis split squads and had players at the National Indoor Championships and Alabama Invitational, women’s tennis had

some players at the Western Michigan Invitational and others at the Purdue Invitational, men’s swimming beat Pitt 177-123 and women’s swimming beat Pitt 190-109.

Friday night at 7 p.m., Louisville women’s basketball gets to open the new downtown arena with a showdown against No. 4 Tennessee. Jeff Walz’s team will be the fi rst UofL team to play an offi cially sanctioned game in the KFC Yum! Center. Just before press time,

UofL announced that all 22,000 tickets for the event have been sold. That’s an absolutely remarkable achievement for Louisville’s growing women’s basketball fan base. With the help of a booming season ticket base, strong marketing from UofL’s athletic offi ce and discounted group tickets, the Cards will be playing in front of a packed house for their fi rst game. Be sure to get there early so you can tour the facility and check out all the amenities before tipoff at 7 p.m.

We can’t wait to see the fantastic freshmen on the UofL women’s team take the court this season. They’ll defi nitely take their lumps early with a schedule that includes two top-10 teams -- Tennessee and Xavier -- in the fi rst three weeks of the season, but they’ll be

better for it in the long run. Walz and his staff did a great job rounding up a top-5 recruiting class for their fi rst season in the new arena. And the GOOD news is that the women aren’t just highly ranked, they look highly skilled. It seems easy to predict that Shoni Schimmel, Sheronne Vails and Charmaine Tay will live up to their billing as top 40-recruits. And the steal of the class might be Shawnta Dyer, a top-100 player who is giving junior star Monique Reid all she can handle in practices.

College basketball started Monday night, and we’ve fi nished working through all of our team previews for the basketball preview edition. One thing is clear - there is no clear-cut favorite in Big East

men’s basketball this season. Women’s basketball is all UConn, but the men’s game is murky. Pitt could make a case because of Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, West Virginia has a lot of talent coming back and Villanova could be the most talented team in the league. But we could just as easily see Georgetown or St. John’s make a run for the title. Seton Hall, Syracuse and Louisville all are capable of beating anyone on any given night as well. All this adds up to what likely will become an UGLY - but very exciting - race for the Big East title this season. Teams will be biting, clawing and scratching their way through games because the talent gap between fi rst place and 12th place isn’t big at all.

GOOD

GOOD

GOOD

UGLY

GOODGOOD

BAD

BAD

GOOD

GOOD


CARDINAL FOOTBALL

CARDINAL FOOTBALLBy Russ BrownSYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The noise coming

out of Louisville’s locker room in the bow-els of the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon said it all:

The whooping, hollering and the count-down for what the Cardinals (5-4, 2-2) hope will be a regular-season-ending, four-game winning streak -- “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT.”

Eight is the number of victories UofL would have if it can run the table in its last three games against South Florida (5-3, 2-2) and West Virginia (5-3, 1-2) at home and against Rutgers (4-4, 1-2) on the road.

This 28-20 victory was the exhilarating moment the Cards had been waiting for, the one fi rst-year head coach Charlie Strong told them would come when he spoke about the season during one of his fi rst team meetings in January. He just didn’t know where or when.

“I told the guys at the beginning, ‘There’s going to come a win where all of us at the end of the game are going to be hugging and jumping around so happy,’ and this win I think gets this program headed back in the right direction,” Strong said. “I told them, ‘It’s going to take a big win, a win where you start believing in yourselves, start be-lieving you’re a team, learn to play togeth-er.’ And this is one.”

Beating a Syracuse team that has been the perennial doormat in the Big East isn’t the end all or be all, of course. But beating a rejuvenated Orange club that had whipped South Florida, West Virginia and Cincin-nati -- all on the road -- and snapping an 11-game losing streak in conference road games was defi nitely a morale-booster.

That accomplishment, and a 5-4 record that has the Cards on the brink of their fi rst bowl in four seasons, is validation for Strong’s demanding conditioning and work requirements and proof to the players that their optimism isn’t a pipe dream, that per-haps even better things are on the horizon.

“Getting in that locker room after the win was great,” senior offensive lineman Josh Byrom said. “Everyone was jumping around, high-fi ving. That’s how it’s sup-posed to be. There’s no greater feeling than that -- everyone smiling, hugging. It’s a great feeling.”

Said senior quarterback Justin Burke: “That’s as excited a locker room as we’ve seen in a long time, especially since I’ve been here. Any time you can come on the road in the Big East and win, it’s great. That was a good Syracuse team; they’re on the rise just like we are, and that was a battle out there.”

With wins over Connecticut and Syracuse

sandwiched around a 20-3 loss at league fa-vorite Pittsburgh, the Cards’ confi dence level is at a season-high. And they have to feel even better about their chances against USF and West Virginia, knowing they’ve already defeated a team that beat both of them at home.

This was a close game in the mold of the losses to Kentucky and Cincinnati that UofL was unable to pull out earlier in the season, but the Cards weren’t about to let this one get away.

“I defi nitely think the team is gaining a lot of confi dence,” sophomore linebacker Daniel Brown said. “We were in a lot of situ-ations where guys were like, ‘I don’t know.’ It became a close game, we were right there and we knew we could outplay them, but we didn’t.

“The coaches told us we weren’t quite there yet, and when we started believing we’re a good team and not waiting for stuff to happen or the other team to mess up, but just go out and execute, we’d be dominant. And I think we’re getting around to that be-lief system.”

Was this a game UofL would have won last season? The Cards did edge the Orange 10-9 last year, but this was a vastly improved club in an intimidating environment.

“Hard to say. I don’t know,” Brown said. “I can tell you, though, this is a different team from last year, very different. A lot of people try to down us by saying it’s the same players, but we have a different attitude and work ethic.”

Burke and Byrom agree that the Cards’ belief system is shifting into high gear under the new coaching staff.

“He (Strong) talks to us a lot about be-lief,” Burke said. “That was our pre-game speech. Against Cincinnati we got up but we didn’t really believe we could win. We took it on the chin at Pitt, but this team has something about them -- a little resolve -- and they’re really starting to believe. And Coach Strong has done a good job of breed-ing that in us.”

Said Byrom: “We’re starting to believe as a team that when everybody is doing his job and clicking, we’re a pretty good football team.”

There are three more weeks left in which UofL will have ample opportunity to prove as much, and maybe even a December post-season game to put an exclamation point on it.

As a parting shot when Strong was end-ing his post-game press conference at Syra-cuse, someone reminded him that UofL was now just one win away from bowl eligibility.

Strong smiled. “I know it, but let’s go get the next one now. We got a road win, so let’s go get the next one,” he said before heading back into the celebration in the locker room.

RISING CARDS BUYING INTO STRONG’S BELIEF SYSTEM

Junior Vic Anderson raised his helmet and sprinted onto the fi eld with Josh

Chichester (11) after Louisville’s defense made the fi nal stop of the game

against Syracuse Saturday. It was Louisville’s fi rst league road win in 12

tries. - photo by Dave Klotz



LOUISVILLE VS. SYRACUSE PHOTO GALLERY

Louisville coach Charlie Strong said he believes his team has defi ned itself as tough and physical. That was evident on the fi eld Saturday at Syracuse. (Right) Tight end Cameron Graham stiff-armed an Orange defender. (Left) A collage of Louisville’s defensive hits on the quarterback and wide receivers for the Orange. The Cardinals were fast and aggressive on defense throughout the game. - photos by Dave Klotz


MEN’S SOCCER

By Howie LindseyFor University of Louisville men’s basket-

ball players, making the Big East Final Four in Madison Square Garden is a big deal. To play where all of the greats have played is such a surreal feeling for the Big East’s best basketball players each season.

After beating visiting West Virginia 2-0 in the quarterfi nals last Saturday, UofL’s men’s soccer team is about to play in a special arena this weekend when it takes on Notre Dame Friday night at Red Bull Park in the Big East Tournament Final Four in Harrison, N.J.

Not familiar with Red Bull Park?The 25,000-seat stadium has 30 skybox-

es, three premium clubs and houses the New York Red Bulls Club, one of the best teams in Major League Soccer. The stadi-um itself, which opened in March, is fantastic, but Louisville’s players might be more excited about playing on the same pitch as some of the top players in the world.

“One of the best play-ers in the world, Thierry Henry, plays for the New York Red Bulls,” UofL sophomore Buck Tufty said. “I mean, that in itself, is just awe-some. There’s also Juan Pablo Angel and all the rest of the Red Bulls, (Tony) Tchani ... it’s just great. It is going to be a great experi-ence.”

Henry, the 33-year old captain of the French National Team and France’s all-time leading goal scorer, has a World Cup, a Eu-ropean Championship and a UEFA Champi-ons League title to his credit. He is the fi rst player ever to win back-to-back European Golden Boots (MVP awards).

Angel, 35, a member of the Colombian National Team, is the MLS’ leading goal scorer from 2007-09 and a two-time MLS All-Star. And Tchani, the 21-year old Cam-eroonian star, helped Virginia to an NCAA title in 2009 and is one of the top young stars in MLS.

The Red Bulls haven’t won an MLS title, but they are famous for being the home club for many American stars that even ca-sual soccer fans would know: Alexi Lalas, Tony Meola, Tim Howard, Tab Ramos, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Eddie Pope and Clint Mathis.

“It’s awesome,” Tufty said. “It is a dream to be playing on that fi eld.”

The Cardinals won’t just be playing on the fi eld, they’ll be favored to win. They enter Friday’s semifi nal match with Notre Dame as the clear favorite to win the Big East crown.

UofL, the No. 1 seed in the Red Division, will take on Notre Dame, the No. 2 seed from the Blue Division, at either 5 or 7:30 p.m. The other semifi nal will match Provi-dence, the upset winner as the No. 5 seed from the Red Division, against the winner of Monday night’s game between Cincinnati (No. 2 Red) and Connecticut (No. 3 Blue).

“The only one that we haven’t seen yet would be UConn,” UofL coach Ken Lolla said. “We played Providence, Notre Dame and Cincinnati.... We don’t play everybody on the crossover, so this was the fi rst time we’d seen West Virginia.”

The Cardinals beat Providence 2-1 on Sept. 25 at Providence, topped Cincinnati 3-1 on Oct. 13 in Cincinnati and pushed past Notre Dame 2-0 on Oct. 16 at home.

“We are really confi dent,” Tufty said. “We had a perfect Big East season so far, so we’re riding that into the tournament. That is nice.”

Louisville, 15-0-2 and ranked No. 2 in this week’s NCAA RPI, will likely have its tough-est test Friday night. Notre Dame is No. 10

in last week’s RPI, with Connecticut No. 18, Providence No. 33 and Cincinnati No. 46. The fi nal will be Sunday at noon and will be on Big East TV.

“I feel pretty confi dent,” senior defender Austin Berry said. “Notre Dame is a solid team. They knocked us out of the tourna-ment last year, so we have a little (grudge) from that. We played them earlier this year, and that was one of our better games. The style they play - holding in - really plays into our style of play of high pressure. If we come out and play like we did last time, it should be a good game and we should be able to pull out the win.”

Some coaches would handle the confer-ence tournament with a little less intensity. With an undefeated team, and with only two conference tournament games before the NCAA Tournament begins, some would see it as a no-lose situation. Win and you bring home the league tournament trophy. Lose, and your team gets extra rest and mo-tivation that comes with a loss.

“It’s important for us in a lot of ways,” Lolla said. “I just told them that it’s the Final Four right now. It’s the Big East Final Four, but it is still a Final Four. It is good prepa-ration for the NCAA Tournament, which comes next. We’re going to handle it just like that. It could be a good experience for us, and it could provide a lot of good growth. We need it.”

In basketball, sometimes the theory is that an undefeated team may need to drop a game before the NCAA Tournament. Not so with Louisville soccer.

“No, we want to go out on the fi eld and play our best every game,” Berry said. “If we aren’t playing our best then we aren’t getting better, and that doesn’t help us in the tournament at all. I don’t think you have to lose one. We expect to win all the way out from here.”

Lolla said he feels good about his team, but he still sees room for improvement.

“I feel great,” he said. “I know they are a very focused group, a very determined group, and they know that there is still more out there for us. We still have work to do. From a growth standpoint, we still need to get better. We have room to get better, and that is the focus right now - not only winning games, but getting better for the NCAAs as well.”

CARDS ELIMINATE WVUThe Cardinals didn’t have their best game

Saturday night against West Virginia, but a pair of second-half goals pushed them past the foul-prone Mountaineers (10-7-2) at Cardinal Park.

“We weren’t the cleanest on the day,” Lolla said. “With the week off we lost a little bit of rhythm and we gained a little bit of energy. We got some guys back from injuries, but I think we lost a little in terms of rhythm. As it went on, I think we played with more rhythm ... in the second half.”

Neither team scored in the fi rst half as the Cardinals had only two shots on goal and lim-ited WVU to one. But in the second half the Cardinals came out with a fl urry of attempts and seemed to ratchet up the pressure on Mountaineers goalkeeper Zach Johnson.

Johnson, who fi nished the game with four saves, let a shot slip past him in the 50th minute when Charlie Campbell head-ed in a rebound off a header by Nick De-Leon, but the goal was disallowed because Campbell was fl agged for being offside.

Nine minutes later Louisville made it 1-0 on a free kick from 35 yards out. Kenney Walker served it to the right of the box, where Berry headed it to Campbell just in front of the goal. Campbell then tapped it into the back of the net.

“We’re really starting to hit on all cylin-ders right now,” Berry said. “The good thing

is that we just have a lot of confi dence right now.... Every game we are in we expect to win. If we are down a goal or up two goals, we always have that winning attitude.”

UofL extended its lead to 2-0 in the 75th minute when Brock Granger found Tufty on the right side of the box near the end line. Tufty sent a knee-high shot across the face of the goal, and Aaron Horton slid in and sent it past Johnson.

“It was just a great fi nish by Aaron Hor-ton,” Tufty said. “I played the ball rightthrough the ‘corridor of the unknown’ as wecall it. That is the area in between the keeperand the defenders in the six-yard box, andHorton just slid in and fi nished it for his fi rstgoal. That was great.”

Louisville fi nished the game with a 15-8 shot advantage, along with a 5-3 corner-kickadvantage.

C A R D S H E A D T O N O R T H A M E R I C A ’ S F I N E S T S O C C E R P A L A C E

UOFL ENTERS BIG EAST FINAL FOUR AS CLEAR FAVORITE


Junior forward Colin Rolfe, seen here fl ying through the air after kicking a ball, is one of the top players in the Big East. Rolfe, a 2009 All-American, and the Cardinals will take on Notre Dame in the league semifi nals Friday night in New Jersey’s Red Bull Park. - photoby Shelley Feller


LOUISVILLE VS. UCONN PHOTO GALLERY


RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeff WaffordThe early national signing period for

basketball begins Wednesday, when high school players from the class of 2011 can

sign binding National Letters of Intent with col-leges. UofL coach Rick Pi-tino and his staff plan to sign at least four players before the signing period ends on Nov. 17.

Chane Behanan (6-7, 250), a fi ve-star power

forward from Bowling Green H.S. (Ky.), is the highest-rated player slated to sign with the Cardinals. The No. 5 power for-ward in his class and No. 23 player overall, Behanan committed to the Cards in early September over scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Connecticut, West Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio State.

A physical power forward who skyrock-eted up the rankings after a big summer, Behanan seems to be a prototypical Big East player with a big body who doesn’t mind using his muscle underneath. He also has worked hard over the past year to add some perimeter skills to his game.

Wayne Blackshear (6-5, 210), a four-star small forward from Morgan Park H.S. (Chi-cago), is rated as the No. 9 player at his position and the No. 32 player overall in the class of 2011. He committed to UofL in September 2009 over offers from Illinois, Kentucky, Texas and others.

While reports have surfaced questioning the strength of his verbal commit-ment, Blackshear has remained a solid pledge with the Car-dinals, and he confi rmed with-in the past two weeks that he

plans to sign with the Cardinals this week.Known as a talented wing player who

can get to the basket and score, Blacks-hear was once rated as a fi ve-star player before a quiet summer led to a small drop in the rankings. However, most analysts attribute his summer performance to the fact that he had already committed to a school; therefore, he wasn’t playing as much to impress scouts, but more to de-velop his game.

Zach Price (6-11, 240), a four-star cen-ter from Louisville Jeffersontown H.S., is rated as the No. 6 center and No. 72 over-all player in the class of 2011. Price com-mitted to UofL while he was a junior last year at Lakewood H.S. (Ohio). He has since transferred to J’town, and he’s looking

forward to his fi nal season of high school competition.

“We’re practicing, and we’re getting closer and closer every day,” he said of his J’town team. “But there are still a lot of things we need to do before we get going. It’s a learning experience.”

Price added that he’s look-ing forward to being a part of the Louis-ville recruiting class. “I feel like we’re go-ing to do some big things,” he said, adding that he keeps in touch with

his fellow commitments, including Black-shear and Behanan. “I can’t wait until we get there with each other and get together and play our game.”

Until then, Price said he’s honing certain skills as he preps to begin his career as a Card. “This season I’m going to be working on get-ting better with my right hand and learning how to be a better player all around, both of-fensively and defensively,” he said.

Price, who also had offers from Cincinna-ti, Ohio State and others, is known as a shot blocker and rebounder who is continuing to develop his offensive game. With a wing-span that measures more than 7 feet, Price has added 15-20 pounds and three inches to his frame over the past two years.

Angel Nunez (6-7, 180), a small forward from Notre Dame Academy (Mass.), is rated as a three-star player. He gave his pledge to the Cards on Sept. 30, choosing them over

offers from Arkansas, Arizona, St. John’s, West Virginia and several others.

A long, lanky player, Nunez spends much of his time on the perimeter. Similar to a young Francisco Garcia, Nunez likely will spend much of his early years at UofL being a long-range threat, but he could develop into a point-forward-type player if his ball handling and passing skills develop.

The Cardinals are also awaiting the sta-tus of prospects Angel Rodriguez and Ryan Taylor as signing day approaches.

Taylor (6-6, 185), a small forward from Western H.S. (Louisville), committed to the Cardinals more than a year ago when he was attending Indianapolis Lawrence North H.S. The No. 23 small forward in the class of 2011 and the No. 103 play-er overall, Taylor transferred high schools with the hopes of getting his academics in order. However, it looks like Taylor will have to wait until at least the spring be-fore he knows whether he’ll be eligible to play Division I basketball. If he fails to gain eligibility, there is a possibility Taylor could head to prep school for a season.

Rodriguez (5-11, 180), a point guard from Dr. Krop H.S. (Miami), made what is expected to be his fi nal offi cial visit over the weekend to North Carolina State. The three-star prospect visited Kansas State and Louisville within the past month, and he is expected to make a decision some-time during the national signing period.

Where would this class rank? As it stands right now, the Cards likely will land in the top 10. With Taylor included, Rivals.com ranks UofL as the No. 7 class in the nation, behind Kentucky, Duke, North Car-olina, Arkansas, St. John’s and Syracuse.

If Taylor doesn’t sign, the class would

likely fall only a couple of positions and stillplace in the top 10-15 range.

SMITH VALIANT IN SEASON-ENDING EFFORT

DaMarcus Smith (6-1, 190), a three-starquarterback who has verbally committedto Louisville, saw his high school careercome to an end Friday night as his Louis-ville Seneca H.S. team fell to Louisville St.Xavier 48-33 in the opening round of theplayoffs.

Smith didn’t go down without a fi ght,throwing for 448 yards and four touch-downs while also running for a score. Theversatile signal caller has said in recent in-terviews that he plans to graduate earlyfrom Seneca and enroll at UofL in Januaryso he can participate in spring practiceswith the Cardinals.

OTHER LOCAL COMMITMENTS STILL ALIVE

While Smith’s season came to an end,several other local UofL commitments arestill alive in the playoffs.

Devante Parker (6-4, 190), a three-starwide receiver from Ballard H.S., had fourcatches for 109 yards, including an 80-yard TD reception, in a 42-12 victory overButler. The Bruins will play at St. Xavier inthe second round.

Jerrell Moore (5-11, 190, RB), JamonBrown (6-5, 304, DL) and Jalen Harrington(6-3, 215, OLB/DE) helped Fern Creek H.S.to a 25-6 win over Marshall County. FernCreek will play at Henderson County in thesecond round.

John Wallace (6-1, 190), a kicker for Cen-tral Hardin H.S. (Elizabethtown), helped histeam to its fi rst playoff victory in 13 years,making fi ve extra points in a 41-21 victoryover Lexington Bryan Station.

PITINO SET TO SIGN AT LEAST FOUR

JEFF WAFFORDJEFF WAFFORD

ZACH PRICEZACH PRICE

WAYNE BLACKSHEARWAYNE BLACKSHEAR

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


FIELD HOCKEYWOMEN’S SOCCER

By Howie LindseyBack in August, if someone would have

told University of Louisville women’s soc-cer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes that her team would win 10 games this season, with six or seven freshmen starting at one time or another, she’d likely be pleased.

Then if you told her that she would personally term the 10-win season a “dis-appointment,” she’d probably escort you out of her offi ce.

But that is what happened this season.“I feel like before the season started

- not that I didn’t have grander ideas for our program, but we were young, so I was a little nervous,” Fergu-son-Dayes said. “It was uncharted territory be-cause we were starting six or seven freshmen. You could be great or you could use it as a total learning experience.”

The Cardinals, full of youth and inexperience, reeled off seven straight wins to start the season. They beat No. 13 South Carolina and pushed into the nation’s top 25. The start altered the coach’s expectations for the program.

“Starting off as hot as we did at 7-0 changed our perspective,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “You want to win, and you want to win every game you are in. Like I told the team yesterday, it is not about how you start, but how you fi nish.”

The Cards didn’t fi nish well. They lost four of their next fi ve games and nine of their fi nal 12 to fi nish 10-9 overall, 4-7 in the Big East. UofL’s season ended with a 3-0 loss to Connecticut in the league tour-nament. It was the program’s best record since going 13-6-2 in 2007, and it was a vast improvement over last year’s 5-11-1 record, however.

“The word I used to describe our sea-son is ‘disappointing’ because I think we had more in the tank,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “There’s a lot of things I could point to and equate some of the end-of-the-year’s lack of success to as a coaching staff. That is what we are doing right now. We’re going through and trying to fi gure out what we did wrong and what we can do better. We need to establish the standard that we’ll hold the players to going forward. We’ll do that right now, and we’ll start getting ready for next year, that’s for sure.”

As frustrating as Louisville’s end-of-sea-son slide was, Ferguson-Dayes has to be excited about the future. The Cardinals’ roster included 15 freshmen and sopho-mores, many of whom were key contribu-tors this season.

Freshman forward Christine Exeter (Pickering, Ontario) led the team with seven goals and 16 total points. Redshirt freshman midfi elder Angelika Uremovich (Oakville, Ontario) was second on the team in total points with 13 -- fi ve goals and three assists. Sophomore Emily Cardell (Ursuline, Ohio) was tied with Uremov-

ich for second on the team in goals with fi ve. Freshman midfi elder Julie Casselman (Gatineau, Quebec) was tied for third on the team with four goals.

But even with all that youth, Ferguson-Dayes said that fi nal loss of the season was still tough to take.

“When you lose it is devastating, and we had eight seniors who were with this program for four years,” she said. “For them to think about playing their last college game - some of them it hit right after the game, and some of them it will take a month or so when they realize they don’t have that as part of their every-day life. It is defi nitely a diffi cult process to go through.”

Given their late-season troubles in Big East play, the team needed a strong show-ing in the Big East Tournament to make a legitimate case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They weren’t able to fi t the bill.

“It’s tough to play on the road,” Fer-guson-Dayes said. “Especially in the post-season, the home team has a big advan-tage. We had a great chance to host, too, but we couldn’t get it done at the end of the season against Rutgers.”

Louisville would have been the host school for a fi rst-round game had they not lost 3-0 to Rutgers in the fi nal game of the regular season.

“In the post-season, where you play can’t matter, but I just thought Connecti-cut had more in the tank than we did,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “I was happier than I had been in the previous fi ve or six games with our effort, but I think those last couple of games and the last part of the season we just didn’t make the improve-ments we needed to be able to head into a championship game and win it.”

Still, she was pleased with some aspects of her team’s play.

“I think Nicole Mitchell had a good last half of the season, not that the fi rst half was bad, but she was a freshman and she was learning how to be a good college soccer player,” Ferguson-Dayes said. “For her, the end of the season turned out to be a lot better.

“Our reserves were actually better than our starters in some instances. Me-gan Berberich (Fr.) did very well, Shannon Leemy (Sr.) did very well. That was nice to see some of those kids getting signifi cant minutes and really making the most of their time.”EXTER NAMED ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

At the Big East’s post-season awards banquet last Thursday, Exeter was se-lected as the 2010 Big East Rookie of the Year. She is the fi rst UofL player to earn one of the league’s major awards. Her seven goals are the most for a UofL player since Jamie Craft’s nine goals in 2006 and the most for a UofL freshman since Craft had eight in 2003.

Exeter was joined on the league’s All-Rookie Team by Uremovich, who missed the entire 2009 season with a knee in-jury.

By Howie LindseyTuesday night at 8 p.m. (after this week’s

magazine was printed, but before it was delivered), the NCAA selected 16 teams for the 2010 Championship Tournament. As late as Monday night, UofL offi cials still didn’t know whether the Cardinals would be included in this year’s tournament fi eld.

Louisville was No. 12 in the nation in the most recent Kookaburra/NFHCA Division I coaches’ poll with a 13-7 overall record. The Cardinals don’t fare as well in the RPI, ranking 19th. Those rankings and that re-cord puts the Cardinals fi rmly on the NCAA bubble.

There are eight automatic bids in the NCAA fi eld hockey tournament coming from the eight conference champions. The ACC, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, Colo-nial, Ivy League, Pac-10 and Patriot League all send at least one team with the other eight teams coming from at-large bids.

The Cardinals were the third-highest ranked Big East team, behind No. 4 Con-necticut and No. 7 Syracuse. That could spell trouble on Louisville’s selection because last season only two Big East schools got bids.

As of the end of the conference tour-nament season, Louisville was behind six teams from the ACC, four teams from the Big Ten and two teams from the Atlantic East in the RPI. The champions of the Pac-10 and Colonial leagues were both ranked lower than Louisville in the RPI.

Last season fi ve teams from the ACC dominated the 16 team tournament. That may seem completely unfair, but teams from the ACC have won the last eight NCAA Championships in fi eld hockey. Last year’s Final Four included three teams from the league - Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia - and Princeton. Maryland and North Carolina met in the fi nals with North Carolina winning.

If Louisville gets an at-large bid, the Car-dinals’ fi rst game would likely be this week-end on a campus site of a higher-seeded team. This year’s fi eld hockey Final Four will be played Dec. 2-4 at Louisville’s Trager Sta-dium.

YOUMAN PLAYER OF THE YEARLouisville forward Nicole Youman was

named Big East Offensive Player of the Year Friday at the 2010 Big East Awards Banquet. Hayley Turner and Rachel Hollenbach joined her on the all-conference fi rst team and Erin Conrad was selected to the second team.

Youman a forward from Black Moun-tain, Australia, dominated the conference

in every offensive category. She registered17 goals and dished out 19 assists, collect-ing 53 points and averaging 2.79 pointsper game. The senior ranks sixth in the na-tion in points per game. Youman also av-eraged 0.89 goals per game and 1.00 as-sist per game. She continued to impress inleague play as well, averaging 1.17 goalsand 1.50 assists per Big East contest. Sheis a four-year starter and two-year captain.The three-time NFHCA All-West Region andfour-time All-Big East Conference selectionowns the school career and single seasonassists marks and also tied a school recordwith fi ve goals in the 9-0 win over CentralMichigan. Youman was selected to play inthe 2010 NFHCA Division I Senior Game.

Turner, a junior midfi elder from Sydney, Australia, is second on the team with 23points, eight goals and seven assists. Sheearned Big East Offensive Player of theWeek honors on Oct. 4 and was an All-BigEast and NFHCA All-West Region selectionin 2009.

Hollenbach, a senior midfi elder from Winfi eld, Pa., is a three year starter and hasscored four goals and had two assists for10 points this season. She has nine careergoals and six assists for 24 points. She wasalso selected to play in the 2010 NFHCA Di-vision I Senior Game.

Conrad, a sophomore goalkeeper from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., stepped into a startingposition this season and has played everyminute of Louisville’s 19 games. She carriesa 1.75 goals-against average and has post-ed fi ve shutouts. Conrad is also a memberthe USA U21 team.

CARDS FALL TO UCONNLouisville, the No. 2 seed in the Big East

Tournament, fell 2-1 to No. 3 ConnecticutFriday in the semifi nals of the Big East Tour-nament in Storrs, Ct.

The Cardinals were stunned when You-man, the team’s best player, was given a redcard late in the fi rst half. UofL was forcedto fi nish the game a player down for therest of the game, falling behind 2-0 beforemaking a valiant attempt at a comeback inthe second half.

“Although we are disappointed with hav-ing had to play a man down, I could not bemore proud or impressed with our fortitudeand character throughout the rest of thematch,” UofL coach Pam Bustin. “We chal-lenged Connecticut and actually outscoredthem in the second half, which is somethingTeam Cardinal has to carry with them as wekeep our hopes high for an NCAA bid.”

YOUTHFUL CARDS COMPLETE A GOOD BUT ‘DISAPPOINTING’ SEASON

LOUISVILLE AWAITS NCAA TOURNEY SELECTION TUESDAY NIGHT


Tuli Lim set up Big East Offensive Player of the Year Nicole Youman on a pass. Lim and

Youman found out Tuesday night whether they’ll be in this season’s NCAA Tournament.

- photo by Shelley Feller


10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASON10 AMAZING AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF THE 2009-2010 SEASONBIG EAST NOTEBOOK

By Russ BrownThe Big East is about to get bigger. The

only question is what schools are going to account for the growth spurt.

In a meeting in Philadelphia last week at-tended by both University of Louisville presi-dent Dr. James Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich, Big East presidents unanimously agreed to expand the number of football-playing schools from eight to 10.

Commissioner Jon Marinatto said in a state-ment that evaluation of potential expansion can-didates will now begin. He said later in the week that offi cials at several schools had already con-tacted him, although he declined to name them.

Most frequently mentioned as leading candidates are Villanova, TCU, Houston, Central Florida and Temple. Villanova AD Vince Nicastro was quoted two months ago in the Philadelphia Daily News as saying the Wildcats -- who are already a Big East mem-ber in other sports -- have an offer to join the conference in football.

Villanova currently plays football as an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member but is studying whether to make a move up to the Football Bowl Sub-division (FBS).

“Villanova has been a member of the con-ference for 30 years,” Marinatto said. “We’ve encouraged them for a number of years go-ing back to 1997 to do whatever they feel is in their best interest. I think they’re in the process of evaluating that question, and if they evaluate it in the affi rmative, we’ll ob-viously have a conversation about member-ship.”

Marinatto said the league’s announce-ment of getting to 10 football members is “really not an exercise about numbers. Rath-er, it’s one of several affi rmative and strategic actions our membership considered and ap-proved at its annual CEO meeting this week to strengthen the quality and security of what is already one of the best conferences in the country.”

Marinatto declined to speculate about whether any schools would be added as full members or football-only members. The league already has 16 schools in men’s and women’s basketball.

The biggest impact for the current eight football-playing schools would be an eas-ing of scheduling problems. With only seven conference games, schools must schedule fi ve non-conference games, which can be diffi cult. Furthermore, every other year teams have only three league home games.

“I’m all in favor of looking at expansion. I think it makes a lot of sense,” Jurich said. “It gives us a lot more fl exibility in scheduling, especially if you can get the right school in.”

If the 10-member Big East uses the same league-scheduling model as the current Pac-10 and the future Big 12 (with 10 members) conferences, the Big East would play nine

league games. However, Marinatto said it was “premature” to address future football scheduling.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said.

One factor that will play a huge role in the league’s expansion plans are its current and future television markets. The Big East’s cur-rent TV contract with ESPN/ABC expires after the 2013 football season and the 2012-13 basketball season.

If the Big East added new members before the current TV contracts expire, the league could seek to renegotiate.

“Membership -- quality membership and quality inventory -- drives value,” Marinatto said. “We’re certainly cognizant of the value that expansion and quality inventory would bring to a television partner.”

However, it’s hard to see how adding a Division 1-AA team could make the Big East more attractive to the networks. ABC and ESPN do not fi gure to be foaming at the mouth to add Villanova to their football schedule, even though the Wildcats have won a 1-AA national championship.

“Our football evaluation is ongoing,” Nicastro said. “We are moving forward as quickly as we can, but not at the expense of being absolutely thorough. We still don’t have a specifi c decision time, but it is likely to be resolved sometime during this academic year.”

Villanova has played at the 1-AA level since 1985 and rejected an earlier offer to join the Big East in football in 1997, the same year Connecticut started the process to move up to 1-A.

Expansion raises the question of what

would happen in basketball, which is already considered somewhat unwieldy and defi -nitely a challenge for coaches, who would probably be opposed to adding two more schools. Not that their opinion would matter, according to UConn coach Jim Calhoun.

“Since football’s come, we’ve had less and less infl uence,” Calhoun said during Big East Basketball Media Day last month. “That’s good in many ways. I love football. But the league is set up to be very good for football, and it’s become so much more diffi cult for basketball.

“For basketball, you’ve really created a nightmare for coaches. The 18 games con-tinues to be a nightmare for me, personally. Always will be.”

Expansion could conceivably lead to a split between the basketball-only schools and the football members -- UofL, Cincinnati, Pitts-burgh, Rutgers, UConn, West Virginia, South Florida and Rutgers. Non-football members are DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall, along with Villanova.

Besides Villanova, here’s a brief look at the schools considered to be the top candidates for the Big East expansion:

TCU: The Horned Frogs don’t make sense geographically but would instantly upgrade the Big East’s sagging reputation in football -- it’s the only BCS conference with no team ranked in the top 25. TCU is about to wrap up its eighth 10-win season in 11 years -- in three different conferences -- is ranked No. 3 and is still on the short list to earn a spot in the BCS national championship game. The Horned Frogs would also signifi cantly expand the Big East’s recruiting options and

bring in a major TV market.CENTRAL FLORIDA: Like South Florida,

UCF has long been considered a sleeping gi-ant because of its location in the talent-richSunshine State. But the Orlando school hasno football tradition and an obscure basket-ball program. And UCF AD Keith Tribble hassaid he doesn’t think it makes sense to joina conference for football-only. “We want tobe in one conference all the time,” he said.

HOUSTON: The Cougars haven’t had the recent success in football TCU has had, butthey bring the other strengths and also havea better basketball pedigree.

TEMPLE: The Owls are in the midst of a successful football renaissance, but whetherthey would be interested in rejoining a leaguethat booted them out in 2004 is question-able. Philadelphia is a good TV market, butTemple hasn’t captured the city’s attentionto any great degree in football.

The Big East’s survival appeared to be in danger last summer when cataclysmic ex-pansion by the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Big 12was predicted. But a colossal shakeup nevermaterialized, and by expanding to 10 teams,the Big East is trying to avoid being a vic-tim in the next round of conference realign-ments.

“If you look back to the summer, people were worried about the Big East getting tornapart,” Syracuse AD Daryl Gross said. “Ev-erybody was predicting that the Big East wasgoing to fall. Other leagues were affected,but we’re still standing. And here we are,looking to grow. There are all kinds of possi-bilities out there for us. I think it’s exciting.”

TCU SAYS NO TO FOOTBALL ONLYTCU athletic director Chris Del Conte told

the Sporting News Sunday he has little in-terest in placing his football program in oneconference and the school’s other varsitysports in another.

“We’re an athletic department,” he said. “Whatever endeavor we do, you’re unitedas one. That’s who we are. That’s how wealways compete. We compete as one unit.”

Del Conte’s comments about splitting his teams described his general philosophyabout such a scenario. Still, the HornedFrogs athletic director didn’t rule out a po-tential conference change.

“My sole job is to provide the wind be-neath the wings for our teams to competefor championships, whatever that may be,”he said. “I will always look at the things weneed.”

As for a move to the Big East, Del Conte said the reports remain premature, and thatTCU’s football program is comfortable fornow as a Mountain West Conference mem-ber.

“It’s a lot of rumors,” he said. “It reminds me of high school. Who are you asking to goto the prom? Nothing has been done yet.

“From my perspective, there are a lot of teams in AQ conferences that never, neverhave a shot at a BCS bowl game. We havea chance.”


Big East commissioner John Marinatto announced last week

the league will pursue at least two more teams for future

membership in football.- photo by BigEast.org

BIG EAST EXPANSION IS OFFICIAL, BUT TARGETS AREN’T CLEAR


MEN’S SOCCER

By Howie LindseyEven though the UofL men’s soccer team

has completed its home schedule this sea-son, Cardinals fans almost assuredly will get a chance to see their top-ranked team play several more home games this year.

With two games left in the Big East Tournament and the rest of the country still locked in conference tournaments, no one knows for sure which teams will be playing in the 48-team NCAA Tour-nament. But we can say this for certain

- Louisville will be in the NCAA Tournament, and it likely will be one of the 16 national seeds.

Of the 48 teams that are selected for the NCAA Tournament, the top 16 teams get a bye in the fi rst round. The remaining 32 teams play

in the fi rst round, and the 16 winners meet the 16 seeds in the second round.

The fi rst round will be played Nov. 18 on campus sites. Louisville, which is almost certain to be one of the top-16 seeds, will be the host team for a second-round game on Nov. 21.

“My guess, based on where we are in the RPI right now (No. 2), is that we’ll be here for the second round,” coach Ken Lolla said after his team beat West Virginia 2-0 Saturday night in the Big East Tourna-ment quarterfi nals. “The fi rst round is for the teams that don’t have a top-16 seed. With our RPI being No. 2, I would think that we’d be in that top 16.”

A win there, and Louisville is in the Sweet 16. Those eight games will be played on higher-seeded campus sites Nov. 28. Given that Louisville is No. 1 in the nation in most polls and No. 2 in the nation in the RPI, the Cardinals will likely host that game as well.

“It depends on how high we are seed-ed,” Lolla explained. “If we are one of the top four seeds, then we’d host all of our games until the Final Four.”

The Elite Eight games are also played on the campuses of higher-seeded teams, which means Louisville could be hosting a game on Dec. 4 for a chance to make the NCAA College Cup, which consists of the fi nal four teams. This year’s College Cup will be decided in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Year after year, the teams that host home games in the fi rst three rounds make the College Cup. Why do they advance? It’s usually because they have loud and rowdy crowds packing their NCAA Tournament games each step along the way.

UofL fans, who are known for creating a strong home court advantage in basket-ball, will now have a chance to help men’s soccer take that next step as a program.

“We need that,” Lolla said. “We need to create that here -- that there is such an

excitement and a frenzy that it carries over to the players on the fi eld. That energy certainly has an effect on the team.”

“That energy” Lolla is talking about is a familiar feeling for him. He’s seen Louis-ville fans do it before, and he wants “that energy” for his team, too.

“There is no question about it - the energy that is created from our fans has a direct effect on the players,” he said. “I’ll tell you one of the greatest experi-ences that I’ve ever been a part of in any sport was when West Virginia came for the Blackout game a few years ago (in football). The energy in that place on that night was electric. The will of the people - we played a good game - but the will of the people was what carried that game. It was so similar to what happened this past year against Syracuse in basketball. When they came in No. 1, the will of the people in that place made it happen.”

Louisville fans have done it before in basketball, football and even baseball. One of the most responsive fan bases in the na-tion, UofL fans are a remarkable lot.

Ask them to support women’s basket-ball, and they set an NCAA record with more than 19,000 fans.

Ask them to support baseball for the NCAA Tournament, and they show up in droves, some sitting on roofs in left fi eld to get a view of the fi eld.

Louisville also has had large crowds for NCAA volleyball, and it has been among the nation’s leaders in attendance for both men’s and women’s basketball. Now Louisville fans’ next chance to make their presence known will be on Nov. 21 when the Cardinals host the second round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.

“We’d love to see it packed,” Lolla said. “Our largest crowd in here this year was 3,300 or so. I think we can get close to 4,000 in here and get this thing shaking for sure.”

“That would be awesome,” sophomore Buck Tufty said. “We always play our best when the stands are packed and scream-ing for us. That would be great.”

A big and rowdy crowd will not only help the Cardinals during the game, the players will remember the fans’ response for years.

“I remember my freshman year, we got to host Duke in the NCAA Tournament and there was so much support that came out,” senior defender Austin Berry said. “A lot of the teams that you see in the NCAA Final Four and in the fi nals are the teams that have hosted games through-out the earlier rounds. That is such a huge advantage, and we are always good at home.”

It’s clear you can make a difference. I hope you’ll join me to watch the Cards advance in the NCAA Tournament at Car-dinal Park.

A PACKED CARDINAL PARK COULD HELP UOFL IN NCAA SOCCER TOURNAMENT

CARDINAL STARSJEREMY WRIGHT - FOOTBALLThe redshirt freshman from Clermont, Fla., helped fi ll in for injured star Bilal Powell by rushing for 98 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries in a 28-20 victory over Syracuse Saturday in the Carrier Dome. The Orange came into the game ranked No. 29 in the country in rushing defense at 119.88 yards per game, but the Cardinals rushed for 115 yards in the second half and 160 in all while averaging 4.1 yards per carry.

AILEEN COLE - WOMEN’S SWIMMINGThe junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., won both the 50- and 100-free as UofL’s women beat visiting Pitt 177-123 Saturday at the Ralph Wright Natatorium. “Aileen’s experience showed,” coach Arthur Albiero said. “She is a very poised competitor right now.” She won the 50-free in 23.15 seconds, beating second-place teammate Lacey Bobo by 1.06 seconds. In the 100-free she fi nished in 50.58 as the Cards swept the top three spots. Sara Andrews was second (51.62) and Mary Mittel third (52.14). Cole made the fi nal in the 50-free as a freshman at the Big East Championships with a time of 23.65. A prep star, she won the Georgia state championship in the 50-free in 2006 and 2007 and was runner-up in 2008.

HAKEEM SMITH - FOOTBALLThe redshirt freshman from Jonesboro, Ga., was a star for Louisville’s defense against Syracuse. He had 11 solo tackles and two assists for 12 total tackles from his strong safety position. Smith helped UofL limit the Orange to just 256 total yards of offense, its second-lowest total of the season.

LOLA ARSLANBEKOVA - VOLLEYBALLThe 5-foot-11 sophomore outside hitter from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, had 20 kills to help Louisville beat Pitt 3-1 Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals improved to 16-6 overall, 10-1 Big East, while Pitt fell to 11-16, 5-6. Arslanbekova hit just .255, but she led all players with 20.5 points. She also had nine defensive digs. Through Louisville’s fi rst 22 games, Arslanbekova leads the team with 308 kills.

DEREK FATHAUER - MEN’S GOLFADAM HADWIN - MEN’S GOLFFormer UofL All-Americans Fathauer (Jensen Beach, Fla.) and Hadwin (Abbortsford, British Columbia) advanced past the fi rst stage of the PGA Qualifying School in an attempt to earn their 2011 PGA Tour cards. Fathauer, playing in Port St Lucie, Fla., shot rounds of 69-72-67-67=275 (-13) to fi nish in a tie for fourth. Hadwin, playing at Carlton Oaks CC in Santee, Calif., shot rounds of 69-72-72-70=283 (-5) to fi nish in a tie for eighth. They will compete Nov. 17-20 in the second stage at sites to be determined.

AUSTEN CHILDS - MEN’S TENNISThe senior from Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, defeated the nation’s second-ranked player to advance to the quarterfi nals of USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship, but fell to the tournament’s defending champion Friday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. In the round of 16, Childs beat No. 3 seed and second-ranked Henrique Cunha of Duke 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Then in the quarterfi nals he fell 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 to defending champion Steve Johnson from USC (the nation’s seventh-ranked player). Childs, ranked No. 10 last week, was NCAA Outdoor Singles runner-up last spring.

NICOLE YOUMAN - FIELD HOCKEYThe senior forward from Black Mountain, Australia, was named Big East Conference Offensive Player of the Year at the Field Hockey Awards banquet Friday in Hartford, Conn. Youman dominated the league in every offensive category. She had 17 goals and 19 assists, collecting 53 total points for an average of 2.79 points per game.

ARSLANBEKOVAARSLANBEKOVA

COLECOLE

WRIGHTWRIGHT

SMITHSMITH

FATHAUERFATHAUER

CHILDSCHILDS

HADWINHADWIN

YOUMANYOUMAN

HOWIE LINDSEY’SHOWIE LINDSEY’S

OF THE WEEKOF THE WEEK


2010 SCHEDULEDATE OPPONNENT TIME/RESULT

Sept. 4, 2010 Stony Brook W, 59-14

Sept. 11, 2010 at Florida L, 38-14

Sept. 25, 2010 Western Kentucky W, 24-12

Oct. 2, 2010 Florida Atlantic W, 31-3

Oct. 9, 2010 Syracuse L, 13-9

Oct. 14, 2010 at West Virginia (ESPN) L, 20-6

Oct. 22, 2010 at Cincinnati W, 38-30

Nov. 3, 2010 Rutgers (ESPN2) W, 28-27

Nov. 13, 2010 at Louisville 12 NOON

Nov. 20, 2010 Pittsburgh TBA

Nov. 27, 2010 at Miami-FL TBA

Dec. 4, 2010 Connecticut TBA


BY RICK CUSHINGTEAM BREAKDOWNJust three weeks ago UofL’s home game with South

Florida appeared to be a much easier task. The Bulls were reeling. They lost their fi rst two conference games – 13-9 to Syracuse on Oct. 9 before a Homecoming crowd and 20-6 at West Virginia on Oct. 14 – and they didn’t score an offensive touchdown in either game.

“Our offense right now isn’t very productive,” fi rst-year coach Skip Holtz said. “I mean, it’s bad, it really is…. We’ve got to fi nd some answers.”

Those answers came against two-time defending league champion Cincinnati as the visiting Bulls shocked the Bearcats 38-30 on Oct. 22, UC’s fi rst league loss in three years. Sophomore quarterback B.J. Daniels, whose poor play was one of the principal reasons for USF’s 0-2 league start, fi nally looked like the guy with so much po-tential, completing 13 of 16 passes for 286 yards and two TDs and rushing nine times for 35 yards and two more TDs. After throwing 10 interceptions in USF’s fi rst six games, he threw none against UC. USF’s defense also stepped up, despite the number of points it allowed, hold-ing red-hot UC running back Isaiah Pead to just 48 yards on 18 carries.

The Bulls came back last Wednesday to hold off Rut-gers 28-27 at Raymond James Stadium. Daniels again played well, going 10 of 17 for 149 yards and two TDs with one interception and running nine times for 15 yards, and senior Moe Plancher ran 21 times for a career-high 135 yards and caught three passes for a career-high 45 yards. He didn’t score, but tackle Jacob Sims became the fi rst offensive lineman in USF history to score a TD when he recovered a Plancher fumble in the end zone with 9:33 left to make it 28-27 -- the fi nal score. The defense held Rutgers to just 238 yards.

Holtz admitted that the Bulls “didn’t play a perfect game, by any means … but we hung in there. They never gave in; they just kept competing. We battled and battled and battled.”

Now that USF (5-3, 2-2) has righted its ship, that’s what UofL can expect Saturday – a battle.

DANIELS HAS LED THE TURNAROUNDAfter playing miserably in USF’s two big East losses

(9 for 23 and 124 yards with two INTs against Syracuse, 20 for 30 but for just 119 yards with three INTs against WVU), Daniels (6-1, 210) was perhaps one bad quarter away from losing his starting job. But the very athletic QB responded with one of the best games of his career against Cincinnati, and he played well enough against Rutgers. Daniels can be spectacular at times (e.g. last season against UofL), but Holtz probably would prefer he be effi cient, because Daniels has hurt his team previously when trying to make a fl ashy play. On the season he is 93 of 158 (a ho-hum 58.9 percent) for 1,238 yards (158.4 a game, 98th in the country) and eight TDs with 11 INTs. In his last two games he’s thrown for four TDs with just one INT, however. A fast and shifty runner, he’s rushed 83 times for 240 yards (30 yards a game, 2.9 per carry). He’s been sacked 17 times for a minus-108 yards.

PLANCHER GETS THE TOUGH YARDSPlancher, a 5-9, 205-pound fi replug, is having his best

season. He’s rushed 101 times for 498 yards (4.9 a carry, 62.2 a game) and four TDs. His long is only 21 yards, so he’s not a breakaway threat – he runs mostly between the tackles. He ran seven times for 68 yards and a TD last season against UofL. He’s caught nine passes for 49 yards this season, although his four catches against Rutgers may be a signal that he’ll be more of a threat in the pass-ing game from here on out.

TWO OTHER BACKS THREATS TO BREAK ONEUSF has two backs who are threats to break long runs

– sophomore Demetrius Murray and freshman Marcus Shaw. Murray (5-10, 198) has run 65 times for 285 yards

(4.4 a carry, 47.5 a game) and two TDs, with a long of 39 yards. Shaw (5-9, 181) has run 11 times for 108 yards (9.8 a carry, 18 a game) and one TD, with a long of 63 yards. Murray has caught four passes for 96 yards and a TD, while Shaw has caught just two passes for 22 yards.

DEFENSE HAS BEEN STOUTEven during USF’s bad stretch, the defense was doing

its job, allowing just one touchdown against Syracuse and two against WVU. On the season USF ranks 27th in the country in rushing defense, allowing just 120.75 yards a game, 29th in total defense at 329 ypg and 26th in scor-ing defense at 19.61 ppg. Its weakness is the passing game, where it ranks 47th in the country at 208.25 yards a game despite being tied for 16th in sacks at 2.88 a game.

LBs LEAD THE DMiddle linebacker Sam Barrington, a 6-3, 220-pound

sophomore, leads the team with 47 tackles. Senior Jac-quian Williams (6-4, 222), the strongside LB, is second on the team with 44 tackles and is coming off a big effort against Rutgers, when he had 11 tackles, including 1.5 sacks. The third-leading tackler is freshman weakside LB DeDe Lattimore (6-3, 230) with 40 tackles. USF employs the defensive strategy that the line occupies the blockers and allows the LBs to make the tackles.

RETURNS POSE A DANGERUSF leads the Big East and is 12th in the nation in

returning punts, averaging 14.63 yards a return. The principal punt returner is freshman Terre Mitchell (5-10, 165) with 10 for 154 yards, a long of 67 yards. Sophomore Lindsey Lamar(5-9, 160), who has blazing speed, ranks second in the Big East and 24th in the country in kickoff returns at 27.16 yards per return. He has a long of 94 yards, which resulted in a touchdown.

BONANI A RELIABLE FG KICKERAfter senior Eric Schwartz missed 4 of 5 fi eld-goal

attempts, sophomore Maikon Bonani took over and has made 8 of 9, including two from 47 yards and one from 46. His only miss was a 47-yarder.

RECEIVING CORPS UNPRODUCTIVEUSF has only three receivers with double-digit catches,

headed by senior wideout Dontavia Bogan (6-1, 188) with 29 catches for 432 yards (14.9 a catch, 61.7 a game) and three TDs. Sophomore fl anker Evan Landi (6-3, 221) has 17 catches for 278 yards (16.4 a catch, 34.8 a game) and two TDs, and sophomore wideout Lindsey Lamar (5-8, 164) has 13 catches for 92 yards (7.1 a catch, 11.5 a game).

USF LOVES TO RUN END-AROUNDSLamar gained 24 yards on an end-around play last

season against UofL, and he’s carried the ball seven times for 39 yards this season, with a long of 21 yards. Bogan has run once this season for 18 yards, and senior reserve wideout Faron Hornes (5-6, 166) has run three times for 12 yards. The Cards can expect to see at least one end-around.

PUNTING NOT A PLUSSophomore Justin Brockhous-Kahn is averaging just

38.4 yards a punt (88th in the country) for a net of just 35.5 yards, which is 72nd in the nation. He has downed 11 of his 33 punts inside the 20-yard line.

NO KENTUCKY CONNECTIONIt should come as no surprise that USF has no one from

Kentucky on its roster.ALL-TIME SERIESUofL and South Florida have met seven times in a se-

ries that dates to 2003, with USF holding a 4-3 advan-tage. Each team has won every time it has been at home, with USF prevailing 34-22 last season as Daniels threw for 304 yards and a TD and ran for 141 yards and two TDs. The Cards made him look like an All-American.

HEAD COACHHEAD COACHSKIP HOLTZSKIP HOLTZ

BJ DANIELSBJ DANIELS

2009 RESULTSDATE OPPONNENT RESULT RECORD Sept. 5, 2009 Wofford W 40-7 1-0 Sept. 12, 2009 at Western KY W 35-13 2-0 Sept. 19, 2009 Charleston South W 59-0 3-0 Sept. 26, 2009 at Florida State W 17-7 4-0 Oct. 3, 2009 at Syracuse W 34-20 5-0 (1-0) Oct. 15, 2009 Cincinnati L 34-17 5-1 (1-1) Oct. 24, 2009 at Pittsburgh L 41-14 5-2 (1-2) Oct. 30, 2009 West Virginia W 30-19 6-2 (2-2) Nov. 12, 2009 at Rutgers L 31-0 6-3 (2-3) Nov. 21, 2009 Louisville W 34-22 7-3 (3-3) Nov. 28, 2009 Miami-FL L 31-10 7-4 Dec. 5, 2009 at Connecticut L 29-27 7-5 (3-4) Jan. 2, 2010 vs. N Illinois W 27-3 8-5

SO

UT

H F

LOR

IDA

BU

LLS

FAST FACTS- THE BULLS HAVE BEEN TO FIVE STRAIGHT BOWL GAMES AND HAVE BEEN RANKED AS

HIGH AS NO. 2 IN THE AP POLL.

- THE PROGRAM WAS FOUNDED IN 1996 AND PLAYED ITS FIRST GAME IN 1997.

TEAM BREAKDOWN

NOVEMBER 6, 2010

LOUISVILLEVS.

SOUTH FLORIDALOUISVILLE, KY

12 PM NOON


LOUISVILLE ROSTER SOUTH FLORIDA ROSTERNO NAME HT WT POS CL HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS SCHOOL) 1 Josh Bellamy 6-0 205 WR JR St. Petersburg, Fla. (Butte CC)2 Michaelee Harris 6-2 184 WR FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)2 Preston Brown 6-0 249 LB FR Cincinnati, Ohio (Northwest)3 Corvin Lamb 5-9 207 RB FR Miami, Fla. (Northwestern)4 Will Stein 5-10 185 QB SO Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)5 Kenneth Jaboin 6-1 203 DB JR Miami, Florida (NIACC)5 Brandon Heath 6-1 215 LB SR West Palm Beach, Fla. (Palm Beach Lakes)7 Damian Copeland 6-1 175 WR RS FR Bradenton, Fla. (Palmetto)8 Darius Ashley 5-8 186 CB SO Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)9 Adam Froman 6-4 220 QB SR Santa Rosa, Calif. (Santa Rosa JC)10 Dominique Brown 6-2 215 QB FR Cincinnati, Ohio (Winton Woods)11 Greg Scruggs 6-4 269 DT JR Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)11 Josh Chichester 6-8 240 TE JR West Chester, Ohio (Lakota West)12 Chris Philpott 6-0 191 K JR Atlanta, Ga. (Str. Pius X Catholic)13 Justin Burke 6-3 229 QB SR Lexington, Ky. (Lexington Catholic)13 Preston Pace 6-1 204 CB JR St. Petersburg, Fla. (Butte)14 Andrell Smith 6-3 210 WR SO Miami, Fla. (Palmetto)15 Bilal Powell 6-0 215 RB SR Lakeland, Fla. (Lake Gibson)17 DeMarcus Topp 5-10 180 WR SO Paducah, Ky. (Paducah-Tilghman)17 Marcus Smith 6-3 234 QB FR Columbus, Ga. (Hardaway)18 Titus Teague 5-11 170 CB RS FR Pomona, Calif. (Pomona)19 Jahmal Lawson 6-5 200 QB SO Louisville, Ky. (Valley)19 Johnny Patrick 6-0 190 CB SR Deland, Fla. (Deland)20 Victor Anderson 5-9 184 RB JR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)21 Troy Pascley 6-2 203 WR SR Alliance, Ohio (Alliance)22 Jordon Paschal 5-8 171 CB FR Trotwood, Ohio (Trotwood-Madison)23 Mike Hayes 5-10 180 CB JR Louisville, Ky. (Male)23 Terence Simien 6-3 218 S JR Sacramento, Calif. (San Mateo)24 Daniel Brown 6-1 219 LB SO Atlanta, Ga. (Douglass)25 Malik Curtley 5-10 185 RB SO Paducah, Ky. (Paducah-Tilghman)26 Aaron Nance 6-3 197 WR FR Louisville, Ky. (Seneca)26 Zed Evans 5-11 173 CB RS FR Seagoville, Texas (Seagoville)27 Doug Beaumont 5-9 187 WR SR Louisville, Ky. (Male)28 Jeremy Wright 5-11 199 RB RS FR Clermont, Fla. (East Ridge)29 Hakeem Smith 6-1 175 S RS FR Jonesboro, Ga. (Riverdale)30 Kamal Hogan 6-0 206 RB FR Montvale, N.J. (St. Joseph’s Regional)31 Champ Lee 6-0 185 S RS FR Lakeland, Fla. (Lake Gibson)32 Senorise Perry 6-0 182 WR FR Summerville, Ga. (Chattooga)32 Marcus Bentley 6-1 195 DB SO Lexington, Ky. (Henry Clay)33 Mike Evans 5-10 180 CB JR Bellfl ower, Calif. (Nevada)33 Grant Donovan 6-1 192 LS FR Louisville, Ky. (Male)34 James Miller 5-9 182 RB SO Covington, Ky. (Holmes)34 George Durant 6-0 215 LB RS FR St. Petersburg, Fla. (Boca Ciega)35 Jon Payne 6-0 202 P SR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)35 Andrew Fletcher 5-8 162 K FR Nashville, Tenn. (Montgomery Bell)35 Anthony Conner 5-11 190 CB SR Houston, Texas (Butte CC)36 Shenard Holton 6-1 190 S SO Bowling Green, Ky. (Warren East)37 Tyon Dixon 5-11 190 LB FR Cincinnati, Ohio (Colerain)37 Lincoln Carr 5-9 158 WR SO Crestwood, Ky. (South Oldham)38 Isaac Geffrad 6-3 188 S RS FR Oakland Park, Fla. (Northeast)39 Jacob Geffrad 6-3 204 LB RS FR Oakland Park, Fla. (Northeast)40 Agyei Williams 5-11 184 S SO Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)40 Josh Bleser 6-1 201 P JR Park Hills, Ky. (Covington Catholic)41 Eugene Sowell 6-0 208 LB SR Birmingham, Ala. (Shades Valley)42 Bobby Burns 5-11 180 CB SR Spanaway, Wash. (Butte)43 Deon Rogers 6-2 185 LB FR Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Treasure Coast)44 B.J. Butler 6-2 264 DE FR Kissimmee, Fla. (Osceola)44 Bo Eggers 6-0 218 LB RS FR Louisville, Ky. (Manual)45 Blayne Donnell 5-8 190 RB SR Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)46 Dexter Heyman 6-3 238 LB JR Louisville, Ky. (Male)47 Malcolm Mitchell 6-2 230 DE RS FR Stone Mountain, Ga. (Dunwoody)47 Chris White 6-4 215 TE RS FR Elizabethtown, Ky. (John Hardin)48 Lacy Coleman 6-4 230 DE FR Tyrone, Ga. (Sandy Creek)51 Mike Privott 6-0 227 LB RS FR Norfolk, Va. (Lake Taylor)52 Antwone Canady 6-0 244 LB SR Swainsboro, Ga. (Hutchinson)53 Jake Smith 6-4 313 OL FR Jacksonville, Ala. (Jacksonville)54 Reinhold Leicht 6-0 242 LB JR Louisville, Ky. (Air Force)55 Mario Benavides 6-4 304 C SO Los Fresnos, Texas (Los Fresnos)57 Nick Heuser 6-0 229 LB SO Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)58 Rodney Gnat 6-3 253 DE SR Jacksonville, Fla. (Wolfson)59 Zach Perkins 6-4 302 OL RS FR Shepherdsville, Ky. (North Bullitt)60 Daniel Weedman 5-11 243 LS SR Louisville, Ky. (Christian Academy)61 William Savoy 6-1 238 DE JR Elizabethtown, Ky. (John Hardin)62 John Clark 6-2 311 OL JR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)63 Chris Johnson 6-2 290 DL RS FR Louisville, Ky. (Butler)64 Mohamed Kourouma 6-3 291 OL SR Somerset, N.J. (Franklin)65 Josh Byrom 6-5 305 G/C SR McKee’s Rock, Pa. (Montour)66 Alex Kupper 6-3 285 OL SO Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)67 Nick Egart 6-0 292 OL JR Louisville, Ky. (St. XAvier)68 Kamran Joyer 6-3 292 OL RS FR Tampa, Fla. (Wesley Chapel)69 Chris Walker 6-3 300 OL RS FR Louisville, Ky. (Ballard)70 Conrad Thomas 6-6 315 OL SR Douglasville, Ga. (Douglas County)71 Chris Acosta 6-3 262 OL FR Miami, Fla. (Hialeah)72 Hunter Stout 6-4 278 OL RS FR Tampa, Fla. (Wharton)73 Hector Hernandez 6-5 282 OL JR Naples, Fla. (Naples)74 Jeff Adams 6-8 298 OT SR Cadiz, Ky. (Trigg County)75 Ryan Kessling 6-5 314 OT JR Tallahassee, Fla. (Chiles)76 Greg Tomczyk 6-6 299 OT SR Long Valley, N.J. (The Hun School)77 Joe Evinger 6-6 320 OL SR Brazil, Ind. (College of the Canyons)78 Byron Stingily 6-5 300 OT SR Country Club Hills, Ill. (Joliet)79 Mark Wetterer 6-5 319 OG SR Cincinnati, Ohio (Anderson)80 Stephon Ball 6-4 223 TE SO Cincinnati, Ohio (St. Xavier)81 Rock Keys 6-5 248 TE SR Collins, Miss. (Jones County)82 Pete Nochta 6-5 246 TE SR Lexington, Ky. (Tates Creek)83 Cameron Graham 6-4 253 TE SR Inglewood, Calif. (El Camino)84 Stephan Robinson 6-0 165 WR FR Louisville, Ky. (Central)85 Nate Nord 6-5 230 TE SO Boca Raton, Fla. (West Boca Raton)86 Zach Meagher 6-4 239 FB JR Cincinnati, Ohio (Glen Estes)87 Kai Dominguez 6-0 172 WR FR Montvale, N.J. (St. Joseph’s Regional)88 Stephen Goodwin 6-0 190 WR RS FR Louisville, Ky. (St. Xavier)88 Jarrett Davis 5-9 165 WR FR Tyrone, Ga. (Sandy Creek)89 Scott Radcliff 5-10 183 WR SO Louisville, Ky. (Trinity)90 Malcolm Tatum 6-4 253 DE SR Moss Point, Miss. (Gulf Coast CC)92 Brandon Dunn 6-3 282 DT FR Louisville, Ky. (Pleasure Ridge Park)93 Roy Philon 6-3 276 DT RS FR Lexington, Ky. (Bryan Station)94 Joseph Townsend 6-4 287 DT SR San Jose, Calif. (Foothill)95 Randy Salmon 6-3 291 DT SO Atlanta, Ga. (Hutchinson CC)96 Patrick Grant 6-4 236 TE SO Sunrise, Fla. (Boyd Anderson)97 Tim High 6-2 298 DT SR Compton, Calif. (El Camino)98 Drew Davis 6-1 275 DT SO Fort Mitchell, Ky. (Beechwood)99 Zach Kiernan 6-6 284 DE JR Cold Springs, Ky. (Newport Central Catholic)

NO NAME POS HT WT YR HOMETOWN 1 Jerrell Young DB Jr. RS 6-1/205 St. Petersburg, FL (Gibbs HS)2 Quenton Washington DB Jr. RS 5-10/190 Fort Myers, FL (Fort Myers HS)3 Moise Plancher RB Sr. 3V 5-8/195 Naples, FL (Barron Collier)4 Tyson Butler DB Jr. RS 5-11/197 Fort Myers, FL (Cypress Lake HS)5 Lindsey Lamar WR So. 5-8/164 Tampa, FL (Hillsborough)6 Kayvon Webster DB So. 5-11/187 Miami, FL (Monsignor Pace)7 B.J. Daniels QB So. HS 5-11/216 Tallahassee, FL (Lincoln)7 Ryne Giddins DL Fr. RS 6-3/248 Seffner, FL (Armwood)8 Jon Lejiste DB So. HS 5-11/202 Delray Beach, FL (Atlantic)8 Jamius Gunsby QB Fr. 6-4/235 LaGrange, GA (LaGrange HS)9 Evan Landi WR So. HS 6-3/221 Coral Springs, FL (Coral Spings)11 AJ Love WR Sr. 6-2/205 Bradenton, FL (Southeast)11 Sabbath Joseph LB Sr. 5-11/235 Miami, FL (Central HS)12 Isaac Virgin WR So. 6-4/249 Ft, Pierce, FL (Westwood)13 Curtis Weatherspoon LB Jr. JC 6-2/205 St. Petersburg, FL (Valdosta HS)13 Bobby Eveld QB Fr. HS 6-4/194 Tampa, FL (Jesuit)14 Terrence Mitchell DB Fr. HS 5-10/165 Tampa, FL (Hillsborough)14 Tyler Stowell WR So. 6-3/193 St. Petersburg, FL (Norfthside Christian)15 Victor Marc RB So. 5-10/216 Hallandale, FL (Hallandale)16 Ryan Eppes QB Fr. RS 6-1/219 Seminole, FL (Largo HS)16 Mistral Raymond DB Sr. JC 6-2/192 Palmetto, FL (Palmetto HS)17 Sterling Griffi n WR So. 1V 6-1/180 Opa Locka, FL (Monsignor Pace)18 Justin Brockhaus-Kann P So. HS 6-2/227 Winter Springs, FL (Winter Springs)19 Daniel Bryant DB So. HS 6-2/192 Tallahassee, FL (Chiles)19 Jordan Duval WR Fr. 6-3/225 Tampa, FL (Hillsborough)20 Darrell Scott RB So. TR 6-1/239 Ventura, CA (St. Bonaventure)21 Demetris Murray RB So. HS 5-10/206 Buford, GA (Buford)22 George Baker DB So. HS 5-11/177 Miami, FL (Carroll)23 Faron Hornes WR Sr. JC 5-6/166 Bradenton, FL (Southeast )24 Chris Lane S Sr. 5-8/204 Miami, FL (Everglades HS)24 Bradley Battles RB Fr. RS 5-8/201 Marianna, FL (Marianna HS)25 Joel Miller RB Jr. 5-10/190 Tampa, FL (Wharton)26 Mark Joyce S Fr. 5-10/191 Deland, FL (Deland)27 Dontae Aycock RB Fr. 5-9/219 Tampa, FL (Chamberlain)28 Maikon Bonani K So. 5-9/190 Lake Wales, FL (Lake Wales HS)29 Colby Erskin WR Sr. 3V 5-9/183 Seminole, FL (Seminole HS)29 Dennis Wideman CB So. 5-10/173 Melbourne, FL (Eau Gallie HS)30 JaQuez Jenkins S Fr. RS 6-2/191 St. Petersburg, FL (Lakewood HS)31 Jonny Sitton RB Fr. RS 5-7/165 Largo, FL (Indian Rocks Christian)31 Patrice Pierre S Fr. HS 6-1/194 Kissimmee , FL (Liberty HS)32 Eric Schwartz K Sr. 5-10/189 Hudson, FL (Hudson HS)32 Marcus Shaw RB Fr. HS 5-9/181 Arcadia, FL (De Soto HS)33 Spencer Boyd WR Fr. TR 5-9/174 Cape Coral, FL (Cape Coral)34 Devekeyan Lattimore LB Fr. RS 6-2/230 Athens, GA (Cedar Shoals HS)35 Thanasi Mihalakos S So. 1V 5-11/185 Jacksonville, FL (Terry Parker HS)36 Sam Barrington LB So. 6-3/220 Jacksonville, FL (Terry Parker HS)37 Reshard Cliett S Fr. HS 6-2/192 Thomasville, GA (Thomas County Central)38 Ricardo Dixon DB Fr. RS 5-11/170 Hallandale, FL (Hallandale)39 Richard Kelly TE Sr. 3V 6-2/242 Bushnell, FL (South Sumter HS)39 Brandon Salinas CB Fr. 1V 6-0/168 Orlando, FL (Oak Ridge HS)40 Chris Breit LB So. 5-10/206 Tampa, FL (Plant)41 Patrick Hampton DE Jr. RS 6-0/234 Lithonia, GA (Martin Luther King HS)42 Jake Carlton TE Fr. HS 6-3/215 Bradenton, FL (Lakewood Ranch HS)44 Tyler Guy TE Fr. HS 6-6/249 Dade City, FL (Freedom HS)45 Rony Delisca DE Jr. 2V 6-1/233 Tampa, FL (Wharton HS)45 Kevin Gidrey TE Sr. TR 6-2/256 Virginia Beach, VA (Kempsville HS)46 Cory Grissom DT So. HS 6-2/306 LaGrange, GA (Troup County)47 Chris Veron P Fr. HS 6-3/205 Ocala, FL (Forest HS)48 Ruben Garcia LB Fr. HS 5-11/219 Plant City, FL (Durant HS)49 Chase Griffi ths TE Fr. RS 6-3/225 Tallahassee, FL (North Florida Christian)50 Hans Louis Fr. RS 6-0/206 Hollywood, FL (Chaminade Madonna)51 Armando Sanchez OLB So. 1V 5-11/220 St. Petersburg, FL (Northeast)52 Matt Milk LB Fr. RS 6-0/210 Naples, FL (Gulf Coast HS)53 Sharly Azard LB Jr. 2V 6-0/215 Scotch Plains, NJ (Abraham Clark HS)54 Julius Forte DE Fr. RS 6-2/250 St. Petersburg, FL (Boca Ciega HS)55 Michael Lanaris ILB So. HS 6-0/232 Lake Mary, FL (Lake Mary)55 Jeremiah Warren OG Jr. RS 6-4/315 Panama City, FL (Bay HS)56 Donte Spires OLB Sr. 3V 6-1/220 Tampa, FL (Plant)57 Jacquian Williams LB Sr. JC 6-3/216 Riverview, FL (Riverview HS)58 David Bedford DE Sr. JC 6-4/247 Palm Beach, FL (Palm Beach Lakes)59 Cody Durakovic DE So. 1V 6-1/231 Tampa, FL (Sickles)60 Danous Estenor OT So. RS 6-3/306 Palm Beach, FL (Palm Beach Cent.)62 Sampson Genus C Sr. 6-1/315 Lake City, FL (Columbia HS)63 Jamar Bass OL Sr. 4V 6-3/283 Apopka, FL (Apopka)64 Jacob Sims OT Sr. 3V 6-5/290 Winter Park, FL (Winter Park HS)65 Tony Kibler OL Fr. HS 6-4/355 Belle Glade, FL (Glades Day School)66 Kevin McCaskill C Jr. 3V 6-1/308 Tallahassee, FL (Godby HS)68 Michael Walsh LS Jr. RS 5-10/206 Tampa, FL (Plant)69 Josh Garvin OG So. 1V 6-3/297 Lakeland, FL (Lake Gibson)70 Quinterrius Eatmon OL Fr. HS 6-6/340 Prichard, AL (C F Vigor)71 John McGhin OL Fr. RS 6-4/324 Tallahassee, FL (Florida State HS)72 Steven Jacques OG Fr. RS 6-2/293 Hollywood, FL (South Broward HS)73 Damien Edwards OT So. 1V 6-5/335 Chandler, AZ (Chandler HS)74 Mark Popek OT So. 1V 6-7/288 Plant City, FL (Plant City)75 Darren Powe OL Jr. RS 6-3/285 Mayo, FL (Lafayette HS)77 Jake Kaufman OL Fr. HS 6-9/362 Jersey City, NJ (St. Peters Prep)78 Austin Reiter OL Fr. HS 6-4/250 Bradenton, FL (Lakewood Ranch HS)79 Chaz Hine OT Jr. RS 6-4/300 Lithia, FL (Newsome)80 Stephen Bravo-Brown WR Fr. HS 5-10/175 North Lauderdale, FL (St. Thomas Aquinas)81 Dontavia Bogan WR Sr. 3V 6-1/188 Thomasville, GA (Central County HS)82 T.J. Knowles WR So. RS 6-6/241 Las Vegas, NV (Coronado HS)83 Deonte Welch WR Fr. HS 6-0/190 Williston, FL (Williston HS)84 Bermanley Augustin WR Fr. RS 5-11/181 Delray Beach, FL (Atlantic HS)85 Andrew Ketchel TE Sr. 3V 6-5/250 Shalimar, FL (Choctawhatchee)87 Derrick Hopkins WR Fr. RS 5-5/155 Opa Locka, FL (Monsignor Pace)88 Andreas Shields TE So. 1V 6-4/241 Tampa, FL (Wharton)89 Jeff Hawkins TE So. 1V 6-4/251 Ocala, FL (Vanguard)90 Claude Davis DE Jr. JC 6-2/234 Lakeland, FL (Lake Gibson HS)91 Keith McCaskill DT Jr. RS 6-0/282 Tallahassee, FL (Godby)92 Luke Sager DL Fr. RS 6-3/272 Niceville, FL (Niceville HS)93 Demi Thompson DT Fr. RS 6-1/255 Longwood, FL (Lake Mary HS)94 Craig Marshall DE Sr. JC 6-4/265 Ft. Walton Beach, FL (Choctawhatchee)95 Todd Chandler DT Fr. HS 6-0/318 Miami, FL (Northwestern HS)96 Anthony Hill DT So. 1V 6-4/271 Pensacola, FL (Pensacola HS)97 Terrell McClain DT Sr. 2V 6-3/310 Pensacola, FL (Pensacola HS)98 Brandon Wilkinson DE Fr. 6-3/212 Venice, FL (Venice HS)99 Marvin Kloss K Fr. HS 6-0/185 Naples, FL (Barron Collier HS)


2010-11 WOMEN’S SCHEDULE

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME OCTOBER 30 Indiana Wesleyan (Exh) KFC Yum! Center W, 67-42

NOVEMBER 12 TENNESSEE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 14 at Ohio University Athens, Ohio 2p.m. 17 HOUSTON BAPTIST KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 19 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 23 at Xavier Cincinnati, Ohio 7 p.m. 26 at Old Dominion Norfolk, Va. 7 p.m. 29 at IPFW Fort Wayne, Ind. 7 p.m.

DECEMBER 2 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 5 KENTUCKY KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m.11 DAYTON KFC Yum! Center 4 p.m. 15 at Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio 7 p.m.18-20 Dual in the Desert Las Vegas, Nev. 18 vs. Marist Las Vegas, Nev. 4:30 p.m. 19 vs. Houston Las Vegas, Nev. 7:00 p.m. 20 vs. Nebraska Las Vegas, Nev. 9:30 p.m. 28 UT-MARTIN KFC Yum! Center 7:00 p.m.

JANUARY 4 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 9 PITTSBURGH KFC Yum! Center NOON 12 at Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 15 at Connecticut Hartford, Conn NOON22 CINCINNATI KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 26 at Marquette Milwaukee, Wis. 8 p.m. 29 RUTGERS KFC Yum! Center 6 p.m.

FEBRUARY 1 GEORGETOWN KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m.6 at Villanova Philadelphia, Pa. 2 p.m. 13 WEST VIRGINIA KFC Yum! Center 5 p.m. 16 at Syracuse Syracuse, NY 7 p.m. 19 at USF Tampa, Fla. 2 p.m.23 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 26 SETON HALL KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m.28 at Providence Providence, RI 7 p.m.

MARCH

4-8 BIG EAST Tournament Hartford, Conn. TBA

2010-11 MEN’S SCHEDULE 2009-10DATE OPPONENT (TELEVISION) SITE TIME/RES RECORD ____ OCTOBER Sun. 31 NORTHERN KENTUCKY / exhibition KFC Yum! Center W, 83-66 17-13

NOVEMBER Thur. 11 KENTUCKY WESLEYAN / exhibition KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 29-5 NCAA Tues. 16 BUTLER (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center 8 p.m. 33-5 NCAA Sat. 20 JACKSON STATE KFC Yum! Center 7:30 p.m. 19-13 NIT in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT Mon. 22 CHATTANOOGA KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 15-18 in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT Sat. 27 MARSHALL KFC Yum! Center 1 p.m. 24-10 CIT in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT

DECEMBER Wed. 1 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 7-25 in GLOBAL SPORTS SHOOTOUT Sat. 4 SOUTH ALABAMA KFC Yum! Center 1 p.m. 17-15 Wed. 8 SAN FRANCISCO KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 12-18 Sat. 11 UNLV (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center Noon 25-9 NCAA in BILLY MINARDI CLASSIC Tues. 14 DREXEL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 9 p.m. 16-16 Sat. 18 GARDNER-WEBB KFC Yum! Center 3:30 p.m. 8-21 Wed. 22 at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky. 8 p.m. 21-13 Mon. 27 MORGAN STATE KFC Yum! Center 8 p.m. 27-10 NCAA Fri. 31 KENTUCKY (CBS) KFC Yum! Center Noon 35-3 NCAA

JANUARY Wed. 5 SETON HALL (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 19-13 NIT Sun. 9 at USF Tampa, Fla. Noon 20-13 NIT Wed. 12 at Villanova (ESPN/2) Philadelphia, Pa. 7 p.m. 25-8 NCAA Sat. 15 MARQUETTE (ESPN2) KFC Yum! Center 11 a.m. 22-12 NCAA Wed. 19 ST. JOHN’S KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 17-16 NIT Sat. 22 at Providence (ESPNU) Providence, R.I. 5 p.m. 12-19 Wed. 26 WEST VIRGINIA (ESPNU) KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 31-7 NCAA Sat. 29 at Connecticut Storrs, Conn. Noon 18-16 NIT Mon. 31 at Georgetown (ESPN) Washington, D.C. 7 p.m. 23-11 NCAA

FEBRUARY Sat. 5 DEPAUL KFC Yum! Center 8 p.m. 8-23 Wed. 9 at Notre Dame (ESPNU) South Bend, Ind. 7 p.m. 23-12 NCAA Sat. 12 SYRACUSE (ESPN/2) KFC Yum! Center Noon 30-5 NCAA Wed. 16 at Cincinnati (ESPN/2) Cincinnati, Ohio 7 p.m. 19-16 NIT Fri. 18 CONNECTICUT (ESPN) KFC Yum! Center 9 p.m. 18-16 NIT Tues. 22 at Rutgers (ESPNU) Piscataway, N.J. 9 p.m. 15-17 Sun. 27 PITTSBURGH (CBS) KFC Yum! Center 2 p.m. 25-9 NCAA

MARCH Wed. 2 PROVIDENCE KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m. 12-19 Sat. 5 at West Virginia (ESPN/2) Morgantown, W. Va. Noon 31-7 NCAA Tues. 8-Sat. 12 Big East Championship at Madison Square Garden New York City


KFC Yum! Center OPENING PHOTO GALLERYSELECTED FALL SPORTS SCHEDULESCARDINAL FOOTBALL

D

MAKE YOUR PICKSLAST WEEK:

LAST WEEK:_____OVERALL:_______

KENT TAYLORWAVE TV

LAST WEEK: 8-3OVERALL: 65-35

TERRY MEINERSWHAS RADIO


GARRY GUPTONINSIGHT CH 2 TV


RUSS BROWNSPORTSREPORT


FRED COWGILLWLKY TV


TOM LANEWDRB FOX 41


MATT WILLINGERSPORTSREPORT


HOWIE LINDSEYSPORTSREPORT


DREW DEENERWHAS PLAY-BY-PLAY

WKRD RADIOLAST WEEK: 9-2OVERALL: 66-34

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

Louisville SportsReport subscribers will remember that our media members used to test their football knowledge against a dog, but that proved to be far too challenging. The panel will battle it out by trying to pick the winners of 10 games per week during the college football season to earn the honor of top dog

in the LSR’s Top Tom contest.

ZACH McCRITE93.9 THE TICKET


USF AT LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLEPITTSBURGH AT CONNECTICUT PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGHVANDY AT KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKYIOWA AT NORTHWESTERN IOWA IOWA IOWACINCINNATI AT WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIAMICHIGAN AT PURDUE PURDUE MICHIGAN PURDUEUTAH AT NOTRE DAME UTAH UTAH UTAHSYRACUSE AT RUTGERS SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSEVIRGINIA TECH AT NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA TECH NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA TECHSOUTH CAROLINA AT FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA

JACK COFFEESPORTSREPORT


U OF L PRESIDENTJAMES RAMSEY


JEFF WAFFORDSPORTSREPORT


LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE LOUISVILLE PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGHKENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY KENTUCKY

IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWA IOWAWEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA WEST VIRGINIA CINCY WEST VIRGINIA

MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGAN MICHIGANNOTRE DAME UTAH UTAH NOTRE DAME UTAH NOTRE DAME UTAH UTAH UTAH UTAH

RUTGERS SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE SYRACUSE RUTGERS RUTGERS RUTGERS SYRACUSE RUTGERSVIRGINIA TECH NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA TECH NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA TECH

FLORIDA FLORIDA SOUTH CAROLINA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA

DEB HARBSMEIERWHAS TV TEAM


WILL GRAVESASSOCIATED PRESS


TONY CRUISEWHAS RADIO


LACHLAN MCLEANWHAS RADIO


DAVE JENNINGSWHAS RADIO


PAUL ROGERSWHAS RADIO TEAM


TONY VANETTIAFTERNOON UNDERDOGS

WKRD RADIOLAST WEEK: 8-3OVERALL: 62-38

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R O A D W O E S D O N E

Redshirt freshman Jeremy Wright was congratulated by Redshirt freshman Jeremy Wright was congratulated by teammates Cameron Graham (83), Nate Nord (85) and Damian teammates Cameron Graham (83), Nate Nord (85) and Damian Copeland (7) after he score the fi rst of two touchdowns Copeland (7) after he score the fi rst of two touchdowns against Syracuse Saturday. - photo by Dave Klotzagainst Syracuse Saturday. - photo by Dave Klotz

WRIGHT STUFF

Louisville defensive coordinator Vance Bedford was hugged Louisville defensive coordinator Vance Bedford was hugged by team doctor Raymond Shea as the Cardinals walked off the by team doctor Raymond Shea as the Cardinals walked off the fi eld victorious at the Carrier Dome. - photo by Dave Klotzfi eld victorious at the Carrier Dome. - photo by Dave Klotz


2007 CARDINAL CARAVAN

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

PAGE 24 LOUISVILLE SPORTSREPORT NOVEMBER 11, 2010LO

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Sophomore Asia Taylor got her teammates fi red up by yelling a chant before UofL’s exhibition against Indiana

Wesleyan on Oct. 30. - photo by Shelley Feller

Vanderbilt transfer Tia Gibbs, a former Kentucky Miss Basketball, is eligible to play this season for the Cardinals. She’ll be joined by the nation’s No. 5 recruiting class on a revamped Louisville lineup. - photo by Shelley Feller

By Howie LindseyFriday night, the Louisville women’s bas-

ketball team will take the court for the fi rst

offi cial game of the KFC Yum! Center in

downtown Louisville. And now, thanks to

great marketing and an overwhelmingly

strong response by Cardinals fans, the are-

na will be packed.

On Monday night, the

University announced

that the Cardinals open-

ing game is a sellout of

22,000 tickets.

“This just proves that

we have the best fan

support in the nation

here at the University of Louisville,” Louis-

ville coach Jeff Walz said.

And he may be right. Despite struggling

to a losing record last season, UofL aver-

aged 6,398 fans per game last season. The

average Division I women’s basketball team

averaged 1,637 fans per game last sea-

son. Louisville was No. 11 in attendance in

2009-10, and they were in the top 10 the

year previous.

There is a big difference between a nor-

mal strong fan showing, and a complete sell

out of 22,000 tickets, though. That is ab-

solutely remarkable in women’s basketball.

Last season only one program, Tennessee,

averaged even half of Louisville’s expected

crowd Friday night for regular-season home

games.

“We are excited to play our fi rst home

WOMEN WILL OPEN ARENA

TO SOLD OUT CROWD

game in the KFC Yum! Center in front of

a sold out crowd,” Walz said. “It will be a

great environment for Angel McCoughtry’s

jersey retirement before the game.”

Many fans are coming to see the cur-

rent team. Many are coming to see the new

arena. And many are coming to see Mc-

Coughtry’s jersey retired before the game.

When told the game was a sell out Monday

night, McCoughtry was excited.

“OMG (Oh my God/goodness in internet

language), are you serious?” McCoughtry

tweeted when a fan asked her for a ticket

to Friday night’s game, explaining that Tick-

etmaster says all tickets are sold.

The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. but fans

are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:45

p.m. for the Angel McCoughtry jersey re-

tirement ceremony.

The game fi gures to be fun to watch

even though the Cardnals will be signifi cant

underdogs to the No. 4 Volunteers. Louis-

ville will be breaking in six freshman from

the nation’s top 5 recruiting class along

with returning scorers Monique Reid and

Becky Burke.

The Vols beat Union College 86-53 in an

exhibition Sunday at Thompson-Boling Are-

na. After a shaky start, Tennessee scored 18

consecutive points to take an 18 point half-

time lead. They never looked back.

Louisville beat Indiana Wesleyan 67-42

in its only exhibition game on Oct. 30. The

Cardinals played 15 players and were led in

scoring by Reid’s 15 points and freshman

center Sheronne Vails’ 12.

The doors will open two hours early at

5:00 p.m. CBS College Sports will broad-

cast the game on tape delay at 9:30 p.m.


2009-10 DIVISION I ATTENDANCESCHOOL G ATTENDANCE AVERAGE1. Tennessee 17 219,233 12,8962. Connecticut 20 203,648 10,1823. Iowa St. 19 177,002 9,3164. Notre Dame 17 142,412 8,3775. Purdue 18 146,868 8,1596. Oklahoma 16 122,902 7,6817. Nebraska 16 118,232 7,3908. Baylor 17 122,550 7,2099. New Mexico 18 127,623 7,09010. Texas Tech 19 129,896 6,83711. Louisville 14 89,571 6,39812. Michigan State 15 92,883 6,19213. Wisconsin 14 78,884 5,63514. Kentucky 17 95,615 5,62415. Texas A&M 14 72,165 5,155

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