University of Louisville Men's Basketball ReportA Look at the Cardinals One Week into Big East Conference Play

By Alan Zukof

The coming of the New Year has rarely held such meaning for University of Louisville basketball fans as it has in 2009.

On New Year's Eve, the Cardinals suffered a 56-55 homecourt loss to Nevada-Las Vegas that left the U of L faithful in, shall we say, less than a partying mood. In that game, the Cards shot 29.6 percent from the field, coughed up a second-half lead, and at times looked generally clueless -- not good news to a fan base that entered the season with visions of a Final Four appearance.

And with a suddenly troublesome-looking contest with archrival Kentucky looming four days away, the fainter-hearted on Planet Red began checking parachutes, preparing to bail out should the Cards do the unthinkable and lose to the detested Wildcats.

Much of their grumbling centered on junior point guard Edgar Sosa, whose extended sophomore slump featured rafts of contested shots, ill-advised forays into the lane, and lapses on defense -- so much so that head coach Rick Pitino was ready to buy Sosa a cheap ticket out of Louisville.

"I told him, 'I think you should transfer now,'" Pitino said in his press conference following the Kentucky game. "'The fans aren't very happy with you right now, and you aren't happy with yourself. We'll find you a school where they don't play defense (laughter) -- I have a few in my pocket. Take tonight and think it over....'"

Sosa opted not to leave, and UK paid the price. Sosa hung 18 points and a solid floor game on the Wildcats, including a 25-foot bomb with :02.3 to play that lifted U of L to a 74-71 win.

Sosa and senior Andre McGee had been alternating starts and splitting time at the point, but lackluster guard play had plagued the Cards all season. Pitino even had resorted to starting junior shooting guard Jerry Smith at the point, to no avail. But after their last heart-to-heart, Pitino named Sosa his starting point guard.

The combination of Sosa and Smith starting, with McGee and sophomore Preston Knowles coming off the bench, seems to have solidified the Cardinal backcourt. Sosa's wild charges into the paint have all but disappeared, and U of L has racked up four straight victories, including a 61-60 heartstopper at then-#18 Villanova and an 87-73 overtime masterpiece over #13 Notre Dame that featured a sparkling 21 assists with only nine turnovers.

Improved play on the perimeter has in turn created more maneuvering room for the Cardinal front line. Freshman center Samardo Samuels, who had virtually disappeared for three games, bulled his way to 18 points and six rebounds against the Irish, and frontcourt mates Terrence Williams and Earl Clark both notched double-doubles. Williams, a senior, led the Cards with 24 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists, and junior Clark's 15 points and 10 rebounds included a key three-pointer in overtime that stretched the Cards' lead to eight.

The Cardinals seem to finally grasp the way Pitino expects them to play, and as far as their fans are concerned, their timing could hardly be better. Undefeated #1 Pittsburgh comes to Freedom Hall Saturday evening, and U of L fans suddenly savor the propect of facing a Panther team that a week earlier was making them queasy. Pitt still has senior point guard Levance Fields, he of the 4.35-to-1 assist/turnover ratio, and sophomore center DeJuan Blair, the nation's third-leading rebounder at 12.6 per game, but the Cards appear far more ready to defend them than they did four games ago. Freshman center Terrence Jennings has delivered unexpectedly solid minutes in relief of Samuels, and gives Pitino five extra fouls to throw at Blair, whose only glaring weakness thus far has been a propensity for foul trouble.