A few random observations (minimal U of L content)

In the wake of the University of Kentucky's mild-upset 73-66 loss to West Virginia University in the NCAA East Regional championship game, some random observations come to mind. To wit:

At the worst possible moment, some of UK's freshmen played like freshmen. Other than John Wall, that is; without his 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists, UK would have had no prayer of keeping things competitive. True, Wall turned the ball over five times, but balanced those errors with four steals and a blocked shot. I could nitpick his 1-for-5 three-point shooting, but his teammates were worse at 3 for 27.

In the face of perhaps their first real adversity of the season, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins let frustration get the better of them. Both wore pained expressions much of the second half, and their play suffered as shots failed to fall. They had plenty of company, though, as the team's composure evaporated in the face of West Virginia's uncharacteristically deadly outside shooting.

What on earth can John Calipari do for an encore? After a first season in which he recruited a fabulous freshman class and took a team that lost in the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals the previous year to 35 wins and the NCAA's Elite Eight, how does he satisfy one of the most demanding fan bases in college basketball? There are only two rungs left on the ladder, and it's hardly a failure not to win a national championship.

Next year's Cats almost surely won't have Wall, Cousins or Patrick Patterson, and could lose Bledsoe as well, though I think Bledsoe could benefit by a couple more seasons in Lexington to enhance his draft position. Daniel Orton has the NBA in his future as well, but not immediately; I can envision him and Bledsoe declaring, but not hiring agents in order to leave open the option of returning to UK.

How long will it take before another combination of this kind of talent with this kind of chemistry comes back to Lexington? For an example of what top talent without UK-like chemistry looks like, turn your eyes to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a similar collection of blue-chip recruits failed to mesh into a cohesive team. As a result, the vaunted Tar Heels landed with a thud in the NIT.

Where in blazes did that sharpshooting West Virginia team come from? It certainly wasn't in evidence during the regular season; the Mountaineers were among the best offensive rebounders in the country because they missed an awfully large number of shots. Heck, WVU was hard-pressed to beat Louisville in Morgantown -- in fact, the Cards lost that game more than the Mountaineers won it.

Additionally, in an eerie parallel to Calipari's 2008 University of Memphis NCAA finalists, three of UK's weaknesses finally caught up with the Cats against WVU: inconsistent perimeter shooting, too many turnovers and poor free-throw shooting. Hitting only four treys in 32 attempts, 16 of 29 foul shots and 34 percent from the field overall will get you beaten most nights; it's a credit to Kentucky's outrageous talent WVU won by only seven.

Kentucky is back. At least far enough that a 35-3 season leaves an unpleasant aftertaste in the collective mouths of Big Blue Nation.

OK, season over -- time to vent....

The University of Louisville men's basketball team brought its 2009-10 season to a disappointing end with a 77-62 loss to the University of California Golden Bears in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 19. The Cards missed 11 of their first 13 shots in falling behind 22-4, and never trimmed the deficit to less than four the rest of the way.

As had often been the case throughout the season, Cal's smaller, quicker lineup bedeviled the Cards with good ball movement and accurate shooting, burying an open shot to stop every U of L surge.

Time for a few postmortem observations:

Next year's team will be better in part because Edgar Sosa won't be on it. Rick Pitino has made relatively few glaring coaching errors in a soon-to-be Hall of Fame career; one of them was his four-year campaign to make Sosa into a point guard. Sosa never shook his high-school shooting guard mentality; I've never met him, but I'd bet if asked, he'd say the two best games of his career were a 31-point outing against Texas A&M in the 2007 NCAA tournament and a 28-point effort against Cincinnati in this year's Big East Championship second round. U of L lost both those games.

The Cards have a pure point guard in freshman Peyton Siva. In my opinion, the best thing Pitino can do for Siva is name him next season's starter, then send him home with a personal lowlight reel of all the poor judgments he made on the floor in his rookie campaign. If he learns to make his teammates better without trying to make ESPN's Top 10 Plays every night, this team can do great things.

Samardo Samuels could use an attitude adjustment. More specifically, he needs to become more assertive around the rim. When you're 6-foot-9 and carry a well-muscled 265 pounds on your frame, you don't need finesse; your game should be powering your way to the hole and making the other team stop you. And when you have teammates who can hit open shots, learn to recognize the efficient pass out of a double-team.

Summer homework: develop your jumping ability so you can play above the rim. Play pickup ball with good players, and rebound with the mindset that every missed shot is your property. Pick Walter McCarty's brain about the finer points of inside play, and see if you can schedule a session or two with former U of L stars Rodney McCray and Charles Jones -- two of the best I ever saw at influencing a game without stuffing the box score.

Terrence Jennings needs a MAJOR attitude adjustment. Big Fella, don't take the summer off! Work on your game; at this level, athletic ability alone doesn't get it done. Learn to catch the ball and move to shoot without putting it on the floor, and do the same homework I assigned Mardo above. Coach P and Coach McCarty know what they're talking about; learn from them.

This team was capable of much more than it achieved. With the level of effort it displayed in the two wins over Syracuse, U of L could have beaten almost any team in the country on a given night. Without it, they could be very ordinary, as we saw against Cincy and Cal. This squad never bought into the concept that playing hard every possession on defense will win games even on some nights when shots aren't falling, despite what the stats showed about the best offensive performances of the season stemming from disruptive defensive efforts. If you're stopping the other guys, you can overcome subpar shooting and bad officiating.

Rick Pitino might consider an attitude adjustment. Pitino has few peers at taking a scouting report and developing a game plan; however, in watching the Cards play, I've noticed that when the game plan isn't working, he seems reluctant to tweak it, and often burns timeouts in fits of pique early in the game. As a result, at crunch time he deprives himself of the ability to strategize.

You don't have to like a guy to learn from him, Rick -- would it kill you to sit down with Denny Crum? (Why, you ask? Here's a hint: in games decided by five points or fewer or in overtime, Denny's record was 155-108. To date, yours is 80-84.)

U of L exits Freedom Hall in blaze of glory



If that wasn't sending the old girl off the right way, I don't know what is.


On Saturday, March 6, 2010, the University of Louisville men's basketball team brought its 54th and final season of home games in Freedom Hall to a stirring end, using a 48-33 second-half blitzkrieg to dispatch top-ranked Syracuse 78-68 before a record crowd of 20,135.


Like many Cardinal fans, I had to revise my list of favorite Freedom Hall memories to include the finale in a prominent position. I doubt I will ever forget the way the Cards bade farewell to The Hall. Not that I'd rank it first all-time, though; here, in no particular order, are the rest of my faves.


Legendary public address announcer John Tong: My friends and I used to give John's introduction of the starting lineups along with him, word for word; his style was unique. When I close my eyes, I can hear it now -- and it still gives me goosebumps. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center and Freedom Hall, for the thrills and excitement of college basketball, as tonight, the University of Louisville Cardinals host...." It's a different world now; John must spin in his grave at the rah-rah excesses now commonplace among PA people. (No disrespect to current U of L announcer Sean Moth intended.)


Wes Unseld's Senior Day: This might be colored by the fact I was 13 at the time and Wes was my hero. It is indisputably true, though, that when he was introduced, and then when he left the game for the final time, he received the two loudest and longest standing ovations I had ever heard.


Beating Kentucky in 1995: Samaki Walker's triple double, including a U of L-record 11 blocked shots, highlighted a two-point game many called the best ever. Terrific game regardless of your rooting interest.


Beating Kentucky in 2009: "THREEEEEEEEEE, SOSAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Great way to stick it to Big Blue Nation, which had been unusually obnoxious in the days before the game.

Louisville 115, Memphis State 97, Feb. 25, 1978: I confess -- I despise Memphis. I've been called names in Memphis I had to ask my dad about. Because of that, I've cherished every victory over the hated Tigers, especially this one, in which the Cards totally mopped the floor with them.

Louisville 99, Memphis State 94, OT (women), Feb. 25, 1978: This one was memorable again for the opposition (did I mention how much I despise Memphis?), but for the weirdness of it. U of L actually had this game won 88-86 in regulation, but due to a malfunction, the horn didn't sound when the clock hit :00. In the split second between time expiring and timekeeper Richard "Rosie" Rozel manually blowing the horn, Memphis State scored a tying basket, which the officials had to count. The Lady Cards regrouped to fend off the No. 17 Tigers in overtime; it would be nearly a decade before they would again defeat Memphis during the regular season.

Louisville 84, Southern Mississippi 73 (women), Mar. 12, 1993: The Lady Cards won the Metro Conference championship, avenging a bitter loss to USM in the '92 semifinals. Five days later, U of L became the first (and to date only) team to defeat Connecticut in an NCAA tournament game in Storrs. What do you want to bet UConn coach Geno Auriemma hasn't forgotten that?