Midterm exam time: Cards earning a solid 'A'

And I'm inclined to give their coach an A-plus.

As a nearly lifelong fan of University of Louisville basketball, I feel qualified to say that rarely has a U of L team achieved more with less. In a season where expectations were modest even before a rash of injuries hit the team, head coach Rick Pitino's Cardinals passed the midpoint of the Big East schedule at 17-5 overall and in a three-way tied for third place in the league at 6-3, a half-game behind second-place Notre Dame.

Considering Pitino hasn't had the luxury of the same roster three games in a row all season (or so it seems), to my mind it would constitute a miscarriage of justice for him not to receive the Big East Coach of the Year award. Indeed, he should at least get votes for the national award.

What with Samardo Samuels jumping to the NBA and two front line recruits never making it to campus, U of L has struggled for an inside presence. Jarod Swopshire's yearlong absence due to a groin injury hasn't helped, either; nor has the broken finger suffered by Rakeem Buckles. Freshman Gorgui Dieng has proven surprisingly adept at blocking and altering shots, but lacks the bulk and strength to hold his ground against the linebackers and tight ends that pass for forwards and centers on other Big East teams -- and he has lost time to leg injuries and a concussion.

Now top scorer and senior leader Preston Knowles has tweaked a hamstring and will miss the next game. That's the bad news; the good news is, U of L should handle a hapless DePaul team without him, playing at home. Knowles is the eighth different Cardinal to miss at least one contest due to injury -- if you're keeping score, that's more than half the team.

I submit Pitino is doing his best coaching job since Kentucky's "Unforgettables" in 1991-92. The current Cardinals have that squad's dogged refusal to accept defeat, and they have bought into Pitino's system lock, stock and barrel. It doesn't seem to matter to these guys who scores the points, as long as collectively they have more than the opposition when the clock runs out.

In a landscape thickly populated with one-and-dones and stat hogs, that's a refreshing attitude -- one worthy of a nickname.

How about "The Team that Wouldn't Die"?

* * * * * * * * *

A brief football note: I was very disappointed to see Seneca High School star quarterback DaMarcus Smith renege on his verbal commitment to U of L to sign with Central Florida -- as a Seneca alumnus, I was looking forward to seeing Smith don the red and black.

Nevertheless, Charlie Strong's recruit class has garnered Louisville's best ratings ever. Provided everyone passes the NCAA Clearinghouse and arrives on campus eligible, Strong should enjoy a level of flexibility in deciding whom to play and whom to sit or redshirt that hasn't happened at U of L in several years.

Bravo to him and his staff -- Cardinal football appears on its way back to prominence.

Pitino or Sypher -- who's the villain?

First, the facts: University of Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino, by his own admission heavily under the influence of alcohol, had consensual sex with Karen Sypher (then Cunagin) at a table in a Louisville restaurant after closing time on Aug. 1, 2003. Sypher later alleged Pitino had raped her, a claim no law enforcement authority has been able to substantiate. She has been indicted in federal court for attempting to extort money from Pitino, and for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Pitino went before the media last week to apologize in public to his wife and family, the University, and its basketball fans for his conduct and its consequences.

This much we know.

Some of the other claims made in various quarters, especially from people howling for Pitino's head, don't make quite as much sense. Much has been made of Pitino's giving Sypher $3000 -- according to her, to pay for an abortion; according to him, for health insurance she used to pay for an abortion. That boils down to "he said, she said."

The chronology, however, raises many eyebrows, including mine. Pitino and Sypher had sex on Aug. 1; she had an ultrasound exam to confirm the pregnancy on Aug. 26, and an abortion three days later -- four weeks to the day from the sexual encounter that purportedly led to conception.

From all I've been able to uncover, though, it generally takes four to five weeks before ultrasound will confirm pregnancy; it takes that long before the gestational sac will show up in the image of the uterus. On this timetable, though Sypher's pregnancy was confirmed, Pitino's responsibility for it remains a matter of reasonable doubt. While the anti-abortion crowd howls for U of L president Dr. James Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich to dismiss Pitino, some of us in the pro-choice camp see a certain virtue in Pitino's giving Sypher the money without insisting on a paternity test.

Bottom line: while Pitino's contract with U of L does contain a morals clause, he has broken no laws -- neither adultery nor abominably bad judgment are open to criminal prosecution in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He will continue for some time to take a battering in the court of public opinion, but I don't believe his transgressions merit dismissal.

Sypher, on the other hand, may be facing serious prison time, but her troubles appear mostly self-inflicted.

Suffice it to say, the whole sordid mess will bear watching.