Say what you will about the Louisville Cardinals 4 seed, rather deserved or not, but it is of no consequence now. Its time to dance. We all remember Louisvilles remarkable finish ending with the national championship to put an exclamation point on the “year of the Cardinals”. What are the Cardinals chances at a repeat performance?
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Following an overtime loss to Notre Dame last season Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino promised his players that he would get a tatoo if they didn’t lose another game. Soon after they won the national championship he got a tatoo on the back of his left shoulder to honor thier accomplishment. To inspire his team to finish strong this season the whole program has decided to stop shaving until they lose. The power of the beard has become a popular and successful practice in sports, mainly in baseball. Only a few games in and Pitino appeares to be sporting a 5 o’clock shadow. By the end of the year I am hopeing they are styleing beards more like ZZ Top than Duck Dynasty.
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The Cards are set to begin a new era as they join the ACC this July and now they will have to do it with a new head football coach. Former coach Charlie Strong was named the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns. At Louisville, Strong went 37-15 & 22-3 the last two years. He certainly left the program in better shape than he found it, both on the field and in the classroom. Despite it not seemingly to be the right fit for Texas we wish Strong well and hope he succeeds at his dream job. Go Stronghorns!
With his departure Louisville AD Tom Jurich will need to find Strongs replacement in a hurry with the recruiting dead period coming to an end soon. So far a vast majority of the Cards commitments are staying with the Cards but decision time is rapidly approaching. Jurich is known to be well prepared in his coaching searches but this time around it will be different. This time his pool of candidates will be larger with the additional draw and resources that comes with the ACC. There has been dozens of names thrown out by the media but only Jurich knows who’s on his list. Lets take a look at the probable favorites.
It seems that every time I start to write about this something changes and rewrites the story. The media has mentioned Texas and Louisville HC Charlie Strong together a lot lately. First it was Vegas naming Strong as the odds on favorite to replace retirink Mack Brown. Since the two dont seem like a logical pairing many disregarded it. Sometimes though the illogical turns out to be the most logical. This story has grown many legs.
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This past weekend featured two huge match ups for Louisville which culminated into one epic Saturday. First up was the hardwood rivalry game with Kentucky in corRUPPt arena. N Carolina and Duke is the greatest basketball conference rivalry but Kentucky and Louisville is the greatest non conference hoops rivalry. Playing your rival ONCE a year adds a little extra to the game, in my opinion. From the time they tipped off shortly after 4pm until the buzzer sounded around 6:30 it was a dog fight. Ultimately it was the Cards coming out on the losing end of the 66-73 final score.
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Louisville, Memphis State and Cincinnati have been intwined in a triangle relationship for many decades and through multiple conferences. It’s a rivalry that hasn’t received the same noterity or exposure as Duke and North Carolina or Texas and Oklahoma but it is a rivalry that has brought out the vile from all three fan bases. It is also unique in that it envolves three teams.
Metro Conference logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Louisville, Memphis State, and Cincinnati rivalries have spanned many decades and almost as many conferences. These rivalries, that are underappreciated nationally, hold a special place in the heart s of these three universities and fan bases. It is truly a love/hate relationship; we love to hate each other.
Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino added two surprise letter of intent signatures during the fall signing period. In all the Cards picked up five. The Cards will be losing seniors Russ Smith, Luke Hancock and Stephan Van Treese. With potentially Montrezl Harrell and/or Chane Behanan departing for the NBA at season end, the Cards may pick up one or two more commits in the spring.
As expected the Cards signed Shaqquan Aaron, Jaylen Johnson and Chinanu Onuaku. The 6-7 Aaron is the #11 SF and 34th overall according to Scout. The 6-9 Johnson is the #14 PF and 62nd overall while Onuaku is the #9 C and ranked in the top 70 overall. All are four star prospects. The Cards are in need of size and looked to fill their needs in the post with this class.
Today coaches all across the college basketball universe will be hovered over their fax machines waiting in anticipation for their letters of intent. After all the time they have spent recruiting they will get to see the fruit of their labor. Some will fill their scholarships while others will continue the process during the spring signing period. The fall signing period should be busy for the Louisville Cardinals and their ACC brothern.
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Talk around Louisville this week has centered around University of Louisville President Dr. James Ramsey comments from a radio show recently. He was answering questions regarding the Cardinals move to the ACC. His response led to talk radio and message board panic.
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The Confidential 