SB Nation - Elisha Justice

Who Is New Cardinal Michael Baffour?

Mike Rutherford — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:34:21 -0000

In this day and age where what the Cards are eating for lunch is reported with as much fervor as season-ending injuries were three decades ago, it seems impossible that Rick Pitino could slip a player onto the U of L roster without all of Card Nation taking notice.

And yet, that's precisely the situation most of us were faced with when we noticed the name Michael Baffour - the man who will apparently assume the walk-on role previously held by Elisha Justice - in the middle of Pitino's first offseason write-up.

So just who is this Michael Baffour? Let's explore.

The Basics

--Baffour is a 6-3 combo guard out of Bryan Station High School in Lexington.

--Graduated high school in 2010, so he will be a junior this season.

--Averaged 5.4 points per game as a junior at Bryan Station. Can't find anything on his senior season.

--Was also a standout in baseball and track and field.

--The younger brother of Tony Baffour, a track star at U of L from 2007-2010.

--Was born in Ghana.

A Little Deeper

--He believes college athletes should be paid.

--Is a graduate of the Russ Smith School for the Arts.

--Also goes by "Mike."

--Majoring in sports administration

--Can be found on Twitter at @Born_R3ady

Dark Slime

--Pitino notes that Baffour has been nicknamed "Dark Slime" by Russ.

--A quick Google search reveals that Dark Slime is "a recurring monster in the Dragon Quest series."

--Dark Slime is a female monster. This is what she looks like.

--My assumption is that this is not the bedrock of the nickname in this instance.

--At a time appropriately near the end of the first blowout of the season, a "Slime Time" chant will be conducted by the student section. This happens or the season is a failure before Big East play even starts.

--Slime Time shirts and signs will also be produced.

Welcome to the squad, DS.

Monday Afternoon Cardinal News And Notes

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:33:34 -0000

Young Nate Knipp makes a pretty strong statement to the rest of the Card Chronicle world with a submission from the delivery room.

You can't knock that level of hustle. You can try, but you can't do it.

Andy Katz says he "wouldn't be surprised" to see Louisville draw Florida in next season's Big East/SEC Challenge. Since the Cards hosted Vanderbilt in the event last season, they would be traveling to Gainesville for the Elite Eight rematch.

Katz says the most likely matchup for the event is Kentucky/Georgetown.

Plenty of people asking what Florida State's newfound interest in the Big 12 means for Louisville. The short answer is that I have no idea. The long answer is that I have no idea, but if it ultimately comes to fruition, it's obviously not a good thing for U of L. FSU would almost certainly leapfrog the Cards on the Big 12's wish list, and Louisville would then be back in the position of having to hope the league adds two teams instead of just one.

The follow-up question to that has been whether or not the ACC might be interested in Louisville. The short answer there is that it seems extremely, extremely unlikely.

Still, it seems to me like this whole thing is little more than FSU posturing for some kind of leverage within the ACC. It's hard to envision the Seminoles ultimately bouncing for the Midwest.

Paying attention to conference realignment news is like smoking: it's not healthy, there's no real benefit to it, it can only make you feel good for an extremely short period of time, and it's really, really hard to quit once you start.

My advice, as it pertains to both habits, is to not start.

The Louisville softball team's NCAA Tournament regional draw in image form:

On a related note, congrats to U of L pitcher Tori Collins (pictured above) on here recent engagement to former U of L linebacker Dexter Heyman. That's a pair fully capable of producing multiple future Cardinal stars.

Vegas has set Louisville football's over/under win total for the upcoming season at 9.5.

It sounds crazy, but right now I don't see any way how you could take the under.

Greg Scruggs displaying his patented media charm during his introduction in Seattle.

Brian Brohm was one of the NFL veterans invited to participate in the New Orleans Saints' rookie camp over the weekend. You may remember that Brohm worked out for the Saints with Randy Moss a couple of months ago.

Unless the Saints choose to offer Brohm a contract, he will likely spend next season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Highly amusing Onion piece on I'll Have Another's take on his Kentucky Derby experience.

"Then a horn sounded and it scared the hell out of me and everyone was running," the horse added. "And all I could think was, 'I'm only 3 years old. Please, God, I'm only 3.'"

Starting from the 19th post, just one slot from the outside, the 3-year-old became the first horse in Derby history to win from that position. However, despite a respectable start, he was mired in the pack for the first three-quarters of the race.

"I don't remember anything but running," said the pre-race 15-1 pick, who ran alongside the similarly terrified Gemologist and Creative Cause for most of the backstretch. "Just running, and I didn't even know from what. I mean, everyone was running. I guess I was just going on instinct at that point."

"I'm not proud of this, but I think I might have shit myself a little there," the horse added. "I wasn't the only one, but still. I hope no one was watching."

Julius Mays' high school coach thinks the Wright State transfer will be a bad fit at Kentucky.

With all the concussion debate taking place, I figure it's worth noting that I suffered football-related concussions in 7th grade, 8th grade and my freshman year of high school.

I still have the video tape of the first one where some 14-year-old man-child from St. Edward knocks me unconscious approximately five seconds after I've handed the ball off and am standing nowhere near the ball carrier or anyone else. Apparently that didn't warrant a flag. It did, however lead to a hilarious(?) attempt by me to stand up, followed by me losing consciousness and then being woken up on the sidelines with smelling salts. It's actually not funny at all...except when you're in college, drunk and it's 4 a.m. Then it's hilarious and people want to watch it repeatedly...I fall under the umbrella of "people" in this instance.

The next one might have been equally funny(?) (accidentally kicked in the head by teammate), but it was during a scrimmage and there's no tape. It also resulted in me thinking I was weaving in between hundreds of bikes as I was helped to my dad's car and then taken to the hospital.

The third one wasn't funny at all and was the final push over the "let's just focus on baseball because it's painfully apparent you've already finished growing" ledge.

I blame everything stupid I've done since on one of those three blows to the head. I'm also debating whether or not my any of my 11 sons will be allowed to play football.

Elisha Justice will be holding a youth basketball camp in Pikeville from May 14-17. No word on what the official title of the camp is, but one can only assume that the words "hottest," male" and "athlete" will all be utilized in some form.

Kevin disgraces his friends, family and anyone else he's ever encountered.

The ACC coaches want conference champions to automatically be included in the new college football playoffs. Because giving up 70 points in a tournament semifinal is exponentially better than giving up 70 points in a meaningless BCS game.

Jimmy Clausen has the same type of relationship with SuperCuts on Twitter that I have with Crate and Barrel.

Still looking for those infra-red sheets, local bedding companies.

The U of L rowing team finished third at the Big East championship over the weekend.

The men's tennis team's season ended with a loss to Indiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The defeat as especially disappointing since Kentucky was waiting for the winner in the next round.

And finally, Cincinnati basketball players were reportedly involved in a bar brawl over the weekend. Another great step in the direction of improving the program's image.

Big East Weekly Rumble 4-29

Norman aka Pico — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:59:46 -0000

The weekly roundup of Big East basketball news is here, including a Karen Sypher mention, the happenings at Southern Methodist (a future Big East member), transfer news, the new arena for South Florida, and more - all below the fold.

Larry Brown finally accepted the Southern Methodist job... and fired coach Matt Doherty was on hand for the introductory press conference along with Kansas head coach Bill Self and Southern Methodist stars of the past.

Brown, known for his short stints at coaching jobs, has hired his successor/ coach-in-waiting, Tim Jankovich. Jankovich was the coach of Illinois State since 2007, building the program into a contender in the Missouri Valley Conference. He will be paid $700,000 to be Brown's top assistant. Jankovich had been a head coach at North Texas and Hutchinson Community College before many stints as an assistant.

Staying with Southern Methodist, Larry Brown has told four players that they won't play on his Southern Methodist team, including starting point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas. They will be able to stay on academic scholarships if they do not want to transfer.

Marquette has lost an assistant, Tony Benford - he has taken the head coaching job at North Texas. Little-used forward Jamail Jones, a 6'6" forward from Atlanta, has left the program. And incoming signee Aaron Durley has been released from his Letter of Intent to Marquette.

Louisville's "Bullet", Elisha Justice, has transferred from Louisville to nearby University of Pikeville. Pikeville is an NAIA school.

Staying with Louisville, Karen Sypher has written a book accusing the government of plotting against her, calling her a prostitute, and protecting Louisville coach Rick Pitino. Sypher is serving over 7 years in prison for her extortion attempts on Pitino.

Seton Hall's backup point guard Sean Grennan will transfer from the program, looking for more playing time in a lower-level conference. Seton Hall also welcomes a new guard. Sterling Gibbs, a guard from Texas (and Ashton Gibbs' little brother) has transferred in to the Seton Hall program; the New jersey native will apply for a waiver to be eligible next season.

The bomb threats that have threatened the University of Pittsburgh for the past month appear to have stopped.

In Pitt injury news, both J.J. Moore and Tray Woodall will mss three months after surgeries.

Villanova is working the transfer wire for guards. Jay Wright's club has landed Rice transfer Dylan Ennis, and is in competition for guard Tony Chennault.

Rutgers has landed Lee Junior College wing Vincent Garrett.

Georgetown assistant Robert Kirby has left for Louisiana State.

Henry Sims, Aaron Bowen, and Moses Ayegba led Hoya students in a flash mob - they sang "Hakuna Matata" from the Lion King. Video from Casual Hoya.

South Florida's revamped arena, the Sun Dome, is open for business starting May 4th for commencement. An interesting arena management note: the arena project was managed by a USF Sun Dome Inc., private nonprofit university support organization. The arena will be managed by private group Global Spectrum.

St. John's recruiting |

Monday Evening Cardinal News And Notes

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:21:11 -0000

Erich Kline holding strong at Commonwealth last Sept. If anyone could remind how that game turned out, I'd greatly appreciate it. For whatever reason I seem to be blanking at the moment.

Quick programming note: I'll be on the radio with Mark Ennis tonight from 7-9 on ESPN 680 and ESPNLouisville.com. Listen as I get emotional before Elisha Justice is even brought up.

A reminder that the celebration for the 2011-12 Louisville Cardinals basketball team will be taking place on Fourth Street Live tomorrow beginning at 5:30 p.m.

I'm just going to go ahead and say what each one of us is thinking: I want The Russ Dance.

Brian Weinberg of Salon.com has a really interesting piece about his experience with the sports media during Final Four weekend. Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio features heavily in the story, but shockingly there are zero (ZERO) mentions of CardsFan922. I can only assume Mr. Weinberg is now looking for a new employer.

Also, Seth Davis is pretty much exactly how each one of us envisioned him.

We're discussing his journalism background - Davis started in print - when two teenage girls come around the corner. "Hey gorgeous, times two," he intones flirtatiously, and the girls literally simper. I assume they're CBS interns, or perhaps daughters of a coach; they're so young, it's innocuous and charming. He returns to talking about the competitive nature of sports journalists.

...

"I was having a conversation about this with Chuck Todd [chief White House correspondent and political director of NBC News]. My sense is there's more competition in sports to be first. Everybody's trying to get noticed. One way to do that is get the scoop, another is being as loud and obnoxious and mean as you can. How incendiary can you be?"

"Just as in politics," I say, wondering if he counts Doyel as incendiary.

"It's a very true parallel. You gotta go to the polarized extreme. I think people like to be provoked. There's a lot of trash-talking in sports, but in politics, I think there's genuine demonizing. Hey there, hot lady ..."

It's CBS courtside reporter Lesley Visser, whose face has fewer wrinkles than her sideline reporters 30 years her junior. "Can I borrow him for a second?" she asks, giggly to see Davis.

Visser's been a pioneer for women in sports journalism, the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history, male or female, to have worked on broadcast crews for all of the following: the Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Olympics, Super Bowl, World Figure Skating Championships and U.S. Open. Yet as she and Davis chat, she keeps grabbing his arm and touching her hair, like a teenage girl.

"Tomorrow's a long day," Davis tells me before being whisked away in a golf cart, young and forever male. "Production meeting, rehearsal, the pre-game show, the games, the post-game show. And I'm doing some corporate work for Subway. A little lettuce on the side," he says, winking.

"Hey gorgeous, times two." Son of a bitch...He stole my line.

The Louisville softball team swept a three-game weekend set with Longwood (heh) in style, as senior hurler Tori Collins tossed two no-hitters in as many days. The Cardinals are now a sparkling 38-2.

The Louisville baseball team continued its perennial struggles with Seton Hall, dropping two of three games to the visiting Pirates over the weekend. The Cards (25-11, 8-4) will travel to Indiana on Tuesday before a weekend series at South Florida.

Alex Kupper suffered a sprained MCL during Saturday's Spring Game, but should only be sidelined for about three weeks.

The news is markedly worse for junior reserve center Chris Walker, who tore his left MCL and ACL during last Friday's practice and will miss the entire 2012 season.

Erich's picture reminded me that I needed to give a belated rest in peace to one of my favorite friends' dogs, Chloe Weber.

We co-hosted the CC game-watch party for this past season's Battle for the Commonwealth against Kentucky, and she (along with the Art Carmody jersey, of course) deserves at least some of the credit for the victory and subsequent postgame celebration.

Might have been drinking.

Probably had been drinking. Not definitely, though. You'll never get a definitely out of me.

Ok, definitely had been drinking.

Love you, Chloe.

Rick Pitino and Kenny Perry performed quite admirably together at a Pro-Am in Florida over the weekend.

via www.tampabay.com

You know Nick Faldo and I won this thing last year, and I'd like to win it again this year.

Scott Radcliff took to the podium this afternoon after Pitino and Luke Hancock, and talked about the spring game as well as expectations heading into fall camp. He said that Teddy Bridgewater's maturation had been great to watch, that Bridgewater and Stein are great friends who push each other unbelievably hard in practice, and that DeVante Parker has the potential to be out-of-this-world good.

I hate looking ahead, but it's hard not to get extremely excited when thinking about what the potential that next year's athletic season holds.

It's sooo haaarrdddd to say goodbyyeeee to Infra-Ruuussssss.

Love the fact that Luke Hancock's poised and mature press conference candor can say "veteran co-captain," while his earrings can scream "party" at the same time. We've seen that same type of versatility from Luke throughout his brief tenure at U of L. Not everyone can shoot the three AND create ways to score in the paint, just like not everyone can rock a polo with sweatpants.

Excited to see everything this guy brings to the table over the next year...on and off the court.

Congratulations to the Louisville rugby team, which drilled Kentucky 46-0 on Saturday to keep the Henry Clay Cup in the Derby City.

I'm just gonna go ahead and address this straight on: I've received a suspiciously high number of emails, tweets and Facebook messages in recent weeks from people saying their moms want to meet me. I'm not sure what the purpose of these proposed meetings would be...but I'm....well, I'm suspicious.

Maybe they want to lecture me about something, or maybe I've just been giving off a mom vibe recently. I don't know, I can't control these things. A few people did refer to me as "bitch magnet" in college, but that was only because I was constantly crying and hanging out by the refrigerator.

I'm not sure what the solution is here, but just know that I'm...well, again, I'm suspicious.

It's been posted everywhere but here...

Sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason.

Here are the posters that will be given away at tomorrow's celebration:

Could have probably figured out some way to get that shot of me and Chloe in there, but whatever, I'm not going to complain. We'll just save that shot for the "Mike's Louisville" banner that will be hung on the side of Andy's TV.

Here's the official release on Siva and Hancock being named co-captains for next season.

And finally, Louisville has opened in Vegas as the third choice to win next year's national championship at 10:1. Kentucky and Indiana are your co-favorites at 7:1.

Pitino Names Siva, Hancock Co-Captains For 2012-13 And Other Press Conference Notes

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:12:08 -0000

Rick Pitino spoke with the media (whom he thanked for all their hard work this year at the end of the press conference) Monday afternoon and addressed a number of items.

Pitino began by stating that Peyton Siva and George Mason transfer Luke Hancock will be the co-captains for the 2012-13 season. He continued to praise Hancock, by saying he was a leader this past season even though he wasn't able to contribute on the floor.

Audio should be available from U of L later tonight, but for now, here are the main points of emphasis from a loaded press conference.

--Richard Pitino will be taking former director of basketball operations Mark Lieberman and assistant video coordinator Casey Stanley with him to Florida International.

--With Richard gone, Pitino expects Kevin Keatts to move into the scouting/game preparation role that the younger Pitino held last season.

--Pitino says he is in no hurry to fill the vacant assistant position.

--Andre McGee has been promoted to director of basketball operations.

--Elisha Justice is officially transferring to Pikeville College. Pitino says he wants to play major minutes and also be closer to his grandparents who are dealing with some health issues. Justice is a Pikeville native.

--Louisville will not be wearing the infra-red uniforms next season (pour two out for Infra-Russ). Although Pitino did hint that he would like to have uniforms made with the same material, but the correct color, if Adidas could make that happen.

--Mike Marra had a much more serious injury than Rakeem Buckles, and Pitino is unsure how healthy he'll be by the start of next season. Buckles, again, will miss all of next season.

--Wayne Blackshear and Chane Behanan both have to improve their perimeter shooting before next season. He needs to become a more consistent three-point threat, but other than that Wayne is going to be special. Pitino added that if Behanan improves his shot, he could be one of the best players in college basketball. He also said that Chane is acting a little "too Hollywood" right now.

--Pitino praised the careers of both Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith, but said the team will be better offensively next season with new guys stepping into their roles. He also said that while both had a great ability to understand scouting reports and where to be on defense, neither had tremendous natural ability on defense.

--Pitino would love to play IU next season and will speak with Tom Crean at some point during the offseason about possibly scheduling that game.

--Angel Nunez is the hardest-working player on the team, and they expect him (so long as he puts on the required weight) to backup Chane Behanan at the four next season.

--Russ Smith was probably the team's most valuable player last season. He had a conversation with Leslie Visser of CBS during Final Four weekend, and she said Russ was the MVP "for both our team and the other team."

--The 2011 recruiting class is wildly underrated. Angel's going to be great and so is Zach Price. Zach just has to really work on his free-throw shooting.

--He expects that Luke Hancock will play the two next season. There's no way to know right now what our starting lineup will be next season (my guess as of right now is Siva, Hancock, Blackshear, Behanan and the Gorgster).

--Would like Gorgui to get his weight up to 255 before the start of next season.

--Luke Hancock spoke later and said he wasn't surprised that he was named captain despite this being just his second season in the program and the first where he can actually play in games.

--Hancock said that early on last year some guys were late to some weight-lifting sessions and he had to blast them. He had no problem doing that even though he was a newcomer.

--Getting to the Final Four last season just serves as more motivation to get back there this coming year.

Elisha Justice Will Transfer

Mike Rutherford — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:27:08 -0000

Former Kentucky Mr. Basketball and current rising junior Elisha Justice will transfer from Louisville. All Ky Hoops reports that Bullet's new home will be Pikeville College.

Russ Smith confirms as only Russ Smith can.

Justice's departure makes an already intriguing situation at backup point guard that much more interesting. Sophomore-to-be Kevin Ware played the position sparingly during his one semester of eligibility, but appeared extremely uncomfortable at times. Incoming freshman Terry Rozier has been billed by some as more of a two, but will almost certainly get a look (assuming he's eligible). The man who filled the role most often down the stretch this past season was Smith, who also appears to be the leading candidate right now to be your starter at the two guard.

The situation is certainly one to keep an eye on during the summer months.

The word that Bullet was looking to transfer started to swirl earlier this week, but the folks I talked to at that time were of the belief that he would be heading to a D-I school. I know Pikeville is home and that he can play immediately there, but I'm still slightly surprised he didn't shoot a little higher.

Best of luck to a great kid who I'm sure will do big things with his remaining years of eligibility. He'll definitely be missed here.

We'll always have this.

Louisville 57, Michigan State 44

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:04:31 -0000

We already kind of covered what would have been the introduction earlier, so let's dive straight into the Cardinal heads.

That sounds awful.

Michigan State's 44 points against Louisville was the lowest output by a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since the institution of the shot clock. It was a defensive effort moved U of L up to No. 1 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive efficiency rankings.

More on the remarkable defensive performance from the folks at Basketball Prospectus.

In case you weren't aware, the Cardinals are pretty good at this thing called "scoring prevention." The Spartans could only muster 0.73 points per possession after exceeding 1.08 in each of the past five contests. Meanwhile, the 0.73 was the 11th consecutive sub-1.00 performance by a Louisville opponent. The explanation was simple. The Spartans couldn't shoot (effective FG percentage: 34), couldn't hang onto the ball (turnover percentage: 25), and didn't grab many of their own misses (offensive rebound percentage: 22). That is not a recipe for success. Draymond Green, so effective through the first weekend, could muster only 13 points on 16 shots, going 1-for-7 from three. Gorgui Dieng had a lot to do with Michigan State's ineptitude, blocking seven shots and altering many others. The Cardinals weren't exactly a juggernaut on offense themselves, but their 0.94 points per possession were plenty good enough, thanks largely to shooting 39 percent on 23 threes.

It's becoming pretty apparent that we spent far too much of the past couple of months talking about who wasn't making shots, and not nearly enough recognizing that this is probably the best defensive team we've ever followed.

So last night's win moved Rick Pitino to 10-0 all-time in the Sweet 16, including a 4-0 mark against better-seeded teams. The only downer was that the 13-point win caused his previous average margin of victory in the round (23 points) to dip.

Seriously though, those are absolutely absurd numbers.

Tom Izzo's first NCAA Tournament loss to a Big East team.

You want to know what set the tone? Fly-Swatting Wayne during the video of Pitino's pregame talk.

That's when I knew we were going to be Ok.

The numbers weren't staggering outside of the seven blocks, but it legitimately looked last night like we had the All-American on the floor in Gorgui Dieng. There were a couple of times when Michigan State guards drove to the basket and I started laughing before they even left their feet to get blocked.

Easily the best was the Keith Appling swat about 17 rows into the stands followed by Gorgui helping him up and then smacking him on the ass.

Legitimately might be the most popular person in Louisville, and deservedly so.

I tweeted again last night about my desire for there to be a Gorgui statue placed prominently somewhere in this city. The best responses I got were: 1) A gigantic Gorgui statue in the river holding up the new bridge; 2) Miniature Gorguis all over town like those horses that are everywhere; 3) Gorgui's face carved into the front of the Humana building.

Personally, I'm for all three happening before the start of next season, but I'll settle for one.

In 2005, Louisville won the West region by defeating the 13, 5, 1 and 7 seeds, and played in the 4:30 Elite Eight game on Saturday.

Creepy.

Don't know if you caught it, but a commercial featuring lawn gnomes popped up out of friggin' nowhere in the middle of the second half. If we can survive that, then we have nothing to fear.

The full transcript of last night's postgame press conference featuring Rick Pitino, Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan.

Love this shot from Eric Crawford of Pitino watching the Florida/Marquette game in the U of L locker room.

He just doesn't have that same fire, you guys.

Classic Russ quote alert:

Russ Smith attempted to charm official Patrick Driscoll after he drove the lane and the contact from forward Adreian Payne left him on the ground. Coming out of a timeout, Smith approached Driscoll and both came away laughing.

"I went to the basket and Adreian Payne just shoved me," Smith said. "Like, that was ridiculous. I was like, ‘Dag' and then I told him that was probably the makeup no-call for all the times that I done flopped so that was a great call."

Remember earlier this year when I wrote that I wanted to start saying "dag" more? Ok, well I did.

When you mention our relationship in writing or in words, you shall refer to us as "Russeford."

Yeah, that happened.

People forget, but Gorgui stroked a three without hesitation in his first exhibition game last season. This kid can do it all folks (John Candy, Rookie of the Year).

After the game Gorgui said that he'd been making a lot of threes during shoot-arounds and that Pitino told him he could shoot them next year if he proves he can make them consistently. The Gorgster said after he buried that one he came to the bench and said, "sorry coach, I thought it was next year."

Get over here and give me a hug.

Kussing Kyle Kuric?

I've loved seeing more of his kharacter in recent weeks.

We needed Chane to step up in a major way and he probably played his best game of the season. He obviously gave a tremendous effort on the boards, but he also did a much better job of finishing around the basket, and converted on a couple of possessions where we badly needed scores.

Babies 4 Behanan is real, folks...it's also in need of more pictures.

Biggest play of the game, I thought, was when State had cut the lead to 35-31 on that follow-up dunk and Siva responded by finding Chane for an easy score with just a couple of seconds left on that shot clock. It looked like that possession was going nowhere and that MSU was going to get the ball back with all the momentum in the world, but that find and finish were a huge relief.

Post-loss couch-burning? Come on, East Lansing. Grow up. You got Gorgui'd. It f---ing happens.

I could not have been more worried about eventually getting Izzo'd, by the way. When they came out and hit a three right away to start the second half, all I could think was "what did you do, you genius bastard?" But every time State did something new that worked we countered with an adjustment that worked even better.

Rick Pitino was two steps ahead of Tom Izzo on this night. There's zero question about it.

Chris Smith stepped up in a major way. He went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, helped out on the glass and provided great on-ball pressure that accounted for at least two turnovers. That exactly the type of solid, all-around, veteran effort that this team has to have from him.

Peyton Siva did not have a great shooting night, but he did have nine assists and the ball was in his hands for the bulk of the 35 minutes he spent on the floor. Every now and then when you see pressure from opposing defenses you stop and think about how nice it is to have such a sure-handed floor general. Yes, he gets out-of-control and makes poor decisions from time-to-time, but when it comes to pure ball-handling skill Siva's right up there with the best, and that's huge at this point in the tournament.

A quick tip of the cap to the officials for letting the boys play last night. It might have been the least amount of beef I've had with a crew all season.

New documentary coming out on Card Chronicle's March of 2012:

Really think we just need Wayne to hit his first shot. He's actually looking far more comfortable on defense right now than he is on offense, which couldn't a further cry from his debut against West Virginia.

If Swop hits that third three-pointer, I'm probably not here right now. I'm dead from celebration.

Louisville wins a national title, and I'll be pretty easy to spot at Derby.

That's infra enough, right? And 80 bucks? Are you kidding? I would have given minor body parts.

Kyle's still due for a breakout shooting game. Someone just has to tell him to aim long. Literally every single time he misses, it's short.

When Russ ended up with Austin Thornton on him during that possession late in the first half, there was a 107% chance that he was going to try to cross him up and then bury a step-back jumper. It worked.

Russell Mania did not, however, record a steal in the game, which means he's still three shy of breaking the U of L single-season record.

Apparently Draymond Green was talking some trash (and punching our players) during the game. Chris Smith's response? "It motivated me a lot...you talk trash to me, you're in for a long day...let's take their money"

Night night, Day Day.

More solid quotes from Lefkoe:

Seth Davis and Steve Smith both seemed to believe that Michigan State would win by about 50 last night. They also both picked the Cards to lose to Florida later in the evening.

That sits just fine with me.

Oh, and how could we forget?

It's also worth noting that Louisville opened as a 1-point underdog to Florida.

An update on the Cards' three-point defense in the postseason:

Seton Hall - 16 percent
Marquette - 15 percent
Notre Dame - 12 percent
Cincinnati - 21 percent
Davidson - 21 percent
New Mexico - 22 percent
Michigan State - 24 percent

A Michigan State fan wrote to me yesterday and called me an "idiot" for "assuming" that Muhammad Ali would be coming to the game to cheer for Louisville. He went on and on about Ali's relationship with Izzo and how he has a house in Michigan and is always welcome in the Spartan locker room.

I didn't even respond.

"I'm the greatest fighter in the world, and Louisville, Kentucky is the greatest city in the world."

Not going to lie, Florida terrifies me. They're the type of team that can put up points even when you defend the hell out of them, which is obviously a concern for us.

Positive: Rick Pitino is 6-0 against Billy Donovan and his son was an assistant at UF for the past two seasons.

Negative: They have four guys who can hit from anywhere regardless of how well they're being guarded.

Positive: They haven't shot the ball particularly well this postseason.

Negative: They're due.

Positive: We have Gorgui Dieng

Negative: As the better seed we don't get to wear the all infra-reds.

Loved seeing the Izzo dry erase board before the game and what he had written about every player.

I was praying for "Elisha Justice: Nicknamed 'Bullet,' Hottest Male Athlete in the World, do not stare at directly."

It wasn't on there though.

Retweeted the infamous Jeff Goodman/Gorgui Dieng tweet last night, and he responded pretty quickly.

You'll be forgiven when I have my prize in hand...or cage...yes, I'm hoping for an animal.

The 2009 Big East Tournament champions t-shirt is tucked neatly into drawer four of my dresser, where it will remain until 3:30 tomorrow afternoon.

It's been seven games, the same clothes (Nate Dogg voice).

Two weeks ago we were terrified of losing to Seton Hall and being relegated to a seven or eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. Right now, we're one win away from the ninth Final Four appearance in Louisville basketball history.

This is too much fun to end now.

Go Cards.

Louisville 73, Pittsburgh 62

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:08:23 -0000

I gave up doing game predictions for basketball a couple of years ago. Reason being, every time I asserted my belief that Louisville was likely to lose a game and they ultimately did not, I would receive three or four messages either chastising me for my pick or gloating as if I had been rooting for the other team. It became clear that the only way to avoid this was either pick the Cards to win every game - rendering the entire feature meaningless - or just keep my thoughts on the matter to myself.

The point I'm getting to with the lead-in is this: I didn't vocalize it (or...typalize it), but I thought Louisville was going to lose at Pittsburgh on Saturday night. I'd even wrapped my mind around the idea that the loss wouldn't have been that big of a deal and that the salvaging of the season was still perfectly realistic.

Now that the victory has actually occurred, it's pretty apparent just how significant it was...at least for the time being.

It's not like Saturday night was the proverbial "switch flipping" moment where this team all of the sudden starts playing like the top five squad voters believed it to be at the end of December, but given the preceding circumstances, it was almost that crucial.

Several areas of concern (fouling, outside shooting, defensive rebounding) looked significantly improved, several players (Peyton, Kyle, Chane) gave performances that should give them some added confidence going forward and the team as a whole looked like a group that had garnered some much-needed momentum heading into a stretch of winnable games.

We can argue for hours about what "saving" this season would actually entail - remember, a majority of you said "yes" during the summer to the question of whether or not this was a "Final Four or bust' season for Pitino - but the fact is that Saturday's victory over a talented team that had been playing better in a challenging environment was enormous for a number of reasons.

As with all things, time will be the ultimate determinant as far as Saturday's true significance is concerned, but all I know is that it left me cautiously optimistic about the next two months and extremely excited for the next time these guys take the floor. It's a feeling that had been painfully absent since the Notre Dame loss.

Santa Strong: so hot right now.

Having said that, I'm not sure this is a "ride him until he loses" situation. The man's already out of his element (obviously), and I fear that burning out is even more of a concern than usual here. Obviously, the SS has got to see more game threads, I'm just not sure that tossing him directly into the center of the fire when he had already settled in for what was supposed to be an 11-month sabbatical is the right play.

I'm open to be swayed one way or the other.

For me, this was the game I've been waiting to see Gorgui Dieng play all season. He was, per usual, consistent on offense, but he was a man absolutely possessed on the glass. For the first time since he's been here, Dieng looked like an intimidating presence in the middle whenever a shot was in the air. He finished with 14 boards and 13 points, and, perhaps more importantly, played a whopping 38 minutes.

The other thing that stood out was Gorgui's ability to be a defensive presence without getting into foul trouble. He did a much better job of going straight up when defending someone with the ball in the post while still serving as an effective shot-bloker. He finished the first half without committing a single foul, and still recorded five swats on the evening.

The only thing he does that still hurts us is not going for rebounds after he attempts to block shots and misses. Whenever he goes up for a block and doesn't get it, his first reaction is always to back away and give the official the "I didn't touch him" routine instead of going for the live ball.

Still, more than anything else that happened on Saturday, I thought Gorgui's performance was the biggest cause for optimism going forward.

Maybe we just need to toss up the "Top Ten Gorguis" post before every game.

I tried to do a "Lord of the Korner: Return of the King" photoshop thing, but then realized it wasn't that funny and I don't know how to use photoshop.

Still, I love you, Kyle...and I'm pretty sure Erin Andrews does too.

We've all been waiting for Peyton Siva's "turnaround moment" for what feels like four months now, and I think we're all together in hoping that it took place during the last six minutes of the Pitt win.

Siva played under control, scored a key basket on a drive, made some big passes and then buried a jumper. All you had to do in order to understand the importance of that last achievement was look at Rick Pitino's fist-pumping reaction.

Easily Chane Behanan's best offensive game of the season, and not just because he hit a new career-high with 19 points. Unlike previous games, Chane took proper advantage of the times when he had a recognizable...um...advantage, but he didn't force the issue when he...didn't (wordsmith).

Chane and the egregious turnover had become far too good of friends in recent weeks, but he only gave the ball away once on Saturday night, and it wasn't an especially atrocious mistake.

You also have to love the 7-of-9 performance at the stripe. There's no reason for him not to shoot better than 70% at the line, and he really needs to focus on getting to that number considering how likely it is for him to get fouled around the basket.

Keep feeding that man giant cake.

I generally like to watch games in fairly intimate settings so I can concentrate fully and hear everything that's going on. With Vitale on the call, I had no qualms about partaking in a large watch party. According to those who were able to hear Dick, it was the right call. The man has become a complete caricature of himself, and the act sailed way past cute and onto obnoxious several years ago.

Also, I like you Schulman, but you've got to shave that sh-t. It's unbecoming.

Where do you guys think I should take Russ for Valentine's Day? I think it needs to be somewhere classy, but also somewhere where he can feel free to be himself, you know?

I can only imagine that a date with Russ would start off incredibly exciting (Lobster tails as an appetizer!?), get a little weird during the main course (Did he just ask for A1 to put on that ridiculously expensive piece of meat? Oh my God he's eating it with just his hands!) and then ultimately end satisfyingly (Ordered the creme brulee "for himself" but let me eat most of it. Then left a big tip).

No, this is not how I spend the entirety of my days...just my winter days...and summer days when the team is playing in the Bahamas...also, my late May days when I get nostalgic.

All right, it's time for the Debbie Downer portion of the post.

The offense did look vastly superior than it has at any point since the Memphis game, but if we're being honest, at least a solid chunk of that has to do with the fact that Pittsburgh is an awful defensive team right now. Besides St. John's, they're the only team since the Georgetown game that failed to effectively shadow Kyle Kuric. The result was the King getting off nine 3-pointers (most of them being clean looks) and burying five.

The offense was much, much improved, but I don't think Louisville shoots better than 70% in that second half against any team in the Big East other than the Panthers.

Still, a week ago I wasn't sure we could shoot better than 70% for a half without another team in the gym.

Ashton Gibbs can't believe he lost to them bums again.

Not sure what it is, but the Petersen Events Center has just never had the same effect on Louisville as it has on the rest of the conference. The Cards were the first team in the league to win more than once there and are now the first Big East team to win three times there. If not for the absolute collapse in the final minute of the the 2010 game the Cards would be a perfect 4-0 in the Steel City.

Elisha Justice did exactly what we said he needed to do at the beginning of the season: he played minutes, recorded three assists and didn't commit any turnovers.

A friend of mine jokingly made the remark that players were making shots because the passes "felt better coming fro The Bullet," but in all seriousness I think there is something to be said for hitting an open shooter with a pass in the right place and with the right amount of velocity behind it. It seems like a little thing, but any shooter will tell you that a pass that's a foot lower than it should be can absolutely be the difference between a make and a miss, regardless of how open the player is when he lets the shot fly. So much of effective shooting has to do with rhythm, and a lot of times the insignificant things are actually the most important.

Bullet did exactly what we needed him to do during a key stretch, and I hope he continues to get the backup minutes at the one now that he's healthy.

Russ is open.

I'm still not sure what Kevin Ware's role with this team should be, but I'm even more sold now than I was before he joined the team that it needs to be limited. I know he brings assets to the table that no one else on the team does, but I don't think those assets outweigh the negatives inherent in his game right now.

Ware is a non-shooter on a below average shooting team. He's not a great ballhandler on a team sorely lacking in player who can create their own shots. He's able to get to the rim, but he's turnover prone and probably the worst free-throw shooter on the team.

I still believe, as I did when his name first popped up as a potential recruit, that if he has the right attitude Ware can eventually become a key contributor here. I just don't see that happening - at least consistently - this season.

I love you, Chris, but that cross-over that takes you nowhere: it's gotta go, man.

My bold prediction before the game was that Zach Price would score more than three points. It's nice to see the football tradition of those being horribly, horribly off-base has carried over onto the hardwood.

So I misspelled "Pittsburgh" on the original game thread. I'm not saying I'm going to be doing that for every thread from now on, I'm just saying if you initially see "Vilanova" on Wednesday night, there's only like a 90% chance that it's because I'm an idiot.

I know I said that beating Pitt at the PEC on GameDay night would be tougher than dealing with them at the Yum, but after seeing Tray Woodall look so rusty I'm not so sure that's the case. When Woodall gets back into playing shape, those guys are going to string together a few wins. They're going to be a completely different team come Feb. 26.

These next three games couldn't be more important. On the surface, all appear winnable (even though U of L has never tasted victory at Seton Hall), and I think it's paramount that U of L goes at least 2-1. The Cards have to have both momentum and a respectable league mark heading into the gruesome UConn/West Virginia/Syracuse stretch that follows.

It's time for a run.

Rick And Russ Talk Injuries, Game At Pittsburgh

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:20:48 -0000

Rick Pitino

--Kyle Kuric's status (high ankle sprain) for tomorrow night's game against Pitt will be a game-time decision.

--Pittsburgh is 0-6 in the Big East, but they've played really well in their last two games and are always extremely hard to beat at home.

--Kevin Ware did not practice the last two days because of his knee injury. He will probably practice today, but probably won't play in the Pitt game.

--Elisha Justice is healthy and will play against Pitt.

--Wit Rock out, the staff has advised him to play Chane Behanan at the five when Gorgui's out, but Pitino is going to give Zach Price a shot. Zach's not ready to play right now, but he feels like he has no other choice.

--Gorgui still doesn't know how to play when he's in foul trouble, so he thinks they're better off just letting him go and play as usual.

--Wayne Blackshear still has not practiced. His shoulder injury still isn't healed and now he's dealing with some asthma-related issues. For the first time, Pitino mentions the possibility of a redshirt. Says if it becomes clear that he can't make a difference then they'll go ahead and sit him for the rest of the year.

--Stephan Van Treese has not made much progress with his knee injury. Pitino guesses he won't return this season.

--Angel Nunez has a great attitude and tremendous passion for basketball. He will be a great player.

--Pitino again gushes over Luke Hancock. Says he is the best player on the team. "I've never coached anyone quite like him before."

--You can't look ahead and pinpoint potential wins and losses in a conference like the Big East. He doesn't know where the wins are going to come from, but he's confident because of this team's tremendous attitude. "Our attitude is our biggest ally right now."

--Again talks about there being "no bottom" in this league.

--Asked if he's confident about today (implication is the Derek Willis decision): "No, not at all, but I could have told you that two weeks ago."

Russ Smith

--Injuries are definitely on everybody's mind. "We're all just hoping we're not next."

--Rock has been his roommate since he got here, and he feels terribly for him. He was finally starting to get back and for that to happen has really crushed him.

--Everyone's been really surprised by the injuries. People are all sort of sitting around in the locker room now just wondering what's going on and hoping it doesn't happen to us.

--Kevin hurt his knee. We all thought it would be something he'd be able to just shake off, but that isn't the case.

--Has never played at Pitt but knows it's a tough place to play.

--Definitely looks at the schedule and where potential wins come from. Knows we play Pitt twice, which makes this game that much bigger. We have to get them at least once.

--Didn't play much last year, so feels like he's pretty much a freshman now. Knows he's still learning, still getting better and still has a long way to go.

--Knows he has a problem with taking shots that he shouldn't and not seeing open men. He's not being selfish, it's just something he's working on.

--Gorgui and Chane staying out of fol trouble and staying in the game is the biggest key for this team.

--Doesn't know if Kyle's going to play tomorrow, but knows Kyle's a competitor. If he does play, "I'll look for him in the left corner."

--A lot of people are surprised with the way teams like South Florida and Rutgers are playing, but our team isn't. We know how the Big East is.

--Knows that Pitt plays physical, especially at home. That's something the team has been preparing for all week.

--Loves late afternoon and night games, so he can't wait for tomorrow night.

--Doesn't pay much attention to his changing role, just tries to step up when he is needed.

--(Asked about if he worries about making mistakes and making coach angry) "Definitely. I don't like upsetting him. I don't like upsetting the staff. I don't want to get on any of my teammates' bad side."

--Says he's always asking what he's doing wrong because he genuinely wants to know. He's always asking to see game film and he's getting better at recognizing the things he needs to work on.

Kyle Kuric Will Not Play Against DePaul And More Press Conference Notes

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:48:55 -0000

Rick Pitino

--Kyle Kuric will not play against DePaul. He suffered a high ankle sprain on the first play of practice this morning.

--The key to our success last year was the smaller lineup, and that's something he wanted to work on before the DePaul game. We got one play into practicing with that lineup and then Kyle went down.

--The Villanova game is when Wayne Blackshear should officially be cleared to play.

--DePaul is much improved. They're very good off the bounce and they bring a lot of pressure. They can cause you a lot of problems if you don't handle their pressure well.

--Staying out of foul trouble is so critical for this team. Doesn't agree with a lot of the early fouls that have been called on Gorgui. There are three or four phantom calls every game, and that goes both ways. The way you avoid that is by playing better defense and keeping opposing players from penetrating into the lane.

--None of Peyton's fouls in the past two games have been good. He's been fouling near midcourt and just running into people.

--We can't win with Peyton and Gorgui playing 18-19 minutes a game. They have to play about 35 minutes every night for us to win.

--Elisha Justice is back to being completely healthy and he's ready to contribute more.

--It's really important for the fans to get behind this team. The fact that the fans are dejected about losing is a good thing. You want people who care and are passionate about the game. That said, we need them right now. We've got to win games and anybody is capable of beating us, especially with Kyle out. If we're going to beat seven teams at home, it has to be a collective effort, and that includes the fans.

--The bottom of the Big East is so strong that there really is no bottom.

--We have a tremendous will to win and that's something not all teams in college basketball have. We have 13 tremendous young men and they're going to do everything possible to get the job done from this point on.

--We run a limited amount of sets with Kevin Ware in the game because he's only been here for a few weeks.

--Ends the press conference by addressing C.L. Brown's article about the way the team practices (he's not happy).

Talks at length about his practice habits with the 1987 Providence team. Says he would have deserved any criticism he got then for making the team practice too hard. With the NCAA's new 20-hour rule, he can't work teams that hard anymore even though he wishes he could.

He's worked this team less hard in practice than any other he's had because of all the injuries. They've been pretty much just trying to get ready for the next game since the start of the season.

The article in the C.J. was disingenuous and hurts recruiting. It gave every other team in the country ammunition on the recruiting trail.

Kenny Klein told him about Preston Knowles' quote. Preston was a two-star recruit whose only other option was Western Kentucky, who wasn't even sure if they would offer him a scholarship. All of these other schools passed on him because they thought he had character issues. We gave him a chance, he worked his ass off and he became a great player.

The injuries are not the product of over-working in practice, they're the product of bad luck. Says the article wasn't honest and that he should have been approached before it was written.

Chris Smith

--The players came together and had a team meeting. Feels like they solved the problem. The problem was that the team wasn't supporting each other enough and guys didn't feel like they had one another's back. We've come together now and we had a great practice yesterday.

--In the Providence game there was a lack of effort on the whole team's part, but you'll never see that again. Very confident about that statement.

--The leaders need to stay positive and that's something that wasn't happening earlier in the season. After a 31-point loss, the leaders have no choice but to step up and be positive to keep everyone else positive.

--Kyle going down left everyone in shock. He's always playing and he never goes down. Now everyone has to come together and contribute.

--The captains organized the team meeting and it happened the day after the Providence game.

--Everybody was talking during the team meeting. Luke Hancock isn't even playing this season and he was talking. Everybody said their peace and yesterday we had one of the best practices of the season.

--We have to get back to picking up the pace and running more, and that starts with defense.

--The fans can make a big difference in these last seven home games. If they're into it from the beginning to the end it will make things a lot easier. That said, it's on us to be the ones who get them into the game.

--The players' meeting lasted about an hour.

--Thinks Coach Pitino's goal of winning all seven games and two on the row is achievable. We have the potential to beat anyone. We're still that team that we were at the beginning of the season. We just have to get back to winning.

--Wayne has been hurt for almost a year, but to still see flashes of his potential during practice is unbelievable. He's definitely one of the most talented guys on the team.

--When Russ Smith is in the game and playing his best basketball, that's when we're the best as a team. He has to really step up with Kyle out.

--Knows that he personally has to step up his rebounding with Kyle out.

--The main message of the team meeting was "stay positive and stay together." Everybody knows it's a long season.