SB Nation - Reginald Delk

Louisville smokes Arkansas 96-66 in season-opener

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:22:49 -0000

The Louisville basketball team has played one game and their margin of victory in that contest - played against an SEC opponent away from home - is more than double the combined margin of victory of their football counterpart's three D-1 victories. Scoring lots of points and winning by lots of points is fun, and I remember that now.

The ball is bouncing once again in the Derby City.

So I'm not sure who started at the four for Louisville last night. He looked like Jared Swopshire, he even wore his number, but he didn't play anything like the Swop we've seen for the past 12 months.

Maybe it was playing in front of friends and family in St. Louis, but Swop looked about 20 times more confident than he ever has at any point in his brief Cardinal career. He made smart and bold decisions with the ball in his hands, knocked down open shots and came down with contested rebounds over some pretty big boys.

I've stated on here multiple times that Swop is at least a year away from being a solid Big East forward, and while I still doubt his ability to do a lot of what he did last night against the likes of Connecticut and West Virginia, if he can play at the level he displayed then he absolutely deserves a spot in the starting lineup.

A friend I took in the game with summed things up quite well at one point in the second half: "Swop just looks...cooler."

Reggie Delk again confirmed his status as the least predictable Louisville basketball player of all-time by burying 4-of-5 treys and scoring 20 points. He also did a tremendous job when he was assigned to Rotnei Clarke.

I thought before the season that Delk's performance would be a huge factor in how the season turned out, and while I don't feel nearly as strongly about that statement as I once did, it's an enormous lift when he's knocking down open shots, snatching rebounds and doing all of the other little things that players with his athleticism can do.

Pitino has talked about Delk being a guy whose performance is dictated largely by his confidence level, and if that's the case then last night may have been even more important than it appeared on the surface.

He didn't shoot the ball particularly well but I thought Edgar Sosa put together a nice game. He made a couple of poor decisions early but still finished with a team-high seven assists and turned it over only twice.

Sosa is this team's point guard and he will be for the entire season.

Even with Delk's big night, I love the three-guard starting lineup. Sosa, Knowles and Smith look extremely comfortable on the floor together and produced an assist-to-turnover ratio of 18:4 last night. I still wouldn't be surprised if Jennings replaces Swop in the starting five at some point, but I think the three-guard lineup is here to stay. As it should be.

The Big East is 29-0 right now. That's quite ridiculous.

What do you think the odds are of the entire league being without a loss come Selection Sunday? It's gonna be tough, but I think we've got a shot.

This will be the 9,674th time someone has said this in the past calendar year, but Samardo Samuels has simply got to turn himself into a better rebounder. Last night he was consistently out of position, he was out-muscled and he bobbled multiple boards he should have come up with cleanly. Granted, he was going up against a future first round NBA Draft pick, but without T-Will and Earl Clark, four boards simply isn't going to cut it.

No token photo. Get off your ass, AP photogs.

Apparently there were some network-wide problems that made CC impossible to access for a period during the game last night. In order to make amends, I'm going to go ahead and make all of our content free and open to the public.

You're welcome.

Jerry's excited about the season.

Seriously, can one guy be cooler?

Peyton Siva's and-one was highlight worthy, but he appeared a bit overanxious when the ball was in his hands and struggled to keep his man in front of him on defense. Still, he's a high school All-American with ridiculous potential who doesn't mind waiting his turn as long as his team is winning.

We love you, Peyton. We love you a lot .

A Big East football win and a 30-point victory over an SEC opponent in the basketball season-opener in the span of four days. It's safe to say Cardwear Sporting Dog is legit.

When Preston buried the no-hesitation three on the first possession of the season, the urge I had to take my pants off was at a March '09 level.

Anyone else have an extremely strong desire to chug Bud Light and pound Reese's Cups after watching that game? I wonder what that was all about.

Rotnei Clarke is really good and we did an outstanding job on him last night. He has as pure a stroke as there is in college basketball and is actually much better at creating his own shot than I thought he was. Kudos to Knowles and Delk for keeping him under 20.

How pissed do you think the two Razorbacks on the end of the bench are that the guy from the golf team plays more than them?

On a related note, I have a friend - who shall again remain anonymous in order to protect him from becoming Louisville's biggest social pariah - who had the gumption to yell "fore" when the golfer missed a free-throw. If that wasn't bad enough, he later admitted that he'd been waiting to use the joke for the better part of the night.

Robert Daniel Sinnard of St. Matthews, the world weeps for you and all you come in contact with.

Mike Marra really needs to make a shot. Just one.

Keep shooting, my man.

How about Chris Brickley's take? That was insanely confident and well-executed.

It was equally awesome to see Sosa, his roommate, going nuts on the bench.

It's really cool to watch how much these guys genuinely like each other.

Ninety-six points, 15 threes, 25 assists, 16 turnovers forced, 30-point win, basketball season.

I'm crying because I'm happy.

Louisville 79, Siena 72

Mike Rutherford — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:29:38 -0000

The first glimpse of the end of something very good is always heartbreaking.

With Siena having just charged from lifeless to a four-point lead, Louisville not appearing capable of responding in any form and Rick Pitino talking to his players in the midst of an apparent 35-minute timeout, the thought that this was the last time this group would take the floor as a team crept into my mind for the first time. No more Pit Bull No. 1 hounding opposing guards, no more T-Willisms, no more Earl in March, no more daydreaming about Detroit.

And then the Cards did what Final Four teams tested on the tournament's opening weekend have been doing for years: they found a way to win.

The formula for these types of victories is basic. You have a star player, you let your star player make star player plays, and then the rest of the team rallies.

I am no less confident in this team's ability to win a national championship than I was before Sunday. One seeds have been pushed in the round of 32 year-after-year. It happened last season to both Memphis (against Mississippi State) and UCLA (against Texas A&M).

Siena was legitimately one of the 32 best teams in the country. They boasted the MAAC Player of the Year as well as the same five starters who rolled Vanderbilt in the first round of last year's Big Dance. Thee guys weren't going to crumble because of a double-digit deficit in the second half.

A win over a good team in the tournament needs to be celebrated, regardless of how it came about.

There's more Louisville basketball to be played, and as long as you can say that with a straight face, life is good.

There's nothing I can say about Terrence William that hasn't already been said by now, so I'm not even going to try. The man cemented his status as a leader and All-American by carrying his team to victory with the season on the line.

I know we said it last year when David Padgett's Cardinal career was winding to a close, but what in the world are we going to do without this guy?

Ms. Card Chronicle and I made the day trip to Dayton, the former managing to sneak a "T-WIll T-WILL Rock You" sign into UD Arena. After successfully evading the wrath of the sign Nazis for two hours, she managed to get T-Will's attention as he headed toward the locker room following a postgame interview with CBS. He smiled, pointed, and said, "I like that sign."

And just like that, her crush on the best player on the nation's No. 1 team ballooned to half the size of mine.

If that weren't enough, she managed to get some ink in The New York Times.

A woman in the stands held up a sign. It read: "T-Will, T-Will, Rock You!" Williams finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, rocking all night long.

I'd like to note that the sign did not actually include an exclamation point.

"Some guy named Mike" in the Dayton Daily News and "a woman" in The New York Times...power couple.

How excited about cheering on the bench do you think Jery Smith secretly got after picking up his second foul?

If he would have banged that second three from the corner early in the second half, it would have easily been my biggest overreaction of the game.

We've been talking about this since the Ole Miss game, but this team's lack of a killer instinct is still really troubling.

I understand that this is a loose bunch, and I'm OK with that, but the looseness seems to be taken to a dangerous level whenever a second half lead blossoms to nine or ten. We've seen over the last couple of weeks that Louisville is a team capable of making key, debilitating runs, but they still haven't figured out where the throat is. In both the Syracuse and Villanova games, U of L opened up the second half with monster runs that helped them build a lead of around eight points, and then the margin hovered right around that area for the rest of the game.

We still haven't seem these guys go on a big run to build a respectable lead and then smell blood and put the game completely out of reach. That worries me.

I believe in Almost Dunking Marques Maybin.

This was a game where we really needed Samardo Samuels to provide a monster advantage inside, and for the most part he did. He took a couple of poor shots near the end of the game, but he was tremendous on defense (sans the whole forgetting there was someone behind him on the go-ahead bucket for the Saints) and very assertive when he caught the ball in a position to score.

It's time for Jordan Hill now, big fella.

Token

Jared Swopsher, Ronald Delk, Juan Palashus...thank god Verne has that Happy Gilmore money to fall back on.

The bird that made its way into the arena landing on the midcourt logo during a TV timeout produced one of the loudest cheers of the game. It was pretty awesome.

A very strong seven minutes from Terrence Jennings. So strong that you can't help but wonder what happened to him in the second half.

I really don't think Jared Swopshire missed a shot during either pregame or halftime warm-ups. It actually made me really hope he got an open look when he was in during the first half.

It seems to me like CBS has had even more problems switching games during this tournament than in past years, and they've never been good.

If I had been home for this, though, something within arm's each would have been thrown.

An almost three-minute stretch in the final five minutes, in which the Cardinals rallied from a 63-61 deficit to a 68-63 lead, was not shown. The game, which was broadcast on CBS affiliate WLKY, was interrupted by cutaways to Marquette-Missouri and USC-Michigan State.

CBS was supposed to provide a "constant feed" of live U of L game action and not cut away from the hometown team, WLKY president and general manager Glenn Haygood said.

...

WLKY was "flooded" with calls, Haygood said.

"If I were a viewer, I would have complained to anybody that would have listened to me," he said.

Haygood said he will be having some "serious conversations" with CBS.

"This cannot happen again," he said. "It should have never happened in the first place."

It's OK. I mean, it's not like they've been doing this for a long time or anything. The fine folks at CBS are still learning the ropes when it comes to the tournament and college basketball fans need to be respectful of that.

Jackasses.

I don't have a good way to lead into this, but here's Jerb's video of pregame warm-ups.

Even when Preston Knowles is at his worst he manages to work in something ridiculously cool.

I said before the game that Hasbrouck, Franklin and Ubiles could play for any team in America, well, go ahead and add Ronald Moore to that list.

He had an awful afternoon from the field, but played 40 minutes and ate our press alive, finishing with ten assists and just two turnovers. He also had four steals.

He'll never be a household name, but if Louisville's defense leads it to another title, he'll probably be able to say that he handled it as well as any floor general in the country.

I get the feeling Ryan Rossiter would have become one of the most unliked college basketball players in the eyes of Louisville fans had Siena been able to pull the upset off. Something about seeing a guy that looks like he's worse than you at sports succeeding at a high level just rubs people the wrong way.

Good Edgar was just about as good as he's ever been in the first half, but I still wish he'd get over thinking that stringing together a few nice plays is justification for multiple heat check shots. That said, he stepped up when we needed a boost.

Even with Sosa playing well, though, you knew McGee was going to be the guy with the game on the line. He's earned that.

Loved seeing Reggie get minutes at the two. It's nice to know that he can handle that if a similar situation comes up again at some point over the next two weeks.

Can anyone tell me Rick Pitino's record in the Sweet 16? I know that I knew at one point, but I just can't seem to remember for whatever reason.

The Monday after the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament is always so depressing.

Explain to me again why there isn't basketball on. We don't play again until when?

It's all so hard to accept.

Two down.

Louisville 73, Providence 55

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:50:45 -0000

Given all of the factors surrounding this game - Providence playing for its NCAA Tourney life, our guys maybe being a bit too juiced after accepting the championship trophy last night and playing in their first game of the tournament this afternoon, etc. - I think it'd be wise for us to take this 18-point win, rush it home, hide it somewhere where no one will ever find it and then never speak about any of this ever again.

Yes, we turned it over far too often, no, Terrence Williams was not himself, but we handled a talented veteran team desperate for a win in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. I can live with it.

A number of Providence's nearly record-breaking 26 turnovers were unforced, but we played hellacious defense from opening tip to final horn.

Our guys closed out on their shooters, didn't let McDermott, Kale or Hanke catch the ball too low and didn't allow any Friar to exploit the middle of the zone.

It was a tremendous effort from everyone wearing white, but Andre McGee in particular appeared to be about eight places at once. He certainly seems fully aware that this is his last dance and wants it to last as long as possible.

This was an early "told you so" moment for the "wait until March" band of Earl Clark supporters.

Not only did E5 have a big scoring game, but he was always in the right place defensively, crashed the boards with more intensity than any of his teammates, and played with as much energy as we've ever seen.

When he's doing this, we're instantly twice as hard to beat.

As encouraging as Clark's performance was, I think it's the play of Samardo Samuels that should have Cardinal fans doing celebratory jump kicks.

Samuels dunked a lot per usual, but he also made a couple of terrific post moves to get himself in position to score and finished shots after offensive rebounds that we've seen him miss more times than not over the course of the season. This may have also been his best defensive effort to date, as he took a pair of charges and blocked a couple of shots.

PC's post game doesn't quite rival UConn's or Pitt's, but McDermott and Kale are solid in terms of both game and build, and it takes a pretty impressive effort to put up the numbers Samuels did against the Friars.

It's been well documented in recent weeks that both of Louisville's national championship teams were anchored by freshman centers.

I'm contractually obligated to mention that...it's a crazy elaborate contract...it also doesn't pay anything, which I think is sort of unfair.

Token

A couple of summers ago a group of friends and I were up at a Buffalo Wild Wings catching the tail end of a Reds/Braves game. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a runner on first base, Atlanta's Andruw Jones walked to the plate, prompting an avid Braves fan in the group to guarantee a walk-off blast.

Jones swatted the first pitch and the camera followed the ball which appeared level with the Great American Ballpark's highest row of seats.

"I TOLD YOU! I F###ING TOLD YOU!!!" Was the cry from the Braves fan, who sprung from his seat and drew the attention of about 3/4 of the patrons.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group stared at the massive television and watched as the camera followed the ball down and into the glove of a Reds outfielder standing approximately 40-feet in front of the wall. Laughter ensued.

I bring this story up because Terrence Williams' case of fast-break butter-fingers likely would have forced me to endure a similar fate had I been watching the game at a crowded venue. As it was, my premature celebration and subsequent embarrassment was only witnessed by one person...and they were far too into the latest issue of People to offer up any sort of affront.

I would have been against anyone but Preston Knowles scoring that final deuce.

Did he have an off shooting night? Yes, yes he did. But you know what? Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Think about that for a second.

I have absolutely no problem with Edgar Sosa firing up uncontested three-pointers, but the semi-contested trey one pass into a possession has got to go. Still, a couple of nice passes and just one turnover in 21 minutes of action. We're gettin' there.

Not sure why, but I really enjoy that Jerry goes with the warm-up when he's on the bench and knows full well that he'll be sent back into the game shortly. Really, I just enjoy Jerry period.

Keep shooting.

Did Sharaud Curry score? We did a tremendous job on him.

The one year Bilas, Raftery and McDonough get the late shift would be the one year we play at noon.

Sorry, Dan.

Len, you've kind of been pissing me off recently. We'll talk about it once things settle down near the end of the month.

Obviously, this wasn't the T-Will we've known and celebrated for the last couple of months, but is there anyone who's really concerned? The man is liable to be the star of stars tomorrow night.

Also, you have to love the fact that he stroked all four of his tries from the charity stripe.

CardsFan922 noted during the game that Pitino has been sitting Clark and Williams about a minute before TV timeouts so that the actual amount of time they spend on the bench greatly exceeds the technical amount of time they're out of the game.

The man's a decent coach.

I don't understand why Reggie Delk wasn't on the floor when Williams went out of the game. Either Kyle Kuric is dominating him in practice or Pitino just thought Kuric was a better fit for this game. It'll be interesting to see if Delk gets any minutes tomorrow night.

A loss tomorrow night certainly isn't going to make my weekend, but it'll be significantly easier to stomach than a defeat this afternoon would have been.

There's obviously the seeding repercussions to consider, but additionally I, like most of you I'm sure, have sort of built my weekend around the potential games Friday and Saturday night. The Cards fall today and I'm completely unable to enjoy any of the basketball between now and when the brackets are unveiled Sunday night.

I'll just say it: I think we beat Marquette but lose to Villanova.

Here's hoping the Golden Eagles win or I'm wrong for the third time in my life because I really, really want to see this team play in the title game.

Go Cards.

Louisville 95, Seton Hall 78

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:43:51 -0000

The amount of text messages I receive on game day is generally a pretty accurate gauge of how important or exciting that contest is, and yesterday my phone was as busy as it's been since the Connecticut loss.

A shot at a Big East title, the abhorrence for Bobby Gonzalez, the love for the quartet of Cardinals playing in Freedom Hall for the last time; it didn't matter that Seton Hall wasn't particularly interested in playing basketball, last night was big.

The game itself wasn't particularly beneficial.

Seton Hall did what Seton Hall does against good teams. They came out hitting anything and everything and put the fear of god into the home crowd. They failed to build a substantial lead by showing no interest in playing defense. They got tired and the miracle shots that were dropping earlier started coming up short. They made a mini-run but wilted the instant their opponent decided to respond.

Controlling emotions is always an issue on Senior night, but I was a little disappointed to see our guys let the way Seton Hall was playing affect them so much. There was far too much joking early in the second half, too many bad shots early in possessions, not enough attention paid to transition defense and T-Will really let Jeremy Hazell get into his head.

U of L buckled down when it had to, but the lead never should have dipped so close to single-digits. I get that this group loves to have fun, but too many times that lack of a killer instinct (Kentucky, Ole Miss, West Virginia, Villanova) has nearly cost them dearly. Teams that aren't able to let foot meet throat generally get a rude awakening at some point in March, and I'd hate to think that we could be one of those squads.

Last night was about honoring the seniors and it was OK to have fun once the game was in hand, I get it, but from now on everything should be about taking care of business. There's going to be a championship on the line every time this team takes the floor from here on out.

Bobby Gonzalez is a massive tool.

There isn't a member of Card nation who hasn't held the hope that Earl Clark would once again take his game up a notch once March rolled around, and last night was a pretty solid indication that it's a wish that may be granted.

I understand that big nights against teams like Seton Hall should be taken with a grain of salt, but Earl looked more focused and confident than he has since the Tennessee game last year. He made smart decisions with the ball, worked hard to get the best shot possible for himself (with rare exception) and never let his effort level be called into question.

Louisville doesn't have any shot at going to the Final Four without Earl Clark being better than he was in February (and he was good in February), so last night was very, very encouraging.

The media made an enormous fuss last year over Kevin Love's ability to flick his wrists and put a 75-foot chest pass on the money, but Terrence Williams can do the exact same thing.

Of course, what can't he do?

It was pretty obvious that he knew exactly what he needed to get a triple double, and it was hilarious to see his teammates get him the ball to give to Will Scott so both senior stat objectives could be met.

I'm really, really, really going to miss this kid.

The senior video was fantastic. Thanks to both TwistedEdge and Jerb for providing those of us who couldn't be there last night the opportunity to see it.

Everyone was hilarious, but the Earl cameo was the highlight for me.

It's ridiculous how happy Edgar Sosa is during these up-and-down no defense games. He carries the same look little kids have on their face during the height of present-opening on Christmas morning.

To his credit, Sosa seemed upbeat even before the game and was the first person on the floor to congratulate his teammates despite not playing for the game's first seven minutes. He also played very well with the exception of a forced jumper in transition and missing a wide-open Preston Knowles on another break (he offered up a "I know, my bad" following the latter transgression).

The national media is going to beat the fact that we don't have a big-name point guard into the ground for the next couple of weeks, but those of us who know better should sleep comfortably with the knowledge that Sosa and McGee - the second one especially - are both playing about as well as they have all season.

I wasn't able to hear it, but I'm told McGee's postgame speech was pretty awesome. If anyone wants to throw up a brief synopsis in the comments section, I'd appreciate it.

Jeremy Hazell has become even more unlikeable. Beating your chest when your team sucks and is down by 17 is no way to go to through life, son.

Also, you don't breathe T-Will's air let alone talk to him like that. That's awesome that you average so many more points. Enjoy the postseason.

Had Will Scott knocked down the three in the corner that he pushed long by about five feet, I think it would have been the loudest Freedom Hall had been since the Pitt game.

Adrenaline can do crazy things to shooters.

The color guy last night said Louisville was a three seed. Of course he also said that Williams and Clark were in the game with a minute and-a-half to go and a 19-point lead because of Seton Hall's explosive offense, so take that first item for what it's worth.

I love Billy Gillispie.

It was really nice to see George Goode get some quality PT.

Here's a guy who was a really pleasant surprise at the beginning of the season, got hurt, saw the man he beat out for playing time really emerge in his absence, and he's still been one of the most upbeat players on the bench all year.

No one should forget that we probably don't beat Kentucky without Goode. If he continues to improve then he'll be a huge asset to this program if Samuels or Jennings bail early.

Honest question: Is Terrence Jennings our best free-throw shooter right now? Seriously, who has been better from the stripe over the last three weeks?

If Jennings, who was as bad from the line at the Red-White scrimmage as anyone I've ever seen not named Joseph N'Sima, can improve that considerably in such a short amount of time, then there's no reason for guys like Clark, Samuels and Smith to have seemingly gotten worse.

We have zero shot at winning a national title if Clark, Samuels and Williams shoot free-throws the way they have been since mid-February. Zero shot.

Speaking of Jennings, another very solid performance. The progress he's made offensively is almost unbelievable, and it's not ridiculous to say that he might be the second best defensive center in the Big East.

It's scary how good this kid could end up being.

It would have been nice to have seen Samardo make more of an effort to score once he caught the ball down low, seeing as how Seton Hall has no real post presence.

There's going to be at least one game between now and the end of the season where this team really needs him to step up and have a big game offensively. Whether or not he's capable of answering that bell, I'm not sure.

Token

Got this text before the game: "Swop just missed a dunk and then tripped and fell."

It just hasn't been the man's month.

I want Reggie Delk to get an open look from three at a key moment in the Big East Tournament. For some reason, I'm insanely confident that he would drill any open look with the game on the line.

Don't ask me where that faith comes from.

Ladies and gentlemen: your final on-court, in-game Lee Steiden sighting until next year's Red-White scrimmage. Give 'em hell in warm-ups, Lee.

I legitimately could not be more excited about Saturday.

I'll post a reminder tomorrow night, but I think we're going to have to do an open thread here for the Pitt/UConn game at noon, and then we'll all have time to regroup and re-focus for the 9 p.m. tip in Morgantown.

A Big East title and No. 1 seed at stake in the GameDay game of the week would be indescribably cool.

I can't stop smiling, and it's not the drugs.

Go Cards.

Notre Dame 90, Louisville 57

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:22:08 -0000

Honestly, where do you start?

A part of me wants to lay into the team and advocate everyone panicking because of that type of effort this late in the season. Another part wants to write this off as a team in an offensive slump running into a team with its back to the wall playing in an arena that has historically been a tough place to win for visitors. And a third part wants to say that sometimes this sort of thing just happens. It's happened to Duke, it's happened to Clemson, it's happened to Wake Forest, it's (sort of) happened to Connecticut and it happened to the '05 Final Four team.

The truth is we won't know whether Thursday night was a sign of impending doom, an aberration or a complete fluke for another month or so.

Right now, it's simply embarrassing.

Let's start with the head.

Terrence Williams: if you want everything you say you do, you can't do that, my man. A hurt wrist isn't an excuse for playing devoid of any sense of energy or passion, it isn't an excuse for refusing to rebound and it isn't an excuse for leaving Ryan Ayers alone for uncontested three-pointers on a handful of key possessions.

Leaders don't take nights off, they don't let their energy level drop when things aren't going their way, and they don't let the teammates who look up to them get away with half-assing anything and everything for 40 minutes.

It's on you to get this fixed.

If anyone deserves to be spared from having their feet put to the flames, it's Samardo Samuels. Not only did the freshman come out looking to prove a point in the game's opening minutes, but he and Preston Knowles were the only guys on the floor competing when the game was out of reach in the second half.

It's a good sign for his progression, but not a real good sign for the team's.

Nobody thinks of Luke Harangody as a great shooter for his size, but if he had better form, wouldn't everybody? The shots look so ridiculous, but night after night he knocks them down with consistency, a fact that does make him a tremendous jump shooter for his size.

A shot that goes in by any other name is still worth two points.

I realize the game was, for all intents and purposes, over, but why Will Scott in that situation? Sure he can shoot, but against a team playing man, having Scott in makes the game 4-on-5 on both ends of the floor. Apparently Pitino was mad at Preston for something, but give me some Kuric or some Delk.

I was pissed at the end, but I still really, really wanted a Lee sighting.

I don't want to go through this without praising the Irish, because they played well and with heart, and they would have won even if Louisville hadn't spent 40 minutes thinking about Party of Five.

Pitino said earlier this week that the media needed to respect this team for what it is: an outstanding defensive squad that's going to have its struggles on the offensive end. That's fine, but teams fitting that description don't win national titles or make it to Final Fours. Teams like that do what last year's Washington State team did: look impressive in its opening weekend games in the NCAA Tournament and then get pounded when they run up against a team that can get it done on the offensive end against anybody.

Points off turnovers will work against a mid-major conference champion in the first round, but this team has to find a way to get points out of its offensive sets if it's serious about making a run to Detroit. The offense has to center around Williams, the one playmaker the team has who has proven himself capable of making the right decision (*cough* Earl *cough*) once he gets into the lane.

I suppose all we can do is hope something clicks in practice sometime very soon.

I love the way Terrence Jennings has been able to transform his game in such a short time, but somebody tell me why we were so adamant on feeding him in the post when we were down 18 early in the second half? What has he shown offensively to make the other four guys on the floor so confident that he was going to be able to score consistently on Harangody and Hillesland? That made no sense to me, but then again neither did the whole night.

Simply put, our points guards have to be better. They don't have to be Ty Lawson or Steph Curry, but they just can't be as bad as they've been for the last three games.

Why in the world did Mike Brey have Jackson, McAlarney and 'Gody in the game with his squad up 30 and less than three minutes to play? I don't think he was trying to run up the score or anything, I just think it's odd to put yourself in a position where if one of those three guys goes down you're going to be crucified by your fan base and the local media.

You really only go seven deep and those guys just had a hell of a night, let them chill for a little bit, Mike. The Big East is a rough league, I'm told.

Earl Clark seems to have adopted the pre-'08-'09 Terrence Williams mentality of making one bad outside shot justifies taking three more.

Go. To. The. Bucket. Earl.

Also, apparently it takes someone hitting him across the face with a bottle to draw a whistle. I'd be a lot more angry about it if he weren't putting up 0-fers from the charity stripe.

That's seven straight bad halves since these guys looked like national champions for 20 minutes in Morgantown. If there isn't marked improvement on Sunday against Depaul - a program whose thorough domination will be discussed tomorrow - you have my permission to loot each and every establishment on Frankfort Avenue.

Again, I apologize for not taking a firm stance one way or the other on what took place last night, the fact of the matter is I simply have no idea as far as what to make of what I witnessed. Yes, the Irish were playing for their NCAA Tournament lives, yes Louisville came into the game struggling offensively, yes the Joyce Center is a tough place to play, and yes the team was at a disadvantage not getting in until game day, but...90-57??? It's simply astounding.

Still, let's end with this: Louisville just tasted defeat on the road in the Big East for the first time all season, and still sits with a record of 9-2 and a real shot to capture the regular season crown in the toughest conference in America. The Cardinals' next seven Big East games will be nowhere near as difficult as their first seven, a stretch U of L made it through unscathed.

Last night was indescribably brutal, but the opportunity to make it a distant memory come mid-March certainly exists. This can be fixed, and Thursday can be forgotten.

Louisville 80, South Florida 54

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:23:35 -0000

Maybe it was the snow, maybe it was the fact that it was South Florida or maybe it was just that - for a change - you never really felt like the outcome was in doubt, but Wednesday night's game was sort of unexpectedly fun.

Seeing the team continue to roll, the players on the bench continually jumping around, guys like Jared Swopshire, Kyle Kuric and Reggie Delk have some success, and then being privy to the first Lee Steiden sighting of the season; it all made a win over USF feel better than it probably should have.

Put simply: it's far more enjoyable to follow this team than I ever thought possible seven weeks ago.

I'll be the first to call for his head if he attempts it in another single-digit game this season, but the T-Will between the legs pass to Earl Clark on the break was truly remarkable.

We might not have a player capable of doing the things Terrence Williams can do for quite some time, so my advice is to enjoy the show while you can.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about last night's game was the way Williams responded after his so obviously inapt start.

When Rick Pitino politely told him at halftime that those types of shots were not to be attempted anymore, Williams reportedly responded: "I got you coach, I was dead wrong." And when Williams appeared determined to head to the hole early on in a second half possession, all it took was a "slow down, T-Will" from his head coach to make the senior co-captain pull the ball back out. The trip ended with an uncontested Edgar Sosa three-pointer from the corner.

The man has gotten the message, and his team is the hottest in the country because of it.

We may never have a player more willing to hug his teammates than Jerry Smith, and I couldn't love him more for it. The only thing more pleasant than Overly Excited Jerry is Unnecessarily Affectionate Jerry.

Also, Jerry, you and the mildly contested three-pointer could have a really great relationship. I'm telling you. I know she's not quite as sexy as the wide-open trey, but the girl can cook, clean and seamlessly carry on a meaningful conversation. Plus, her easy going family loves you.

Great to see George Goode back in action and looking like the lay-off is not going to have any seriously adverse effect on his game. It was nice to see him stroke those two free-throws, because being semi-reliable from the stripe could make him really valuable in a situation where Samuels has fouled out and having Jennings on the floor for any stretch of time is too risky.

Not a bad follow-up dunk, either.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Dominique Jones thinks he's just a tad bit better than he actually is? Don't get me wrong, Dominique, you're a solid player - you've definitely got me in a game of 1-on-1 or "Can You Dunk?" - but you're a solid player on the University of South Florida basketball team...chill out.

The defense of Andre McGee and Preston Knowles has been praised at length on here in recent weeks, so I just want to take this opportunity to compliment McGee on his two big three-pointers, and Knowles on his short jumper and great assist on one of Samardo's dunks.

Also, watching you two play defense gives me a massive erection.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

Watching Jared Swopshire on Wednesday was like getting a glimpse of what he's capable of doing night in, night out in the Big East if he puts on a decent amount of muscle. The strides he made over the summer prove he's dedicated enough to make it happen, which is exciting.

Pop, lock and Swop it.

Someone told me that Terrence Jennings blocked the shot of an athletically-lacking center in the LSU/Tennessee game last night. It happened. His arms are that long.

Even more encouraging than the 12 points and three monster blocks was the fact that Earl Clark turned the ball over just once against a team known more for its speed than its size.

If Lee hadn't have gotten in last night, I would have lost it. If Lee had made that three from the corner last night, I would have lost it times two.

You would have thought the fact that it was the 800th game being played in Freedom Hall would have been more publicized, especially since it's the last big, round number that the arena will ever see. Oh well.

Seven Big East wins should have about 12th place in the conference locked up. Let's go ahead and shoot a little bit higher.

It's Huggy time.

Louisville 71, South Florida 57

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:17:02 -0000

I was really hoping that Sosa's shot (the time has come for "Sosa's shot" to be given an appropriately catchy official title...feel free to share your thoughts) would propel the boys to a start-to-finish throttling of the only sure thing in the Big East, but I'm willing to accept the fairly decisive, albeit not aesthetically pleasing, victory since "nothing is easy in the Big East" and this was actually our first true road game of the season.

Hope everyone enjoyed last night, because the comfortable viewing experience is on vacation until the Bulls come back to the Hall on Jan. 28.

At the risk of sounding like someone with unrealistically high expectations, Earl Clark should score 18-25 points against teams like South Florida. The Bulls have absolutely no talent in their frontcourt and even less of an answer for Clark than 95% of the teams on Louisville's schedule, which means he's basically going to be given the outside shot and he should still be able to beat his man to the tin.

Take the uncontested shot if it's given to you, go straight to the bucket if it's not. This can really be a simple game for Earl Clark.

Not that Clark's effort Wednesday night doesn't deserve to be applauded. Thirty-six minutes, nine boards, four steals AND he smiled.

Dante Cunningham awaits.

If someone out there could make this happen, I'd love to be able to juxtapose Edgar Sosa's stats from games in which he made his first shot with those from games where he missed his first shot. I said it for the first time somewhere around the halfway point of his freshman season, but the kid just plays at a considerably higher level when his first shot drops than he does when his initial attempt finds iron.

Sosa drilled a three right off the bat again on Wednesday, and just like that Good Edgar took his shoes off, put his feet up on the ottoman and got ready to read stories to adorable sick children for 40 minutes.

Sosa's been fantastic for two games, but neither Michael Porter nor Jesus Verdejo present anywhere near the challenge that the Scottie Reynolds/Corey Fisher combination will on Saturday. If Edgar plays within himself and delivers another stellar effort in a victory over 'Nova, then the "turned the corner" talk will have that much more legitimacy.

Kudos to our guards for wearing down Dominique Jones, who finished the night 1-of-10 and looked like he had zero legs after the first six or seven minutes of both halves.

I love the idea of wearing the black unis against South Florida. You can't just topple a curse in one game, you have to eat away at it slowly. During the '04-'05 season - commonly referred to as "The Year the Black Uni Curse Was Backpacking in Europe" - Louisville actually wore its black jerseys and scrimmaged the KCD junior varsity team every Wednesday from the start of practice up until the first round of the NCAA Tournament. You can't just take the power out of the jersey, you have to trick the jersey into believing that it has no power.

It was pretty obvious that Pitino was trying to get Samardo some work during the last four minutes of the game, and why not since the big man has been in foul trouble for about 110 of the team's last 120 minutes. He still looked like a man whose confidence has been considerably shaken for most of the night, but maybe that late jumper will serve as a solid boost heading into a game against another team that lacks a true center.

A very, very encouraging performance from Terrence Jennings, who seemed to be getting his hands on everything when South Florida had the ball. TJ got a chance to shine only due to Samuels' foul trouble and the fact that George Goode was resting the stress fracture in his right shin, but he played about as well as any of our big men have this season during his 17-minute stint on the floor.

Still, I don't think Jennings is a real option to play considerable minutes at the five just yet. The sloppy, up-and-down style that's always going to be prevalent in a game against South Florida allows for Jennings' raw skill to show itself, but outside of maybe Rutgers and St. John's, no one else in the league is going to allow the game to fall off to that level.

Last night showed exactly why Jennings can be a terrific center in this league, but it's going to take time and it's going to take effort, a pair of factors that are difficult to grasp for the modern prep basketball "star."

How much a power trip do you think the kid who undoubtedly spent at least one Halloween as a minor Star Wars character gets when he puts on the USF Bull costume every game? I could meet the kid before the game, know full well that he's 5-foot-3, 112-pounds, and if he told me to get him a pack of airheads while he was in that suit, I'd still sprint to the concession stand, knock over any woman or child in my way, give him his airheads, and then start bawling the moment it became obvious that he was going to let me live.

What a friggin' bad ass.

Jared Swopshire: weights and cake this summer, weights and cake.

Our first Reggie Delk experience in a couple of weeks was certainly a pleasant one. It was nice to see him have no qualms about pulling the trigger from deep, because that's an area where he might really be able to help us at some point down the road.

T-Will: still fully capable of dunking a basketball.

I wonder if Lee Steiden asked if he could dress for the game because he'd heard so many people ask who the manger was that prematurely ran on the floor after Sosa's game-winner. I'm not sure my heart is going to be able to take it if I don't witness a Lee shot attempt before the Big East Tournament.

Preston is second in the Big East in three-point field goal percentage, but I'm still not sure he's earned the right to launch an off-balance, contested trey one pass into a possession. He has, however, earned the right to a handful of any bag of candy I ever have in my possession. It's a big deal. I love candy.

"You gotta pick up your attitude or you're gonna deal with me in the locker room" instantly goes into the vault of Pitino classics. Apparently he was talking to McGee, whom he'd just gotten on for picking the ball up in the corner during the previous possession.

'Twas just not Andre's night.

Loved the pair of audible C-A-R-D-S chants at the beginning of the second half and near the end of the game. If you were in attendance, a tip of my cap in your direction.

And now we begin the two month "every night is going to give me a heart attack and I can tell that I'm driving everyone around me insane but I can't help it" tour of the Big East. I'd say that Villanova is an enormous game, but I feel it's a description that's going to be worn out before we even get into February.

Please check at this time to make sure your seat belts are securely fashioned, and that your tray tables are in their full and upright position.

Louisville 77, Mississippi 68

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:15:15 -0000

Well, for about eight minutes we were all treated to the sort of dominant performance this team was expected to give night in and night out over the course of the early part of the season. For the final 32 minutes, we saw the baffling inconsistently that has instead plagued the preseason's third-ranked squad.

Still, the Cards prevailed against their toughest opponent to date and tasted victory outside Freedom Hall for the first time, a pair of facts it's hard to complain about.

I can't recall a Cardinal player coming closer to single-handedly winning a game than Earl Clark did last night. He did everything he wanted so seemingly effortlessly in the first ten minutes of the game, which made it all the more astonishing when his teammates completely neglected him for the final ten minutes of the half.

Samardo Samuels is a man-child, Terrence Williams might be the best athlete in the country, but this team isn't all it could be when Earl Clark isn't the best player on the floor. If U of L wins any sort of postseason championship (conference, regional, national) then I can just about guarantee that Clark will be the one holding the most valuable player trophy in the middle of the on-court celebration...and that his speech will be hilarious.

That was a Herculean effort.

Major praise needs to be sent in the direction of one Rick Pitino for scrapping the press, going to strictly man-to-man and sticking Terrence Williams on David Huertas for the final two and-a-half minutes of the game. There were only two Ole Miss players on the floor capable of winning the game for the Rebels, and Pitino made every move he could to minimize the possibility of that happening.

Far from T-Will's best offensive effort (ZOMG HE MISSED A DUNK), but the three-pointer and the short jumper on the baseline that he did make were two enormous shots. And then of course he did an outstanding job on Huertas in the last two minutes, and came down with the two biggest defensive rebounds (two of his 11) of the game.

What can you say to Samardo Samuels besides mama said there'd be days like this? Forget about bringing the ball down too low, not passing out of the post and dribbling when you shouldn't be dribbling; I've never seen somebody that big miss so many semi-uncontested lay-ups. Math and science were never my thing, but there had to have been multiple laws of averages and physics defied inside the U.S. Bank Arena last night. If Samuels makes 3/4 of his two-footers then the game is never in doubt, which is sort of comforting, I guess.

It was the first real adversity the big man has faced, and even though his expression failed to hide his dismay, he never stopped working hard and finished the game with 13 rebounds, eight coming on the offensive end.

All you can do is hope that the freshman uses last night as inspitration, because it goes without saying that he has to be better.

After three years, I think we can conclude that Jerry Smith isn't going to change the way he plays defense, which means whether or not he picks up three fouls in 30 seconds will continue to depend solely on the officiating crew that particular night. I'd still love for the man to marry into my family, but he does far too many of the same things he did as a freshman. For example, getting too excited and fouling on the press, running into a three-point shooter who shoots 85% from the line, or getting a handle on the ball after a mad scramble and trying to go to the hole instead of slowing things down and letting the rest of the team get into the offensive set.

He's got to morph back into the stable and reliable Jerry Smith that helped last year's team so much when it got to conference play.

Preston Knowles missed a pair of really uncharacteristic quick jumpers during a key stretch last night, but I thought the way he played on defense more than made up for those ill-advised shots. He was only credited with two steals, but he got his hands on at least three more, and also partially blocked at least two shots that went uncredited. He's earning every minute he gets right now.

Pitino said after the game that the next step in getting this team to the next level was having Edgar Sosa become a great point guard. I'm not sure if this was simply a motivational tool or if he truly believes Sosa being an elite floor general is a possibility.

The problem I have with looking to Sosa to be the guy at the point come March is that he's never going to bring the defensive intensity that the other three guards do. It's not going to happen. Andre Mcgee made some questionable decisions with the ball again last night, but the pressure he and Knowles put on Warren and Huertas was the key to the run that stretched the lead to ten during the first part of the second half.

If Sosa can obtain a pass-first mentality and stop doing the things like inexplicably driving to the basket and losing the ball out-of-bounds with 20 seconds on the shot clock in the last minute of the game then great, but he's never going to be a guy who can get you cheap points off the press, and he's always going to be a liability if you want to play man against a team with a point guard who can fill it up.

It was good to see Reggie Delk contribute his best minutes of the season thus far. There's going to be at least one time over the next three months when T-Will gets himself into foul trouble and Delk will be relied upon to give some solid time at the three, so getting his confidence up before the new year is a major positive.

I thought it was sort of strange that we didn't see more Terrence Jennings and George Goode when Samardo was struggling so mightily in the second half, especially since each seemed to do some good things during the limited stint they had on the floor. I suppose Pitino saw this as a major learning opportunity, and wanted Samuels to fully absorb it.

If Ole Miss had won, I wonder if (alleged) racially insensitive assaults on cab drivers would have become the next big thing in college basketball. Thankfully, we'll never know.

Yeah, that was lame, but it had to be mentioned.

Here's hoping the team got a great night's sleep and encountered no flight issues.

Red/White scrimmage report

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:17:26 -0000

A day after seeing the Louisville football team topple the 14th ranked squad in the country and play itself right back into the middle of the Big East title chase, Cardinal fans were able to get their first look at a U of L basketball team almost certain to begin the season ranked in the top five.

Not a bad little weekend.

You can never come into these things expecting to see the same quality of basketball that the previous season left you with, but I actually thought the play was about twice as crisp as it was a year ago, which is somewhat remarkable considering how much youth was on the floor.

The athleticism on display was pretty breathtaking, and that's with Terrence Williams on the sidelines passing out towels and cups of water. It's also remarkable the shape that these guys are in already. To play at that speed for 40 minutes with limited breaks and just a five-minute halftime is something ordinary human beings just can't do.

Great crowd (just under 12,000), pretty high level of play, Rick Pitino on the mic twice, Sean Moth in midseason form and actual U of L basketball for the first time in seven months.

To sum up: this gon' be fun.

Though nothing too great should be taken from one 40-minute scrimmage, let's go ahead and look at the individual performances from last night.

Samardo Samuels

While I think Pitino was sandbagging a little bit with his "Samardo is fool's gold" comment after the game, the majority of Samuels' 36 points did come from dunks, lay-ups or put-backs, and he had a much tougher time putting the ball in the basket when he caught it in the post with Terrence Jennings on his back. Still, he's a tremendous finisher who does an outstanding job working to put himself in position to net those easy points in the lane. His free-throw shooting may have been the biggest catalyst for optimism on display, and I loved how mad he got when he finally missed one from the line. He's got a decent mid-range stroke, but has the bad habit that so many young players do of fading away when he takes jumpers with nobody guarding him. It's the same issue that plagued T-Will during his first two seasons here.

Samuels plays as hard as anyone on the floor when he's out there, and I loved how he stood up and cheered every time he got a quick breather. This is not going to be a tough kid to get behind. His first standing ovation in Freedom Hall will not be his last.

Andre McGee

We heard about it all summer, but it was amazing to see the shape Andre McGee has played himself into. He was one of the most underrated players in the Big East a season ago, but there are things he can do now that he simply couldn't during his first three years in red and white. There was one instance where he took the inbounds pass at his end's free-throw line and the other eight players were at or around midcourt, and he still beat everyone down the floor and scored on a contested lay-up.

The shooting nights are going to continue to be hit or miss, but with this newfound athleticism and a continued commitment to being a defensive nightmare for opposing floor generals, McGee is more than capable of getting this team to Detroit.

Edgar Sosa

Pitino has hyped Sosa's maturity for the last five months or so, and while those comments may have been an attempt at a psychological boost as much as anything, Edgar did look like he'd aged three or four years over the summer. He played calm, he didn't force the issue, and he took the ball to the rack when appropriate. I still don't understand why he refuses to get up to the line when he takes a three-pointer, especially since it's a foot further out than it was a year ago. Over the course of his two seasons here, he's been about twice as likely to connect from deep when he's been up at the line than when he's been a foot behind it, and I can only assume that the same will hold true in his junior year. Still, if he can keep the mindset that was on display Sunday night throughout the season, then he should be able to make all of us forget about the few ups and many downs of last year.

Jared Swopshire

I told you, you're going to love this kid.

Despite facing off against a frontcourt of Earl Clark and Terrence Jennings, Swopshire showed absolutely no fear in his first public action as a collegian, and as a result he got to the stripe ten times, second only to Samuels' 12 attempts. He's extremely active, and was the biggest reason the Red team had so much success when the White went to zone. No one's ever going to write a sonnet about that stroke, but if it puts the ball in the basket as often as it did on Sunday then who cares. The fact that he's added so much muscle in so little time exemplifies why he's going to be a fantastic four year player at the University of Louisville.

Reggie Delk

This was our first look at Delk since his impressive showing in last year's scrimmage, and for a second it looked like it was going to be short-lived. After drilling a three-pointer from the corner early in the first half, Delk came down on a photographer's leg and injured his ankle. He returned to the floor about five minutes later, but was understandably tentative for the rest of the night. Still, he made a pair of athletic lay-ins going up against Earl Clark, and made several terrific entry passes into Samuels.

There might not be a player on this team with better basketball instincts. There are guys in every sport who you can watch for five minutes and automatically assign them the undefinable quality of simply being "a player." Delk is one of those guys. The drop off when T-Will comes out of the game should be significantly less extreme than it has been for the past two seasons.

Earl Clark

We all pretty much know what we're getting with Clark, and it was out there for all to see last night. The box score says he only took 22 shots, but after the game it felt like that number was considerably closer to 40. The one-on-one stuff is OK during an October scrimmage, but let's hope Earl remembers what made him so special in last year's NCAA Tournament by the time the games that matter roll around. His final season in red has the potential to be very special

There's still nobody funnier to focus in on for 20-30 seconds.

Preston Knowles

Kid's arms are enormous. He really is the new Larry O'Bannon. It was nice to see Preston looking for his shot a little more off the dribble as opposed to camping out along the baseline and waiting for another guard to drive and kick to him. There's still a sizable drop-off from McGee and Sosa to him when it comes to ballhandling, but he made a number of impressive plays during the little time he spent running the show. I also hear he's a decent defender.

Knowles' athleticism was hard to miss when he got up to block an Earl Clark jumper and was incorrectly called for a foul. Afterward, he went over to one of the cops sitting courtside, said something to him and then gave him a high-five. George Clooney daydreams about being this cool.

Terrence Jennings

The label of being a fearsome shot-blocker was not misleading. Despite being hampered by turf toe, Jennings made several stellar defensive plays and looked like a guy who will eventually be up to the task of spelling Samuels. The fact that his arms are longer than the head alien in Close Encounters is another plus.

He does have a ways to go offensively, but not as far as some were suggesting. He made a couple of nice up-and-under moves and showed some touch on a couple of baby hooks. Perhaps the most encouraging thing about Jennings was that he was consistently the first man down on the floor on both offense and defense. Perhaps the least encouraging thing about Jennings was that he showed the potential to be the worst free-throw shooter we've had since Ellis Myles.

His left elbow pad is cool.

Jerry Smith

Obviously, not Jerry's finest hour, but I'll give all of you 15 cents if he goes 0-for-10 from deep again this season. He'll be the most reliable player on the team once more.

Kyle Kuric

This was another pleasant surprise. I had no idea that Kuric was as athletic as he is. There were multiple times where he got up for rebounds or put-backs and was able to get his hands on the ball even with Jennings, Samuels and Clark in the area. He was just 1-for-4 from deep, but he's got a terrific stroke, and that will be the main reason he'll see the floor, albeit briefly, right away.

George Goode

Goode was frequently being traded from one team to the next, which was fairly amusing to watch. He looked bigger than he did a year ago, but the kid is still an absolute fouling machine. I really think he hit double digits. He has a decent mid-range stroke and is skilled enough to be a capable replacement if the rest of the frontcourt is riddled with foul-trouble, but Pitino's right when he says he has a long way to go. Still, the man can dress.

Will Scott

Played only 14 minutes because he's still recovering from a foot (ankle?) injury. Knocked down a lay-up and a three from the corner. Almost got Reggie Delk hurt again, an act Delk was none too pleased about.

Chris Brickley

Made 3-of-5 shots from the field. Welp, we'll see you here next year.

Lee Steiden

Managed to knock down one trey in eight minutes of action. Still, you're a member of one of the best college basketball teams in the country. Myself and thousands of other people know who you are and know a little bit about the way you play. Don't think for a second that you'd be better off leading North Delaware State in scoring.

Terrence Williams

T-Will looked like the 9-year-old kid who knows he's supposed to leave his stitches alone, but just can't help picking at them. He's doing air chest bumps with McGee before the game, he's dancing on the sidelines, he's shooting during breaks, he's hanging from the rim after the game. I love everything about the guy's personality, but give that knee a break, my man.

Box Score

Red Team

Player	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	Pts	Ast	To	Stl	Min
Samardo Samuels	13	22	0	0	10	12	7	9	16	36	3	3	1	35
Jared Swopshire	6	13	3	3	6	10	3	4	7	21	5	3	0	37
Preston Knowles	4	11	1	4	0	2	2	6	8	9	8	3	0	34
Reginald Delk	5	8	1	2	0	2	2	7	9	11	2	0	1	33
Andre McGee	4	8	1	5	0	0	0	2	2	9	6	3	0	30
Chris Brickley	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	6	2	0	0	16
George Goode	0	3	0	0	2	2	1	3	4	2	0	1	0	7
Lee Steiden	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	8

White Team

Player	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	Pts	Ast	To	Stl	Min
Earl Clark	12	22	2	5	4	9	2	12	14	30	4	5	0	39
Terrence Jennings	8	14	0	0	2	5	2	3	5	18	0	1	4	28
Edgar Sosa	5	15	2	9	0	0	2	1	3	12	7	2	0	38
Kyle Kuric	3	6	1	4	0	0	1	4	5	7	1	1	2	28
Jerry Smith	3	14	0	10	0	0	0	3	3	6	3	1	1	40
Will Scott	2	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	5	2	0	0	14
George Goode	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	2	1	1	3	13

Visuals

Ten minutes of quality scrimmage video courtesy of Jerb.

Louisville basketball is here. Welcome to the backseat, everything else.

2008-2009 Big East basketball preview: top ten impact transfers

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:00:07 -0000

It's Big East Media Day this morning in Gotham, which means we can all wash the tongue-biting blood out of our mouths and start talking about what should be one of the best conferences in the modern history of college basketball. If you're excited, give a small fist pump that no one sees and do a limb-flailing dance in your head.

This list is a bit top-heavy, but it's still a significant step up from the Jeff Xavier-led group of a year ago.

10. Steve Toyloy, Jr, F, Cincinnati

TRANSFERRED FROM: Miami-Dade Community College

Toyloy, a physical specimen at 6-8, 255, may be relied upon more than initially expected with the recent dismissal of Nick Aldridge and John Riek unlikely to be cleared by the NCAA anytime soon.

9. Charles Okwandu, So, C, Connecticut

TRANSFERRED FROM: Harcum Junior College

A 7-foot-1 import from Nigeria, Chukuma "Charles" Okwandu has shown enough polish in the opening days of practice to warrant talk of him stepping in and immediately serving as Hasheem Thabeet's primary backup. Odds are 3:1 that he'll be the nation's leading shot-blocker in 16 months.

He's Nigerian, not an alien, he knows how to wave

8. Dee Proby. Jr, F, West Virginia

TRANSFERRED FROM: Angelina College

Proby, who originally committed to Oklahoma State, will see immediate playing time in Morgantown for the sole reason that he's just about the only size Bob Huggins has to work with. The 6-10 junior isn't quite Kevin Pittsnoggle, but he can knock down the open jumper from 10-15 feet out, and his 240-pound frame will have to be on the floor for the Mountaineers to compete in a Big East conference rich with post talent.

7. Julian Vaughn, So, C, Georgetown

TRANSFERRED FROM: Florida State

Vaughn played at Florida State during the 2007-2008 season, but obtained a waiver from the NCAA that made him eligible to play for Georgetown right away. A former four-star recruit out of vaunted Oak Hill Academy, he'll have to compete with freshmen studs Greg Monroe and Henry Sims for playing time.

A foul was called on this play. You know it. I know it

6. Alejandro Rivas Sanchez, Jr, C, South Florida

TRANSFERRED FROM: Pratt Community College

Rivas Sanchez's average of 12 rebounds per game ranked sixth nationally in junior college a year ago. Though he lacks the offensive skill set to be a real threat to opposing Big East big men, he has the athleticism - and the lack of roster competition - to come in and be a starter right away. His feet are going to need to grow about seven sizes if he wants to fill the prints left by Kentrell Gransberry.

5. Reginald Delk, Jr, G, Louisville

TRANSFERRED FROM: Mississippi State

Delk is a deadly outside shooter who will likely see time at both the two and the three, perhaps beginning the season as the starter at the latter with senior Terrence Williams recovering from a knee injury. He averaged 9.5 points and shot just under 45% from the field for Mississippi State in the 2006-2007 season.

4. Jermaine Dixon, Jr, G, Pittsburgh

TRANSFERRED FROM: Tallahassee Junior College

Dixon, the younger brother of former Maryland star Juan Dixon, was rated as one of the top five junior college transfers in the country after becoming the first player in Tallahassee JC history to lead the team in scoring (20.9 ppg), rebounding (6.7 rpg) and assists (98) last season. He'll be expected to step in immediately and alleviate some of the pressure on Levance Fields by helping to fill the void left by graduated sharp-shooter Ronald Ramon.

3. Mike Mercer, Jr, G, South Florida

TRANSFERRED FROM: Georgia

Rated as the No. 22 overall prospect in the class of 2006 by Rivals.com, Mercer's career at Georgia didn't exactly go as planned. After making the SEC All-Freshman Team in his rookie season, the talented guard's sophomore campaign was cut short by a season-ending ACL tear in February of 2007. Then, after already having been disciplined for academic issues, Mercer was dismissed nine months later by head coach Dennis Felton for "failure to adhere to team standards and policies."

Mercer won't be eligible until after the conclusion of the fall semester, but with guards Dominique Jones, Chris Howard and Jesus Verdejo all coming off of solid seasons, Stan Heath may be forced to pick up the tempo and go super small once the talented transfer joins the fray.

2. Mike Williams, Sr, F, Cincinnati

TRANSFERRED FROM: Texas

The man who likely would have topped this list a year ago had he not ruptured his Achilles tendon during a preseason workout comes up a spot short 12 months later. Williams, a former McDonald's All-American, is expected to headline a much improved Bearcat frontcourt despite not doing a whole lot during his two seasons in Austin. If he can produce the way people thought he would coming out of high school, he may end up being the most valuable player in the league.

1. Robert Mitchell, Jr, F, Seton Hall

TRANSFERRED FROM: Duquesne

In his lone season at Duquesne, "Stix" Mitchell averaged 16.4 points and 5.4 rebounds on his way to being named Atlantic-10 Freshman of the Year. He'll be expected to come in and assume the role Brian Laing played so well over the course of his Pirate career, but he'll have to wait until after he serves a two game suspension for riding the team bus when he wasn't supposed to last season.