SB Nation - Jared Swopshire

Louisville 80, Stetson 48

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:02:22 -0000

If Louisville had traveled to Vegas and handled UNLV with ease, then last night's game would have pretty much been a throwaway. However, seeing as how the Cards were upset by the Runnin' Rebels and returned to the Derby City with multiple players needing a confidence boost, there probably wasn't a better time to face off against what is probably the weakest squad on the schedule.

It wasn't particularly fun to watch, but it was probably more beneficial than a lot of people are giving it credit for.

There's bound to be at least a minor relapse coming at some point, but Edgar Sosa's senior season is off to a tremendous start. Obviously a hot shooting start has helped, but it's the other little things that are making him look like a completely different player. He looks a step quicker, he's still not a great on-ball defender but more times than not he's in the right position, he's making the extra pass even when the game's out of reach and, honestly, he just looks more at ease.

Many Cardinal careers have been defined by senior seasons and here's hoping that's the case for Good Edgar.

It was pretty obvious that Jerry Smith had been given word to put the ball up early and often, and he certainly followed orders, driving hard to the bucket numerous times, connecting on 6-of-8 shot attempts and finishing the game with a season-high 17 points.

I don't think anyone doubts what his desire and leadership mean to this team, but he's also got to step up his on-court performance significantly for this group to hit its potential.

Congrats to both Edgar and Jerry for joining the 1,000-point club last night. Louisville now has 62 1,000-point scorers, which ties them with North Carolina for the most in college basketball.

If you're extremely bored at work (why else would you be here), I'd suggest you relive the magic that was last night's open thread. It was pretty entertaining for a game that was as lacking in excitement as last night's.

I'm really worried about Samardo. A lot of people said before the season that how much he had improved would be the deciding factor when it comes to whether or not this team can compete for another Big East title, and the fact of the matter is that right now he looks worse than he was 12 months ago. His inability to rebound has been well documented, he appears to be getting pushed around by post players he has both inches and pounds on, he still ALWAYS turns to his right when he looks to score, he still never uses the board and his pouting appears to have increased tenfold.

Even at the height of its popularity I never joined the "Jennings should play more than Samuels" club last season, and I'm still not on board now, but TJ certainly appears to be gaining significant ground on Samuels offensively, and he's always been ahead of him defensively.

Prep hype can only take you so far. The time to step up has come, 'Mardo.

This has nothing to do with the game or basketball, but I feel like I need to address the fact that Eric Crawford wrote an entire column for this morning solely to show me up for not turning "stepping stone" into a compound word.

Really, Eric? Couldn't think of a more mature way to express your jealousy over my Krag-esque salary and Krag-esque level of fan support. Grow up.

Are you allowed to say "douche face" in your column? You're not? That's funny, because I just did it.

Wear it.

Preston and Peyton in street clothes in 3....2....1......

Can't believe I'm about to say this, but point, Siva.

Argyle Wednesday respect for the win.

He's taking a lot of heat for his ice cold shooting start, but I really, really think Mike Marra is going to be a significant contributor here throughout his career. True, he's got to start hitting some shots if he wants to keep seeing the floor, but for a guy who was advertised strictly as a sharp-shooter, the other aspects of his game are much further along than I think most of us expected them to be.

First, he's extremely athletic. He's a very capable defender and rebounder, and he's a much better passer and ballhandler than I thought he'd be. If he can prove that he's the shooter he's supposed to be then he's going to have to get double-digit minutes night in, night out.

Is WHAS the worst local television station ever? I'm not talking about in Louisville, I'm talking about anywhere in the world.

Their HD feed is always out, their picture is always awful, there's constantly something messed up with their sound and then last night they try to give the entire city a stroke.

Your product is miserable and I wish I wasn't forced to rely on it.

There's something about the letter S wearing a hat that tickles me in a way few other things do.

Awesome.

Stephan Van Treese DOMINATED the last two minutes of that game. Also, kudos to long-shirted Chris Brickley on burying a trey.

Reggie, Kyle Kuric, Swop and Rock Buckles all deserve mentions for their respective efforts, so, yeah, there you go guys.

Charlotte returns to the Hall Saturday night. If Diego Guevarra is still on that team and blowing kisses to his wife after every shot he makes, you have no idea how pissed I'm going to be.

Get ready for the pain, Bobby Lutz.

Louisville 80, Appalachian State 53

Mike Rutherford — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:14:05 -0000

Maybe it was because it wasn't the afternoon, but there was definitely more of an air of excitement in the stands and bounce in the step of the player's in white on Monday night than there had been on either of the two days before. Appy State is down from where they were a couple of years ago, and the Mountaineers aren't nearly as well suited as Louisville is to play three games in three days, but this was still a very solid 40-minute performance.

A solid momentum-builder heading into this weekend's road test in Vegas.

How much of a trend-setter is Preston Knowles? Let's just say there are nine guys at my office wearing white compression t-shirts. It's like Kelly Kapowski's pizza hat.

This really might be the most balanced team in Louisville history. How much better is Swop than Buckles? Samuels than Jennings? Sosa than Siva? Knowles or Jerry than Delk or Kuric?

If you're on this team and you finish the season averaging more than five points, then you probably can say you had a fantastic year.

I was almost positive that I saw Ryan Abraham throw a punch into Edgar Sosa's midsection early in the game, a thought that was confirmed on the next possession when Sosa leveled him for seemingly no reason. It looked like Edgar was telling the ref that Abraham had hit him in his happy area, which is possible since Sos's high-short-wearing ways make it difficult to gauge the location of his body parts.

Wherever he hit him, Abraham's a chotch.

Samardo appeared to be extremely pissed off all night for whatever reason.

There was a point where Pitino told him to check back in the game, but when he took an insanely long amount of time to remove his warm-up, Rick opted to let George Goode take the floor. Then there was another instance later in the game during a timeout where hung out by himself outside of the team huddle. And then of course there was the highly uncharacteristic poor free-throw shooting.

No idea what the deal is there, but here's hoping it's nothing a little (or a lot of) turkey and stuffing can't resolve.

Naturally, we have the greatest junior announcer of all-time a mere eight hours or so after I rip on the segment for the first time.

The official Card Chronicle 2009 Hall of Fame Showcase champions t-shirt should be hitting stores late this morning.

On the front of the shirt? You guessed it, Schnilk Chuggenberger.

I heard Jared Swopshire talk for the first time (besides, of course, the "it's game time" at the end of the intro video) on the radio after the game and he sounds nothing like you think he would. His voice is extremely deep and pretty awesome. He also started every single answer with "oh yeah, definitely," causing me to do the same thing for the rest of the night and ultimately end up losing all my friends and end up sleeping on the floor by myself.

Thanks, Swop.

Also, I know that everybody calls him Swop, but for some reason I think it's hilarious when I hear Pitino do it. I don't understand most of the things that make me laugh.

We're still doing a really poor job of locating shooters when we're in zone. Like, really poor.

These games count, Jerry. Let's get it goin'.

Curtis Shaw sucks but didn't do anything ridiculously awful last night. Congrats?

Edgar was a little bit more reckless with the ball Monday night than he had been over the weekend, but he still has to be the mythical Hall of Fame Showcase MVP. If he plays like this, Jerry becomes Jerry by Big East Play, Samardo realizes he's enormous and the young guys steadily improve, then we're going to be an extremely tough out.

Chris Brickley's undershirt was enormous. Preston was just trying to make a point, Chris. You don't have to celebrate it.

Gratuitous dunking Kyle Kuric pic...

More solid pics from Sam, who made the questionable decision to sport a blue button-down and once again refused to take a shot of me looking extremely cool in the stands.

Rock Buckles (my god what a name) is receiving some very much-deserved praise this a.m. He's definitely going to make some awkward mistakes over the course of the season, but if he can rebound like that, defend like that, finish around the rim and knock down the occasional 15-footer then he's going to provide an enormous lift off the bench.

He also gets yelled at by Pitino a lot, which I think just shows that Rick knows he can take it and sees significant potential in No. 4.

Keep workin'.

Overall, a solid three days to get both the fans and the team into the swing of basketball season.

We owe these guys one on Saturday. I'm excited.

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.

Swop steps into the spotlight

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:45:26 -0000

Lots of talk about Jared Swopshire a day after Rick Pitino seemed to hint that the sophomore could begin the season as the starter at the four.

Swop was the focus of a recent C.L. Brown piece which focused on the vast amount of time he spent improving his size and game this summer. While I haven't heard anything about his game, I can definitely say that he appears larger in person than he did a year ago.

And of course let's not forget how Swop ended last season (1:25 mark)...

Greg Brohm dropped from coaching staff

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:50:14 -0000

Welp, for better or worse there's no question that for right now this is Steve Kragthorpe's program.

Greg Brohm, the last member of the University of Louisville's first family of football to work with the program, was reassigned from his position as director of football operations, the school confirmed Tuesday.

U of L head coach Steve Kragthorpe replaced Brohm with Steve Adams, a graduate assistant who worked with the offense last season. Brohm was about to begin his sixth season on the Cardinals' staff.

"I just felt I needed to make a change at that position," said Kragthorpe in a statement through university spokesman Rocco Gasparro. "Also, this allows Greg to pursue some other opportunities."

Kragthorpe was not made available for questions.

Gasparro said Brohm will work on special projects within the athletic department including the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium expansion. When reached by The Courier-Journal, Brohm declined to take questions, but issued his own statement:
"The university is very important to me. I will do whatever job I am asked to do to the best of my ability. With stadium expansion and the other projects we have going on, I think there are some areas I look forward to helping with."

Like it or don't like it, the important thing is that we all argue about it and pass along fourth-hand reports of how Jared Swopshire is looking in pick-up games.

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- UK News All Over the Place

Truzenzuzex — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:25:00 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Scott Skiles has reason to smile after getting Jennings and Jodie Meeks in the NBA Draft.

Browse more photos »

I am going to change the format of the Big Blue Daily Mail a bit (things around here are always a work in progress) to be a bit more link based than links at the end of commentary. I find myself taking so long to do the BBDM that I simply don't have time for anything else. The new format will have the lead story on the front page, and everything else below the fold.

Today I will be at Churchill Downs all day. It is the annual trip that I do with my wife to celebrate her birthday. She absolutely loves to gamble, and especially loves to bet the ponies. So that's were I'll be all day. You can look for a tweet or two if something particularly good or bad happens there. Perhaps I'll be betting on Coach Billy G.

Today's lead story is Jodie Meeks to the Milwaukee Bucks. I am not the world's greatest NBA fan although I do watch and keep up with it, so those of you who are experts in the NBA might want to chime in and add some value to my comments.

On it's face, this looks like a good pickup for the Bucks since they recently traded away star swingman Richard Jefferson. SLAM Online grades the Bucks draft as an A-:

Meeks gives Milwaukee a solid scoring option coming off the bench to help fill some of the void left by Jefferson. While he won’t be able to attack the rim and create a ton of offense as a slasher, Meeks is a big-time scorer who can light things up from the outside as he showed countless times at Kentucky this past season. With Jennings getting into the lane, Meeks can spot up and bury jumpers from the outside when he is on the floor. These two will take some time to develop, particularly Jennings, but the Bucks addressed two needs and they did it with quality picks.

I think Meeks will definitely be able to find backup minutes right away, and I am not 100% convinced that Meeks can't get his own shot -- he just didn't do so at UK very often. He is a better spot-up, catch-and-shoot guy, but I do believe that he has the tools necessary to improve his handle and get into the lane or pull up for a jumper. The question is, will Jodie see the value in putting in the work necessary to develop those skills if he sees good minutes as a spot-up shooter? J.J. Redick as definitely worked hard on the other aspects of his game, for example, but there are others who have come in as catch-and-shoot guys that never try to expand their role. Which one will Jodie be?

SB Nations' Bucks blog Brew Hoop likes the Meeks pick, although he was hoping for DeJuan Blair. The Bucks do need some front-court help, so this makes sense. For his part, Jodie Meeks can't wait to get to Milwaukee and join the team. Of course, he first has to make the team, but I am convinced he will. If he doesn't, he is likely going to have to take the Kelenna Azubuike route and that is a tough road.

A final note on Jodie -- did you know he will be playing with former Wildcat (and one of this blog's favorites) Keith Bogans? I didn't, but I suspect there will be a lot more Bucks fans among the Big BlueNation than previously.

Now, the rest of the news:

UK Basketball News

UK Recruiting Notebook: Kyrie Irving, interesting developments and lots of notes
Dustin Rumbaugh at KSR reports on Kyrie Irving.
John Calipairi won't be taking a back seat to Traitor Rick
Via John Clay comes this piece from Luke Winn at SI.com. Calipari and Pitino at two rival schools is just one of the many great things that bringing Calipari to Kentucky created.
Quincy Miller picks up UK offer ...
... Along with about 100 others.
UK offers 2012 prospect Perry Ellis
Per Jody Demling.

UK Football News

Wallace will play at UK
Big pickup by the football team.
DeQuin Evans is enrolled at UK in summer school

Other UK Sports News

None today.

NCAA Sports News

Who is next year's No. 1 NBA draft pick?
Most agree with UK fans that it is likely to be John Wall. But Ed Davis? Really?
Alabama reportedly working on Saban extension
The Saban-Calipari comparisons will just keep getting stronger.

Other News of Interest

CatsPause.com - Fab Frosh Camp
A report on the Fab Frosh camp held this weekend at Memorial Coliseum.
No U of L coach at Kentucky Football Coaches Association clinic
Can Kragthorpe's life get any more chaotic? This poor guy steps into a cowpile and sinks up to his neck. Man, I really do feel for him.

The Daily Schadenfreude

Swopshire's little brother is a bit of a Kentucky fan
Louisville forward Jared Swopshire's brother Jordan is a UK fan. Oh, schadenfreude!
Ex-Duke guard Williams lists UK among transfer destinations
I would just love to pick up this guy. He is a very good player, and taking one away from Duke would just tickle me pink.

Rick Pitino types stuff

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:04:15 -0000

In the midst of what has likely been the most peculiar offseason of his coaching career, Rick Pitino took to the Internet today to answer some pressing - basketball-related - questions.

Here's a teaser:

Starting five for next year?

Edgar Sosa at the point. He will have a banner senior year. It takes certain players longer to mature than others.

Jerry Smith - We need him in shape ready to play and lead. Mr. Consistent will also have a terrific senior year.

?? Your guess is as good as anyone.

Reggie Delk must develop a more dedicated work ethic. Great person. Has to make the gym and weight room his second home.

Jared Swopshire. MDP on the team (Most Dedicated Player). Has an unbelievable work ethic. Will battle for time at both three and four.

Samardo Samuels- People would be surprised at how good a face up shooter he is from seventeen feet. Trying out for Jamaican National team.

Terrence Jennings- The sky’s the limit to how good he can be. With a Swopshire work ethic -- look out. Let’s hope he develops that desire.

Peyton Siva - Will see plenty of action as a freshman.

Preston Knowles - Is the best sixth man in the country (Ed. Note: boner).

Mike Marra - Must get stronger and quicker, but his jumper and range are outstanding.

Rakeem Buckles - “Rock” – Reminds me of Otis George. Will need time to mature physically. But has the desire to become a good player.

Stephen Van Treese - Tough young man who will not back down from contact of the BIG EAST. We will work hard to develop his low post game.

Kyle Kuric - Great in the weight room. Just has to work on his ball handling and spend more time in the gym. But he has the potential to be a very effective player.

George Goode - Helped us last year. Terrific person who has a difficult time with his conditioning. We have to monitor his diet to get his body fat under eight.

Hmmm, "Rock Buckles." It's about a 50/50 split between porn name and action name. Either way, welcome to the club my man.

Louisville 103, Arizona 64

Mike Rutherford — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:43:52 -0000

I'm off to Indy in a very short while, so let's do this quick and play ten thoughts:

1. This was an even more dominating performance than the Stanford and Oklahoma thrashings of the past two seasons, and this one took place in the Sweet 16. Just unreal.

2. Of the seven teams remaining outside of us, I don't think there's anyone I'd rather play than Michigan State. No disrespect to the Spartans, it's just that the Regional Final field is insanely strong this year.

If Louisville keeps the battle of the boards close tomorrow, they win.

3. "Scott to Swop" is now forever etched in the folklore of Louisville basketball.

I love this picture.

4. At least Kyle Kuric had about 1.5 seconds of pure joy before looking to the bench and thinking, "oh...shit." There's no question about who celebrated the least in the locker room.

5. I believe that was the best game Edgar Sosa has played as a Louisville Cardinal. Let's go ahead and have him interview his teammates before every game.

6. Terrence Jennings and Samardo Samuels are not impressed with Jordan Hill's NBA buzz.

7. Jerry Smith's two one-handed crams and three-point proficiency was impressive, but his Batman-esque leap to the top step after one of Swop's dunk in the second half was my favorite Jerry-related play of the game.

8. This was as hard and as enthusiastic as I've ever seen Earl Clark play. He does that for three more games...crazy thoughts.

9. Twenty-nine assists, 14-of-29 from three, 13-of-14 from the free-throw line, everybody on the team scoring: pick your favorite statistic.

10. Three down.

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 74, Morehead State 54

Mike Rutherford — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:05:57 -0000

I think we all had a pretty good idea of how the second half was going to play out, but I don't believe anyone who says they weren't freaking out at least a little bit during the 15 minutes of intermission.

It's easy to say our guys got complacent after building an early 10-point lead, or that this team is about ten times less dangerous when Earl Clark is on the bench, but I think Morehead State also deserves to have a healthy dose of praise hurled in its direction.

We knew they were going to play as if their lives depended on the game's outcome, but the Eagles also came out and executed their game plan brilliantly in the initial 20 minutes. They got Maze Stallworth open looks from the outside, they detected the right times to hit Faried and Buchanan in the post, and they frustrated the Cardinals by alternating defenses.

If the game's outcome was determined by effort and execution, Morehead is right there in the final minute, but the Eagles simply didn't have the athletes or the ballhandlers to stop what we all knew was coming after halftime.

Andre McGee officially finished the game with eight points, five steals and four assists, but it certainly felt like he had about three times all those numbers.

With Edgar Sosa appearing less and less capable of playing with any sense of poise, McGee's importance has never been greater. I think it was around steal number three when I made the comment that Andre might be the most important player on the team right now.

Apparently Rick Pitino agrees.

"Without question, Earl Clark and Terrence Williams are the professional athletes, potentially, on our basketball team," Pitino said, turning to McGee in his postgame news conference. "But there's no doubt about it, this young man is what makes our basketball team win. Andre McGee is the key, times 10, to our basketball team."

'Dre is getting a lot of national love this morning, and nobody deserves it more. The tail end of the man's Cardinal career is becoming increasingly O'Bannon-esque with each game.

In a strange way, Samardo Samuels's midseason struggles may end up being an enormous positive for this team. Not only was Terrence Jennings able to emerge as a solid contributor, but teams have become less and less likely to double Samuels, and recently he's been taking advantage accordingly.

Samuels played hungry last night on both ends of the floor and was as aggressive when the ball was in the air as he's been all season. He doesn't have to carry this team to Detroit, but he does need to be counted on for somewhere around 12 and eight for the next few weeks.

Token

Jerry Smith's bench antics are forcing me to miss large chunks of game action.

I was really happy to see Swop stroke that three near the end of the game. A large part of the reason he's struggled so mightily since the start of Big East play is that he's simply not ready to log these types of minutes at the four, but he's also been playing without any semblance of confidence since the new year, and maybe hitting a shot like that in his NCAA Tournament debut will restore some.

"Swopsher" is officially the new "Palashus."

Edgar Sosa didn't do much well outside of knocking down a couple treys, but he was up and cheering on the bench almost the entire game, which is a great sign for a kid who will be relied upon heavily in his senior season. There will be a game between now and the end of the season where this team will need Sosa to step up in a big way, and keeping the right attitude when things aren't going well could play a large part in his ability to succeed when that time comes.

Pitino said he played Swopshire instead of Terrence Jennings at the four because Swop is better at defending the wings out of the zone, but that still doesn't explain TJ not seeing any time at the five in the first half. Me thinks he did something to get himself in the doghouse this week.

It's hard to believe that we've gotten this far without mentioning T-Will, so...T-Will.

After our game, I was cheering for overtime first and Siena second. Both were good horses to saddle up with.

The Saints aren't going to change because they're facing Louisville, they're going to play fast, loose and free with the ball, and that's fine by me.

I hate that we have to play these guys because they're a team I enjoy watching, but sometimes in life you have to beat people you really like. It's in the Bible.

I'll be making the trip to Dayton on Sunday, and could not be happier about not having to deal with Ohio State fans. I've found that I do not mesh well with their kind.

I've made the switch to pajama pants, long-sleeve grey Louisville basketball shirt and backwards Louisville hat at halftime of each of the last three games. The Cards have outscored their opponents 128-70 in those three halves.

If you don't think those pants are going to be worn underneath my jeans on Sunday, then you've got a punch in the face coming your way. That might seem excessive, but it's March and Louisville is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, a fact that I've used to justify everything I've done over the past six days.

I still have a ridiculous amount of faith in Preston's outside shot. Keep pulling, young man.

I'd also invest every penny I own (both of them) in his on-ball defense. Bad economy, shmad shmashonomy.

Goode to see George on the floor again. See what I did there?

Earl Clark in March: still better than the best player from your high school. Still, I could do without the turnovers, E5. Just somethin' to think about.

Cleveland State was my big upset pick...and yet every bracket I've submitted is still in the bottom 50 percent of its pool.

There are few joys in life as absolute as being able to watch NCAA Tournament games all day with the knowledge that your team was victorious the night before.

One down.