Am I jumping the gun a little bit with this post?  Not really.  I don't care if you are Steve Kragthorpe's grandma, there can't be too many people that think he'll be the coach at UofL next year.  So, I am asking you, the CC community, what should be the strategy for hiring our next coach?  Not, who per se the coach should be, but what should his profile look like. 

I love UofL as much as anyone, but lets face it, its a good head coaching job but UofL isn't considered a "traditional football power", whatever that is.  Given that, we are not going to hire Urban Meyer away from Florida, our next head coach will have a few flaws on experience or performance record.  So, who do we want out of these candidates:

The unproven up-and-comer

Solid guy with a decent track record

Fall from glory

Coach with connections

Read the details and pros/cons after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

And then there were four…as in, four games left that can impact UofL's Big East tourney seed or opponent (or at least opponent in the first round).  Of course, these two:

UofL @ WVU, Saturday 9:00 PM

UConn @ Pitt, Saturday noon

As previously discussed, if UofL wins and Pitt beats UConn, we win the BE outright.  Any other scenario we get #2

• UConn and UofL win – UConn gets the title with the head-to-head tiebreaker
• UofL loss and a UConn win and we finish #2 with no ties
• UofL loss and a Pitt win – 3 way tie with the following miniconf records (miniconf win % is the first 3-way tie breaker even if uneven number of games were played)
  • Pitt 2-1
  • UofL 1-1
  • UConn 1-2

The other two games that affect our first round opponent:

Providence @ Villanova, Thursday 7:00 PM

Syracuse @ Marquette, Saturday 2:00 PM

Of our potential 1st round matchups as the #1 or #2: DePaul (#16), Rutgers (#15), and Cincy (#9) have locked up their seeds.  ND will be the #10 as long as they don’t lose to St. Johns (but it would be pretty cool if they did).  Without further ado, here are the scenarios… 

Scenario #1 (the good one) – UofL beats WVU and Pitt beats UConn

UofL is #1 seed, playing the winner of the #8 and DePaul(#16)/Cincy(#9)

• If Syracuse beats Marquette AND Nova beats Providence , that puts Syracuse into 6th and WVU/Prov in a tie at 7th.  WVU won that one head-to-head, so our #8 opponent is PROVIDENCE
• Every other scenario for Syr/Marq and Nova/Prov, WEST VIRGINIA gets the #8

Scenario #2 (I can live with this) – UofL beats WVU and UConn beats Pitt

UofL is #2 seed, playing the winner of the #7 and Rutgers(#15)/ND(#10)

• If Syracuse beats Marquette AND Nova beats Providence , same as scenario #1.  Syracuse into 6th and WVU/Prov in a tie at 7th.  WVU won that one head-to-head, so our #7 opponent is WEST VIRGINIA
• Every other scenario for Syr/Marq and Nova/Prov, SYRACUSE gets the #7

Scenario #3 (oh, this would not be good) – UofL loses to WVU then the Pitt/UConn game no longer impacts UofL

UofL is still the #2 seed, playing the winner of the #7 and Rutgers(#15)/ND(#10)

• If Syracuse AND Nova win, WVU and Syracuse tie for 6th.  Syracuse beat them head to head, so the #7 is WEST VIRGINIA
• If Syracuse AND Providence win, now there is a 3-way tie for 6th.  Prov, Syracuse, WVU have 1-1 records against each other.  Providence wins the tie-breaker win their win over Pitt and SYRACUSE wins the #7 seed with the head-to-head win over WVU. 
• The other two possibilities, we’ll get PROVIDENCE as the #7
  • Marquette and Nova win – Prov and Syr tie for #7 and Prov wins by HtoH
  • Marquette and Prov win – Prov and WVU tie for #6 and WVU wins by HtoH

Bottom line:

(This assumes we’d rather play Providence than WVU a third time and we’d rather play West Virginia than Syracuse)

1.  Cheer for UofL (always)

2.  Cheer for Pitt (I want this championship)

3.  Cheer for Nova on Thursday.  This helps us play Providence instead of WVU or WVU instead of Syracuse.  Nova winning helps good stuff happen.

4.  If Nova beat Providence, cheer for Syracuse over Marquette.  Otherwise the only way the Syracuse/Marquette game impacts us is if we lost to WVU, in which case a Marquette win gives us Providence as our #7.  So I guess if Providence beats Nova, cheer for Marquette just in case. 

...either that, or it will make it worse.

http://mashup.cbssports.com/show.php?id=1921

Nevermind that Edgar's shot came after a pushoff. Or that that ball went off Padgett and over to Tennessee.  I love this CBS app!  

UofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofLUofL

(12)Villanova 75, (5)Clemson 69
(7) West Virgnia 73, (2) Duke 67

(1) UNC vs. (5) ND next?  I almost hope it comes to (1) UNC vs. (3) Louisville though

Thats what they get for this...
http://www.carolinamarch.com/story/2008/3/14/04016/2346

Bumped from Diaries

Syracuse-setonhall game effectively ends my dream of getting a 2nd round matchup with Cincy/SetonHall winner

Most games are easy to pick form here out.  Here is the outlook with these assumptions:

UL over GT
UConn over Prov and Cinc
Marq over Syr
ND over USF
WV over SJU
Pitt over DePaul
Vill over Prov
SHall over Rut
Cinc over DePaul

UofL gets Cincy/Nova winner in R1

Rank    Count    W-L    Tie Breaker   
1    Louisville    15-3       
2    Georgetown    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 2-0   
3    Connecticut    14-4    TB3 - record vs top teams   
4    Notre Dame    14-4    TB3 - record vs top teams   
5    Marquette    12-6       
6    West Virginia    11-7       
7    Pittsburgh    10-8       
8    Cincinnati    9-9    TB1 - h to h   
9    Villanova    9-9    TB1 - h to h   
10    Syracuse    8-10    TB1 - h to h   
11    Seton Hall    8-10    TB1 - h to h   
12    DePaul    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 2-1   
13    St. John's    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-1   
14    Providence    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-2   
15    South Florida    3-15       
16    Rutgers    2-16       

With UofL loss:

Now we get WV/Seton Hall winner.  Why does it always have to be WV?

Rank    Count    W-L    Tie Breaker   
1    Georgetown    15-3       
2    Connecticut    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 2-1   
3    Louisville    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 1-1   
4    Notre Dame    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 1-2   
5    Marquette    12-6       
6    West Virginia    11-7       
7    Pittsburgh    10-8       
8    Cincinnati    9-9    TB1 - h to h   
9    Villanova    9-9    TB1 - h to h   
10    Syracuse    8-10    TB1 - h to h   
11    Seton Hall    8-10    TB1 - h to h   
12    DePaul    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 2-1   
13    St. John's    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-1   
14    Providence    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-2   
15    South Florida    3-15       
16    Rutgers    2-16       

Potential for #1 UofL matchup with Pitt as #8 seed with Cincy over UConn or Pitt loss to DePaul

Potential for #1 UofL matchup with Syracuse as #9 seed with Syr win over Marq

Rank    Count    W-L    Tie Breaker   
1    Louisville    15-3       
2    Georgetown    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 2-0   
3    Connecticut    14-4    TB3 - record vs top teams   
4    Notre Dame    14-4    TB3 - record vs top teams   
5    West Virginia    11-7    TB1 - h to h   
6    Marquette    11-7    TB1 - h to h   
7    Pittsburgh    10-8       
8    Cincinnati    9-9    TB1 - miniconf 2-0   
9    Syracuse    9-9    TB3 - record vs top teams   
10    Villanova    9-9    TB3 - record vs top teams   
11    Seton Hall    8-10       
12    DePaul    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 2-1   
13    St. John's    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-1   
14    Providence    5-13    TB1 - miniconf 1-2   
15    South Florida    3-15       
16    Rutgers    2-16       

Not looking too bad - was a little worried we'd get the 1 seed but still have to face a Pitt, Syracuse, or WV 1st round.  I'll take a Cincy/Nova winner any day.

Good win today.  1 game from the title!

Thanks to Cincy choking against Prov today, lots of scenarios are now pointing to a Seton Hall/Cincy #8/#9 BE tourney matchup.  How sweet would it be to get the 1 seed and get to exact revenge on Mick or Gonzo?  

Rank    Team             W-L    Tie Breaker   
1    #18 Louisville       15-3       
2    #10 Georgetown    14-4    TB1 - miniconf 2-0   
3    #16 Connecticut    14-4    TB3 - record vs UofL   
4    #17 Notre Dame    14-4    TB3 - record vs UofL   
5    #21 Marquette       12-6       
6    West Virginia       11-7       
7    Pittsburgh         10-8         TB1 - h to h   
8    Seton Hall         10-8         TB1 - h to h   
9    Cincinnati         9-9         TB1 - h to h   
10    Villanova         9-9         TB1 - h to h   
11    Syracuse         7-11       
12    Providence    5-13         TB3 - record vs GT/Uconn   
13    DePaul    5-13         TB3 - record vs GT/Uconn   
14    St. John's    4-14       
15    South Florida    3-15       
16    Rutgers    2-16       

Assumptions:
UL over GU
UConn wins out
Marq over Syr
ND wins out
WV wins out (including over Pitt)
Pitt over depaul
Nova over USF and Prov
Seton Hall over Syr and Rutgers
Cincy over depaul

Even with some changes (e.g. Syracuse over SHall), pretty good change of the 8/9 SHall/Cincy game setting up for us.  

Now all we have to do is beat Georgetown!

Bumped from diaries

Yes, it's the moment I wait for all year - 1 week until the tourney! That means its time to crunch some numbers and see how the seeding can turn out. ;

This post will probably be dated in about 4 hours, so I recommend TiVoing all of today's games and not watching until you completely understand all tourny implications.  

Here we go...

Scenario #1: Everything goes as expected

UL over Nova and GU
GU over Marq
UConn wins out, including beating WV
Pitt over Syr
Cincy over Prov
Syr over Hall

1    #18 Louisville       
2    #10 Georgetown        2-0   
2    #16 Connecticut        1-2        1-0 vs UL
2    #17 Notre Dame    1-2   
5    #21 Marquette       
6    West Virginia       
7    Cincinnati        split        1-0 vs UL
7    Pittsburgh        split        0-1 vs. UL   
9    Villanova        won h to h   
9    Seton Hall       
11    Syracuse       
12    DePaul       
13    Providence        won h to h   
13    St. John's       
15    Rutgers       
16    South Florida       

Louisville plays the winner of the 8/9 game.  Pitt is #8 because they split with Cincy and the next tie-breaker is record vs #1 seed.  Nova beat S Hall heat to head to get the #9 seed.  

Scenario #2: What if GU loses to Marq but beats UofL

1    #10 Georgetown        3-1   
1    #16 Connecticut        2-2    won h to h
1    #18 Louisville        2-2   
1    #17 Notre Dame    1-3   
5    #21 Marquette       
6    West Virginia       
7    Cincinnati        split    1-0 vs RU
7    Pittsburgh        split   
9    Villanova        won h to h   
9    Seton Hall       
11    Syracuse       
12    DePaul       
13    Providence        won h to h   
13    St. John's       
15    Rutgers       
16    South Florida       

This one gave me a headache.  A 4-way tie for first (that's a lot of t-shirts) gets broken with the miniconference record.  GU wins and ND is the #4 seed.  UConn gets the 2 over UofL because of the head-to head game.  Cincy and Pitt split and no team gains a tie-breaker advantage until all the way down to Rutgers(!), which won at Pitt.  

Scenario #3    Same thing, plus UConn loses to WV

1    #10 Georgetown        2-1    split h to h    2-0 vs Vill/SHall
1    #18 Louisville        2-1    split h to h    1-1 vs Vill/SHall
1    #17 Notre Dame    0-2               
4    #16 Connecticut        won h to h               
4    #21 Marquette                   
6    West Virginia                   
7    Cincinnati    split h to h    1-0 vs RU           
7    Pittsburgh    split h to h   
9    Villanova       
9    Seton Hall       
11    Syracuse       
12    DePaul       
13    Providence    won h to h   
13    St. John's       
15    Rutgers       
16    South Florida       

UofL now gets the two.  Same miniconf record as GU and tiebreak goes all the way down to Vill/SHall, where GU wins with 2-0 record.  Cincy-Pitt tiebreaker still goes all the way down to Rutgers.

Scenario #4    Worst case -  UL loses out, UConn drops a game to WV, Marq wins out

Rank           
1    #10 Georgetown        won h to h   
1    #17 Notre Dame       
3    #16 Connecticut        2-0   
3    #18 Louisville        2-1   
3    #21 Marquette        0-3   
6    West Virginia       
7    Pittsburgh        1-1   
7    Cincinnati        0-2    beat Nova h to h
7    Villanova        0-2   
10    Seton Hall       
11    Syracuse       
12    DePaul       
13    Providence    won h to h   
13    St. John's       
15    Rutgers       
16    South Florida       

So, Louisville gets the 4 seed here and plays winner of Marq/DePaul.  Pitt/Cincy/Nova deadlock is broken by record over GU/ND, then Cincy h-to-h win over Nova.  

I think this means out ND win clinched us a bye.  That's pretty important.  

A hole in UofL's football schedule in '08?  How 'bout filling it with...I don't know...some C-USA team or something.  Just don't make us play Memphis in basketball.  No really, I'm serious.  If UofL ends up on the #4/#5 line in the same region as #1 Memphis I am going to get very nervous.  But, back to football...

I like it, Mr. Jurich.  If we can't beat Kentucky, surely we can't lose to Memphis.  Right?

Somewhere, Marty Lowe just flinched.

yah!

___________

West Virginia junior running back Steve Slaton said Sunday he will enter the NFL draft.

"I just told my coaches," an emotional Slaton said. "This is hard for me. But my coaches that knew me best have left. And now it's time for me to leave."

Slaton said he was projected by the NFL advisory committee as a second-round pick.

"Some guys think I'm a step slow," Slaton said. "So I have to show at the combine that I'm not."

Slaton said he wasn't able to consult with former West Virginia and current Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez on the decision, but he did speak with his former position coach, Calvin Magee.

"It's a good decision for me now, because I'm a versatile back," Slaton said. "As versatile as any back. I can play running back, wide receiver, kick returner. This was hard for me, but it's my time now to go."

After setting West Virginia's school record with 1,733 yards rushing in 2006, Slaton ran for 1,051 yards in 2007 to surpass 1,000 yards for the third straight year. He also matched his career-high with 17 touchdowns in 2007.

As a resident of North Dallas, I sit smack in the midst of Big XII country.  How much am loving this beating that WVU is laying on OU?  Enough to taunt the sports karma gods by making this post with 11 minutes left in the game...and in the never-say-never Fiesta Bowl no less

Oh well, screw it.  Woo hoo!  Go 'eers.  41-21!  Never again will I have to hear from Texas fans how weak of a league UofL plays in.  

Kyle Kuric commits to UofL.  A second recruit in 24 hours after Terrence Jennings!

6'5" sharpshooter wing from Evansville.  Listed as a 3 star in insidetheville.  I smell a #1 recruiting class!

Come on Tyreke Evans!  

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

Mike - you really have to take off this 300 character minimum.  Sometimes I am not that thoughtful.

As one of approximately 8,500 Jewish UofL fans, I feel obligated to comment on the bizarre article in the courier entitled "Blame ESPN for Cardinals playing during Yom Kippur".  I always enjoyed taking an extra day off school as much as the next meshugana, but do people really expect that they are going to move a college football game for Yom Kippur?  Maybe a good idea for the Northwestern vs. Duke game last week, but I think UofL-Syracuse can still go on.  

Team spokesman Rocco Gasparro said he "didn't know of any U of L players who are Jewish".  Oh yeah, Rocco?  I guess that wasn't Malik Jacksonstein that I saw at the Temple on Friday night?  And I guess I didn't throw back a bottle of Manischewitz with JaJuan Spillberg last weekend?  How insensitive can you be?

As a protest, I will be wearing a red and black yamaka while watching the game.  Also, I may modify my Louisville replica jersey to read "Jewisville".  I encourage everyone out there who is planning on going to the game to join me in my Yom Kipper fashion statement, as the Cards try to atone for MANY sins on both sides of the ball.  

There were some fantastic quotes in the comments section of that article:
"haven't the Jewish people been through enough? Now they're getting blamed for UL's fair-weather fan base."
"I don't think that footballs have been made of pigskin for a very long time." [On Jews not playing football because the ball is made of pigskin]

Garcia was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal column yesterday (it also talks about Bob Huggy-Bear).  

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117336822245830945.html?mod=hps_us_editors_picks

Here's the Cisco section:

------------------------------------------
Ron Artest of the Sacramento Kings was arrested Monday after a woman called 911 from his home saying she'd been assaulted. And it turns out deputies have responded to five 911 calls from Mr. Artest's house since last August, including two domestic disturbances between the player and his wife. Oh, and last month animal-control officers took Mr. Artest's Great Dane because it wasn't being fed.

Sadly, such trouble doesn't make for a remarkable story in today's sports world. What is remarkable, says Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, is the Kings' reaction.

"The Kings blew a golden opportunity to tap-dance and obfuscate," he writes. "They removed Artest from the team picture. ... The team did not announce its support for Artest, nor did any spokespeople say they would wait for the legal and judicial process to take its course before considering any action. They sat Artest's arse on the bench and threw the bench out of the arena. No weaseling, waffling or wimping. You can read the details in next month's Journal of the American Medical Association -- 'Spine Discovered in Sports Organization/Scientists believe it supports a moral structure.' "

Mr. Artest's exit has meant a larger role for sophomore Francisco Garcia, and Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee writes that Mr. Garcia has stepped up, shedding many of the bad habits that hampered him as a rookie and earlier this season.

"After an impressive early stretch, García assumed the role of the interested observer, his teammates plodding and stagnating and struggling without him," Ms. Voisin recalls. "But this is where Cisco has changed, grew up while hardly anyone was watching. Though still the first King with a quip or to pull a prank, he has become a serious, diligent student of the game. He has scrapped the tendency to launch a three the first time he touches the ball. He has tempered his demeanor, resisting the temptation to grab the pointer and, like an overbearing schoolteacher, acting as if he has all of the answers. That look of disgust when someone fails to spot him in the corner? The one that exposes his inner thoughts to virtually everyone inside Arco? Gone. The histrionics that so annoyed his teammates? Gone, too."
-----------------------------------------

One thing is certain.  If the Cisco nickname sticks, that can't be bad for Garcia's career.

Before I discovered this excellent UofL fan blog, I was forced to read the C-J's fan blog.  Recently, I read a reader comment to one of Tom Heiser's posts:

"That's it Heiser; I'm done reading your column. Your use of arcane words is way too annoying and distracting. Either you're very different from how most normal people speak, or you're just trying too hard. Either way, you're not going to build a following, and look forward to see how your replacement does."

booyah!  That post inspired me to make a list of the top 15 arcane words used in a Heiser blog:

15.    inscrutably
14.    quotidian
13.    modicum
12.    dyspeptic
11.    fusillade
10.    diaphanous
9.    obelisks
8.    unblinkered
7.    mellifluous
6.    jamokes
5.    Weltanschauung
4.    opprobrium
3.    bumptiousness
2.    syzygy

and the winner is...
1.    tittles

Who can argue with a guy that works the sentence "it was another signature win -- with all the jots and tittles in place" into a sports column!