Louisville ace Justin Amlung pitched six solid innings in the 107 degree Arizona heat Friday night before Travis Tingle took over to shut the door on a 3-2 win over New Mexico State in the Tucson Regional opener.

The Aggies took an early 2-0 lead into the fourth frame and had several opportunities to tack on more runs, but Amlung and Tingle--both Louisville natives--pitched a hell of a game, allowing just one earned run between them. Tingle couldn't have pitched better in earning his first save of the season, retiring all nine batters he faced in three innings of relief. Perhaps just as important, Tingle's extended appearance keeps other bullpen arms fresh for the remainder of Regional play while New Mexico State faces the challenge of regrouping in the loser's bracket with six fatigued pitchers.

At the plate, U of L second baseman Nick Ratajczak went 2-for-5, with one run and the game-winning RBI on a two-out double in the fifth inning. Left-fielder Cole Sturgeon and right-fielder Stewart Ijames knocked in the other two Louisville runs.

The Cards improved to 10-8 all time in NCAA Regional games and 4-2 in opening round games. Friday's win also clinched Louisville's fifth 40-win season in six years under Dan McDonnell. He good.

Up next for Louisville, top-seeded and 8th-ranked Arizona who pounded Missouri 15-3 last night. The Cards and Cats are scheduled to start at 11pm ET tonight on ESPNU and ESPN3.com.

Eight minute VillenHD video? YES.

"Dieng hasn't made a [three point] shot all year." L to the Izzo.

VillenHD wubwubwub does wubwubwub his/her wubwubwub thing. Also: Skrillex is involved.

NCAA Tournament VillenHD: All bidness.

The real winners tonight were the KFC Yum! Center folks and downtown Louisville. Potentially hosting three local teams plus defending national champion Connecticut and Big East power Marquette? Should be some considerable buzz around the Derby City all week and weekend. I love it.

Alright, let's talk about the seeding and draw. In the minutes leading up to the Selection Sunday show, I thought Louisville had a pretty good chance at a three seed. Like many of you, I reacted negatively when my television pixels revealed the Fightin' Cardinals being shipped three time zones away to Portland, but after seeing the brackets fleshed out I think the Cards have a relatively good draw. As we say this time of year, it's all about match-ups and I'd rather watch my team win first round games playing in Hong Kong over losing to plodding mid-majors in Columbus. Or just win. That's the key element here. And with 13 seed Davidson as the first (second) round opponent and one seed Michigan State as the potential Sweet Sixteen foe, I like U of L's chances better than if they'd drawn a 14 seed like Belmont (good luck Hoyas) and one seeds like Kentucky and North Carolina.

The selection committee's overall rankings were just released on TruTV's "Hardcore Brackets" show and Louisville was slotted as the #16 team behind Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, ergo the last four seed, ergo Portland. I thought they'd seed U of L higher, but the RPI Top 50 wins weren't all that impressive and before winning their conference tournament, Louisville's best wins were over Vandy and Memphis at home and perhaps the Cards' most impressive resume bullet is that they only suffered one truly bad loss, the 31 point drubbing at Providence.

You look back at the schedule and those close losses to Georgetown and Notre Dame look more and more like valuable seeding opportunities--at least moreso than they seemed at the time. That matters little now. It's winning time and the Peyton Siva-led Cards finally look up to the challenge of closing games and taking names. Printable brackets HERE via SB Nation. Here's an excellent preview of the Davidson Wildcats via SB Nation's own "Searching for Billy Edelin" blog: LINK

February VillenHD does not mess around.

Andy Glockner would like to remind you not to get too excited about VillenHD highlights of a win against...Villanova.

It's time for Week Two of Your Team Sucks: Big East Power Rankings by HotHot and Scott (cardscott5), sponsored by Old Grand-Dad bourbon. Week One saw a figurative ton of positive feeback. One person said it was the greatest thing Scott's ever put on his Cincinnati blog. Another fanboy on a Rutgers message board said "Those rankings are atrocious." Tremendous support.

This week, the rankings are mostly Scott's because I agreed with them except position #11. Credit Big East hoops aficionado Raphielle Johnson who smartly sided with me when we asked him to decide whether U of L or Notre Dame should be ranked higher. Following the rankings, our thoughts on the league.

1) Syracuse
2) Cincinnati
3) Georgetown
4) West Virginia
5) Connecticut
6) Marquette
7) Seton Hall
8) South Florida
9) Rutgers
10) Villanova
11) Notre Dame
12) Louisville
13) Providence
14) DePaul
15) St John's
16) Pittsburgh

HH: HotHot. S: Scott (Scott)

S: I really can't believe PITTSBURGH is 0-6. The Panther defense continues to be horrible. This is not what you expect from a Pitt team. I remember watching the second half against Notre Dame and writing that off to the ND beats everyone at home phenomenon. Then Cincinnati got any shot they wanted in the second half. Following that was the DePaul meltdown. I don't really know what this team has in the tank. The bench was pretty good against Syracuse, but they were bad against Marquette. Ashton Gibbs tore up the Golden Eagles, but was 4-12 against the Cuse. If they are going to show any signs of life, it has to start this week. 3 of the next 4 are at home. Louisville and Pitt may not be a meeting of Big East titans, but damn is that game important to both teams. It could be the difference between a spark and missing the NIT for the Panthers. It's truly a gigantic game.

HH: It's unreal that 2+ weeks into conference play USF is 4-2 and Rutgers 3-3 while Pitt sits winless at 0-6. They'll improve when starting PG Tray Woodall returns from injury but, like Louisville, the window for Pitt to build an NCAAT-worthy resume is closing fast. To their credit, despite never getting closer than 8 points from the Orange, the Panthers showed some grit on the road at Syracuse. And as you said, Saturday's UofL - Pitt game is ironically important due to both teams' struggles. Both sides must feel as though they can grab momentum with a win. ESPN's GameDay crew will be at Pitt, an atmosphere everyone on Twitter will deservedly mock, but I expect to see a great battle for the "we're not the biggest dumpster fire in the Big East" title. There should be a WWF-style belt of shame for this. It would be DePaul's colors.

--------

HH: Continuing with LOUISVILLE, I don't think the Cards have fallen into the depths of a "must win" panic mode as much as Pitt has, but this weekend's road game at the Pete must look ripe for the picking for a Louisville team who's publicly stated their goal is to win out at home and steal two games on the road. There are several storylines one can reference to explain U of L's recent skid, none more popular than Peyton Siva's regression. Siva's still racking up assists but he's become one-dimensional and thus easy to scout/defend. Would you agree with the notion he's currently the most overrated player in the Big East?

S: I would agree with the notion. Peyton Siva is getting assists, which you mentioned, and steals by the healthy boatload, but he's turning the ball over a ton. He's scoring something like 6 points a game in Big East play. He's a complete non-factor offensively because he's turned his game so one dimensional. He hasn't taken a free throw in 3 straight games. With the Cards struggling, he's the guy who is in the dog house. The Buckles injury really hurts depth wise, because now Swop has to play 10-15 minutes a game, and he's terrible. I don't think the Pittsburgh game is a must win, it's January and they have plenty of chances in this league, but it's damn close to a game they can't afford to lose. Taking a bad loss AND dropping to 2-5 in the league would be a disaster. The defense has to get better. Pitt has guys who can drill the 3. It doesn't have the prestige of Gameday games, but it's got the intrigue.

Continue reading this post »

So, that was tough to watch.

During the first six minutes, we witnessed arguably the best offensive stretch all season for Louisville. The remainder of the game played out like a Saw sequel where the inevitable torture and pain are predictable and progressively numbing. In this script, Louisville basketball is the kettle and we are the spoiled frog, submerged in water that gradually boils us to our demise.

There are several storylines to cherry pick to explain the futility. Siva's injury. Ware's father. Pitino's ____ (myriad options). Russ jealousy. Injuries. Bad officiating. Body fat percentage. Hendo & Miss Hawaii.

The once small gripes of fan apathy towards Pitino have suddenly grown into a giant boulder of negativity rolling downhill. It seems like a 50/50 split right now between fans regarding the future Hall of Fame coach, with one side shouting "Patience!" and the other "Pathetic!"

The question is what can this team do to change the way things are going? Is this a bad team or a team behaving badly? One can make the argument Louisville is the biggest question mark team in the Big East right now and I find myself sympathizing with both sides of the Pitino coin.

It's ok to not like what you see, but now is not the time to quit on this team. There's still time to turn this horror show into a respectable happy ending, but that window is closing.

UPDATE: Postgame quotes

Rick Pitino

"You have to look at it and have some type of sense of humor, because here you are, you're in the middle of a game and Rakeem Buckles injures his other knee. He said 'My leg went dead.' So, that was a little bit of a problem obviously, but we survived, we got through it and we were playing good basketball."

"In the second half, when I had to play Angel at the four, we lost a little momentum. When it boils down to it, we were in the game. Even though we may be out with a lot of players, we're in the game, but we have to make our free throws."

"It's difficult because you're really asking Peyton Siva to do a lot in that scenario but we had no choice with Rak(eem Buckles' injury). Angel is really really working hard--probably the best attitude on the team--and I wanted him to play him tonight, some at the 3 spot, so even though he missed those shots, he was playing the 4 spot which is not his spot. We can get a chance to play him a little bit down the road but he played well."

"Our team played good, we played good, but you need to play great to win on the road, regardless of the players you have."

"I've coached some slow teams, some unathletic teams that could pass and shoot. We have some good quickness, we cut, we do a lot of good things. But shooting is not our forte either from the field or the line. So, this season, we have to really mix it up, change things. Some people ask why are we running so many pick-and-rolls, but to be honest, if we don't run a lot of pick and rolls, we don't get a lot of jump shots. And we've got to try to get into the lane."

"Chane's not a good foul shooter. Russ should be better than he is. Kevin Ware is not a good foul shooter. We've just got to work on Kevin and Chane becoming better free throw shooters. We're working very hard on our shooting technique. [Describes Chane Behanan's poor free throw mechanics.]"

"I thought (Marquette) would make a run, you just have to sustain it. I told our guys 'Don't be down. You had a reason to be down after the Providence game, because you didn't give extraordinary effort.' I said 'You're giving great effort, stick with your goals. Your goals are to win every home game and win two road games.' So, this one got by us."

"It's not going to be easy getting Pitt. You actually have a better chance at getting (a win) like a Seton Hall than at Pitt b/c (Pitt's) so hungry for a win. Our guys are rebounding the ball well, I think they're playing real hard, we just have to make our free throws down the stretch and keep it close."

On Marquette's Devante Gardner: "He's a big body. You've got to play out in front of him and Gorgui just played behind him. Gorgui's got to realize it's his fifth foul. He's 12 feet from the basket and you don't want to foul the guy 12 feet from the basket. We did a lot of little things that hurt us down the stretch."

"I would just wear the guys out and we'd have no shot at winning (if they full court pressed the whole game). We have to play guys 37, 38, 40 minutes. I just wanted to get a look at the end there with Peyton on the bench. There's gonna be a point in a game where we've got to play without Peyton."

Regarding Buckles' injury: "It's a hyper-extended (left) knee. So we've got to try and probably play Zach, and that's going to be difficult but we have to try and play him and just use his 5 fouls. This was a tough game to play Zach b/c they half court trap and the 5-man has to pass the ball. Pitt will be a little easier for him to play."

"I hope (Kyle is back for the next game), we thought he'd play in this game, so we were surprised. We thought Van Treese would be back a week ago, so we're surprised. These are just things we have to hope for the best."

"That's the one thing I learned from Hubie (Brown), he said, 'We're fine, you're on a three game losing streak,' he said, 'you got two more games. We said if we win 2 out of 5, you'll be fine.' That's what you have to do, win every home game and get two on the road. We'll be fine in that situation and we have to keep playing to do that."

Russ Smith

"We had the game, we came close, had a chance to win it. So we have to stay positive and go out and win the next game. Hopefully the flaws we made this game will deteriorate the next."

"It was a tough game and we had the game in hand, so we can't really complain."

"(It was) definitely a winnable game. Came down to foul trouble and that's what foul trouble will do to you. We blew away some chippies, missed some free throws, I myself missed a free throw. We've just got to do the little things, get a few offensive rebounds."

"We're trying to stay optimistic, next game we've got to come out the same way we did this game, but we've got to play 40 minutes."

"We've got to do all the little things because of our injuries and all of our maladies. Once we get healthy again, things will get better, and once we do the little things, our season will start going the (right) way."

Peyton Siva

On being up 18-2 early: "The team's got to continue to execute (after big runs) and that didn't happen. (Marquette) continued making their runs and knocked down a couple threes. It's just one of those games and you hate to let it slip away from you, but Marquette's a good team, they played really well down the stretch and that's what we didn't do. We got in foul trouble, got key injuries and it hurt us. We didn't knock down free throws in clutch situations and a couple things didn't go our way. We just got to continue to go and win games."

"Like Coach P said, we gotta focus on our goals, get two in a row and then win the rest at home."

On feeling any extra pressure to do more: "No, my job is tempo, to just distribute the ball, play defense and just push the pace. It was tough tonight, but you got to continue to find shooters and get Chris and Russ open shots and feed the big men. We're all on scholarship here and there's a reason why we're here, so everybody's got to continue to contribute and play."

DEPAUL BLUE DEMONS (10-6, 1-3)

Time: 4 p.m. EST

Television: BIG EAST Network (WHAS-TV in Louisville), with Anthony Calhoun (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (color)

Radio: WHAS (840 AM) with Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Doug Ormay (color)

Officials: Michael Stephens, Tony Greene, Paul Faia

Location: KFC Yum! Center

Favorite: Louisville by 16 15.5 (Opened UofL -17.5)

All-Time Series: Louisville leads 35-21 (20-7 in Louisville, 15-12 in Chicago, 0-2 neutral)

Last Meeting: Louisville cruised to a 61-57 victory

Probable Starting Lineup

G Brandon Young (17.1 ppg, 4.9 apg)
G Jeremiah Kelly (9.8 ppg, 3.9 apg)
F Jamee Crockett (6.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg)
F Cleveland Melvin (18.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg)
C Krys Faber (5.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg)

Special Intro

Breakdown

If Mike had taken time away from creating sixteen different DePaul Day posts last year to write an actual game preview, this breakdown would be a simple copy & paste endeavor. But he didn't. Long story short, Cleveland Melvin and Brandon Young are sophomores this year and again lead the Blue Demons in scoring and being DePaul. That's all you really need to know because the game's outcome has already been decided. But if stats make you hot and bothered, feel free to keep reading.

For starters, DePaul's lost 29 of their last 30 Big East road games and 33 in a row against Top 25 opponents since an 84-76 win over #17 Villanova on Jan. 3, 2008. Gross.

Secondly, the most noticeable change this year for DePaul is head coach Oliver Purnell's tempo. After four games, DePaul's averaging almost 78 possessions per 40 minutes in Big East play. Last year, they averaged just 67. Furthermore, the Blue Demons are actually very successful at turning ballhandlers over in their full court press this season, as their +4.4 turnover margin suggests. But they're also allowing an average of 87.3 points a game in conference play so far and have a problematic -6.4 rebounding margin overall. Does Purnell continue pushing the pace in the KFC Yum!? For all my little Russelmaniacs, I hope so, brother.

Conclusion

This game is all about Louisville. No (further) disrespect to DePaul, but this game will be decided by which Louisville team walks out of that locker room. [Points at figurative locker room.] Did the players only meeting solve anything? Is Siva's ankle healed? Will Russ see the court in the first 10 minutes of the game?

If U of L comes to play, they cover the gaudy 16 point spread easily, even without Kuric (ankle injury). If not, this could be another embarrassing loss come-from-behind four point win at home.

hothot Prediction: Louisville 84, DePaul 63

If this team looks at all unfocused or lacking in effort, then I'll be both surprised and disappointed.

Welcome to the first edition of the Big East power rankings, sponsored by America. Cardscott5 came up with the idea of doing a rankings post, but I carried most of the weight in pretty much every other aspect. We ranked the teams 1-16 and Scott, who is the owner/author of the slightly above average Bearcats Blog, didn't want to average out the rankings so he used mine. See what I mean? We haven't exactly ironed out all the kinks, this was the first rankings list after all. It'll get better. Or one of us will die trying.

The rankings took place on Wednesday morning. None of Wednesday's results would have changed anything. After the rankings, our thoughts on the league:

HotHot: DePaul brought back most of their scoring and rebounding from last season, including sophomores Cleveland Melvin, the 2010-11 Big East Rookie of the Year, and Brandon Young, but suffered a few preseason injuries and transfers that set an all-too-familiar ominous tone for the Blue Demons. Went 9-3 through a very weak OOC schedule but looked much better than the DePaul of old. Oliver Purnell's team "upset" Pittsburgh 84-81 at home and hasn't lost a Big East game they should've won yet, so their 1-3 conference record is much better (by DePaul standards) than it appears. They'll face UofL on the road Saturday where Melvin--who has just one assist in his last five games--has to toughen up on the glass, stop jacking up threes and involve his teammates more for the Blue Demons to upset a reeling Cards team in the KFC Yum! Center.

Scott: Have to admit, even though the margin ended up being very wide, I liked most of what I saw of DePaul Tuesday. They got down big, but went on something like a 17-2 run to make it interesting for a minute. I don't think DePaul teams of the past do that. They could not win a road game this year, but I think they'll make things tough on people who slack off for 40 minutes. But they aren't going to win much when Young and Melvin combine for 10-30 from the field.

Continue reading this post »

Some would call it "The greatest day in Louisville soccer history" after four Louisville players were selected in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft, including three in the first round alone. Joking aside, it was a banner day for coach Ken Lolla and it was further validation that his program has become a national power the last two years. No other school had more players drafted than Louisville, and only one other school (Creighton) had four selected. It's no wonder Tom Jurich and the U of L have set aside money and land for a brand new soccer-only stadium. Good times ahead.

Congrats to the four young men drafted today: Colin Rolfe, Austin Berry, Nick DeLeon and Kenney Walker. This was the recruiting class that figuratively put Louisville soccer on the map and gave us so many great memories the last two years at Cardinal Park and the College Cup.

DeLeon, a midfielder, was taken by DC United with the 7th pick of the first round:

Here's a few highlights of DeLeon:

The Chicago Fire drafted central defender Austin Berry with the 9th pick in the first round:

Highlights of Berry at the MLS Combine:

Forward Colin Rolfe fell several spots in the draft after a relatively disappointing season riddled by minor injuries. Adding insult to injury, according to Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer, Colin had a "flat" performance at the MLS combine. Anyone who tracked his career at Louisville knows Rolfe is a sublimely clutch playmaker and finisher and he'll be taking his talents to South(east) Texas, as the Houston Dynamo drafted him with the 18th pick of the first round.

Requisite Rolfe highlights:

With the last pick of the draft, the LA Galaxy selected defensive midfielder Kenney Walker. Walker led the team with three game-winning goals last season and took the majority of the team's corner kicks. Really glad to see Walker get drafted, he's a player whom I would attach the "tremendous upside" tag to after showing continual improvement in Lolla's system.

Walker's highlight package:

Leading all conferences, 13 of the 38 draft picks today where players from Big East schools including four from Louisville, three from South Florida, two each from UConn and Notre Dame, and one each from West Virginia and Marquette. The ACC had five drafted, MVC (all Creighton) four, C-USA four, Pac-12 three, and the Big-10 had just two (both Indiana). BIG EAST! BIG EAST! BIG EAST!

With the four players selected in today's draft, two in last year's draft and Aaron Horton in last year's supplemental draft, Louisville's sent seven players to MLS teams the last two years. Amazing stuff.

Inspired partly by Card Chronicle member Carolina "FTs & Rebounds" Cardinal, I examined Louisville's free throw shooting numbers during Denny Crum's thirty year career at UofL and compared them to Rick Pitino's tenure at UofL and the national average.

Even hardcore college basketball fans may not realize that while weight training, nutrition, integration and other physical and sport-specific aspects have changed exponentially over the last fifty years, free throw percentages haven't. Like, at all. It's been the one constant of the game, other than Wisconsin's slow adjusted tempo (kenpom joke).

Does it surprise you that over the last fifty years the average FT% in NCAA D-I hoops has consistently hovered around 69%, never once exceeded 70% and rarely dipped below 68%? No? Maybe it's just me. I lead a rather boring life and am surprised rather easily. I jump a lot during movies, no matter how predictable a "something loud and scary is about to happen" scene is. Some people think it's cute. Most judge.

So, who would you guess had the best FT% during their tenure at Louisville, Crum or Pitino? It's actually pretty close:

Continue reading this post »

Iowa Western C.C. tight end Ryan Hubbell is the newest member of Charlie Strong's 2012 (or 2011?) recruiting class after committing to Louisville on Wednesday. He was scheduled to visit Northern Illinois this weekend, but cancelled that visit before committing to Strong.

Hubbell, a 6-5, 240-pound sophomore, was considered to be one of the top JUCO tight ends available and is scheduled to enroll in January to compete for the position in spring practice with returning upperclassmen Nate Nord and Chris White and incoming freshmen Larry Jefferson (3-star from College Park, GA) and Hunter Bowles (2-star from Glasgow, KY).

Via a radio interview with the Louisville Sports Live guys, Mike Hughes of Inside The Ville said Hubbell started out as a wide receiver, grew into the tight end position at Iowa Western, and has really improved his blocking.

Assuming he enrolls in January, it will be interesting to see if Hubbell counts towards the 2011 class or 2012. If I understand correctly, Gerod Holliman and Jerrelle Moore left two open spots in the 2011 class that can still be filled by JUCO early-enrollees like Hubbell. I could be (and probably am) wrong.

If he counts towards 2012, Hubbell's commitment will mark the 18th player in the class to commit to Louisville (including Holliman). For reference, on this date three years ago Steve Kragthorpe had seven commitments for his 2009 class.

During his radio interview Wednesday night, Hughes added that Strong will now focus on landing two or three defensive linemen, sign another offensive lineman and possibly go after a running back, though it's not a big position of need.

Here's Hubbell in action:

Daquan Ivery, a three-star defensive tackle out of Lake City, Fla., committed to Louisville on Wednesday. Ivery chose U of L over Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, Syracuse and others.

The 6-1, 310-pound Ivery finished his junior season with 20 tackles and five sacks and put up slightly better numbers this year at Columbia High School in Lake City (60 miles west of Jacksonville), according to the C-J's Jody Demling. He's classified as an under-the-radar recruit who reportedly runs a 5.1 second 40-yard dash and has been compared to Vince Wilfork. The video below shows Ivery using a bull rush technique to put pressure on the quarterback, which makes sense for a kid who outweighs his blocker(s) by 50+ pounds.

According to Rivals.com, Ivery was recruited by Vance Bedford and Clint Hurtt. He is the 17th member of Charlie Strong's recruiting class of 2012 and the fifth from the state of Florida.

Here's your newest Cardinal:

On the same day Cincinnati failed to lose (selfish much, Bearcats?) to Syracuse, Stephan Van Treese suffered a knee injury. 

Official release from uoflsports.com:

University of Louisville forward Stephan Van Treese has been sidelined indefinitely after reinjuring his left knee in practice on Saturday.

Van Treese had missed all of practice with a left patellar tendon strain before participating in his first individual workout on Nov. 14. He returned to see his first action of the year at Butler and played in each of the last three games, producing a combined four points and six rebounds in 20 minutes as a valuable reserve at center and power forward.

Van Treese averaged 2.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and collected 21 steals as a sophomore when he started 12 games. He averaged 4.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in BIG EAST games.

Feel bad for Stephan. We are left to assume it's the same left patellar tendon that was (re)injured, and obviously hope it's not serious. With Rakeem Buckles nearing his return to the lineup, this setback will likely mean even fewer minutes to go around for Van Treese once he's healthy again. On the bright side, the Cardinal street clothes crew adds some sorely-needed height to its roster.

When's the last time U of L athletics had a full week of good news? 1986?

The intermission music was tacky, the officiating questionable, and Louisville looked defeated for most of the second half after Bradley forward Scott Davis scored his first career goal in the 54th minute. Then things got interesting.

With less than four minutes remaining in regulation, a Colin Rolfe goal tied the match at 1-1. Another goal by Kenney Walker followed some 44 seconds later to put a cap on what looked like another furious comeback win for Ken Lolla's side. Bradley wasn't convinced. Braves forward Bryan Gaul evened the game 2-2 with just 26 seconds left, which sent the game into consecutive 10-minute sudden death overtime periods. 

And with 2:18 left in the second overtime, this happened:

I love Louisville soccer, and I had a blast following them to the College Cup in Santa Barbara last year, but it'd be nice if just once they could win an NCAAT game without any drama. Just sayin'.

The twelfth-seeded Cards, who are 6-3 on the road, will travel to Ludwig Field in College Park, Marlyand next Sunday to face the fifth-seeded Terrapins, who out-classed West Virginia 4-0 earlier today. Maryland is 14-0-1 at home this season, with the lone tie (1-1) coming vs. Wake Forest, whom Louisville beat 2-0 on the road earlier this year.

Including Wake Forest, Louisville and Maryland share four common opponents in 2011. Maryland beat St. John's 3-0 in Maryland, handled Rutgers 2-1 at home, and tied North Carolina 1-1 in Chapel Hill. Louisville lost to St. John's 0-1 in New York, tied Rutgers 1-1 at home, and lost at North Carolina 1-2.

Maryland and Louisville also share history with a player, Terrapins sophomore forward Sunny Jane (no relation to Will Stein). Jane is originally from Lesotho, South Africa and played his high school footy at Trinity and club ball at United 1996 FC, the same club current Cardinals midfielder Ryan Smith (St. Xavier), back-up goalkeeper Zach Torp and defender Andrew Farrell (Atherton HS) hail from. Jane, who was once ranked the #10 recruit in the nation at Trinity, leads the Terrapins this season in assists (8) and is third in points (10). Here's a link to a great story on Jane: A Sight To See.

Pretty solid little weekend.

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (2-0) AT BUTLER BULLDOGS (1-1)

GAME OVERVIEW

Game Time: 2:00 pm ET

Location: Hinkle Fieldhouse: Indianapolis, IN

Television: ESPN3 will stream the game, with Jim Barbar (play-by-play) and Mark Adams (color) calling the action.

Radio: WKRD (101.7 FM) / SIRIUS (195) will broadcast the game, with Jim Kelch (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (color) calling the action.

Officials: Jamie Luckie, Mike Eades, Mike Roberts

Favorite: Louisville by 4

Series History: Louisville and Butler are tied in the all-time series, 5-5 (3-2 in Louisville, 2-2 in Indianapolis, 0-1 neutral). The Cardinals posted an 88-73 victory the last time the two faced each other on Nov. 16, 2010, in Louisville.

Last Meeting: Louisville won 88-73 on Nov. 16, 2010, at the KFC YUM! Center

BUTLER OVERVIEW

Conference: Horizon

2010-2011 Record: 28-10 (13-5)

Preseason Conference Pick: 1st (10 teams)

Returning Starters: 2.5 (Nored started 23 of 36 games but came off the bench at the end of the season)

Head Coach: Brad Stevens, Fifth Year (118-26)

Probable Starting Lineups:

Louisville (2-0) Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Hometown

Butler (1-1) Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Hometown

Quick Team Preview

The national runner-up each of the last two years, Butler returns two starters from its 28-10 squad from a year ago: Center Andrew Smith (6-11, Jr., 8.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg in ‘10-11) and guard Chase Stigall (6-4, Jr., 3.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg).

Butler produced its sixth consecutive 20-win season in 2010-11 and has averaged 29.2 victories over the last five seasons, fourth best in the nation.

The Bulldogs lost their first exhibition game this season, 53-50 to Northern State (South Dakota) on Nov. 2 and their regular season opener at rival Evansville (Indiana) 80-77 in overtime on Nov. 12. 

Located in Indianapolis, Ind., Butler is the alma mater of Ohio State men's basketball coach Thad Matta, Baylor men's basketball coach Scott Drew, and Bobby Plump, the hero of the 1954 Milan High School state championship team of which the story for the 1986 movie Hoosiers was based. That state championship scene was filmed in Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, which served as the site of the Indiana state championship from 1928-1971, with the exception of the 1943-45 war years..

Situational Stephan Van Treese Nickname:

Scrappy Van Hinkle (20 year)

NOTABLE

--Peyton Siva is doubtful to play due to a sprained left ankle and it's unclear who will replace him at the point. Likely to see a point guard-by-committee situation, splitting reps between Russ Smith, Chris Smith, Elisha Justice and everyone else sans Gorgui Dieng. 

--U of L has opened the season with a pair of good defensive performances, limiting both of its opponents to just 48 points each. The last time UofL has yielded fewer than 50 points in three straight games was in 1958 (47, 43, and 49 for Stetson, Alabama, and Wittenberg, respectively, from Dec. 11-17).

--In its four games to date, including the two exhibition games, UofL has an average +12.5 rebounding margin, including a 17-rebound advantage over UT Martin in its opening game (46-29). The Cardinals had just three games with a double-digit rebounding edge during its successful 2010-11 season, with a high of +19 against Gardner-Webb (45-26).

--The Cardinals have had some unfortunate health and eligibility issues in the early stages of this season. Junior forwards Rakeem Buckles (recovering from torn ACL in right knee on Feb. 27) and Stephan Van Treese (left patellar tendon strain) have both missed all of practice since the Cards began on Oct. 14. Buckles participated in his first individual instruction session on Nov. 9 and the Cards are hopeful for a return by mid-December. Van Treese had his first individual workout on Nov. 14, has returned to practice and is available for game duty.

--Junior forward Mike Marra suffered a torn ACL in his left knee against Lamar on Nov. 13 and will miss the remainder of the season. He will have surgery soon to repair the damage and normal recovery time is 9-12 months. Marra had recently made it back on the court after being out from Oct. 25 through Nov. 9 due to a degenerated disc in his back.

--Louisville has a collective 21-10 all-time record against current members of the Horizon League, having faced six of its 10 members (Butler 5-5, Cleveland State 4-0, Detroit 6-2, Loyola-Chicago 4-2, Valparaiso 1-1, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1-0). Before U of L and Butler played last season, Detroit had been the last Horizon League team the Cardinals faced, with UofL winning 56-48 on Dec. 24, 2005 in Freedom Hall.

--Overall, the Cardinals have a 30-17 record over the last five years on their opponent's home court. Louisville has won 20 of its last 34 on the road, including six against Top 25 ranked opponents.

--This game represents the latter portion of a home-and-home series between Louisville and Butler.

Ridiculously Detailed Game Play Prediction(s): Butler keeps the game close by defending the perimeter and baiting Dieng into foul trouble early. The Bulldogs take a five-point halftime lead on a breakout performance by sophomore forward Khyle Marshall. Louisville gains momentum in the second half by draining back-to-back threes by Kuric and Chris Smith. Russ Smith has three assists and thirteen field goal attempts...and ices the game with free throws. Gorgui blocks four shots and Van Treese Scrappy Van Hinkle dunks once, grabs four rebounds and notches two steals in his season debut. Behanan does not obtain a double-double. The announcers make a big deal out of this. Buckles is best dressed of the street clothes crew, but still looks amateurish compared to Program Assistant and former Cardinal point guard Andre McGee's tailored suit game. The announcers fail to recognize McGee's aesthetic bench presence. Don't you dare do the same, ESPN3.com audience.

Score Prediction: Louisville 65, Butler 59

It appears that Louisville and former Louisville commit Ryan Taylor have officially broken up. No definite word on who cheated on whom.

Initially listed as a power forward in the 2011 class, Taylor committed to Louisville early, back in January of 2009. Due to academic issues, he was forced to re-classify as a 2012 class recruit and enroll at Hargrave Military Academy.

What's interesting about this development is that Pitino watched Taylor play at Hargrave just two weeks ago. Did Pitino confirm what he needed to see? Does Taylor no longer fit a need? Or did the academics issue play a factor?

Here's a quote from Taylor, via CBS.com's Jeff Borzello:

"I can't really say [what happened], but we both wanted to go our separate ways," Taylor said at the National Prep Showcase. "No disrespect to Coach Pitino or their program, but we wanted to go our separate ways."

Sounds to me like Louisville was ready to move in a different direction. It's not you, Ryan, it's us.

According to Borzello, Taylor has no timetable for a commitment but is looking at Dayton, Cincinnati and Arkansas. Taylor added, "I like the Big East style of basketball; Big East and Big Ten."

Final thought that's more of a question than a thought: Does this action have anything to do with Jared Swopshire's return to form and will Swop be allowed to apply for a medical redshirt and use his last year of eligibility as a Card? If so, count me as a fan. Love me some Swop.

The Louisville men's soccer team is the No. 12 overall seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, securing a first round bye and home field advantage for their second round game. The Cardinals were ranked No. 1 overall this preseason after returning the majority of their starting roster that suffered just one loss all of last year, to Akron in the National Championship game. But then--and stop me if you've heard this before--injuries happened.

Head Coach Ken Lolla lost playmaker Dylan Mares, the 2010 Big East Freshman of the Year and a 2011 Preseason All-American (via Soccer America), to a knee injury just before the season began. Additionally, Louisville's other top scoring threat, Colin Rolfe, a 2010 Hermann Award Finalist (NCAA soccer's Heisman), was hobbled by minor injuries all year and still wasn't back to 100% during last week's conference tournament. Although the senior forward appeared in every Louisville game this season, starting 18 of 20, Rolfe finished just eighth in total minutes played, a telling stat.

Add the somewhat unexpected loss of dangerman sub Aaron Horton to Major League Soccer over the Summer, then factor in one of the toughest schedules in the country and you can understand why the preseason No. 1 Cardinals side enter the tournament a disappointing 12-6-2, after losing 0-1 to Connecticut in the Big East Tournament semifinals.

Louisville, who is 6-2-2 at home this season, will open the tournament at 7 pm this Sunday at Cardinal Park, facing the winner of Loyola-Marymount (7-11-2) at Bradley (14-5-2). Immediately after the announcement, Coach Lolla said he was happy with the draw, as did several of his players on Twitter including Greg Cochrane, Kegan Harkenrider & Mares.

The Big East placed seven teams in the tournament, the most of any conference, while the ACC has six teams represented. Louisville posted a 3-5-1 record against the 48-team field and went 1-0-1 against squads in their 12-team pod.

The overall top seed is North Carolina, followed by Creighton (2), Connecticut (3) and Boston College (4). Other seeded Big East teams in the tournament are South Florida (7) and St. John's (9). West Virginia, Rutgers and Providence also made the field. You can see the full bracket here.

Ticket information for Sunday's second round game, provided via uoflsports.com:

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youths, students and senior citizens. Tickets will go on sale at 9:00 a.m. at the athletic ticket offices. You can also call the athletic ticket office at 852-5151 for tickets. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $4.

Never quite in it, never quite out. At least they're consistent.

Hard not to notice how flat this team looked through most of the game. Where was the fire we saw at West Virginia? Why does this team play so well on the road one week and then look unprepared to execute the game plan at home the next? Speaking of which, what was the game plan today? 

Many of those participating in the game thread felt the play-calling regressed this afternoon. I'd have to agree. Too many predictable running plays on first and third downs. Execution was lacking at times, too. Teddy made mistakes that are typical of a freshman quarterback, but he didn't get much help from his receivers. Or whatever routes they were asked to run, especially on third and long.

From my vantage point, it looked like the coaching staff, offensively at least, did not put this team in position to win the game today. Sure, injuries played a role, but Pitt's been dealing with injuries all season, too. Maybe that's too harsh. That's my knee-jerk reaction. Have to credit Pitt's defense and its suffocating coverage in the passing game. Their secondary, with a little help from the wind, shut down U of L's big play ability.

One big positive takeaway was seeing Pittsburgh deal what should've been a knockout punch late in the fourth quarter, only to see this young, plucky bunch recover and throw a few wild punches that kept things interesting. With Strong, this football team will always have a fighter's chance in the final rounds and that mentality should not be ignored.

This roller coaster has been as fun on the way up as it has been vomit-inducing in the twists, turns and drops. And it's that last drop that hurt the worst. The silver lining, strangely enough, is that this was Louisville's last home game. The Cards sit one win away from bowl-eligibility with two winnable games remaining at UConn and at South Florida.

Time to play our road balls off.

After enduring one of the more emotionally draining weeks in recent Louisville fan history, today's gritty penalty-ridden win over Syracuse feels pretty darn good. This hasn't been a year where style points matter, anyway. Losing to FIU and Marshall at home taught us to appreciate grinding out low scoring, defensive-minded affairs and relish wins for what they aren't: Losses. So much so that we should no longer call 27 points low scoring. It's enough to win any game on the schedule with this defense.

Speaking of which, the difference in this game was Louisville's defense. Again. Today's effort marks the third time in 8 games this season where Louisville held their opponent to 10 points or less. Coming into the game as the 17th ranked team in the country in points allowed (17.1 per game), it's easy to take the Cards' defensive consistency for granted. Especially when you consider how much turnover this team has experienced in the secondary since last season. 

For the second game in a row, the offense improved enough to provide the kind of optimism and momentum that has fans dreaming of bowl eligibility. The running game looked competent in the first quarter, then disappeared in the second and third before Victor Anderson blew the game open in the fourth with his 61 yard touchdown run, which put the Cards ahead 24-3. Vic finished the game with 93 yards on 11 carries and added three receptions for 20 yards.

The video clip of Anderson's locker room speech about playing for injured cornerback Anthony Conner, which was replayed two or three times during the televised/streamed broadcast, spoke volumes about the mental toughness of this team. In what was a week to forget, this was a moment to remember. 

One more reason for optimism: This afternoon's result marks the first back-to-back Big East wins for Louisville since 2006. Bring on the Mountaineers. 

Oh, you thought the bad news was over today?

Via uoflsports.com:

University of Louisville freshman Wayne Blackshear will miss the 2011-12 season after suffering a shoulder injury in practice.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test performed at Jewish Hospital in Louisville points to a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which will require surgery to repair. With an expected recovery time of at least four months, Blackshear will effectively miss the entire season.

If someone had asked me earlier this afternoon, "How could this day get any worse for Louisville?" my answer would've sounded similar to that blurb above.

It would be selfish to ignore the fact that a young man's promising career in basketball just suffered another setback today with this injury. As fans, it's been an awful day, but imagine what Blackshear is going through after the last few months he's experienced. Not being able to go at 100% in a McDonald's All-American game played in his hometown, undergoing surgery to repair the injury to his left shoulder, having to sweat out the NCAA Clearinghouse's decision, finally getting cleared to play basketball at Louisville and then, less than a week after joining his teammates in practice, this happens. Sick.

Pass the bourbon, y'all, sources close to the situation tell me excessive drinking is "heating up" in Louisville. Black Friday is here.

He doesn't mention conference realignment, make an ill-advised analogy or take shots at the school in Lexington. This was all basketball; Louisville basketball. Strictly business Rick is my kinda Rick.

At Saturday's scrimmage, the Red team, whose starters were Peyton Siva, Kyle Kuric, Chris Smith, Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan clobbered the White team, which started Jared Swopshire, Mike Marra, Zach Price, Russ Smith and Elisha Justice. The final score was 105-60 and it was a blowout from the beginning.

Leading the Red squad, Dieng scored 23 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked four shots while Behanan led all scorers with 32 points. The White team's stats weren't great, but if you're bored or feel like over-analyzing small details from a scrimmage, the full box score can be found here.

Highlights from Pitino's post-scrimmage press conference:

--  Pitino said he knew it would be a non-competitive scrimmage when they stacked the Red team with the actual starting lineup, but that it was important to let the first team work together in preparation for Wednesday's exhibition against Pikeville.

--  Kuric and Dieng stood out; they understood what the coaches wanted to do offensively and defensively; a couple other guys played ok but the White team was "not very good," were weak physically, and did not play defense well.

--  Team depth, which is what the coaches had thought would be a strength this season, has turned into a "major weakness," but Pitino assured the media it will be a strength eventually as guys like Stephan Van Treese (two weeks), Wayne Blackshear (Monday) and Rakeem Buckles (2 months) heal from injuries and return to the team.

--  Since practice started up again, Pitino has been very impressed with how consistent Gorgui, Siva and Kuric have been. Pitino kept emphasizing that the second unit is so weak the first unit isn't getting any competition, so it's tough to tell where the team's at right now.

--  Bullet made great moves and played well, despite not finishing shots or filling up the stat sheet.

--  Buckles is probably six weeks away from practicing and two months from playing in a game.

--  Swopshire hasn't played organized basketball in 18 months and is still making strides to become the player he was before suffering a sports hernia injury; Pitino's confidence in Kuric playing at the four spot provides flexibility in the lineup to overcome injuries to the forwards; if Behanan continues to "play like a point guard" like he did in Saturday's scrimmage, the team knows they can go with Kuric at power forward (not sure if serious).

--  Pitino has made it a point of emphasis with Gorgui that he needs to stay out of foul trouble; the team needs him to play "33 or 34 minutes" per game because when Gorgui sits on the bench, the level of play on the court sinks significantly; Gorgui did a great job staying out of foul trouble throughout the scrimmage by moving his feet, staying in his stance and trusting his teammates to help out on defense.

--  Even though Behanan scored 32 points, Pitino said it was the weakest he'd played so far because he didn't play like a power forward and didn't take advantage of his match-up with Swopshire by taking the ball inside more. Pitino felt like Behanan reverted to his high school mentality in the scrimmage, citing that he only shot three free throws and didn't have an offensive rebound or an assist.

--  Redshirt freshman walk-on Mark Jackson has been hard to evaluate because he hasn't been in good enough shape to play the game; he's "not quite there" at 10.3% body fat, but he's a smart basketball player and looks much better than when he arrived in 2010. Jackson won't play against Pikeville on Wednesday, but Pitino said he should "make it" (editor's note: I assume "it" = under 10% body fat) for the Bellarmine exhibition.

--  There is concern for the lack of depth at the power forward and center positions, but that will change when Van Treese and Blackshear are able to contribute, which will allow Kyle to play the three or four. It's not a big problem right now because they're not playing regular season games yet.

--  Blackshear hasn't touched a ball in six months and won't be the same player we saw in high school until December or maybe even January; he'll need two weeks to get in shape and another month after that to get back to the level of basketball he played before the initial shoulder injury. To his credit, Wayne has gone from 17% body fat to 8% and will give the team "great dimension."

--  Chris Smith, Siva and Behanan were "solid" during Saturday's scrimmage; they didn't play extremely well but didn't play poorly either; Pitino clarified that it was tough to judge the Red team because it was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters pick apart the Washington Generals due to the lack of defense played by the White team.

The Pikeville exhibition game on Wednesday will tip-off shortly after 7pm in the Yum! Center and will be aired on WHAS locally. If you know of an online host that will be streaming the game live, feel free to share the link below. Don't be greedy.

Penalties, missed field goals, more penalties, conceding on third and long, and ill-timed interceptions. It was the same movie we've been watching all season. The difference? Turnovers. And a competent running game.

With 107 yards on 11 carries, Jeremy Wright became the first Cardinal to hit the century mark this year, some seven games into the season. Dom Brown scored the first rushing touchdown by a Louisville running back since Vic Anderson punched one in from two yards out against Murray State in the season opener. Good things happen when you run the ball. And when the opposing freshman quarterback is as green as your own. 

Speaking of quarterbacks, where was Will Stein? Will he see the field again this year? According to GoCardsAttitude, officials at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium removed the giant Sunny Will Stein banner prior to kickoff, which could be an ominous sign of Stein's future at the quarterback position.

Thoughts and prayers go out to Louisville cornerback Anthony Conner, who reportedly broke his neck during the violent collision in the second quarter that sent Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu end over end. Charlie Strong, in a very emotional post-game interview, said that Conner was not paralyzed but that the injury will likely be a career-ending one. Heartbreaking news.

More from Strong:

"It's just so tough anytime you lose a player," said Strong, who kept tapping the side of the podium as he spoke. "It's what happens in this game, but you just never think it'll happen to one of your own. For that to happen, it is, it's sad. I think our players, I told them right after the game. I ended up telling them about it, and some of them didn't take it very well. The whole team didn't take it very well."    

At the end of his post-game press conference, Strong was asked how his team would mentally handle Conner's injury. He replied, "I said to them, if Anthony Conner was sitting here, he would probably tell you guys just continue to play; just play for him."

Here's to a speedy recovery, Anthony.