I watched the game with my brother and a couple of other people and didn't participate in the game thread. Obviously this was a kiss a death. Not only have we been winning, but we were on a winning streak. Like they say, you don't fuck with a winning streak. As a result, the Cards lost and it's all on me. I went with the Russ/Preston! jersey and wasn't able to change shirts either. I went 3 changes against Florida. Obviously this was a key factor in the Cards losing. In a game this close and this tight, everyone has to do their part. I didn't, and the season ended. Plus, everyone told me to go to New Orleans and I also didn't do that either. Basically, I blew this game in multiple ways. Which is a shame, because this was a hell of a season with a hell of a team. Apologies, you guys.

All this talk in the comments of every single post about real fans and fake fans is starting to get on my nerves. We know 3 things about every person who comments on this site. 1, they care about Louisville basketball. 2, they have some kind of knowledge about basketball and 3, they like intelligent banter about their favorite team.

It's looking to me that things are getting to a point where either people are talking out of their ass just to do it, which should be ignored, or that anyone with a dissenting opinion is being called 'not a real fan.' Some of the people are clearly trying to get everyone riled up. It's working out well for them. Other people make statements with facts and people jump at them like they insulted their mother.

I know game threads have a history of being overwhelmingly negative when the Cards are losing, it has every year I've posted, but when the Cards are winning they are positive and fun. This season hasn't been the most fun season ever, but It seems to me that people have formed their opinions and what's happening on the court doesn't matter. It's one thing talking about what the starting lineup should be and what the rotations should be, but people are taking and making things personal.

A little tact is all I'm asking. Just because someone has reasons that Pitino should be fired like he can't beat Kentucky or he's lost as many times in the first round as he's gone to the elite 8, doesn't mean they are a fake fan. They just have a differing opinion. Just because someone says that Pitino took the Cards to back to back elite 8s 3 and 4 years ago and had a top 10 recruiting class this season doesn't mean that they have their head buried in the sand. We are all real fans. I don't mind the debates, I don't like when threads turn into the inane.

That isn't to say people do idiotic posts and comments. Just laugh to yourself and insult them behind their back on twitter or facebook. Then they will stop posting. Don't encourage people who say Bruce Pearl or Rick Stansbury should be our coach. They are trying to tear us apart. Most of us joined the site and comment because it makes watching and talking about the games more fun. It's kind of getting to the point where that is not true. I would to avoid that. Thank you.

I figure that the headline is catchy enough. I want to join in the recent trend of everyone posting pictures of their hot wife or hot girlfriend or girls with nice stomachs and photoshopped pictures of the Mighty Ducks Two. This is her editing the posts that I did about Gorgui's blocks and Siva's turnovers and the guys who needed to score for the Kentucky game. What can I say, I am a person who wants to fit in with the group. Some of us are leaders, some of us are followers. Others of us do not really want to lead or do not really want to follow, but we do not want to be sitting on the side lines while everyone else is having all of the fun.

I completely forgot how many words are needed to fill up a fan post. That is why I am not using contractions. There we go, it's 150.

The next piece in the Friday night no girlfriend series is about Peyton Siva. Mainly, it's about his production during Big East play. We can take that Kentucky game, crumple it up and throw it in the dumpster fire that's Pittsburgh's season. The reason for this piece is because I'm curious about 5 things.

1. When Siva gets his points
2. When he gets his assists
3. When he turns it over
4. When he gets his fouls
5. If Miss Hawaii has a friend. Writing this a 7pm Friday. Help a brotha, out.

It would be confusing just to throw out numbers, so here are Siva's in Big East action via Stat Sheet.

Minutes: 32.5

Possession Pct (percentage of possessions that end with the ball in his hands): 17 *career low

Offensive Rating: 85.7 *career low

Floor Pct (basically it's when a player uses a possession, the odds the team scores. See this.) : 41.8 *career low

Shot Pct (shots, duh): 12.8 *career low

FG: 42.9

3pt FG: 1

3pt FGA: 9

3pt Pct: 11.1

FT: 7

FTA: 10

Free Throw Rate (free throw attempts per 100 FGAs): 28.5 *career low

Rebounds: 2.3

Assists: 5.167

Steals: 15

Turnovers: 20

Turnovers Per Game: 3.3 *career high

Turnover Pct (percent of his possessions that end in turnovers) : 35.7 *career high

Fouls Per Game: 3.167

Disqualifications: 2

Not pretty.

Continue reading this post »

I saw a stat the other day after Kentucky played Louisville that Anthony Davis had all but 1 of his blocks recovered by Kentucky's players and Gorgui Dieng had almost all of his blocks go back to Kentucky. During the St John's game, all I could think about when Dieng blocked a shot is that St John's kept possession. I am left wondering how many of Dieng's blocks Louisville ends up with, how many of the the other team comes up with and how many points are scored as a result of both. I do NOT have a girlfriend. What a weird thing to wonder while reading an opening paragraph. Call me, ladies.

Tennessee-Martin

1) rebound by Chris Smith. Result: fast break 3 by Chris Smith 6 seconds later

2) offensive. Putback missed

3) rebound Siva. Missed 3 by Russ Smith 5 seconds later.

4) offensive rebound. Shot missed

5) rebound Angel Nunez. Chris Smith miss 8 seconds later

Lamar

1) offensive rebound. Missed 3

2) Louisville team rebound. Charge on Chris Smith

3) Dieng rebound. Chris Smith dunk 6 seconds later

4) Offensive rebound. Missed 3

Butler

1) Offensive rebound. Missed 3

2) Offensive rebound. Layup

Arkansas State

1) Offensive rebound. Layup

2) Offensive rebound. Offensive foul later in possession

3) Kuric rebound. Louisville scores on that possession

4) Team offensive rebound, so it was blocked out of bounds. Arkansas St gets fouled, makes 1 of 2.

Ohio

1) Behanan Rebound. Louisville turned it over.

2) Offensive rebound. Ohio scored off another offensive rebound on a missed layup.

Long Beach State

1) Team offensive rebound. Turnover

Vanderbilt

1) Team offensive rebound. Turnover

2) Offensive rebound. Layup

IUPUI

1) Louisville team rebound. Possession ended in a turnover

Memphis

1) Behanan Rebound. Turnover 2 seconds later

2) Dieng rebound. Russ Smith gets fouled 12 seconds later, making 1 FT.

3) Justice rebound. Behanan missed dunk 5 seconds later.

4) Offensive rebound. 2 free throws

5) Dieng rebound. Siva layup 6 seconds later

6) Offensive rebound. Turnover

Charleston

1) Offensive rebound. 3 pointer 1 second later.

2) Offensive rebound. Possession ends with 1 free throw.

3) Dieng rebound. Turnover

4) Kuric rebound. Buckles turnover

5) Russ Smith rebound. Possession ends in a dunk

Western Kentucky

1) Dieng rebound. Turnover

2) Chris Smith rebound. Possession ended with a dunk.

3) Offensive rebound. Turnover

Georgetown

1) Kuric rebound. 2 free throws

2) Offensive rebound. Turnover.

Kentucky

1) Offensive rebound.

2) Offensive rebound. 2 free throws. Those happened on the same possession.

3) Offensive team rebound. Wiltjer jumper.

4) Chris Smith rebound. Missed shot 6 seconds later

5) Offensive team rebound. Davis dunk.

6) Offensive rebound. Kentucky got a layup that made it a 10 point game.

St John's

1) Offensive rebound. Turnover

2) Offensive rebound. Possession ended in a turnover

3) Dieng rebound. Dieng missed on the other end

4) Offensive rebound. Russ steal

5) Offensive rebound. Put back.

6) Kuric rebound. Missed 3 11 seconds later.

7) Dieng rebound. Russ missed 3 3 seconds later

Which leads to a total of:

Louisville rebounds: 22

Opponent rebounds: 28

Louisville points: 16

Opponent points: 25

Opponent shots after block: 19

Opponent free throws after block: 8

Opponent made free throws after block: 5

Opponent turnovers: 8

Since I mentioned Davis earlier, Kentucky has scored about 50 points and grabbed about 40 of his 67 blocks. They've given up in the mid 20s as well.

John Henson of North Carolina has 48 blocks. 26-21-1 rebounding foul advantage for UNC. 24-14 point advantage for North Carolina.

When you have an elite shot blocker, you assume that you can get easy buckets in transition because of him. That really hasn't happened with the Cards. It is nearly like a fluke to be outscored on possessions after your big man scores. Let alone by 9 points.

One minor solution I have is for Dieng to stop going for the Dwight Howard-esque SportsCenter block. If he blocks it in play, that opens opportunities for his teammates to score. This is one of those rare occasions when something you think, the Cards don't score after Dieng blocks, is true. I'm kind of surprised how true it is.

With the big game just hours away, I took to twitter to see who people thought the most important Card scoring wise was. I think it's Peyton Siva. A couple of people said Gorgui Dieng. Another said Kyle Kuric. Yet another said Chris Smith. The Cards spread the ball around a lot and all of those people make good cases for why that guy is the most important scorer. For this post, I have broken down the made shots, and only made, from the Georgetown game Wednesday.

Continue reading this post »

Since everyone is talking about the penalties the Cards have committed this season, I thought it would be interesting for Hot Hot to look at every penalty and see how it affected the game. Instead, he threw me under the bus and said I would do it. I'll be the bigger man and do such a thing. By mattering, my criteria is mainly scoring drives, or drive killers. For example, a false start that pushes the team back 5 yards and results in a missed FG matters more than a false start that has a 40 yard TD following it. 

I'm going off the UofL site play by play, which should be very accurate. I'll keep a tally of the number of penalties and yards per person, although it's not going to be accurate, since some penalties have no culprit on the info. If you remember who did what, like who roughed the passer against UK, you can update it in the comments, and then I can update it in the post. 

Murray State

1. Personal Foul. Penalty offset, Murray punted. Didn't matter
2. False start. (no one). Forced a 2nd and 12. Next play went for 37 yards. Didn't matter
3. False start (Jake Smith). Forced a 2-9. UofL scored on 3rd down. Didn't matter
4. Offside (Jamon Brown) Turned 3-1 to first down. Kept drive alive that ended at the UofL 34 due to an INT. Mattered
5. False start (Hernandez). 1-10 to 1-15. Wait
6. False start (Hernandez) 1-15 to 1-20. Wait again. 
7. Delay of game (Bridgewater) 1-20 to 1-25. UofL faced 3rd and long, Bridgewater ended up getting picked off. All 3 mattered.
8. False start (Scott Radcliff) 1-10 to 1-15. On 2-10, Stein fumbled. Mattered. 
9. Personal foul (none) This came after the Dexter Heyman pick. Moved the ball back to the Cards 16. Drive ended in a fumble. Mattered. 
10. Offside (none) 1-10 to 1-5 at Louisville 39. Murray converted the 1-5 in two plays. Got in FG range, but missed the kick. Mattered. 
11. Holding (none. 1-10 to 1-20, ball moved from the Murray 47 to Louisville 43 as a result. The Cards had to punt. Mattered. 

So out of the 11 penalties against Murray State, 8 of them changed drives. 

The rest of the season after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

The Cardinals face their toughest test of the season this week at UNC. In a game like this, where Cards are a big road dog, one of the keys will be controlling the game. What better way to do that than to run the ball. Unfortunately, the running offense has been a disaster and a disappointment nearly all season long. Change is needed. In this humble writer's opinion, that change should be the primary back getting carries. As the header says, here are 10 reasons that Dominique Brown should start against North Carolina. 

1) He's a big back. The 3 backs that have gotten carries outside of Brown, are all 6 feet and under, and under 200 lbs. What's been missing has been someone who takes it straight down the gut. Brown has the frame to do so. Unlike Wright or Anderson, I think Brown could handle 20 carries game in, game out consistently. 

2) Brown has the best yards per carry on the team. Brown is at 4.9, Anderson at 4.3, and Wright at 3.8. With how weak the line is, that's impressive. Before you write that off as small sample size, he's only got 11 less carries than Anderson and Wright.

3) He hasn't fumbled. Jeremy Wright has put the ball on the turf twice, and that got him benched against Marshall. Victor Anderson has lost a fumble. Brown has nearly the same amount of carries as the other 2, and has kept the ball. That's pretty important. 

4) When not running the wildcat dive, he has explosion and field vision. The Cards run that stupid wildcat play with Brown going up the middle every time. The defense knows it's coming, but Brown has still managed to get yards from it. Brown got different looks against Kentucky, and exploded. 

5) Jeremy Wright hasn't taken control of the job. Wright had gotten off to a poor start before the fumble issues. I mentioned the 3.8 yards a carry. He doesn't look like the fearless back that he did a year ago. Losing a yard and a half a carry is big. If the coaching staff doesn't trust him, that's not good. 

6) Victor Anderson is a third down back. Vic isn't what he used to be. He's lost a step or two. He doesn't run with the same authority he did a couple years ago. He's not going to be what he was as a freshman, and the sooner that everyone realizes it, the better. He's a perfectly acceptable 3rd down back, with his receiving skills. He's not a feature back. 

7) Brown is already the Cards leading rusher in yards per game. That one speaks for itself. 

8) Brown has the longest non-punter run of the season. The fact the longest run of the season is still by the punter and we are in week 6 of the season isn't very good at all. 

9) Brown was going to be an RB at the college level anyway. If you remember the story of Brown's recruitment, you would find that once Brian Kelly left Cincinnati, the schools who recruited Brown wanted him for other positions. He wanted a shot at QB, but Ohio State and I believe Georgia Tech, wanted him for other positions. Brown was an option QB, so the chances of him playing RB were high. 

10) I stupidly asked Hot Hot for a quote on Brown, and he said: "Dom Brown looks good in compression shorts." Don't even want to know how he knows that. 

There you have it, fellow CCers. 9 great reasons that Dominique Brown should start, and 1 Hot Hot reason. I can't believe I went to him for anything besides stories of how he dated a stripper. Sigh. Go Cards. 

 As some of you know, I have a blog about the team the Cards play Wednesday night. I asked Mike if he wanted to answer some questions. After making me buy 15 shirts, he said yes. I don't want to ask the same old questions everyone else does, so I was wondering if you guys had any questions for him. I don't know why you couldn't ask him personally, but let's say you can't. It would be nice if you did have a question and it was Cards or site related. And if Mike didn't answer it in the comments. I'll probably send them sometime tomorrow afternoon, so that's the general cut off. Thanks. Maybe. 

I know I'm not the only one who is a bit worried about the way the offense has played lately. Since I'm a nerdy nerd nerd face who has nothing to do on a Tuesday night, I decided to look through the past 5 games and find out what's happened. I put the Ken Pom ranks of the team defenses after the team we played. In parentheses, I included the possessions in each game. 

DePaul - 213 (56)

Georgetown - 55 (64)

UConn - 24 (78)

West Virginia - 32 (61)

Providence - 94 (69)

Just based off the numbers, we played no 'elite' defenses, and one top 25. The offense had scored at least 71 points the 5 games previous to this stretch. One of the keys seems to be that opponents are slowing us down and forcing the Cards to play half court. What's interesting to note, is that West Virginia, UConn and DePaul slow played us, something that ND has become a little famous for this season, and all 3 had chances to win late. It took Peyton Siva heroics to win 2 of those games. 

A few teams tried to slow us down earlier in the season. Jackson St (64), San Francisco (57), and USF (64) didn't have the talent to pull it off. Drexel and Kentucky played to 63 possessions, and we know how those turned out. Marquette did for a half, but we were able to speed them up in the second half. 

One of the biggest things holding the Cards back is lack of execution in the half court. Since it's a team game, I'll run through the box scores to see who's underachieving, overachieving and achieving. There isn't a name for the third one I don't think. 

First off, here is how the Cards rank in offensive efficiency. In parentheses are the percentage of possessions used. All that is, is the percent of possessions that end with the player taking a shot, making it, turning it over, and so on. I got the numbers from KenPom. 

 

1. Kyle Kuric 128.4 (13.9)
2. Gorgui Dieng 114.1 (19)
3. Stephan Van Treese 113.1 (12.1)
4. Chris Smith 112.6 (19.4)
5. Terrence Jennings 110.2 (20.9)
6. Preston! Knowles 108.9 (24.6)
7. Elisha Justice 106.6 (16)
8. Peyton Siva 104.9 (24.5)
9. George Goode 104.5 (17.4)
10. Mike Marra 98.1 (19.6)
11. Russ Smith 84.5 (28.5!)

Not only does Russ Smith dominate the ball to the point that he's Louisville's "go to guy" on KenPom because he uses over 28% of the possessions when he's in, but he's second in shot percentage at 29%. Preston is first of course.
I decided to go through the box scores, and add up the total number of shots made (FGs and FTs) and shots attempted, points, turnovers and the first number is minutes. 
DePaul

1. Terrence Jennings 37,  5/11 - 10, 2 TOs
2. Peyton Siva 35, 6/16 - 6, 1 TO
3. Mike Marra 33, 2/10 - 6, 2 TOs
4. Stephan Van Treese  28, 3/3 - 6, 1 TO
5. Chris Smith 25, 5/8 - 10, 0
6. Kyle Kuris 32, 10/14 - 19, 0
7. Elisha Justice 3, 1/2 - 2, 1
8. George Goode 2, 0/0, 0
9. Russ Smith 2, 1/1 - 2, 3 TOs 

Yeah, Russ played 2 minutes and had 4 possessions. He's kind of a ball hog. Marra and Siva had really bad shooting games. Spoiler alert about Kyle Kuric, he's been on fire from 3 lately, 8-14 the last 3 games. Speaking of which. 

 

Georgetown

1. Kuric 37, 4/10 - 9, 2 TO
2. Preston! 34, 5/17 - 11, 1 TO
3. C. Smith 31, 4/10 - 7, 1 TO
4. Siva 29, 3/7 - 5, 8 TO
5. TJ 24, 10/14 - 18, 1 TO
6. Marra 18, 2/5 - 5, 1 TO
7. Goode 16, 3/5 - 4, 1 TO
8. R. Smith 8, 0/3, 1 TO

This was a very inefficient day for everyone but Jennings. Preston had 11, but took a lot of attempts to get his points. Between him and Siva, that's a lot of possessions that don't end in points. Also, Russ Smith added a whole lot of nothing again. Siva only added 3 assists this game. Not his best effort. 
Connecticut

1. Siva 42, 12/20 - 19, 3 TO
2. Preston 42, 6/15 -15, 3 TO
3. TJ 39, 11/21 - 16, 1 TO
4. CS5 31, 2/8 - 4, 4 TO
5. SVT 16, 1/1 - 2
6. Kuric 29, 6/8 -15, 0 TO
7. Marra 28, 2/5 - 6, 2 TO
8. Goode 10, 1/3 -2, 1 TO
9. Russ 6, 1 TO

Another very solid game by TJ. This makes 3 in a row counting DePaul, which I did. Siva had some ups and downs, up when it mattered, he was money. Preston had a second game in which his shot was not falling. He took 0 free throws in this game. He's only taken 47 on the season. Since he's the best shooter on the team, he needs to get there more I think. Two more left. 
West Virginia

1. Preston 34, 4/17 - 10, 2 TO
2. CS5 33, 7/11 - 15, 2 TO
3. Siva 26, 7/9 - 14, 2 TO
4. SVT 23, 1/2 - 2, 3 TO
5. Dieng 14, 1/3 - 2, 1 TO
6. TJ 26, 3/8 - 5, 0
7. Kuric 17, 0/1, 0
8. Russ 9, 1/7 - 3, 1 TO
9. Marra 8, 0/2, 1 TO
10. Goode 5, 1/1 - 2
11. Justice 5, 1/2 - 2 

A third horrible shooting game by Preston. Luckily, Siva and Smith picked up the slack. Last one. 
Providence

1. CS5 38, 10/16 - 19, 2 TO
2. SVT 27, 5/5 - 10, 2 TO
3. Siva 22, 3/5 - 5, 3 TO
4. Preston 21 1/8 - 2, 1 TO
5. TJ 17, 5/9 - 8, 2 TO
6. Dieng 23, 5/8 - 8, 5 TO
7. Marra 21, 1/7 - 2, 1 TO
8. Justice 17, 2/4 - 6, 1 TO
9. Kuric 13, 5/10 - 5, 1 TO

The guards basically did nothing against the Friars. Smith and SVT had big games, while Jennings and Dieng produced well off the bench. 
I've noticed a few things from this. 

• The Cards production from the 4 spot has been horrendous lately. The shots have ignored that position as well, as SVT relies on offensive rebounds to score. Pretty much the same as Jennings, but he gets the ball in the post occasionally. Dieng was starting to show flashes, then he got hurt. As a result, things turned into 1 person being ignored, while the others put up shots. If you discount Jennings, who got at least 4 offensive rebounds every game but Providence, that means the offensive is rolling on jump shots. What's the most unsustainable offense? Long jump shots. When the Cards nail a couple in a row, they are dangerous. When they aren't falling consistently, they are much more susceptible to a closer game. 
• Preston's shooting has fallen off after his 3 game hot streak against Marquette, St John's and Nova. He had a rough start to Big East play, and he's had a rough go of it lately. In fact, he's 19-74, which is 26%, in the 6 other games. In those 3, he was 23-47, 49%. Hopefully he can get his form back. 
• This probably should have gone in the first point up top, but it's clear the offense that Rick Pitino is running is either not meant, or is not providing, touches inside. If Siva's driving, he's looking to dish out. If Preston's driving, he's going to pull up. If Kuric is driving, it must be practice. 
• Speaking of which, Kyle Kuric needs to be more active in the offense. Pitino has talked about this lately, and for good reason. He's a good foul shooter. He should be able to score inside. He can pass. He needs to be as confident as he is from the korner, or on a camel or at a wedding reception. 
• Finally, the main reason for the Cards struggling in the half court is pretty simple. The guys who take the most shots when things slow down are in the middle of the pack when it comes to being efficient. Nearly 50% of the shots are going to Preston and Siva. As you can see from above, their shooting isn't the best. I think this can be solved in 3 ways. 1) get some of the more efficient players involved more frequently. 2) try to get better looks for the guys who shoot more. Unless it's Preston, then try to get him guarded more. 3) Speed the game up, which is what the Cards try to do anyway. 

There you have it. A bunch of numbers and a problem with no solution. I have a feeling things will work out though. Go Cards. 

Since it's the new year, I thought it would be fun to find the best poster on CC. I didn't have to look far at all, because that person is ULismyhothotsex. 

Now I know what  you might be thinking, "Why him? He sucks." Well, you are a jerk, and no one asked you. Hothot brings a lot to the table. Let's do a number thing of the reasons why he is the best. 

 

1. He started the shots shots shots shots fad that started a while ago. At least, I'm pretty sure he did. I'm giving him credit. 
2. He may have made an "I just had sex" gif, or he posted in the same thread as person who did, and that makes him awesome because well, that's awesome. 
3. He occasionally puts out the fires that happen when things get heated. 
4. He's good at tweeting. 
5. His little picture on the side is pretty cool. If he didn't make it, he has someone that cares enough for him to make it, which is nice. That shows other posters on here care about his little picture. 
6. He recently got his father, or someone claiming to be his father, to sign up for the site. He not only recruits new members, but he gets his family to read. That's 2 birds with 1 stone. 
7. He lives in Vegas. That means he lives where some of us want to go. He's got a clear leg up. 
8. He always posts the postgame news conference links. I don't watch them, but it's nice to know they are there. He always posts the important bits though. 
9. He reads all the comments. That probably isn't always fun.
10. UL just isn't his sex, which would be fine for most people. It's not even his hot sex. It's his hot, hot sex.  I don't know about all of you, but my hot sex is normally masturbation actual sex. For him, it's the Cards. When people start making the pants are off jokes, his pants are actually off. It's kinda creepy when you think about it. 

Bam, 10 reasons he's the best. Only 1 of them was kinda weird. Kudos to hot hot, he's the best. Around.