So as we start to see the reports rolling in about new recruits, I started thinking, "What are our biggest priorities?"

In basketball, it seems, we always know what Pitino is going after...there's only 5 guys on the court at a time so there really isn't much mystery as to what we need.

With football its a different story. Charlie needs 30+ upper level players to compete every week, along with another bunch of good subs. I took a quick look at our current depth chart and this is what I found.

We "start" only 4 seniors on offense (RB- Anderson, WR - Bellamy, TE - Chichester, and RT - Kessling). And out of those 4 only Kessling is an every down player, the other 3 rotate pretty much all game with younger players.

On defense we only start 2 seniors (DE - Savoy and MLB - Heyman). Savoy was in a rotation with 5 freshman or sophomores at the DE slot, so I'm not too worried about replacing him right away, especially with players like Marcus Smith, BJ Butler, BJ Dubose, and Deionterez Mount that have shown signs of greatness when they've gotten their chance.

The slot I am most worried about is replacing Heyman. He was the heart and soul of our defense this year leading the team in both tackles and interceptions and second in sacks. The downside about having stud senior lead your squad is that his backups get very little PT and experience for the future.

So , what do you think, what direction would you like to see Charlie go as the recruiting "season" heats up. The current class is stocked full of DBs and linemen with a few LBs mixed in. It seems as though recently he's going for some big bodies (TEs and DLs) because you can never have too many of them.

I for one, though, think that getting a game changing RB would be great for Teddy. As CarolinaCard showed us this year, we do not have a very good running game (especially on 1st down). If we can get a Back (is that Ace Wales?) that can make running on first down worthwhile then our offense will become so much more dynamic. Our O-line is only going to keep improving with the quality and quantity we are amassing, but I really think that the best thing would be an upper level back that can take a little of the attention off of Teddy and open things up for our stud receivers to make plays down the field. Dom Brown and J Wright have proven to be solid players, but I think we can all see that neither are game changers capable of taking over games like Eric Shelton, Mike Bush, or even Kolby Smith or Bilal Powell.

Ok, so i'll come right out and say it. I don't know who to cheer for Friday night. I am, as most of you are, a DIE-HARD Card fan. I live for this stuff. I correct the guy sitting in front of me when he says that Kuric is only a Junior, that Charlie Strong played at South Carolina, that Josh Chichester is "like" 6'6", that Peyton Siva is is only 5'8".

I helped make Bullet the hottest athlete on the planet. I froze/baked on the Aluminum bleachers at old Cardinal Stadium. I signed the petition to retire Dejuan Wheat's Jersey. I sat in the nosebleeds in St. Louis in '05, I froze my ass off in Memphis on multiple New Year's Eves. I watched LaBradford Smitth patrol the floor of Freedom Hall. I never got to see Hunter Cantwell's bloody nose because my seat in the Gator Bowl was too far away to see that kind of gruesome detail.

But I don't know what I'm going to do Friday night. You see I'm in a very peculiar situation, something that only a few people ever have to deal with. My Alma Mater is playing my Alma Mater. I grew up a hardcore U of L fan, but in the late 90's had absolutely no interest in attending the school, or any school in the state. Nothing against the institutions in the Commonwealth, but I wanted to get a little further from home, and decided to attend the best school that would accept me. So I ended up at Vanderbilt.

When I got there I knew nothing of the sporting culture of Vanderbilt except that it pretty much sucked. I remember my freshman year football season when I was introduced to the futility of Commodore sports. As I said before I had been to tons of sporting events in my life. While I was at St. X, we won 2 state FBall championships and went to the Sweet 16 in BBall. I competed in state track meets and cheered as my friends won swimming titles year after year.

But at Vandy, there was no cheering. My freshman year, the Tennessee Titans were still playing in Vanderbilt Stadium because the Coliseum had yet to be completed. My Commodores were something like 0-8 heading into a game against a putrid also 0-8 pre-Lou Holtz South Carolina team. Miraculously, we won...and stormed the field. Unfortunately the Titans had a game in the stadium the next day and the Vandy PD was not about to let the students tear down the goalposts. So with pepper spray and billy clubs they beat down our jubilation. The next week, when we beat and equally awful Duke team, we completed our celebration from the week before and tore down the goal posts and planted them on alumni lawn. Only Vandy rushes the field after beating Duke...in football.

The next 4 years were filled with pretty much the same. A few highs, and many lows. The highs (out side of the frat house) were limited to the basketball exploits of such greats as Dan "The Vapor" Langhi, Matt Freije, and Brendan Plavich. The Dores were feisty during my time there and definitely were a good substitute for the awful Cardnal baskeball teams we had during the same time (remember the 12-20 team during Crum's last year). When Pitino came to Louisville and Stallings replaced Jan Van Bredakoff at Vandy, I started cheering for 2 winning programs.

I clearly remember me and my roommates going nuts watching on ESPN during the closing seconds of the epic Tennessee comeback game (Vandy fans hate UT as much as UL fans hate Kentucky - but there's only about 72 Vandy fans outside of campus in Nashville so no one ever notices). It was time like those that set the course for what I am dealing with today.

I followed the 4 greatest years of my life (if you can't say that agout you undergrad college experience, you really missed the boat) with the 4 toughest by enrolling at U of L Dental School. I will be paying for my U of L education for the next 25 years, and the yearly donation I send for my season tickets means that I have a considerable stake in the success of the school and its athletic teams. But that doesn't mean I can turn my back on a place that provided me with so many memories. A place that helped make me a man. A place that I will never forget.

So with that said, I come to you my Chronicloids and ask for you blessing. I always said to myself that if the schools ever played that I would cheer for the team that the game means to most to. And tommorow, Vandy needs me more. There are on the verge of becoming one of the biggest letdowns in College Basketball this season. The losses to Cleveland State and Xavier have them on the verge of dropping out of the top 25. The suspension of Ezeli completely ruinied their flow and possibly has ruined what was once a promising season. Plus, I don't think that Vandy can beat Louisville.

The Louisville pressure will force a weak ball handler, Brad Tinsley, into multiple turnovers. Guys like John Jenkins and Jeff Taylor are highly skilled, but epically soft. Steve Tcheingang is a poor man's Gorgui. The only spots that they might give us trouble is Lance Goulbourne and Rod Odom. Chane will have to extend way out to the perimiter and guard those guys due to thewir ability to hit the outside shot and they are both big enough to give him trouble on the inside. Regardless he is an elite talent and will be able to handle them. Vandy will have to shoot lights out to beat U of L, which is entirely possible, but with the way Pitino has them playing defense seems less and less likely.

So if you see me in the back of section 102 wearing Gold don't dump you beer on me. I am just a wolf in sheep's clothing. I'd love to see the Cards run out to 13-0 before we beat down UK in Lexington, but I also much pull for the underdog on Friday. Go Cards, God Dores, Screw Kentucky.

Just heard Colin Cowherd say that Rick Pitino os going to be on his ESPNRadio show today.  Rick should be on about 12:15-12:30 if you can catch the show.

I have sirius/xm radio in the car so I'm not sure what terresterial station carries ESPNRadio in Louisville, but you can always listen online (like me) at www.espnradio.com.

Lets see what Rick has to say about the awful officiating in Mo-town this weekend

So here is my view of Preston's Senior night speech.  I shot it on my Droid and in typical Droid fashion it screwed something up.  Sorry for the sideways video, but you'll get the gist of it.  Preston was a beast in his last game in Louisville and We are all lucky to have a guy that loves playing for the Cardinals.  Here's to a great career and hopefully a few more games for the Exclaimation Point!

Without further ado, here is Preston Knowles 2011 University of Louisville Senior Night postgame speech.

Preston Knowles senior night (via dschulte99)

So I have to admit, I don't know every story from around the league this week.  But I do know Kyle Kuric has had a heck of a week. I hope he gets some credit for the tear he's been on.

Against Notre Dame - 28 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, SC TopTen #1 cram, AND the #1 cram job (an admitted mistake). 

AND THEN he follows up that circus to lead his team against Syracuse - 23 pt 5 rb 4 ast - and was the most important (and efficient) player on the team every minute he was on the court. 

I mean give the -kid- man some credit.

Week AVG of

25.5p / 5.5r / 2.5a on 18/29 (.621%) FG and 9/14 (.643%) 3FG.

On top of that, apparently he's the nicest guy in town, even when he's crashing your wedding.  I hope karma (or the league) pays him back and gives him the honor of being the first Cardinal to be named to any of the Big East's weekly awards this season.

Go Cards!

2010-2011 team MVP discussion

So i know that over and over it has bee said that this team has no "stars" or next-level  player to key on. But after careful inspection of our season stats it really appears as if we do. Check out how this season is shaking out from a statistical standpoint for a few players and see what you think.

Peyton Siva - team leader in games started, assists**, turnovers, steals, free throws attempted*, free throws made*

Chris Smith / Rakeem Buckles - leaders in 3 point-FG percentage

Kyle Kuric - leader in free throw percentage*

Terrence Jennings - leader in rebounding and offensive rebounds

Gorgui Deng - leader in blocks

* = leads category by a wide margin

** = his total is more than double the closest teammate's total

it really looks to me like we do have 2 stars. Preston! and Peyton have completely set thmselves apart from everyone else when it comes to their importance (or value) to this team. There are a lot of good contributers, and I listed a few, but when it comes down to it our starting backcourt carries this team on a nightly basis.

But isn't that what we all expected all along. This was supposed to be a team that was dominated by its guards and everyone else was there to either fill in the holes or to pick up the pieces.

It looks like to me that the emergence of these 2 stars if the source of basically all the success we've had so far this season. Preston! is our engine and Peyton is our steering wheel. They work together to drive the ship and give the rest of our squad a chance to do their thing.

So the question remains, who is our MVP so far this season? Who will be the MVP from here on out? And is the answer to both of those questions the same or different?

How about the Yum! 

The building is absolutely  hopping these days.  I mean, wow!

I don't care what anyone has to say about the "wine and cheese" crowd, They cant help but get up and cheer when the rest of us crazies lose it every time we knock down a 3 or throw down a jam.  With 22-freaking-thousand people in that place there are now enough who know how to get loud.  Our student section is Loud and rowdynow.  They make enough noise to let the rest of the crowd know that they can bring it too.

So what if we don't have constant chatter or choreographed yells.  We have some of the headiest, well-informed fans around.  Sure we have our fair share of fairweathers and socialistas but so what.  The sheer volume of hardcore lunchpail fans has made the Yum! a venue as well as a threat. 

I give the boys all the credit in the world for rallying and giving us something to cheer for, but even they would say that the way that arena erupts at key times is unlike anywhere else. I for one am loving the ride this team is taking us on and I'm stoked that its all happening at the Magic Palace we bulit on Main Street.

I lived the dream tonight. I got picked for the shooting contest at halftime of the U of L game tonight  I have been going to U of L games since I was about 8 years old and dreamed that one day I'd be the slouch that gets to stumble on to the court and embarrass himself in front of a packed house. 

Well tonight was my night cause the jumper was pure .

Made the layup with ease.  Drained the free throw. Swished the 3 pointer from the top of the key...and then I airballed the half court shot as the clock expired.

Aw well, I guess the dream had to end eventually but at least I got to mark that one off the bucket list.

C-A-R-D-S!

(please tell me that someone on here saw my one shining moment, I'd love to hear how ridiculous I looked)

Whaaaaaaaaahooooooooooooooooo!

What an event. What a statement.  What a game.

My first words when talking about what I just saw have to be Thank you.

Thank you to this Cardinal team.  Thank you for being the Bridge to the future.  But thank you most for being the pillars of today.  We all want to talk about what we can do and what recognition we may get down the road.  But first I think we should talk about what we are.

We are winners.  A bunch of kids who were winners who became losers are winners again.  This group of seniors stepped up and showed who they really are.  Winners.

We have 4 year seniors. 5 year seniors. coaches. jucos. transfers. walk ons. recruiters. true freshman, redshirts. subs. stars. We have a team of contributers from just about every angle. 

There are a ton of great stories on this team. Dougy B, Bilal, Patrick, Burke, Froman, Cam Graham, Heath, Stein, Chichester, Bellamy, Scruggs, Dexter. Charlie.

This thread is to talk about your favorite Card from this team.  What part of the Cardinal Universe made the biggest mark on this season.  Who are you going to remember down the road if we do get all the way "back"?

I say the story of this team is (as much as I want to say Bilal) the defensive unit as a whole.  All those boys from Gnat to Burns to Savoy to Holton to Tatum who stepped up and made themselves in to the heart and soul of this team.  Guys who played to their potential.  And guys who took their game to another level.

I salute these boys and thank them for a job well done.  What about you? 

OK, so last night's game was awesome, in just about every conceivable way.  The crowd showed up early and was loud and rowdy.  The team played agressive and tough.  The $6 coors lights were tasty as they could be.  There was an empty bathroom a couple dozen steps from my seats.  This looked and felt like the big time.

But there was, and still is, one huge problem with this arena of our.

WHY CAN'T I EFFING USE MY G.D. CELL PHONE!!!*

For the life of me I can't believe they spent a quarter of a billion dollars and no one did a study as to whether or not the partons would be able to use the mobile devices.  I can't call, I can't text, I can't hit up game tracker on my g.d. droid.  I know its not the network, it works fine when I go out near the windows around the concourse.  But sitting in my seat...NO BARS.

So what the Eff is wrong with this arena that blocks cell phone usage.  And what do we have to do to fix it.

*sorry mike for excessive use of caps and exclaimation points...

Mikey, 

What's with the music and play-by-play that keeps popping up whenever I load up the site.  All day long whenever I've hit up the chron My speakers start blaring hip-hop with voice overs of what sound like play-by-play of basketball games.

I'm looking for an ad or some autostart video but can't find any.  I can't have everyone at the office knowing that I check Card chron 4 times an hour all day long.

What's the deal

What does everyone think about the bomb that the Pac-10 dropped this weekend that they plan to destroy the Big 12 and expand by 6.  I for one think it is good for us (and possibly great), and here is why:

The Big 10 expansion would have ruined the BigEast.  Their proposed plan would have pilfered us but not totally dismantled the BigEast.  It would have left the rest of the conference looking to fill the holes left by losing Pitt, Rutgers and possibly Syracuse with the likes of Memphis, ECU, UCF, or even Delaware.  That many directional schools in one conference means lots of tuesday and thursday night games.

With the Pac10 blowing up the Big 12, the two big remaining East Coast confs (SEC and ACC) will probably be forced to expand as well.  That means there will be 4 and possibly 8 spots (highly unlikely though) to fill in those two conference and we would definitely get the call "up to the big leagues" at that point.  In this hypothetical situation, assume that Pitt and Rutgers have already bolted for the new Big 10. 

The ACC seems much more likely to want to expand than the SEC, so lets just assume our worst case scenario that the SEC stays put (cause they can) and the ACC adds 4 to match up with the other 2 superconferences that have magically formed.  Since The big 10 has taken Nebraska, Mizzou, Notre Dame, Pitt and Rutgers, that leaves the Big East with UL, UC, WVU, Syracuse, UConn, and USF.  Out of that group, who do you think would fit best in a new ACC?  My first sentiment would be Syracuse, UConn to solidify their New England base that they broke into by grabbing BC 5 yrs ago. 

That leaves two more spots for either UL, WVU, Cincy and USF (I'm assuming that the ACC won't consider any other programs because they wouldn't have the football clout any of us would have.)  I think the two gems out of this group would be us and WVU.  WVU is natural rivals with Maryland, UVA and VaTech, and we are the strongest standalone program out of the group. I really think UCs lack of facilities, tradition, class, etc. will leave them on the outside looking in and I would say that the USF experiment has failed (they are not a sleeping giant, they are just a giant commuter school in Florida and inserting them into a major conference has done nothing to change that. Oh and btw Tampa is an even more apathetic sports town than Miami - see Rays, Devil). 

With that said, there are still more possibilities out there.  What do you think are the possibilities of the SEC expanding (our dream scenario) and taking UL and  WVU?  Or what about another quasi-CUSA with the remaining BEast schools picking up Kansas and Memphis?

I know there are a million possibilities, I just want to see if any of the crazy ones flying around in my head seem plausible to any of you.  All I do know is that our captain, Ol' Tommy Jurich, is going to make us a player.  He's seen us this far and as the end of the journey draws near you know he's going to get us to the finish line.

In order to keep the lovely denizens of CC Country from trolling big blue boards, here is where you can post your thoughts on the Big Blue's demise.

I didn't want to rub things in too much, but I definitely shot off a series of texts to my UK buddies and they were none too happy.  I did admit that they probably feeling like we all felt at this point last year after the MSU debacle.

Anyways, post your thoughts on how great the the rest of your spring and summer will be not having to hear how dominat our enemies to the east were/are/always will be...cause their not!

One rule of thumb that you have to remember when you project for the future is that guys who are role players early in their career rarely, if ever, turn into PTPers later.  My man, Ken Pomeroy (kenpom.com) has done statistical analysis on this fact and proves that it is extremely rare for a guy to change from being a bench player to being a team's go to guy. 

The one exception is a guy who gets buried on the bench as a freshman can morph into a stud as a soph, a la Earl Clark.  Look at Jerry and Edgar as perfect examples of this theory.  They are the same players today that they were 4 yrs ago.

With that said, I don't see any of our upperclassmen transforming into Larry O'Bannon over the summer.  Preston, as much as I love you it looks like you're heading to a Brandon Jenkins career.  Kuric, Swop, and TJ may be solid role players next year but I just don't see any averaging more than 10-11ppg next year in a best case scenario.

This all means our entire season next year will hinge on the development of Siva and Buckles.  I'm eliminating Marra because I just don't see the confidence in his game that you need to be a next level star.  On top of that he clearly did get a chance to shine this year and rarely took advantage.  Also, since we've already seen consistent flashes of what Siva does (and if he just gets more minutes he will be a star) it will really depend on what Rock can become.  He defintiely has the size and athleticism to be a consistent double-double guy, but does he have the mental fortitude to handle the pressure Rick puts on his starters.  If he can fill he gaping hole left by Earl Clark @ the 4 that will allow a lot of other gaps to be filled by other players in other spots.

Its clear to me now also that the Samardo-TJ tandem isnt going to work.  They both do the same things and don't compliment each other very well.  What I think the Cal game showed us is that maybe we should have been looking for the Samardo-Buckles duo.  Rock's quickness and motor makes up for what Samardo lacks in athleticism and toughness.  I think those two make the most sense together, much more than Samardo and Swop or Samardo and TJ.  I also think a frontline of Samardo, Rock, and Swop makes the back end of our zone a whole lot tougher than when we had Delk or Kuric back there this year.  We were woefully small and unathletic on defense this year, anything that we can do to get longer and more agile the better.  Offensively, Buckles finishes at the rim as well as anyone on the team, is a much better passer than TJ, and Swop can be as good of an outside shooter as anyone who played the 3 this year.

One other aspect of the past few seasons that I think needs to be addressed this summer is the lack of a definite position for many players.  Maybe it was because we didn't have a true PG but doesn't it feel like we always have guys playing out of their natural position.  I mean who looks at Kyle Kuric (while he's crashing your cousin's wedding) and think I bet that guy plays forward for an elite college basketball team. 

Rick, take some notes here, Kuric is a guard, Marra is a guard, Swop is a small forward, if you play them out of position they are going to get beat by the guys on the other team that is playing his natural position.  Woud you rather have an weak undersized powerforward or a 6'7" small forward who can knock down the 3 and defend from the rim to the boundry.  Would you like a white 6'3" white guy boxing out the opponent's center (because your center thinks rebounding is below him) or would you like to have the league's best rebounding guard coming off the bench to spell the league's best on-ball defender. Next year we will have plenty of moving parts, my question is will Rick finally put them together in the right order to get the maximum result.

With that said, here's my favorite game to play (much like mike's if the BET started today game):

What will next year's rotation look like?

1- Peyton Siva, Russel Smith, Elisha Justice

2- Preston Knowles, Kyle Kuric, Mike Marra

3- Jared Swopshire, Justin Coleman, Richie Phares

4- Rakeem Buckles, Gorgui Sy Dieng*, Stephan Van Treese

5- Samardo Samuels, Terrance Jennings, George Goode

*getting Dieng has to be Pitino's main objective before he heads to the Caribbean.  If we don't get Dieng then Van Treese definitely seems primed to become our junkyard dog rebounder/shot blocker off the bench.

This lineup also allows Preston, Kuric and Marra to rotate to keep each other fresh (and even allows Preston to spell Siva at PG as well).  It also opens up the logjam @ the 4/5 position and allows for everyone to fit in where their skills best allow them.  The last great issue is what if Justin Coleman is so good that we can't keep him off the court.  If that's our biggest problem then we'll probably be talking about our sweet 16 opponent at this point next year instead of waiting for Wayne Blackshear to show up save the day.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we're going to lose tonight, and there is nothing that we can to about it.

I have a friend who is a walking jinx to the University of Lousville Sports programs.  He is a lifelong Card fan, relative of numerous football letterman, and med school graduate.  He moved to Philly 3 yrs ago and lives in Boston now.  But try as he might he is a cursed jinx.  Basically here is how the jinx works.  He shows up at a U of L road game...the Cards lose.

I've been friends with this guy for over a decade and at first I thought it was just a coincidence, but no as the years have gone on time and time again, the jinx has held true. 

Let me run down the list of his "accomplishments"

2005 Final Four vs. Illinois - blah

2005 Football @ WVU - Slaton/White Breakout

2005 Gator Bowl vs. VaTech - Vick Stomps on Dumervil

2006 Football @ Rutgers - Jeremy Ito FG game

2007 Football @ UConn - the Larry Taylor Game

2008 BBall @ GTown - defacto BE regular season championship

2009 Football @ UConn

Again, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but he just informed me a few hours agothat he's heading to the Providence game tonight and will be sitting somewhere behind our bench.  We can only pray that his car breaks down on the way.

I know we all love high flying offense and tons of points, but don't we love winning more.  When we were an up-and-coming program the only way to get relevant was to do something ridiculous, like throw the ball 50 times a game and try to score 50 points every time we went out.  We did it, it worked (see Redman, Chris), and people took notice that we actually fielded a football team around these parts. 

The next evolution of our program was a move away from a pass first to a "balanced attack" where Petrino implemented a power rushing game with our vaunted passing schemes.  The modification proved to be a major factor in our ability to hang with upper tier teams.  The problem was that although it was a change from the previous "pass first" offense we were still basically doing the same thing...trying to outscore you.  On top of that Petrino's teams always seemed to wilt late in games against teams that played hard-nosed D and like to hit you in the mouth (i.e. Rutgers 2006 and Miam 2004)

Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin, Paul Petrino, Gus Mahlzan, etc. play that same card and will eventually get us the same result.  An offensive based program can win in the short term, but will lose the big games because we're just not tough enough to impose our will.  Long term sucess is just not sustainable and if we go with an "offensive genius" we'll just end up right back where we started.

I look at TCU as a role model for what we are trying to achieve here.  Just a few short years ago we were chief rivals in a very competitive CUSA.  We were the offensive juggernaut and they were the defensive juggernaut.  As the years went by we soared to extreme highs and due to our high octane offense and our TV marketability we became very relevant nationally.  Well, Gary Patterson and TCU stuck to their defensive gameplan and though they didn't experience the highest of highs, like us, but they also never dropped to the low lows like us.  Their defensive mindset kept them competitive all these years even if their offense wasn't lightin up the scoreboard.  Look where it has finally gotten them now.

The same could be said of a program like Virginia Tech.  Our old Metro Conference foe was never much to speak of until Frank Beamer and Bud Foster began their run as a hard hitting (and disciplined) defensive football team.  It is definitely true that they hit their highest of highs when their offense was filled with playmakers like mike Vick and Kevin Smith, but it was the defense that has kept them relevant for all of the years.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is the old saying is that offense may sell tickets but defense is what wins championships.  If we just want a relevant program that gets on national tv and get ranked high every couple of years when we have a star QB they sure, go ahead and hire an offensive guru.  But if we want to build a sustainable sucess then its time we changed our whole mindset and went with a defensive guru. 

We are never going to compete with the bluebloods, the Floridas, Alabama, Texas, USC, etc.  Those teams fill their rosters with studs on both sides of the ball, every freaking year.  But with the right mindset and a coach who is actively involved in crafting a big, strong, fast, hard hitting defense, and can recruit the south to fill his roster with those kind of athletes we can make sure that we never fall off the national landscape for very long. 

With that said, look at how well Charlie Strong has done his job as a DC and compare that to how well anyone else has done in their position over the past 5+ years.  I checked the stats and in those past 5 years Strong's defense has been ranked outside the top 15 only once and it was in the top 6 three times.  Oh yeah, and he's directing the top ranked defense in the country right now by the way.

Check out the stats.

These stats show that defense is the way to go with our next coach.  I don't care if we only score 10 points a game next year, as long as the other team only scores 9.  A HC with a DC background will mean that we will have a fighting chance everytime we walk out on the field.

Who thinks that TWill could be a percect candidate for the Ewing Theory?

For those of you who don't know, the Ewing Theory (named after the inexplicable improvement of the NY Knicks when Patrick Ewing was injured during the '99 Playoffs) was "created" by ESPN.com Page 2 columnist Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons.  The Ewing theory says that when certain players who recieve an inordinate amount of media and fan attention leave a team or are injured said team inexplicably becomes better overall and can acheive more without them.

Even though the player the player is obviously the best player and the heart and soul of the team, sometimes they are so dominating that their teammates don't perform as well with them around.  When they are subtracted from the equation his former teammates get better with a whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts type of situation.

One hesitation I have with ordaining TWill as A Ewing Theory is that in years past U of L games without TWill were just a hot mess on the offensive end.  The team was always noticably worse without Twill on the court.  But if you look deeper into the Sports Guy's theory it says that the team needs to know that said teammate isn't coming back in order for them to truly unify as a team and make the imnprovements needed.  With TWill living it up in NYC, as Coach P would say, "Terrence Williams is not walking through that door."

My thought on the subject is that maybe, finally, Players like Jerry and Edgar will no longer feel the pressure of living up to TWill's athleticism and all around game and just start doing what they could be best at.  Eliminating the do-everything concept from our team and supporting the do-your-job concepts could free these guys to relax and not press so much in tight situations, go on cold shooting streaks, or repeatedly turn the ball over all night long.  When one guys tries to do everything the rest of the team usually ends up standing around watching, which is what, to me, seemed to happen for the past few years.

Here's a link to The Sports Guys most recent article on the Ewing Theory and see if you think the 2009-10 Cards could be ripe for success by losing their "Best" player.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/book/091027

With our women's team reaching new heights under the direction of Jeff Walz and the sheer will of Angel, how does everyone feel about it?

Last year when the baseball team went to the World Series we all went nuts supporting them.  But with the run that the women are making I just don't think that the rank and file Cardinal contingent is showing the appropriate enthusiasm

So here is my question:  Can the Women upsetting UConn and winning a National Title make up for the Men failing to make the Final Four to you?

My answer is that as much as I'd like to say yes, in truth it won't.  I'm not saying that I'm not excited to watch the game tommorow night, nor am I saying that ther achievements would be any less than Griff's or Pervis' Championships...It's just not the same.

What do you think?

If we're going to start the convo on next season we should just go ahead and start with the lienup.  We have a pleathora of option at multiple positions and that creates many different possible looks for this squad.

How do you see the depth chart shaping up

Here's my guess

PG - Sosa (C) - Siva

SG - Jerry (C) - Preston - Marra

SF - Delk - Swopshire - Kuric

PF -  Samardo - Buckles

C - Jennings - Goode - Van Treese

Notes:

Siva is an absolute stud (360 layup?) and will be the true engine for this machine eventually.  I see his season arcing like Kemba Walker's this year - solid early spectacular late.  He's the pass first PG with dazzling skills and control of the game that we need.  After watching the McD game tonight he really is the only of his kind in his class.  If he has any kind of outside shot or midrange game there is no way Pitino will be able to keep him off the court

I also think that Buckles is the true X-factor for this team.  He's going to have to be our junkyard dog if we're going to survive the BEast next year.

Finally I think the season comes down to whether Samardo can make "the jump"  next year.  Can he hit the 12 footer consistently.  Can he learn a second (or even a third) post move. Can he become a better passer from the high post. Can we count on him for a hoop in crunch time.  TJ also has a chance to to the same and may even be a faster learner than Samardo.

Just got back from Indy, and that is all I can say about the last 8 hours of my life. 

I believe the feeling is mutual for the rest of the sea or red that washed over central Indiana this afternoon and evening.

The joy and exuberance I experienced during what was inarguably the most perfect Cardinal roadtrip was un-friggin-real.  I would estimate about 30,000+ of my Cardinal comrades got to truly to the Celebrate at the Altar of the Church of Rick.  Today, for those lucky enough to experience it, was absolutely a little peek at Cardinal heaven.

Let me run down how most of our afternoons went:

12:00 Take off early from work - always the start to a good day 

2:00 Pick up the crew and hit the road

4:00 Wade through the ocean of red that has flooded downtown Indy.  Bounce from bar to bar to bar while echoing C-A-R-D-S off the walls to the city's towers

6:00 Chug last beverage and shuffle to the stadium that was only three blocks away.

7:09 Realize that we fill two-thirds of this giant arena and that means we may have more fans at this game than most home football games this past season.  Also realize that the atmosphere in the building was more conducive to a Coronation rather than a competition.  Also notice that there were tons of empty seats and ample room to pile a few thousand more Cardinal faithful into this place.

9:00 Watch as Good Edgar Sosa, Tournament Earl Clark, Banging-Mildly-Contested-Three Jerry Smith, and Maybe-We'll-See-a-Triple-Double TWill polish off the biggest tournament win in Cardinal history.

10:00 Hit the road and head back home knowing that the party starts again in two days so you'd bett rest up for whats ahead.

I strongly urge any and every true Cardinal to join our Congregation for our service on Sunday.  Father Rick would appreciate your support.

Dennis Dodd of CBSportsline.com says that Mike Leach is on thin ice @ Texas Tech and may actually lose his job over a contract buy-out clause disagreement.

He also goes on to say that Louisville would be one of the top possible spots for his to land if he gets axed in the next year.  But to our dismay, he also says that after a debacle like this  Jurich probably won't even give him a second look...which totally sucks

check it out:

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/13637486

In a big pick up for the bouncing ball Cards, Rick and Richard Pitino got a commitment from Indianapolis North Lawrence Center Stephen Van Treese last night.

 Jody Demling reports the full story and it looks like the 2009 class is rounding into for nicely with Van Treese (6'9" 220) as the big, Rakeem Buckles as a scoring swing player, sharp-shooter Mike Marra, and road-runner point guard Peyton Siva. 

Van Treese is a nice insurance policy if Samardo goes one and done.  If he does stay, the depth on the '09-'10 team would be substantial and leave us in great position to make a run ath the National Title.

OK, take it easy.  Come off that ledge.  This is not the end of the world. 

I know you've had a bad day, we all did.  What we witnessed today was a passing, a passing of passing, if you will.  Nobody died, it was just our passing game that passed, or was it?

What we witnessed today was probably the worst display of quarterbacking in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium History.  Our past decade has been filled with exhibitions of the art of quarterbacking by a procession of NFLqb's almost unmatched in the college football landscape.  From Chris Redman to Dave Ragone to Stefan Lefors to Brian Bhrom we were blessed to have the chance of seeing how the position should be played, and what we saw today was not how the quarterback position should be played, we all know that. 

Hey Hunter, just so you know, throwing lightning bolts makes you Zeus, not a quarterback!

But Hunter's bad day doesn't mean he's the end of an era.  The backfield and receiving corp today that Hunter had to work with was probably the thinnest ever.  Can anyone remember a weaker and less experienced group than the group of rookies we had playing today.  Along with Hunter starting his first game as a starting quarterback, we had 2 new tailbacks, 1 new fullback, 3 new recievers, and 2 new tight ends.  When was the last time we went into a game, let alone a season, with no clear returning starter at any skill position on offense?  Cause I sure as hell can't remember. 

But we've got to forget about the past because as bad as everything was today, there were some bright spots for the future, and that's why we can't all go wiggin' out over this loss. 

Doug Beaumont and Josh Chichester showed us something today...heart.  Even Victor Anderson a little bit as too.  Some of you may disagree, but the play calling was actually very solid by Jeff Brohm today.  If you watch a replay of the game with slo-mo you'll see that lots, if not most all, of the major mistakes were due to bad execution and not bad schemes.  I'm not saying he called a perfect game today, but the playcalling put our guys in position to make plays, it's just that no one did.

This group can get better, lots better.  It may not be soon but these guys can get there, it'll just take some time.  The defense will hold their own as long as English is in charge.   What we saw today by-no-means minimizes the potential of individual players or this team as a whole. What it may have shown us though that it could be anywhere from a few games to an entire season before this squad gels.  For Hunter's sake he'd better do his best to make it happen sooner rather than later or Kragthorpe might have to experiment with a younger option at his position.

Hang tough Card Nation, don't go wiggin' out...

...because after watching Bilal jog around like he did today, we all know that Mike has been wiggin' out enough for the rest of us.

More games for their "former" or "future" team next year? 

I think that with all the wierdness surrounding the entirity of U of L Sports at this time that we should have some fun with it.  Feel free to add any others to this list. 

The only criteria I used was that there must be a decenct chance that they play exactly zero games this upcoming season and there must be an equal  chance for them to play most all of their team's games in the upcoming seasons.

And so the plot thickens.  The CJ is reporting good news for the CC's favorite son. None other than Donut Dunkin' Derrick Caracter has wiggled his way back into Rick's good-ish graces and may ultimately be competing with Samardo Samuels for PT on our Final Four contending hoop squad. 

I for one am glad DC apparently has weaseled his way back into Pitinoland

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/SPORTS02/80715041

Let's hope Mike's head doesn't explode!

So I had a chance happening today, one that I would have never expected to happen.  It's not like I met the Pope or ran into Tom Cruise, but I met a minor celebrity  this morning, one who had much insight into an event that rocked the friends of CardChronicle to the core this past football season, so I thought I'd pass it along

As we all know UConn football player Larry Taylor was recently voted the Least Cool Person of 2007-2008.  He recieved this honor due to an episode of blatant cheating...or was it? 

This morning, I met Louisvillian Desi Cullen who is a kicker/punter of the same UConn football team.  He, as a special teamer, informed me that Taylor was one of his best friends on the team and had told him the real story about the Unfairest Catch.

According to Cullen, Taylor was approached earlier in the game by the backjudge referee after a fair catch he made earlier in the game.  At that point the referee told him that his fair catch signal was incomplete and that he needed to wave his hand back and forth to make the fair catch count.  Taylor was told that if he didn't make a proper signal, no whistle would be blown and the play would continue.

With that in mind, Taylor decided to test this referee on the next punt.  So, with Bilal Powell barrelling down on him, he threw up one hand and waved to the crowd.  Powell, seeing the exact same signal that was called a fair catch earlier in the game stopped short, for fear of making contact and drawing a penalty. 

After hearing this story I am starting to feel like Taylor may be a bit cooler than we previously believed and it may actually be the Ref who deserves the vengence of Cardinal Nation.  What I'm seeing in the story is that the Ref, not Taylor is the one who screwed us over.  The ref is the one who changed the rules of the game and only informed one player. 

Taylor may be a little uncool, for taking advantage of this inadvertant rule change, but he was only doing what he was told to do.  The referee on the other hand really screwed us over.  By calling the play one way then calling the same action another way later in the game, he is the one who put us at the disadvantage.  Unless he went up to Coach K after the first bogus fair catch and informed him that he had screwed up and was not going to do it again, he gave Taylor a huge advantage, that if he had to take.

I still think Taylor blows hard, its just that the Ref may have been the one who taught him how to suck the chrome off the provberbial trailer hitch.