SB Nation User Blog: drhustle

Can the Women redeem the Men?

drhustle — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:30:20 -0000

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?

Who's your starting five

drhustle — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:16:01 -0000

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.

A Truly Spiritual Experience!

drhustle — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:35:16 -0000

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.

Mike Leach

drhustle — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:02:42 -0000

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

Indiana star to Louisville

drhustle — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:36:00 -0000

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.

Now don't everybody wig out!

drhustle — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:16:44 -0000

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.

Who do you think will Play

drhustle — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:18:18 -0000

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.

Poll

Who will play more games in the next year?

Brian Brohm - Green Bay Packers

12 votes

Brett Favre - Green Bay Packers

20 votes

Derrick Caracter - Louisville Cardinals

17 votes

David Padgett - Any NBA Team

2 votes

Mario Urrutia - Cincinnati Bengals

41 votes

92 votes | Poll has closed

Duhn Duhn Duhhhhhhh

drhustle — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:12:42 -0000

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!

The Real Larry Taylor Story

drhustle — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:21:24 -0000

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.

Roy Williams wearing Jayhawk Logo?

drhustle — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:46 -0000

It probably was wierd for UK fans to see their Mr. Wildcat in Freedom Hall during One Shining Moment last night...but what about the travesty that UNC fans had to endure.

Their Coach, Roy Freakin' Williams showed up to the National Championship game with a giant Jayhawk Logo on his chest.

Could you imagine the backlash if UK knocked us out of the final four and Pitino showed up to the championship with a WildCat Logo beaming from his lapel...

What would do you think would happen if Slick
Rick pulled a stunt like that aound here?

Here's my best guess.

Best case scenario: U of L Fans ream him on his last call-in show of the season and then picket the athletic office demanding he be fired.

Worst Case Scenario: His house would be burned to the ground before his plane landed back here in Louisville. A rowdy crowd of Cardinal fans meet him at the airport and slash the tires to his limo. He's then tarred, feathered (with red cardinal feathers), and made to walk barefoot all the way back to lexington where he is hung by his toes outside the Wildcat Lodge while the mob beats him like a pinata. Richard Pitino is made new head coach!

just my 2 cents, what yours?