Date – October 28, 2009
Time – 7:00 pm
Site – Freedom Hall
TV – WHAS-11
Radio – 840 AM

The Hall of Freedom, best venue in college

The 2009-2010 Louisville Cardinals make their much anticipated debut, albeit in an exhibition game, tonight against Happy Osborne’s Georgetown Tigers. These two teams have become annual opponents in recent years, with last year’s contest in particular being close as the Tigers played the Cards close the whole way before falling 74-67. In 2006, the game was even closer as the Cards narrowily edged Georgetown 94-92.

For those who don’t know, Georgetown College is a perennial power in NAIA. Last season, the Tigers went 27-5 and finished 10th in the polls. Coach Happy Osborne has won 399 games in his career at Georgetown and he’d love to get 400 in the Hall of Freedom against the reigning Big East champeens. The Tigers have been practicing as a team since August and have already won a game, defeating Temple Baptist 115-47. Georgetown, like many other NAIA schools, has Division I talent, but those players either did not qualify academically or perhaps are undersized a bit.

2009-2010 Georgetown Tigers

Two players to watch for the Tigers are Vic Moses and Maurice Pearson. Moses, at 6-6 255 lbs, and Pearson, 6-9 226 lbs, are the low post game for Georgetown and combined to grab 27 rebounds between them in their opening game. The Tigers outrebounded the Cards in last year’s game and will definitely play physical.

Much like intrasquad scrimmages, I don’t put a lot of stock in exhibition games. Slick Rick will look to play a lot of guys, get the freshman experience in playing a live game in front of a big crowd, and use this game as a way to work on things. Obviously, you do not want to lose the game, but the outcome will not be a primary concern. When I watch this game, I will be looking for three specific things.

The first will be Louisville’s post play. Samardo Samuels, Terrence Jennings, and George Great will have a distinct size advantage over the Tigers. The post play of Louisville looks to be a strength of the squad, so I’d like to see these guys enforce their will over Georgetown and dominate. I want to see if Sam Sam play more physical, Jennings have more post moves, and George Great blocking every shot in his vicinity. Oh, and some slam dunks please, tinks.

Another thing I will be looking at is the point guard play. Edgar Sosa has been heavily praised by the Slickster all summer and I want to see that improvement. Sosa’s talent has never been in question, his mindset has. I would love to see Sosa finish with a line around 10 points, 6 assists, and 2 turnovers. We all know lil Eddie has been maligned for his score first mentality, but the Slickster claims that has changed and I would love to see that prove to be the case tonight.

Lil Eddie cracks me up

Louisville’s other point guard, or perhaps we should call him the point guard of the future, Peyton Siva is someone I will be watching intently. Siva has impressed me every time I’ve seen him and I cannot wait to watch him play again. Siva has a fantastic skill set, but more importantly has the mindset of a point guard. He most likely will not start, but will definitely see major minutes. The exciting thing about Siva is he’s already good and he will only get better.

The last thing I will be focusing on will be the shooting. Coach Pitino called this team a “great shooting team” in his pregame presser. Contrast that with last season when he called the Cards a “good shooting team when we take open shots” and I think there is genuine reason to be excited about this squad. The last team here at Louisville to be a great shooting team was the 2005 Final Four squad.

2005 Final Four squad, love them

Please do not misunderstand, I am not comparing the 2005 squad with this one. However, I do believe this year’s team is more talented than the 2005 version and if it is true this year’s team is a “great shooting team”, then I think this squad can make some serious noise. But as far as tonight’s game goes, I would like to see the Cards shoot around 50% from the floor and 40% from the three point line.

It should be a great time in the Hall of Freedom. Basketball season is upon us and I, for one, am extremely pumped. Neil will be here later with a recap.