After the first date, Courtney became the first, and only girl thus far, to make out with Esteban Ochocinco.

Quotes of the ep: As Ocho is taking the girls fishing “Honestly, I think I needed some help with my pole.” And during elimination “The friendzone is nothin like the endzone. Ain’t no scorin goin on in the friendzone.”

However, Ocho must like the friendzone, because he sends Courtney home in favor of Tiphani…

He does do the obvious in the other matchup date, and that is keep Tara.

Tara moves on

Courtney does not...

The first date was Tiphani against Brittany. Ocho took the girls on a Beverly Hills shopping spree. Brittany brought the thunder and track star Tiphani was gonna need a buzzer-beater to survive and advance.

Next up was April – who we find out is 35 years of age – and Laurice. Ocho takes them to the Laundromat. April flaps her gums nonstop but Laurice plays uninterested the entire date. Even though April somehow landed the 5-seed, the Vegas books had to have Laurice as the overwhelming favorite. Laurice didn’t play like it however, and allowed April to stay in the game and both had a chance to advance heading into elimination.

B-Twice made his final appearance to help Ocho before heading off to mini-camp. They talk to the other six girls, and Jasmine tries to through Tara and Ericka under the bus. Then Ocho finally gets rid of April and as always, a 12-seed takes out a 5-seed.

But then, Ocho shakes things up by sending Laurice home as well. He tells Tiphani she is moving on and Brittany gets nervous, but Ocho reseeds and puts Brittany through on the red side. He apologizes for messing up our office pools — JERK. MOVE.

Quote of the Ep: A two-way tie, courtesy of Tara – “For me, I’m just really not into balls flying at my face.” and Ocho – “I haven’t seen football this bad since the last time I seen the Browns play.”

First up Ochocinco played some futbol with the Blue Team and some members of the LA Galaxy. Ocho mentioned how hot Rubi was looking no less than 438 times during the first 15 minutes of the show. He then takes Rubi and Candice, the 1-16 matchup out to San Francisco.

Candice pulls out all the stops and throws Rubi under the bus several times, which is irrelevant because she never had a chance.

On a serious sidebar, Lisa finds out her Grandfather has two weeks to live and must leave the house. This gives Heather a bye into the next round, where she will face off against the 2-seed Tara.

The Red Team then goes with Chad to Dave and Buster’s. Whoever gets the most tickets wins alone time with Ocho. Laurice wins with 713 tickets!, which nearly doubled 2nd place Heather’s 421. Jasmine was in third with 90, then April with 38, and Tara who came through with NINETEEN big tickets. What were these other girls doing?!?

Since Heather had already moved on, there was only one elimination. Obviously, Rubi moves on.

Quote of the ep came courtesy of Ocho: “San Francisco is like the Cincinnati of the west.” I’ll let y’all make your own decisions about what that says in regards to the Nasty ‘Nati…

Not just the 1-seed, but the overwhelming favorite, Rubi

The show kicked off with Crystal gripin’ about her seeding. Someone has an issue with the tournament selection committee.

Next Lisa, who has secured my most hated slot, gets all catty towards Tara because Tara washed her hands in “her bathroom”. *sigh* Women.

Tara is then selected to go on the next matchup date. Tara the 2-seed goes up against the 15-seed Katie and this one should be over early.

Ocho and the girls head to Vegas where Ocho reveals he “never wants to date a girl with nasty nails.” Katie admits she has the ugliest feet ever, which doesn’t help her out in trying to pull the upset.

Katie then tells Ocho sex isn’t gonna happen, in effect signing her own death warrant. Ocho and Tara heat things up in the pool, and they all eat dinner, where Tara like Angela before her does nothing to eliminate the bimbo sterotype.

Back at the mansion the remaining girls got hammered and Lisa does “some real ho sh*t” throwing avacado and some margarita mix on the 1-seed Rubi. There’s one in every crowd.

The next morning the girls take a Yoga class. That made for some good TV. And Chad selects Courtney and Crystal for the next matchup date.

They take a boat ride, Ocho buys them dresses for dinner, and Crystal does nothing but whine and cry a river about her dress. She has to be the biggest complainer ever.

Both matchups were blowouts, looks and personality wise. Tara and Courtney move on.

Quote of the ep: “Courtney’s pretty easy going, or she could be spineless. Either way, man she’s hotter than a mother#$&^er.”

Tara moves on

As does Courtney

She may have been right as Ocho picked Ericka and Emma for the first matchup date of the season, the 8-9 battle.

The line of the ep came courtesy of Lisa, while giving advice to Emma for her date: “She has low self esteem you can tell, just knock her down. I would just say something like, ‘Oh you’re so pretty Ericka, why do you feel like you have to like, make your lips look like Howard the Duck?’” Awesome.

Ericka dominated the conversation on the date, and her aggressiveness paid off as she pulled out the first victory of the season and moved on to the Elite Eight. Here’s a small gallery of Ericka Kenny aka Bentley Shea:

The second matchup date was the 4-13, Angela B and Jasmine. Jasmine was none to thrilled to go on the date, because with Angela being a heavy favorite, not just in the first round but to cakewalk into the Final Four, Jasmine was likely heading home early.

Lisa again intervenes with advice for Jasmine. Angela takes exception, and the first catfight breaks out as her and Lisa trade verbal jabs and the first ‘bitches’ of the season are thrown out there as well.

On the date Jasmine controlled the conversation, but Angela was cool with it because she believes “in all honesty, looks are more important.”

The date was live on UStream, and Ochocinco looked to his fans’ comments for advice. His fans and Ocho chose Jasmine to move on and sent Angela packin’. Maybe he really is looking for the real thing, cuz looks definitely weren’t more important.

In conclusion, the 9-seed and the 14-seed advanced and the brackets are already shook up. Tune in next Sunday for two more matchup dates and eliminations.

No More Angela B *tear*

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team took a trip to Milwaukee in search of an NCAA tournament berth.  Instead, the Cards fell flat on their face and were embarrassed by the Marquette Golden Eagles 69-48.  That’s right, 48 points.  In Sunday’s win at UCONN, Louisville had 40 by halftime.  This performance tonight was no doubt one of the most disappointing displays of basketball that I can remember.  Louisville looked like a team that was going through the motions, didn’t play hard, and looked uninterested in playing basketball .  In the end, they paid for it by placing themselves firmly back on the bubble. 

Recap

The game started out well for the Cards.  Jerry Smith came firing right out of the gate by nailing a three and connecting on a layup.  The Cards jumped out to a 5-0 lead early.  This 5-0 spurt would be the only signs of life Louisville would show the rest of the way.  The Eagles caught up quickly and tied the score at 11 with 14:07 to play in the first half.  They would take the lead on their next possession and never relinquish it.  Louisville kept it close  most of the first period, trailing only 22-20 with 4:30 left in the half.  Marquette then blitzed the Cards with an 11-1 run to take a 33-23 lead at the break. 

Louisville got a decent performance from Kyle Kuric in the first half.  Kuricwas the leading scorer in the early period, netting six points at the break on 2-3 shooting from downtown.  Other than that, nobody else was even close to a factor.  Smith had five at the break as did Rakeem Buckles.  Samardo Samules and Edgar Sosa, the teams top two scorers, combined for only two points. 

Marquette played the first half like a team that knew what was at stake.  They came out and played great defense and moved the ball exceptionally well.  The Eagles were hot from the outside, connecting on six threes in 13 attempts.  Darius Johnson-Odom led all scorers in the half with 14 while teammate Mauriec Acker had nine.  Marquette shot 50% from the field before the break, while the Cards connected just 31% of the time.  The game was getting ugly.

As the second half started, I was still feeling pretty good.  I thought the Cards would come out of the locker room like the did against UCONN and get themselves back in the game.  WRONG!  Marquette flat out punched Louisville in the jaw after the break.  The Eagles went on a 13-0 run to start the half and immediately took a 23 point advantage with 13:31 to play.  Louisville didn’t score a point in the second half until the 12:53 mark which ended an 18-0 Golden Eagle run that continued from the first half.  The Cards tried to fight back mid way through the second half as they put together a 17-4 run to close within 10 at 50-40 with 8:54 to play.  But the Cards went ice cold again, and Marquette closed the game on a 19-8 run of their own to rout the Cards 69-48.

For the first time that I can remember, Louisville was held without a double digit scorer.  Edgar Sosa finished the game as Louisville’s top point man with nine and Buckles added seven.  Samardo Samuels never showed up and finished the game with just four points on 2-5 shooting.  Smith who scored five points in the first minute of the game, finished the game with those five points.  The Cards finished the game shooting 37% from the field and got to the free throw line only once.  They also committed 16 turnovers.

Marquette was led by a trio of players in double figures.  Johnson-Odom finished as the game’s leading scorer with 22 points on 8-12 shooting, including 4-6 from downtown.  Maruice Acker finished with 15 and Joseph Fulce added 11.  Marquette shot 47% from the field and 39% from beyond the arc.

My Take

This was embarrassing.  I can’t understand how a team can come out with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line and play like this.  There was no motivation in this team and no leadership.  The Cards looked like they wanted to just get the 40 minutes over as quick as possible and get on the airplane.  The team was unprepared and showed no fight what so ever.  This blame for this loss can be placed on Pitino just as much as it can be placed on the players.  This team deserves whatever it gets on Selection Sunday and right now it’s anybody’s guess of what that could be. 

Louisville played terrible in every aspect of the game.  The obvious thing to say was the offense was the problem.  The Cards shot selection was very poor and they ignored the big man inside.  The Cards settled for way to many jump shots instead of trying to attack the rim.  The passing was awful and turnovers were being committed left and right.  There is no excuse for a team to ever score 48 points in a game unless you play in the Big Ten.  There was no rhythm or flow to the offense and it showed. 

Defensively, I don’t know what the hell was going on.  I will give credit to Marquette because they were a very impressive passing team.  They moved the ball quickly and created open shots.  There were countless number of times when a Golden Eagle player was wide open on the perimeter draining a three.  Louisville’s press was once again ineffective and couldn’t keep up with the speed of Marquette.  The Cards looked lost at times and let Marquette guards split the zone and pull up in open space.  Samuels, Jennings, Swopshire, and Buckles did a poor job of stepping up and contesting these shots and did a poor job of playing weak side defense.  Marquette got whatever they wanted, when they wanted and made Louisville look silly.

The Cards once again put forth a lazy effort on the boards.  The stat sheet will tell you that the rebounds were even at 28, but it was a disappointing effort.  Marquette got several key offensive rebounds in the second half which led to the run that put the Cards away.  Marquette was more physical and attacked the ball off the rim, while Louisville stood around and watched.  Miller put it best through a text message during the game, “Louisville rebounds like a bad 4th grade clinic team”.  If Louisville doesn’t man up, grow a pair, and start fighting for the ball, they will continue to get dominated. 

Not sure what else to say other than this was a disappointment.  This team has no heart, no leadership, and no fight.  There is every reason to be motivated for these stretch games with a tournament berth on the line, yet the players don’t seem to care.  At this point in the season, these types of efforts should be long gone.  Tonight was a failure on the part of the players, senior captains, and most importantly the coaches.  Louisville has put themselves back in a tough position where they need to beat Syracuse or win a game in the B.E. Tournament to feel good about their chances on Selection Sunday.  As of now, the Cards are probably still in the dance, but by no means are they a lock. 

It’s time to put this game behind us and move on to what is hopefully the last game in Freedom Hall.  It should be an electric atmosphere this Saturday when the #1 ‘Cuse come to town.  Former Cardinal Champions and all-time greats will be in attendance in front of a packed house.  If this doesn’t motivate Pitino’s team then I give up.  I look for the Cards to bounce back like they did after the St. John’s loss and give Syracuse al they can handle.  Hopefully it will be enough for a win.

Patterson made the first bucket of the game, a three pointer, and from there imposed his will from the low block. South Carolina could not stop the ‘Cats underneath. In their first meeting in Columbia, the Cocks were able to spread the floor and pull Kentucky’s bigs out of the paint. That strategy did not come into play tonight as Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins absolutely shredded the interior for a combined 42 points and 19 rebounds on 17-of-25 shooting.

Cousins put up yet another double-double, scoring 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. DeMarcus added to his UK Freshman record for double-doubles, and now has 17 on the season.

While UK’s big men had a field day underneath, Freshman phenom and consensus overall number one NBA draft pick John Wall continued his struggles as of late. Wall finished 4-of-15 from the field and has connected on just 20 of his last 57 (35 percent) shot attempts over Kentucky’s last four contests. Wall ended up with 12 points, five boards, four assists and six of the Wildcats’ 10 turnovers.

South Carolina never led, but Darrin Horn’s ‘Cocks did not go quietly into the night. South Carolina twice in the second half cut Kentucky’s lead to six points, and both times Patterson answered for Kentucky. First with a thunderous slam and then with a three point play. The ‘Cats pulled away late for the final 21 point margin.

Guy wrote in his last recap about how pleased he was to see Patterson stepping up and becoming the veteran leader that this young team so desperately needs. Patrick continued that transformation tonight, showing the hunger and determination that you want to see out of your leader.

South Carolina’s Devan Downey, an absolute stud in his own right, got his, scoring 26 points on 25 shot attempts. In the Gamecocks victory back on January 26th, Downey scored 30 points on 29 shot attempts. Other than Downey, South Carolina got a solid effort from Freshman LaKeem Jackson, who had 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The Gamecocks got exactly zero points from their bench.

However, rebounding may be the key stat to look at when trying to explain why Kentucky was able to seemingly coast to a victory this time. In their loss, the Wildcats were outrebounded 40-38 by the Gamecocks; tonight Kentucky won the battle of the boards 44-26.

South Carolina got what they wanted in turning the game into a one-on-one contest, as between the two squads there were only 22 assists on 58 made baskets, but it wasn’t enough as Kentucky’s frontcourt prescence did not allow the ‘Cocks to dominate the offensive glass as they did in Columbia.

The Wildcats shooting was also much improved this time around as they stroked it at a 50% clip (32-64) from the field. In comparison, South Carolina shot just 39% (26-67) and managed just 20% from beyond the arc (4-of-20).

Also, just to mention it, for some reason Magic Johnson and Ben Roethlisberger were in attendance for tonight’s game in Rupp. Weird.

Anyhow, I don’t think anyone expected the Gamecocks to be able to pull off the upset again, especially in Lexington, but given the way the game was seemingly dominated in all aspects by Kentucky there could be cause for concern in that South Carolina was still able to hang around and keep it within two possessions until late in the second half.

The only worry I have with this team is that they simply do not blow anyone out. Aside from the LSU and Arkansas games, and a couple scrub teams early on (Cleveland State, Hartford), these Wildcats play to their level of competition and allow teams to stay within striking distance throughout the game. This could be a major problem in the Big Dance; because as we all know, anything can and does happen come March.

Regardless, talentwise I think everyone can agree it is fairly obvious that the Wildcats belong in the Final Four. We’ll see if they can get there. Nickev will be here later tomorrow morning with a preview of Saturday’s game down in Knoxville.

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team earned an enormous road victory and put themselves back into the Big Dance conversation by downing the Syracuse Orange 66-60 at the Carrier Dome.  Just when everything seemed hopeless for the Cards coming off a thumping at St. John’s on Thursday, they rebounded and earned themselves a quality win over the #2/ #3 team in the nation.  Most bracketologist and analysts had the cards dead and buried after the St. John’s game, but tonight they are singing a different tune.  Louisville finally got that resume building win they had lacked and they did it on the road which is doubly impressive.  As of now, you have to think Louisville has put itself back into the field of 65. 

Recap

The Carrier Dome was packed with 31,053 fans in Orange, making it the largest on-campus crowd to watch a basketball game in Syracuse history and it was a big advantage for the home team early.  Louisville got off to another terrible start just like they did in Madison Square Garden Thursday night.  In that game, Louisville didn’t score a point for the first 6 1/2 minutes and today looked like it was headed in that direction as the Cards first points came on a Jared Swopshire floater 3:47 into the game.  The Cards continued to struggle shooting the ball for the first several minutes as they opened the game 1-9 from the field and fell behind by 11 with 8:02 to play in the first half.  Louisville looked lost on defense as Syracuse was moving the ball withease and getting whatever looks they wanted both inside and beyond the arc.  Pitino called a timeout, and Louisville came back looking like a different team. 

Preston Knowles and Mike Marra combined for two big three’s, sparking a 17-5 run by the Cards, including 12-3 over the final six minutes to put Louisville up a point at 28-27 with a minute left.  Syracuse got a bucket from Scoop Jardine late to put the ‘Cuse up 29-28 at the break.   Despite the slow start and Samardo Samuels being on the bench with no points because of two early fouls, the Cards battled back and were in position to pull the upset.

The second half started a lot better for the Cards.  Louisville got the ball at the start and Knowles nailed an off balance deep two as the shot clock buzzer sounded.  Syracuse then scored four straight to take a 33-30 lead when Knowles came up big again.  He knocked down another huge three to tie the game at 33.  The two teams battled back and forth, matching bucket for bucket with neither team able to pull away.  With the Cards up three with 11:30 left, the Syracuse crowd and team seemed to be dejected.  Then Andy Rautins decided to strike.  Rautins nailed a three from the top of the key to tie the game at 42 and seconds later drilled another from the right wing to bring the crowd to its feet, prompting a Rick Pitino timeout.  Louisville found themselves trailing 45-42 and the Orange had all the momentum.  It could of been the time the Cards would fold but they didn’t. 

The Cards would fall behind by four at 50-46 when the under eight media timeout hit, but that’s when a sleeping giant awoke.  Samardo Samuels had been held scoreless up to this point, but after the timeout he went to work.  He hit two free throws to close the gap to 50-48, then made a tough off balance layup on the next possession to tie the game at 50.  Marra then nailed another clutch three, capping a 7-0 run and putting Louisville up 53-50.  The Cards would never trail again. 

The ’Cuse  closed the gap to 53-52 when Samuels hit another tough off balance shot in the lane.  About a minute later, Rakeem Buckles gathered a huge offensive rebound off a Samuels miss, and stuck it back in for a 57-52 lead.  It was the first time the Cards had been up by more than one possession.  After a Mike Marra missed three pointer, Louisville recorded another offensive rebound and had it knocked out of bounds with 3:05 on the clock, prompting the under four media timeout. 

Coming out of the break, the genius of Rick Pitino came to light.  He designed one of the best inbounds plays I can ever remember him doing during his time at Louisville.  He had Edgar Sosa throwing the ball in, and started Samuels at the top of the Key.  Samuels came off a delayed screen right down an open lane and Sosa lobbed him the ball.  The pass barely eluded a leaping Arinze Onuaku and landed right in the hands of Samuels who threw down a thunderous jam on the alley-oop.  The Cards had their largest lead of the game at 59-52. 

Louisville would go scoreless over the next minute and a half, allowing Syracuse to get back within a possession at 59-56.  With a 1:41 on the clock, the Cards best free throw shooter Jared Swopshire had a chance to give the Cards a two possession lead again.  But just like the common theme has been over the last several weeks, Swopshire missed the front end of the one and one in a clutch situation. 

 However, Marra came through with the biggest two plays of the season thus far for the Cards.  He flew into the lane on the miss and corralled another offensive rebound.  This allowed Louisville to run some more clock up by three.  The Cards took full advantage as they ran the time down to 1:21 and moved the ball around.  With the shot clock at 10, Swopshire made an excellent ball fake in the lane and found a wide open Marra set up in the left corner.  Marra released and nailed the open three right in front of a fired up Louisville bench, delivering the dagger by putting the Cads up 62-56 with 1:22. 

Even though the Cards were up six, the game was not over just yet.  Kris Joseph made a pair of free throws with 1:04 to play cutting the lead to 62-58.  Syracuse then fouled Edgar Sosa with 45 seconds left, putting the point guard at the line for a one and one.  Sosa once again choked in the clutch by bricking the first shot.  The ‘Cuse rebounded the ball and  Joseph drove the lane and dunked on the ensuing possession making it a 62-60 game with 32 ticks remaining.  Buckles inbounded the ball to Sosa who was immediately trapped in the corner.  He threw it back to Buckles who then tried to pass along the base line.  The ball landed out of bounds for the 12th Louisville turnover of the game.  At this point, the common reaction was “Here we go again!”. 

With 23 seconds left, Wesley Johnson drove baseline and tried a reverse layup to tie the game, but was denied by Buckles who blocked the shot off the bottom of the back board.  The ball ended up in the arms of Jerry Smith who was immediately pulled to the ground by Joseph.  In a controversial call, the referees whistled Joseph for an intentional foul.  The Cards would have two shots and the ball.  Smith stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws, ending any hope of a Syracuse miracle.  After two missed three point attempts with 10 seconds left, Sosa scooped up a lose rebound, threw it ahead to Buckles who slammed home the exclamation point as the buzzer sounded.  Louisville had pulled off the upset, 66-60. 

Louisville was led by a balanced scoring attack as four players scored in doubled figures.  Sosa and Marra led the team with 12 points each while Swopshire and Knowles  pitched in 10 apiece.  Samuels and Buckles both contributed eight.  Samuels was also the Cards leading rebounder with six. 

Syracuse also had four players score in double figures, led by Johnson who finished with 14.  Onuaku and Rautins recorded 12 points each, while Joseph pitched in 10 off the bench.  Johnson and Joseph both tied for the team lead in rebounds with eight each. 

Why Louisville Won

This was a very impressive performance for the Cards.  After the loss at St. John’s I thought this team had given up.  I was in the boat that thought the Big Dance was out of reach, and this team was incapable of winning a big game on the road. 

This team proved me wrong by getting off the mat and coming back with a vengence.  Things started off terribly once again, with the Cards not scoring a point for the first 3 1/2 minutes, starting 1-9 from the field, and allowing Syracuse to get open looks wherever they wanted.  When they got down by 11 and 31,000+ fans were fired up, the game could of easily gotten out of reach.  But the Cards didn’t falter.  They made several adjustments and tightened things up on the defensive end.  They held the best shooting team in the nation to just 41% when they normally shoot 52.7%.  They contained Rautins and shut down the ‘Cuse leading scorer Wesley Johnson. 

Rautins finished with only 12 points on 4-8 shooting, including  just 3-7 from beyond the arc.  Johnson, who averages better than 16 points per game, was held to a dismal 5-20 from the field and was a non factor all game long.  

The Cards also didn’t allow the ’Cuse to get out in transition and give up easy buckets.  Syracuse has one of the best offensive transition games in all of basketball, but the Cards did a great job of slowing the game down and forcing the Orange into their half court sets.  Pitino felt that the Cards needed to keep the game a low scoring one and that’s exactly what happened. 

Offensively, the Cards were very patient.  Louisville did a great job of moving the ball against the tough Syracuse 2-3 zone and took several open shots.  The Cards didn’t force much and did an excellent job of taking care of the ball.  They wound up with only 12 turnovers and limited the fourth best steals team in the nation to only four steals.   After the tough shooting start, the Cards got on track. They finished the game shooting better than 42% and converted on 9-30 three’s. 

The biggest factor that led the Cards to victory could be found on the offensive glass.  Louisville did an outstanding job of crashing the boards on the offensive end and wound up with several second chance opportunities that they would cash in on.  Louisville outscored Syracuse in second chance points 22-12 and seemed to always get a clutch offensive board down the stretch.  The biggest offensive rebound came from Marra, who then hit the three on the extra possession effectively ending the hopes of the ‘Cuse. 

Key Performers

Mike Marra-  I still am not buying into this whole “Mike Marra is the best shooter I’ve ever seen” nonsense that Pitino keeps preaching, but the kid was huge in this game.  He had his role increased due to a back injury to Reginald Delk and foul trouble by Knowles.  Marra made the most of his opportunity by hitting big shots and coming up with a huge offensive rebound.  He didn’t exactly shoot lights out, going 4-12 from the field (all three’s), but he didn’t get rattled.  He was very confident and kept shooting, knowing his shots would eventually fall.  Playing in front of 31,000 fans as a Freshman is not easy and this kid stepped up to the challenge.  His play was without question the biggest reason the Cards pulled this one out.  He had four rebounds, an assist, and a block to go along with his 12 points. 

Rakeem Buckles-Buckles saw the most playing time that he has seen in recent weeks and was a big factor.  He finished with eight points on 3-4 shooting and knocked down his only two free throws of the game.  He always seemed to come up with a big play whenever the Cards needed one.  Whether it is the offensive rebound and put back late in the game to put the Cards up five or the blocked shot when Syracuse tried to tie the game in the last 30 seconds, Buckles was active on both ends and gave Louisville some crucial play off the bench. 

Samardo Samuels-Samuels had a tough match up today going against two physical big men in Onuaku and Rick Jackson.  Samuels spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble and was non existent for most of the second half.  But down the stretch when the Cards needed him, Samuels answered the call.  He scored all eight of his points in a four minute stretch late in the second half with the game within one possession.  He also finished the game as the Cards leading rebounder with six and dished out four assists. 

 What’s Next

The Cards can celebrate this major victory for one night, but they must realize there is a lot of work left to do in order to get to the Big Dance.  They may of played their way back into the tourney as of now, but it will all be for nothing unless they take care of business down the stretch.  This stretch run starts Wednesday night when the Notre Dame fighting Irish invade Freedom Hall for a 7:00 game.  Notre Dame is another team on the bubble with the Cards that is fighting for one of those last tournament spots.  It’s another must win for the Cards as they look to avenge the 30 point beat down they received in South Bend last season.

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team flat out blew it today against the Pittsburgh Panthers.    The Cards had a six point lead with just over two minutes left, and were up by four with under 20 seconds and could not hold on.  The Cardinals missed four crucial free throws down the stretch that would of put the game away, instead they are looking at another loss.  Two of the free throws came on the front end of a one and one opportunity.   In the end, the Cards just didn’t want it bad enough and handed the game to the Panthers 82-77 in OT. 

Louisville had controlled most of the game and never fell behind by more than two points at anytime.  The teams battled in the first half with Louisville leading most of the way.  Louisville did a solid job on the offensive end by going inside to Samardo Samuels who discovered his post game again.  Samuels dominated the Panthers inside with strength and great footwork.  He found himself in double figures at the break and led Louisville to a 30-27 halftime lead. 

The second half was just like the first.  Both teams were battling back and forth with Louisville maintaining a slight advantage.  Pitt took a brief one point lead at 49-48, but the Cards rallied for a five point advantage and retook control of the game.  Louisville’s largest lead of the game was six which happened with just over two minutes left in regulation.  Down the stretch, Louisville just made to many mistakes and could not capitalize on their opportunities. 

 Up by five with under two minutes left, Edgar Sosa had a one and one opportunity and a chance to put the game out of reach with a seven point lead.  Instead, Edgar missed the free throw badly.  I’m talking his shot hit the backboard before it hit the rim bad. 

About a minute later, Jared Swopshire had a chance to put the game out of reach with a one and one opportunity and Louisville leading by four.  Swopshire choked, just like Sosa, and missed the first attempt.  Pitt took the ball and on their ensuing possession, Brad Wanamaker nailed a three pointer off an inbounds pass that cut Louisville’s lead to one at 68-67.  On the play, Jared Swopshire was completely oblivious to Wanamaker running right behind him to the corner.  Swopshire had his head in the clouds and by the time he realized what was going on, Wanamaker was wide open and drilled the shot. 

Louisville once again had a third opportunity to put the game away at the free throw line.  Pitt was forced to foul with 11 seconds left and Sosa was the guy at the line once again for two shots.  Sosa made the first to put Louisville up two, but missed the second which opened the door for Pitt. 

On their ensuing possession, Pitt had a three pointer blocked out of bounds with about six seconds left.  After the inbounds pass, Wanamaker drove at the free throw line and was fouled by Jerry Smith with 1.8 seconds to play.  That’s right, Louisville committed a foul up by two with 1.8 seconds left.  It’s inexcusable.  Wanamaker drilled both free throws and sent the game to overtime. 

In overtime, Pitt controlled the entire way.  It started with an Ashton Gibbs three pointer and Jermaine Dixon poured in three field goals and Pitt took a five point lead.  Preston Knowles tried to keep Louisville in it with a three pointer at the 25 second mark to cut the deficit to one.  Louisville had to foul and fouled Gibbs who made both free throws with 16.4 seconds remaining.  That’s when Louisville completely lost their minds again.  Instead of getting a good shot which could of tied the game or cut the deficit to one, Swopshire decided he would try to be the hero once again by shooting a fade away three pointer from the corner with six seconds left that hit nothing but back board.  If you can recall, it was Swopshire that did this exact thing against Villanova on Monday night with the team down three with just over a minute left.  This was the stupidest thing I have ever seen.  There were six seconds left and I would rather have any other player on the team shoot the ball than Swopshire.  Needless to say, Louisville choked and Pitt went on to win by five. 

Top Performers

Samardo Samuels (Lou)- Samuels was the dominating force that Louisville fans expect him to be.  He used his size and strength inside and basically had his way against Gary McGhee of Pitt.  Samuels finished with 25 points on 12-20 shooting and was 1-1 from the line.  He also finished with six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.  He played 40 of 45 minutes.

Preston Knowles (Lou)-  Knowles discovered how to shoot the ball again.  He was definitely feeling it from the outside and even made some shots that I thought had no chance of going in.  Preston finished the game with 21 points on 8-12 shooting including 5-7 from beyond the arc.  three rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one turnover.  He hit the big shots when Louisville needed them and put the Cards in a position to win.  This is the type of play the Cards need from Knowles down the stretch if they want to make the big dance.

Nasir Robinson (Pitt)-  This kid basically came out of nowhere.  He scored a career high 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead Pitt.  He shot 11-14 from the field and 4-6 from the free throw line.  He only averages 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, but he came up big for the Panthers in this one.

Brad Wanamaker-  Wanamaker had his usual good game.  He averages 12 points and 6 rebounds per game and he lived up to these stats and then some.  Wanamaker poured in 20 points and collected six boards while dishing out seven assists.  He was 4-9 from the field and 11-12 at the line, including the two clutch free throws to send the game into overtime.  Whenever the Panthers needed a big shot, Wanamaker was the one to take it and he came through.  He was the one that hit the three to cut the Louisville lead to one with 16 seconds left in regulation.

Edgar Sosa was the other Cardinal who scored in double figures with 13.  Ashton Gibbs was the third Panther in double digits with 15.

The University of Louisville Men’s Basketball team had something to prove last night.  Coming off a disappointing showing in Vegas in which they dropped a game to UNLV this past weekend, the Cards came into their game against Stetson hungry for a decisive victory.  That’s exactly what they got.

To Stetson’s credit, they hung with the Cards early in the first half.  With 12 minutes left before the break, Louisville only led by three at 13-10.  Then the Cardinals kicked it into another gear.  Louisville used 9-0 run to push their lead out to 14 points at the seven minute market and cruised to the break up by 16. 

The second half was dominated by the Cards.  Stetson made a small run early in the half to cut the deficit to 12, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way.  The Senior leadership of Jerry Smith and Edgar Sosa, along with the beast in the middle Samardo Samuels, led a fury of Cardinal points that made the game turn ugly.  The Cards were without starting guard Preston Knowles and star Freshman Peyton Siva who both sat out with injuries. Smith, Sosa, and Samuels needed big games to pick up the slack and they came through.   When it was all said and done, 10 Cardinals were had scored and Louisville was victorious 80-48.

Smith came into this game with a little extra to prove.  The Senior guard was coming off of his worst performance of the season in Vegas and he knew it.  In fact, upon arrival back in the Ville from their trip out west, Smith went straight to the practice gym to shoot 500 shots.  The extra work paid off.  Smith was the Cardinals leading scorer last night with 17 points on 6-8 shooting.  He also helped the Cards with five rebounds and three assists. 

The other two Cardinals in double figures were the guys you would expect.  Edgar Sosa poured in 15 points on 6-9 shooting, including a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc.  Sosa also finished with four rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers.  The five turnovers is uncharacteristic of Sosa so far this season as he has done an excellent job protecting the ball.  Hopefully last night was just a one game lapse.

Samuels, like Sosa, also dropped 15 points on the Hatters.  Samuels shot 50% on 6-12 from the field and led the team with seven rebounds.  He did not record a block, assist, steal, or turnover. 

Stetson was led in scoring by guard A.J. Smith who finished with 18 points on 6-14 shooting, including 4-9 from three.  Ridge Graham also finished in double figures with 13.   

As a team, the Cardinals had to much talent and athleticism for the Hatters. Louisville shot a blazing 61% from the field on 29-47.  Stetson, who was forced into some tough shots all night by the Louisville pressure defense, ended up shooting just 35% on 17-48.  The Cards also connected on 50% from deep (7-14) compared to Stetson who hit 33% (7-21) from behind the arc. 

The Cards dominated the Hatterson the glass, holding a 34-21 rebound advantage.  They also had 16 assists compared to just eight by Stetson. Louisville was also able to block four of the Hatters shots and create 18 turnovers.

To Stetson’s credit, they played extremely hard.  For such an under matched team, they played with tremendous energy and heart. Stetson forced Louisville into some sloppy offensive play at times, forcing the Cards to commit 16 turnovers.  The Hatters also ended up with 10 steals compared to Louisville’s five.  This Stetson group was a scrappy one, and would not just roll over and die.  I think they showed the Cards that work still needs to be done. 

Some Final Thoughts

1) The main thing that stuck out to me was the lack of stopping guard penetration.   Stetsons guards were able to penetrate the lane whenever they wanted and got some easy shots inside.  This was especially true during the first half.  The Cardinals are coming off a game against UNLV in which the Runnin’ Rebels did exactly the same thing and ended up beating the Cards.  Last night, the Stetson guards would slip into the paint at ease and no Cardinals would step up to defend them.  Once the guards were able to get into the lane, Samuels needs to slide over and stop them.  Instead, Samuels was a step too slow, and Stetson was scoring some quick and easy buckets.  This lack of stopping penetration is by far the Cards biggest weakness.

2) The press was very effective.  The Cardinal defense really got after the Stetson ball handlers in the back court.  The hard nosed press forced Stetson into numerous turnovers from bad passes, steals, and a 10-second violation.  The press led to some easy fast break points and helped Louisville push their lead out.  The press also wore down the Stetson players physically,  allowing Louisville to put the game  away in the second half. 

3) The Cardinals should of gone inside a little more.  I still believe that Samardo Samuels should be the first option on this team.  The kid is a beast on the inside when he wants to be.  At times he can be soft, as was seen last night, but he has improved dramatically from last year in finishing around the rim.  Get the ball to the big man for some easy buckets inside.  This will open up jump shots for Smith, Sosa, Knowles, Delk, and other three-point shooters.  Louisville is getting into the habit of looking for jump shots and trey balls first which is resulting in some bad shots and wasted opportunities.  Feed the Beast!

4) Louisville did a really poor job of protecting the basketball last night.  The offense looked really sloppy committing 16 turnovers.  There is no excuse to turn the ball over that much against a team like Stetson.  The guards, especially Sosa, need to do a better job of running the offense and getting things organized.  Also, everyone on the team needs to be stronger with the ball.  On several occasions, Stetson players would slap and knock the ball lose, or just take it away from a Cardinal player.  If the Cards turn it over this much against Stetson, it’s going to be an extremely tough time in the Big East unless things get fixed.

5) Great job last night by Jerry Smith.  As I mentioned, he was coming off a very poor showing in Vegas and had something to prove.  He didn’t force his shots and even took it strong to the hole a few times.  He took open shots, within the flow of the offense, and the result was a season high 17 points.  Hopefully this will be a spring board to get Jerry out of his slump.  The Cards need performances like this from him in order to be successful. 

6)  It was good to get the end of the bench some minutes.  Last night, guys like George Goode, Chris Brickley, and Stephan Van Treese saw some minutes and took full advantage of their opportunity.  Brickley hit his only shot of the game, a three ball, and finished with three points. 

Goode came into the game and beasted somebody with a blocked shot. 

Van Treese really went nuts in his five minutes of action.  He started off with a blocked shot followed by a sweet dish for an easy Mike Marra bucket.  Then  Van Treese decided to put some points on the board.  He had layup for the first two points of his college career and then decided to cram on somebody.  That’s right, highlight of the night comes from Stephan Van Treese as he posterized a Stetson defender by throwing one down on top of them.  The final stat line for Van Treese read, four points, one assist, one block, one turnover, and one foul in five minutes of action. 

Up Next

The Cardinal’s next test will come Saturday afternoon against former Conference USA rival Charlotte 49ers.  Tip time is set for 7:00 pm EST at world famous Freedom Hall.