Louisville – 2010 Tournament Summary- Great match-up with Cal. Stats had them as picks on a 1 point spread. My notes had them as impressive with solid guard play and plenty of bigs. I claimed they played swarming defense and should of closed strong. They didn’t. Strong 3pt defense. Guards were very erratic shooters and a very erratic team. They got murdered by Cal.
2011 – Pitino has said he is rebuilding the Louisville brand of all over the place offense and constant pressure. They lost 4 starters and return what looks like a thin team on paper but long in young talent.
My Personal Take – I have none!… I did see their opening game and the looked really athletic.
Vs UNLV… Well they are not up and down yet and they actually seem to lack an Alpha Male player who takes over or can create a shot with the clock running down. Defense effort was there and they got back in transition great. Announcers mentioned this fact. They seem to have plenty of decent scorers, good point guard play with Siva, and some athletes in the post. At this point, the identity of this team is evolving.
Vs Marq: Gritty team and you can see why Pitinos likes these guys. They are really trying to push tempo.. Pitino considers it a turnover if not over the half court line in 3 seconds and he uses a 24 second shot clock. Siva is solid and he and Knowles are a very solid guard set who can break you down and shoot. Siva attacks and he is good at it. The problem is their bigs. They have solid bigs in Jennings and 2 others, but they have absolutely ZERO depth. When they get out rebounded, they lose. They are 11 – 0 when out rebounding others. In this game, Marquette attacked, got them in foul trouble, and it really hurt Louisville. That said, they ended this game on a 24 – 5 run and won by one. This is a fun team to root for. From ESPN on this Game – “Yet in the Louisville huddle Kuric and company refused to surrender. The Cardinals had wilted in the second half of a loss to No. 7 Villanova on Wednesday, a defeat that seemed to expose their many shortcomings. Louisville was pounded on the glass by the Wildcats and stagnant when forced to play in the half court.”If we were going to lose, we were going to lose fighting,” said Kuric, who finished with 10 points. “Coach was saying, ‘play until the end.’ “
Heard something possibly Vegas specific on Louisville. Pitino has always been a fit freak.. running his players to death, body fat checks.. but this year they run so much that some teams play tired late? The obvious specific example is Marquette but others have run out of gas verse them. Could be something to pay attention to in the tournement.
Vs WVU: Trend… ? West Virginia appeared to be in control after opening a 42-31 lead on a basket by Jones with 15:09 to play. West Virginia used a 17-2 run to take command, bullying the Cardinals all over the lane while Mazzulla went off… knifed through Louisville’s porous zone for layups…. Louisville tightened up defensively after that, though some questionable shot selection by the Mountaineers helped. Rather than continue to expose Louisville’s lack of size by attacking the paint, West Virginia hoisted a series of three-pointers, playing right into Louisville’s hands…. They won on a last second shot….
Vs UConn: Trend Yet? The Cardinals came back from a nine-point second-half deficit. They tied the game in regulation on a Siva layup with 29 seconds left, and sent the game into a second overtime on a Siva dunk. Louisville turned up the defensive pressure, going to its full-court press and cut the lead to 52-48.Siva led a comeback against West Virginia earlier in the week that helped keep Louisville on track for a possible second-place finish in the Big East. And Siva was the best player in Storrs on Saturday. That’s right. He was the best player on the court on this day. Siva made big shot after big shot, including a bucket to essentially win the game after slicing through UConn’s defense. Siva finished with 19 points and seven boards.
Vs Notre Dame: Apparently, Louisville really struggles away from home. In this game, they played well and i didnt see it, but they did end up losing.. sooo… Notre Dame did get a lot of second chance points against them so that is concerning. Offensivley, they have very balanced scoring and they are getting better and better at driving pace as they did in this game.
Louisville held its own against the bigger, stronger Panthers from the outset. The Cardinals extended their matchup zone in an effort to get Gibbs out of rhythm, and it worked.
He missed all five of his field goal attempts in the first half. Then again, his teammates weren’t much better. Pittsburgh went more than 10 minutes without a basket as Louisville built a 24-12 lead. Louisville held its own against the bigger, stronger Panthers from the outset. The Cardinals extended their matchup zone in an effort to get Gibbs out of rhythm, and it worked.
Vs PITT 2/28/2011: Louisville lost leading rebounder for the year in this game…. other notes… He missed all five of his field goal attempts in the first half. Then again, his teammates weren’t much better. Pittsburgh went more than 10 minutes without a basket as Louisville built a 24-12 lead.
