Louisville/Cincy - Dean?
- Thread starter Mr. Poon
- Start date
CINCINNATI AT LOUISVILLE
It's getting late early for Cardinals
Another home loss might well be fatal
The Courier-Journal
You've heard of Christmas in July. The University of Louisville men's basketball team is having March Madness in January.
Coach Rick Pitino likened tonight's 7:30 home game against Cincinnati to an NCAA Tournament game, given its significance.
That significance is this: Over the past five years, the Big East Conference has sent 27 teams to the NCAA Tournament. Only one of those teams had lost more than three Big East home games. The average number of conference home losses for those teams: 1.7.
The Cardinals (13-5, 1-4) already have lost three conference games at home.
There are no math majors on the U of L roster, but everybody understands that with each home defeat, the statistical probability of an NCAA Tournament bid shrinks dramatically. In fact, in his "Bracketology" released this week, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Cards not making the field of 65.
"If we don't win this game, then the priorities change quite a bit," Pitino said yesterday. "Now you've got to do everything possible to get to (the Big East Tournament in) New York."
Worrying about the tournament after that one becomes less of an issue.
The players sense it.
"It's a little pressure," junior guard Brandon Jenkins said. "Our backs are against the wall. ? I've never felt this way. I've never lost this many games in my two years here."
There are plenty of reasons the Cards are in this position:
Taquan Dean has been hurt. The senior guard has missed three of the past four games and most of the past five after suffering a high ankle sprain. He practiced yesterday and told the coaches he "felt good," but the real test will be when the team conducts its walk-through this morning. If the ankle doesn't act up overnight, Dean will try to play.
"We were a pretty good basketball team with Taquan," Pitino said, " ? so hopefully getting him back will give us the necessary boost. But I will caution everybody that he hasn't practiced in over 2? weeks, so it will be difficult, but it will still help us to have him."
Youth. Dean is the Cards' only senior. Eight of their top 10 scorers are freshmen or sophomores. It hasn't helped that of the nine players who signed national letters of intent to begin play in 2003 or '04, only four are still with the program (Jenkins, Terrance Farley, Brian Johnson and Juan Tello Palacios).
Schedule. The Cardinals have played four ranked teams, and their first three Big East home games were against top-10-caliber teams. That's the same number of ranked teams they played in the regular season all last year. And they probably have four more ranked opponents still to come, all on the road.
That would be the second-highest number of ranked teams a U of L squad has faced in one regular season.
A tough schedule can work both ways. The Cards were 4-5 against ranked teams in the 1985-86 regular season but won the national title. They also faced nine in 1997-98, went 1-8 in those games and finished 12-20. In Denny Crum's 31 years as coach, U of L played an average of 4.4 ranked teams per regular season.
A glance at the upcoming schedule in search of likely victories doesn't yield much unless this young team makes dramatic strides soon. Even Pitino admits to running down that list with pen in hand.
"We've tried that," he said, "(checking off) what games you must win, and we're running out of ink right now."
Cincinnati (14-5, 3-2) now is coached by former assistant Andy Kennedy instead of Bob Huggins, but it's still Cincinnati. The Bearcats are physical and athletic and play the same brand of banging defense that Huggins taught. Eric Hicks, though just 6 feet 6, is an explosive scorer and rebounder whom Pitino calls "pound for pound one of the best players in the country."
Though the Bearcats lost swingman Armein Kirkland, who had been averaging 10 points a game, to a knee injury and don't have much depth, they still have three senior starters.
While Pitino's concern has ratcheted up with every loss, he said he doesn't think his players are feeling overwhelming pressure, in part because of their youth.
"This team is not bothered by losing, and I don't mean that in a negative way," he said. "They're so young, there are other things on their minds right now, which is just true of young people.
"When I leave the game, I see all the guys in the back talking to a group of girls. Times have changed. When I was up the road (at Kentucky) and I came out after a loss and saw guys talking to girls, they would be ducking under cars. ?
"These guys are resilient, and they've kept a positive attitude."
And though the stakes are getting higher, there is precedent for pulling out of an early spin. Consider this start by one Big East team last season: 1-5 in conference play, including three losses at home.
That team was West Virginia, which pulled itself together to finish 8-8 in the league, then went to the NCAA Tournament's regional finals before losing to U of L.
But the Mountaineers did that behind a core of juniors and seniors. To do it with freshmen and sophomores will be difficult, Pitino said.
Said Jenkins: "We just need to win the next game, then go from there."
It's getting late early for Cardinals
Another home loss might well be fatal
The Courier-Journal
You've heard of Christmas in July. The University of Louisville men's basketball team is having March Madness in January.
Coach Rick Pitino likened tonight's 7:30 home game against Cincinnati to an NCAA Tournament game, given its significance.
That significance is this: Over the past five years, the Big East Conference has sent 27 teams to the NCAA Tournament. Only one of those teams had lost more than three Big East home games. The average number of conference home losses for those teams: 1.7.
The Cardinals (13-5, 1-4) already have lost three conference games at home.
There are no math majors on the U of L roster, but everybody understands that with each home defeat, the statistical probability of an NCAA Tournament bid shrinks dramatically. In fact, in his "Bracketology" released this week, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Cards not making the field of 65.
"If we don't win this game, then the priorities change quite a bit," Pitino said yesterday. "Now you've got to do everything possible to get to (the Big East Tournament in) New York."
Worrying about the tournament after that one becomes less of an issue.
The players sense it.
"It's a little pressure," junior guard Brandon Jenkins said. "Our backs are against the wall. ? I've never felt this way. I've never lost this many games in my two years here."
There are plenty of reasons the Cards are in this position:
Taquan Dean has been hurt. The senior guard has missed three of the past four games and most of the past five after suffering a high ankle sprain. He practiced yesterday and told the coaches he "felt good," but the real test will be when the team conducts its walk-through this morning. If the ankle doesn't act up overnight, Dean will try to play.
"We were a pretty good basketball team with Taquan," Pitino said, " ? so hopefully getting him back will give us the necessary boost. But I will caution everybody that he hasn't practiced in over 2? weeks, so it will be difficult, but it will still help us to have him."
Youth. Dean is the Cards' only senior. Eight of their top 10 scorers are freshmen or sophomores. It hasn't helped that of the nine players who signed national letters of intent to begin play in 2003 or '04, only four are still with the program (Jenkins, Terrance Farley, Brian Johnson and Juan Tello Palacios).
Schedule. The Cardinals have played four ranked teams, and their first three Big East home games were against top-10-caliber teams. That's the same number of ranked teams they played in the regular season all last year. And they probably have four more ranked opponents still to come, all on the road.
That would be the second-highest number of ranked teams a U of L squad has faced in one regular season.
A tough schedule can work both ways. The Cards were 4-5 against ranked teams in the 1985-86 regular season but won the national title. They also faced nine in 1997-98, went 1-8 in those games and finished 12-20. In Denny Crum's 31 years as coach, U of L played an average of 4.4 ranked teams per regular season.
A glance at the upcoming schedule in search of likely victories doesn't yield much unless this young team makes dramatic strides soon. Even Pitino admits to running down that list with pen in hand.
"We've tried that," he said, "(checking off) what games you must win, and we're running out of ink right now."
Cincinnati (14-5, 3-2) now is coached by former assistant Andy Kennedy instead of Bob Huggins, but it's still Cincinnati. The Bearcats are physical and athletic and play the same brand of banging defense that Huggins taught. Eric Hicks, though just 6 feet 6, is an explosive scorer and rebounder whom Pitino calls "pound for pound one of the best players in the country."
Though the Bearcats lost swingman Armein Kirkland, who had been averaging 10 points a game, to a knee injury and don't have much depth, they still have three senior starters.
While Pitino's concern has ratcheted up with every loss, he said he doesn't think his players are feeling overwhelming pressure, in part because of their youth.
"This team is not bothered by losing, and I don't mean that in a negative way," he said. "They're so young, there are other things on their minds right now, which is just true of young people.
"When I leave the game, I see all the guys in the back talking to a group of girls. Times have changed. When I was up the road (at Kentucky) and I came out after a loss and saw guys talking to girls, they would be ducking under cars. ?
"These guys are resilient, and they've kept a positive attitude."
And though the stakes are getting higher, there is precedent for pulling out of an early spin. Consider this start by one Big East team last season: 1-5 in conference play, including three losses at home.
That team was West Virginia, which pulled itself together to finish 8-8 in the league, then went to the NCAA Tournament's regional finals before losing to U of L.
But the Mountaineers did that behind a core of juniors and seniors. To do it with freshmen and sophomores will be difficult, Pitino said.
Said Jenkins: "We just need to win the next game, then go from there."
