Riffing on the Warriors’ Title

Basketball, ,

In this little riff on the NBA championship series, consider yourself forewarned. I am going to reminisce about a moment from the Louisville Cardinals’ first national crown.

As if you’re surprised in the least.

First, the lead in.

As overwhelming as Kevin Durant’s offensive numbers were in the title run, as stifling as his previously underappreciated defense was — ask Kevin Love about that play late in Game 5 when he had it in the post and KD wouldn’t even allow him a breath — and as magnificent as he was holding off the last gasp of the LeBrons Monday night with key buckets, the transfer from OKC sealed the deal in Game 3.

Recall that Golden State tallied the last 11 points in that win in the City By The Burning Lake to take a 3 zed — Read: Insurmountable — advantage.

The capper in that tilt was a walk up trey from the left elbow extended with but a handful of seconds to play. Durant just about skipped into the shot. His adversary Mr. James, already showing signs of over exertion, peeled back to the hoop a bit quickly and couldn’t get out to cover.

Almost nonchalantly, KD fired. All twine.

He was ready for his Cecil B. DeMille moment.

Thus, as I’m wont to do, I was reminded of the evening of March 24, 1980. Market Square Arena, may it rest in peace. Continue reading Riffing on the Warriors’ Title →

Brooms ‘r’ Us: Cards Sweep Cats, CWS Next

Baseball,

Well, then, the University of Louisville nine swept through arch rival Kentucky in the Supers, as it had the weekend before through Radford, Xavier and Oklahoma in the Regional.

Like a team being sponsored by O-Cedar Brooms.

Like a team hellbent on returning to the College World Series after two frustrating years of walk off disappointments when heavy favorites.

Like a team focused such that no impediment would prove an obstacle.

Such as, you know, the somewhat disturbing reality that the best player in the history of the program, who happens to be the best player in the sport this year, has so far hit a less than glossy .148 (3/21) for the NCAA tourney so far, including an ofer in the two Ws over UK.

But the dude in hurler mode was all that on the mound for six and two-thirds in the capper. He hit a batter for the first time all season. No biggie. Then, with Cats on 1st and 2d and one gone in the bottom of the 6th, he flinched while on the rubber. It was his first balk of the season.

No biggie. With the runners each having advanced a sack on the gaffe, Brendan McKay went K and K.

From the bullpen, Sam Bordner, as he’d done the weekend before, was brilliant and closed the deal.

Meanwhile, McKay’s Bash Bro, Drew Ellis rocked two more taters over the wall — he also homered in the series opener — going 3/4 and drawing a walk. Logan Taylor had two hits, scored twice and knocked one across. Devin Hairston was also 3/4, with a BB and a run scored. Continue reading Brooms ‘r’ Us: Cards Sweep Cats, CWS Next →

Moxie Meets Its Match: Resilient Cards Meet Comeback Cats in Supers

Baseball, ,

High Noon.

Would we want it any other way?

Arch rivals U of L and UK are set to battle for a trip to the CWS in Omaha.

First pitch. Friday. 12:00 Noon.

The University of Louisville Cardinal nine had to dig deep into its reserve of pluck and guile to capture a fifth straight regional crown.

Do not be mislead by 11-6 and 11-1 victories over Radford and Oklahoma in Games #1 and #2. Each was fraught with peril, victory far from a certain until late.

The come from behind, come from behind, come from behind finale, a back and forth 8-7 escape over Xavier to live for another weekend, is a far more accurate portrayal of the Cards fifth consecutive NCAA Regional sweep.

Ahead: The Cardinals’ hated arch rival.

Meanwhile down the road, Kentucky’s Wildcats survived rain delays, and captured three straight elimination games, including a comeback against NC State in the finale, to advance to their first ever Super Regional.

Ahead: The Wildcats hated arch rival. Continue reading Moxie Meets Its Match: Resilient Cards Meet Comeback Cats in Supers →

Monday Afternoon PG: Another Game 7, Pucks, Russ’s Misdirection, Where’s J.B. & More

Baseball, Basketball, Golf, Hockey, Recruiting

Speaking of point guards, Duke just got a commitment for next season from the highest rated ball handler left. Actually the highest rated PG committed or not.

Meaning Coach K and Coach Cal have once again corralled enough Golden Arches superüberduperstars with enough free burger coupons to sate every fan that will be in the Alamodome for next season’s Final Four.

The question of course is, will the Blue Devils and Wildcats actually be there to participate themselves?

I know stuff happens, kids don’t pan out like they’re supposed to, extraneous diversions affect team performances, etc, etc, but, given how they’ve harvested talent in the last decade, shouldn’t UK and Duke make it to the last weekend of the season every season? And win the dang thing more than they do?

 * * * * *

There’s a NBA Game 7 tonight. Boston and Washington shall battle to see which gets whipped by the Cleveland LeBrons in the Eastern Division finals.

It ought to be an exciting tilt. The squads are pretty even, if flawed.

My sense is the Wizards shall prevail, even though the game’s in Beantown. But that’s not why I bring it up.

Which is that I’m as mesmerized as the next hoopaholic about Celtic Isaiah Thomas’s offense. The guy can score. The guy can score at crunch time. From inside, despite his diminutive stature. From outside, even when closely checked by leaping bigs with a huge reach.

(We shan’t mention Thomas’s D. Because I could guard guys better than he does. And there are analytics to prove that. At least to provide evidence how bad he is. I haven’t seen any statisticians checking out my footwork recently.)

Now my point. When I see Isaiah Thomas play, I see Russ Smith.

(Except Smith knows how to play D.) Continue reading Monday Afternoon PG: Another Game 7, Pucks, Russ’s Misdirection, Where’s J.B. & More →

Cardinal Nine on a Collision Course???

Baseball

Since The Schnell pontificated that now infamous and iconic proclamation about his pigskinners — “We’re on a collision course with a national championship; the only variable is time” — several other U of L athletic programs have ascended further and faster than football.

Like, say, women’s hoops, men’s soccer, swimming. Of course, there’s that ’13 NCAA crown worn by the men’s basketball program.

And Dan McDonnell’s Cardinal baseball program, a once moribund sector of U of L sports, is now a perennial national contender. To which we tend to pay more attention than some of those other successful programs. Because baseball, ever unique, ever bucolic, remains the national pastime, if no longer America’s favorite sport.

A balmy night at the ballyard remains one of our nation’s treasures.

It is generally believed that one of these seasons, U of L will shake off the shackles and prevail in Omaha.

The Cards have made it to the Elite Eight thrice, ’07, ’13, and ’14, with a lone CWS victory over Mississippi State during that first appearance. And, truth be told, the team should have made it four straight years, meaning in both ’15 and ’16.

But, such are the vagaries of the game. Two seasons ago, the Cardinals’ ace reliever Zach Burdi couldn’t shut the door on Cal State Fullerton at The Jim. The Cards lost 4-3 in 11. Last season, when considered by many wags to be the nation’s best squad and title favorite, it was deja vu all over again. Burdi, regarded as the country’s premier closer, gave up a walk off tater at The Jim, and UC Santa Barbara prevailed by another 4-3 margin, then headed to Nebraska instead of the Cardinals.

But the Cards remain steadfast, continuing to reload as McDonnell works his dugout magic. Continue reading Cardinal Nine on a Collision Course??? →

One Quick Look Back & A Peek Ahead

Basketball,

Despite the misguided musings of more than a few national pundits, the University of Louisville Cardinals — my favorite team — did not come within three time zones and the same number of victories of University of Phoenix Stadium, the behemoth football complex with its sliding turf on a tray that hosted the Final Four.

Thus we didn’t discover whether the same malaise that caused full bearded Polish mountain man Przemek Karnowski to short arm seven of his eight field goal attempts would have similarly adversely affected Anas Mahmoud, the Cardinals’ lanky Egyptian pivot man with his sometimes on sometimes off close to the hoop game?

Nor did we find out whether the lack of focus havoc engendered by Jim Nantz’s cloying play by play and Bill Raftery’s silliness would have crimped Donovan Mitchell’s long range bombing as it did Tar Heel Justin Jackson’s. (Though some credit is due Nigel Williams-Goss for his D that was more tenacious than Jack Black, and so energy-sapping it undermined NW-G’s O.)

One never knows how the glare that is ever present on the last Monday night of the season is going to crimp or not the plans and schemes of the last duo of contestants standing.

Or others involved, like the zebras, who didn’t seem to understand this time around that they didn’t need to blow their whistles every twenty seconds whether an infraction occurred or not. And, failed to comprehend that when a player at their feet is touching the ball while his hand is resting on the hardwood a foot out of bounds means the other team gets the ball.

(Though the striped shirts should be eternally grateful that the Gonzaga faithful appear a more circumspect lot than those of some other schools whose vociferous and feral fans feel they wuz robbed by the refs during the Dance.) Continue reading One Quick Look Back & A Peek Ahead →

Louisville CardFile: Michigan

Basketball, ,

And, that’s that.

Louisville’s season ends a way more than respectable 25 up, 9 down, a victory short of the NCAA Round of 16, .

Losing to the hottest team in the land, a well coached, mature Michigan Wolverine outfit is disappointing — obviously — but not a surprise, truth be told.

73-69. But, the Cards never stopped pushing.

My personal take on my beloved favorite team has been that the Sweet 16 was the best it would be able to achieve. U of L didn’t make it quite that far. That said, I, for one, have no complaints.

At moments like this, when the sweaty unis are in a pile on the locker room floor to be cleaned and stored until the next campaign, there is but one consideration: Did the Cardinals give their all, even if it ended in defeat.

They did.

Frankly you can’t ask for more. Okay, maybe you can. I can’t.  Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Michigan →

Louisville CardFile: Jacksonville State

Basketball, ,

Deng Adel played just about a perfect game on offense.

Mangok Mathiang continued his late season/ end of career spurt.

And Donovan Mitchell went ofer most of the game until a minute and a half personal coup d’etat gave the Cardinals game securing measure late . . .

. . . but first let’s begin with U of L’s wobbly start in its NCAA tourney opener.

As weirdly chalk as this tourney has been for the first day and a half — at least the games I watched before crashing mid Thursday night — there had been one thing missing. Which is a team or two that seems too nervous, too not ready for the moment. (Except, of course, that kid from Vandy who had a brain fart that cost the Commodores, and the New Orleans coach who let Mount St. Mary’s run out the clock as it wound down.)

OK, but other than those instances until, that is, the Cards took the floor in Indy against the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State, a middle of the pack Ohio Valley Conference #15 seed, which surprisingly snuck into the Dance with a league tourney title.

The school that shouldn’tabeen nervous was. The 20 point underdog was beyond the top of its game at tipoff. The highly regarded favorite Cardinals’ knees were knockin’. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Jacksonville State →

Bracing Start to Best Week of the Year

Basketball, , ,

What a bracing hoopaholic morning I had here at the beginning of the most wonderful week of the year.

The best four days in sports are just days away. Hours away actually, if you include the hors d’oeuvres that are those first four play in games in Dayton. And I do include them, because the appetizers simply whet the appetite for the grande 84 hour, 48 tilt buffet to come, commencing Thursday noon.

(Let’s hope they’ve filmed enough commercials with Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and Charles Barkley so we don’t get tired of them.)

So, with my coffee this A.M., as is my wont, I opened the laptop and went to the b-ball sites to dive into the ocean of info available, ostensibly to help one fill out his bracket. (Which I haven’t done actually in several years, but might this time around for some odd reason not having anything to do with any sense I might win one.) Or, make a wager or deux.

The first thing I came upon was a reality check reminder, yet another memorandum of the absolute certainty of my most fervent adage of the season . . .

. . . You only play whom you play.

One of the sites counted down the top 10 moments in NCAA tourney history. With video.

Right off the bat, #10 on the list was one of the most excruciating. I’ll just leave it at this: U.S. Reed. Continue reading Bracing Start to Best Week of the Year →

Louisville CardFile: Duke

Basketball,

So, the University of Louisville Cardinals, coached by a guy who loves to win conference tourneys as meaningless as they generally are, remain ofer the ACC tourney.

U of L, the higher seeded slight favorite over everybody’s favorite villain, succumbed to the Duke Blue Devils in a loss, the only significance of which might technically be to drop the Cardinals a seed line or two.

In terms of closing the deal, playing smart, rising to the occasion, and displaying dig in and git ‘er done moxie in the post season, Cardinal fans can only hope the quarterfinal setback isn’t a harbinger. Otherwise the Cards are in a heap o’ heap.

U of L can play one more game.

U of L can play six more games.

I’d take the under.

 * * * * *

U of L netted three more FGs than its conquerors.

U of L grabbed three more rebounds than the victors.

U of L had six blocks, doubling that of Duke.

U of L had 15 assists, six more than the BDs.

U of L dominated in the paint, 46-28.

U of L committed only 8 turnovers.

U of L led by a dozen with 13:07 to play, and were storming.

U of L lost 81-77. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Duke →