During the halcyon days of the 80s, when the University of Louisville Cardinals were the Team of the Decade, the Professor and I would often speak of our love of “program wins.”

Those would be victories when the Cards would be a bit off their feed, not shooting so well, out of kilter at the offensive end, not shutting down their foes’ biggest weapons, but when the fundamentals, proper technique, developed habitual techniques, fortitude, inner swagger, and talent would out, when the course would be stayed, when the opponent eventually, frustrated, would make critical mistakes that cost them the games.

Saturday’s 73-68 defeat was a program win for UVa.

The Cavaliers didn’t shoot it especially well overall. They surrendered more points than usual, allowed themselves to be outpointed underneath, and were outrebounded by nine.

Yet, they stayed the course. The victors were ready to win, the defeated were not. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Virginia →

Soon enough we shall come to praise VJ King, as he deserves to be praised, as he deserves any and all accolades coming his way after his revivification Sunday afternoon.

But first, there’s this.

At this time of year when fan bases are entering gymnasiums across the land, wondering whether their favorite teams are pre- or post-bubblicious, when they are thinking maybe they should save themselves some grief and accept that dinner party invite the evening of March 17 at the home of their neighbors who just moved to town and don’t understand how sacrosanct that moment is around these parts, there’s a phrase that echoes across Hoopsylvania: “This game is a must win.”

For the reeling Louisville Cardinals, Notre Dame was indeed a “must win.”

If for self esteem alone.

And so V I C T O R Y That’s the Senior Battle Cry came to pass in a workmanlike manner, 75-61, over the underwhelming Fighting Irish.

There are any number of reasons why the Cards prevailed, the most important of which might be they not only didn’t fold down the stretch, not only did they hold on for the victory, but they actually increased the margin in the final quarter of the game.

They cut off the head of the beast to slay it. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Notre Dame →

Anyone who can read below the “E” on the eye chart at your neighborhood ophthalmologist’s office could advise the Louisville Cardinals were on shaky ground heading into the midweek visit to Beantown.

They had lost four of five, and were but a missed put back at the buzzer from having dropped that entire caboodle of ACC contests.

What last night’s bedeviling 59-66 setback in a truly empty gymnasium to underwhelming Boston College revealed is that the Cards are bogged down in quicksand.

If you are a James Brown aficionado, you might say the Cardinals are “Bewildered.”

If Zep is your cup o’ tea, you would call them “Dazed and Confused.”

Whatever, U of L is seriously out of sorts. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Boston College →

When a team is mired in a debilitative slump, as are the Louisville Cardinals, losers of 4 of their last 5, 5 of 7, it is human nature to seek out a scapegoat.

Sorry, seasonal affective disorder, which strikes many during dreary, cold, and gray February, doesn’t work.

Nor, frankly, is it fair, as many have been wont to do for the L to UVa, to blame the zebras.

Yes, Saturday’s striped trio — mind you, a Final Four quality officiating crew — made two seriously egregious calls. Still, they are not the reason the Cardinals lost.

Of course, De’Andre Hunter double dribbled in the 1st, instead scoring a +1, after he was given a free pass, and fouled by Jordan Nwora. Jerry Heater almost Teed up apoplectic Chris Mack along the sidelines but held his breath. Nwora immediately answered with one of Louisville’s ten first half treys. And the Cards were uncomfortably ahead by ten at the break.

Yes, after intermission, on the possession subsequent to the one giving UVa a lead for the first time at 47-49, Nwora was incorrectly whistled for a charge. The Cavalier defender’s foot was visibly inside the circle. This time Mack’s wrath did not go unpunished. Hunter’s two charity tosses doubled the Cardinals’ disadvantage.

U of L didn’t recover from that one, never really challenging from that point on. But, as easily as the propensity to blame the refs may come, they were not why Louisville lost. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Virginia →

The 2018-19 University of Louisville Cardinals are not the first team to become discombobulated while attempting to decipher Jim Boeheim’s infamous zone defense.

They are not the first team to become disoriented while trying to find its shooting touch in the nation’s largest campus hoops homecourt.

They are simply the latest.

Combine those realities with the fatigue that February’s backended schedule has caused for this thin Cardinal squad, and the verisimilitude that this squad’s clay feet are starting to crack and crumble and you get what happened Wednesday night in Syracuse.

A disheartening 49-69 setback to the Orange. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Syracuse →

Though it might sound too dramatic, it is frankly not too hyperbolic to say that Jordan Nwora’s focused, intuitive, game-rescuing block of Marcquise Reed’s floater just before the buzzer Saturday afternoon at the Yum! saved the season for the University of Louisville Cardinals.

There is the macro view. One doesn’t need to impose a Jungian Archetype Test to realize how fragile the psyche of some of this band of Cardinals might be. Most of these guys signed on to play for a two-time national champion HoF coach, at a three time national championship program riding high, to play in front of a packed house every game in the World’s Most Whatever Arena.

Now these not yet adults are two coaches, a scandal, a title, and a fractured fanbase removed from what they expected.

Resilient as these young athletes may be, it has to wear.

The micro view. This inarguably overachieving bunch of U of L Cards has failed to hold on to leads late on several occasions. It happened early in the season. It happened most famously the last time out with the whole hoops world watching.

After thirty nine minutes of slogfest — both teams played stultifying defense — the Cardinals appeared clear of Clemson with :17 to play, after a Steven Enoch FT pushed the margin to a three score advantage at 56-49. But a trey by the aforementioned Reed, a mental turnover by Dwayne Sutton and another three by Reed and the Cardinals were treading precariously on quicksand.

The specter of Duke and UVa filled the arena. Would this be disappointing deja vu all over again? Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Clemson →