Well strike another match/ Go start anew/ Cause it’s all over now, Baby Blue
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Have ya heard the news about THE University of Louisville Basketball Team?
They’rrrrrrrrrre baaaaaaaaaaack!
Louisville 83, North Carolina 70.
How did this convincing win on the first day of the year come about?
The Cardinals closed. My oh my did they ever close.
Truth be told, they also started.
The Tar Heels led but once in the entire contest. By a digit in the opening half, at 15-14.
It lasted all of 16 seconds before J’Vonne Hadley hit an answering J.
The visitors knotted the tilt again with 8:37 to go at 61.
Forty seconds on the dot later, after a fallow possession by each school, Reyne Smith netted a a fast break triple. U of L never trailed again.
Here’s a descriptor I’ve used often about this resurgent, rejuvenating contingent: Steady.
Rock Steady, Rock Steady, Baby.
At crunch time. they closed.
The Cards hadn’t scored in 2:12 at the 3:46 media stoppage. UNC had cut the once 11 point margin to 70-69.
Louisville had the ball. Terrence Edwards missed one in the paint but Captain Steady J’Vonne Hadley grabbed the rebound. Chucky Hepburn was fouled attempting a trey.
He’d just clanked a couple moments before.
Not now when it mattered.
Net. Net. Net.
The lead was four.
The losers scored one point the rest of way.
There was some defense played by the home team. U of L for good measure added another ten to make the final margin appropriate to the domination of the contest.
At some point or another in all these tight ones, I’ll jot down in all caps in the margin of my note pad: MAKE FTs WIN GAME.
The Cards hit 8 of their last nine FTs, after making only 17/30 to start.
Allow me to say this to Carolina:
You must leave now take what you need you think will last/ But whatever you wish to keep you better grab it fast*
*Some unbecoming snark. Thanks Hubert for taking that Withers kid off our hands.
* * * * *
Louisville didn’t shoot it very well.
But they only gave it away 8 times, and were +6 on points off turnovers.
The Cards had a slight margin on the boards, but were sweet +9 second chance points.
Essentially, not playing an especially transcendent game, they did what they needed to do.
Edwards* was a little off, Hepburn was bigly on, with 26 (16/20 at the stripe).
*But he played tenacious D, as did the whole gang.
Hadley (10 and 7) and Scott, except at the line (11 and 8) were solid. So too, Noah Waterman who tallied the Cards’ first five, and rolled double 7s. Kader Traore grabbed 6 misses.
Oh yeah, our Dude from Down Under stroked 17.
To borrow a quote from the winning Sun Bowl coach, “That was fun.”
* * * * *
Adding to the New Year’s Day joy was the announcement of the signing of Top 10 PG Mikel Brown Jr.
It’s a new day.
There’s a lot of Dylan goin’ on these days ’cause of the new flick and all.
On the elliptical this morning, by coincidence I happened upon D A Pennebaker’s heralded doc about Bob Dylan and his mid 60’s sojourn to England.
It’s title: Don’t Look Back.
It’s time for the Cardinal Nation to do just that.
— c d kaplan
Seedy – There are NO coincidences ‼️A program who mere months ago had NO DIRECTION HOME – and after tonight surely isn’t TANGLED UP IN BLUE – has put its Leopard/Skin Pill/Box Hat back on and a New Morning has dawned – Maybe Pat Kelsey Went to See the Gypsy or maybe he just Dreamed He Saw St Augustine – but we all can see The Times They Are A Changin’ – MUCH RESPECT & Prayers for Our Beloved New Orleans 🙏
Mental fortitude showed imo, they bent but no break, no giving up. Congratulations.
I’ve been saying to anyone within earshot since the first of December that one thing I find impressive about this team is that they don’t called for many fouls. Tonight was an exception, due primarily to referee Chiazza calling at least three blocking fouls in the second half on Cardinal players who were standing perfectly still when a Tar Heel drove to the basket.
Looking forward to the game at Virginia. That should tell us a lot more about this team.
These boys like to ball and we like it!
I think the wing span of our defenders are a real factor in the defense arsenal, and reducing turnovers well, speaks for itself.