In a battle between a couple of evenly matched teams, it can take but a quick interlude of momentary superiority for separation.
On the court, peripherals factor to a degree.
That one team is without its best player with injury.
That the other wants revenge for losing less than a week ago in its final home tilt of the season.
That one spilled blood in the 1st. Eye gash. Lip split. Eye poke.
That the other was iffy for the most part at the FT line, but hit key ones.
That one turned it over too much, and the other cashed in.
That one, out of sync, never lost its grit, stayed scrappy.
Surely those subliminals matter for the entire affair.
* * * * *
Except for a minute and thirty four seconds soon right after halftime, all that and more was a wash.
The Cardinals, with smoke and mirrors perhaps but mostly scrappiness in abundance, led by a penny at the break, 38-37.
Even though they were -7 in points off turnovers.
Miami tallied a deuce on the first possession after the break.
The Cards answered with a triple.
Then the telling, deciding interlude.
In 1:34, the victorious Hurricanes ran off 10 unanswered. A trey. A deuce in the paint. A pair of FTs. Another two, and a lone FT.
Miami scored on each of its initial six possessions after intermission.
U of L failed to answer. A missed longball, a shot blocked, consecutive turnovers.
41-49.
Ball Game.
That Louisville as always continued to fight and claw, twice improbably cutting their deficit to a point, wasn’t enough.
Louisville 73, Miami 78.
* * * * *
As the game wended its way to the buzzer, there were plenty of ifs and buts and coulda woulda shouldas.
I have zero inclination to make a list.
The Cardinals imperfections showed.
The Cardinals relentlessness did also.
Haphazardly at times, they stayed in the fray, gave themselves a shot.
It wasn’t enough.
The Cards were warriors.
That’s all this fan can ask for.
I started just now to list the players that were the most impactful, psychologically, statistically.
But you know, from where I’m sitting, they all gave it what they could, given all of Thursday afternoon’s exigencies.
Some to positive effect.
Some not so.
* * * * *
Every school in the land but the league champions shall lose this week.
I, for one, had no delusion that Louisville somehow would win four straight.
They didn’t. Won one. Lost to an equal foe.
Sunday evening we find out who’s next?
— c d kaplan
Gritty , and I must ask is Brown really leaving? Seems like nil money should keep him, as how he would play many games in the NBA , I seriously can’t see it.
But what do I know.
Get rest and do good fellas.
Seedy is not carried away. ☹️
If we had a Udeh type at the 5, we would be a top 10 team for sure. Fru is soft. Wonder why Zou did not play the second half. Rooths played well in the first half and barely played in the second. Why? Like the fight but still disappointing.
“When we’re hitting shots, we’re a tough team to beat,” UofL senior guard Isaac McKneely said. “I’m not worry worried a bit about our offense.”
I AM. Isn’t that the entire problem ? Going 12/50 from 3 in these two games and today facing a team with an imposing front court is the same recipe for disappointment we’ve been witness to all season.
This was the best team our NIL $$ could buy and was assembled this way by our coaching staff.
I just wanna make sure that Hadley’s fabulous play is recognized / as this RETURNING player was the one bright spot in a completely flawed team.
One and done seems inevitable. Yes playing hard is commendable. They’re getting paid.
I’ve certainly been doing my best to give J’Vonne Hadley his props.
We don’t know if this is the best team we could get. Since the beginning I’ve been trying to find out where U of L’s NIL money is coming from, besides my small periodic contributions. Don’t know. Doubt we have the resources of some schools. Rumors are rumors.
Which is to say we don’t know what players we tried to get who went for bigger checks elsewhere. Other than Nate Ament.
An old guy who cherishes the more halcyon days, I’m not as down as some fans on this team.
This is our flawed team. All I ask, as I wrote, is that they play hard.
Supposedly we were one of the top NIL spenders in college basketball. I would believe that.
Operative word: “Supposedly.” Not saying it isn’t true, just don’t know how the numbers get reported? Like UK at $22 million. Could be, but there’s no actual evidence.
I have talked with several of the long time big time donors to U of L Athletics. All said they haven’t given to NIL, their money goes to the school. I believed them when they indicated they didn’t know who are the bid NIL donors.
So, maybe we spent a lot of money. But who knows?
A LOT of smoke there. The organizers of the 502 collective flat out stated they had a war chest approaching $20M I believe. My CFA rep, who happens to be Larry O’Bannon told me we are loaded to compete financially with anyone. Then you have the journalists interviewing agents and assistant coaches on who is flashing the most money and we are always mentioned. I don’t have a ledger or a spreadsheet, but I see no reason doubt it. Too many sources confirming it.
https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/college/basketball/
https://bigredlouie.com/posts/louisville-basketball-program-has-a-top-ten-nil-valuation-in-the-country-01j5x9eh3c0j
https://www.si.com/college/louisville/other-sports/502-circle-named-a-top-10-nil-collective
https://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=36939114
https://www.slipperstillfits.com/2025/4/17/24410906/which-college-basketball-programs-have-the-most-nil-money-to-spend
https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2025/4/22/24413300/kentucky-byu-college-basketball-most-money-nil-transfer-portal
When you keep getting mentioned as a top spender in basically every single article on the subject, bank statements or no, you have to accept there is validity to it. Plus considering for an extremely long time we were by far the biggest revenue producing program in the country, and even for what we consider as being down, one of the top attendance drawing programs in the nation, it’s not much of a leap to accept we are spending among the most in NIL money.
Also, don’t make the all too common mistake of assuming that players always choose the offer of the most money, and don’t consider other factors. You’re old enough and experienced enough to not make that mistake that uninformed folks make. By all reports Ament did not get more money to go to UT. In fact it’s been rumored he got less, he just preferred UT over U of L.
Never mind on the part about Louisville offering more to Ament. That was on that dumb Fanstake site. Still, you can’t assume it’s just about more money. Issac Brown reportedly had better offers from some SEC schools, but decided to take less and stay a Cardinal.
Seedy – All props to you for the past 2 years continually showing the rest of us how intensely valuable Hadley has been to both Kelsey’s teams – My hope is some way he finds his journey isn’t over and lands a spot on an NBA or European roster as he is a true gamer – 👍
https://www.slipperstillfits.com/2025/4/17/24410906/which-college-basketball-programs-have-the-most-nil-money-to-spend
https://bigredlouie.com/posts/louisville-basketball-program-has-a-top-ten-nil-valuation-in-the-country-01j5x9eh3c0j
https://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=36939114
At some point when you keep getting mentioned as one of the top spenders in virtually every article on the subject you have to believe there is something there. Especially when local sources are saying the same thing. When you consider that for many years we were the top revenue producing program in college basketball (on the record), it’s not a huge leap to accept that there is validity to all the noise.
Sorry versions of this got posted twice. I tried once and it didn’t show up. Tried again and it didn’t show up again. Gave up. Checked back, and both of them are there. Wtf?
Thanks guys for playing hard but the outcome was inevitable. Just a team
too frayed around the edges.
First two commandments from the Naismith 10: thou shall take care of the ball and 2, thou shall play defense with all thy heart and all thy soul.
Our D wasn’t bad.
Would you say sterling? The middle is as porous as a pasta colander.
No, I wouldn’t say sterling, but not horrible. Of course, it could have been better. Difference in points in paint was only 6. So, I guess taller, more talented underneath Miami also played colander D.
My observations go not only to this game but to the total body of work against Quad 1 opposition. Not too pretty-was it?
If anyone can find out, I would be interested to know how much per game Brown got riding the “pine”.
physical attributes like height, wingspan, strength, speed, agility, fast twitch muscle fiber wins when equal coaching and desire/effort exists Our team does the best it can most of the time . Even when passers know where and when to pass or shooters know when to shoot, but underestimate the physical attributes of their opponents turnovers occur and shots are blocked.
^^^This^^^
PK is going to have to improve his talent evaluation skills. Coming from a lower level he probably thought these guys are better than they actually are. Now he has seen how they matchup against true elite competition. Hopefully he better understands the level of athlete he needs to recruit. I saw this in the very first exhibition game, and said as much at the time, and I’m on record as such…
“October 24. 2025 at 10:47 pm
We absolutely do not have elite level talent across the board. If we are not hitting our 3’s we are screwed against top level competition. We simply cannot match up physically. That doesn’t mean we will not have some great wins, but Sweet 16 is probably the ceiling unless we get hot at exactly the right moment. The physical talent is what it is, and it ain’t great, obviously.”
Seedy, being the smartass that he is, replied…
“Right. We might not win a game all year.” – Seedy K 😏
https://www.seedyksports.com/2025/10/24/kansas-exhi-takeaways/#more-568779