Category Archives: Basketball

Cardinal Hoops: A Settlement & A Commitment

Basketball,

Noteworthy developments in U of L Cardinal hoops this week are positive, I suppose.

Though two have loose ends fraying about the edges.

At the third, Louisville Live, a good time was apparently had by all.

Juco phenom Jay Scrubb announced that he’ll bring his basketball talents back home to ball for the Cardinals. That is, if he does decide to continue his higher education, if he doesn’t jump directly to the pros.

It’s a good get despite the residue of uncertainty and sets a tone for other Cardinal recruits that the Yum! is the place to play.

So I’m happy about that, but somewhat ambivalent about the other news. Continue reading Cardinal Hoops: A Settlement & A Commitment →

Reflections from Louisville Live

Basketball,

Like many in the throng, the thirtysomething brother was wearing a Cardinal throwback.

Unlike most, his was old school.

Number 31.

“Wes Unseld. Nice, he was the best,” I said. “We were in school at the same time.”

He was just one of the thousands of Red & Black loyalists who were out in force Friday night for the type of event that’s become de rigueur in college hoops.

The lights, cameras, action & loud loud music razzmatazz spectacular to herald the beginning of hoops. Fans were twenty rows deep and crowded on balconies around a Dunking Cardinal festooned half court under roof at Fourth Street Live. A red carpet half a block long awaited the entrance of the stars.

(Let’s hear it for the triumphant return of the Dunking Card, the greatest logo in U of L sports legacy.) Continue reading Reflections from Louisville Live →

Friday Squawks: Dabo, Roy, K, & the ’86 Title

Basketball, Sports,

Because I’m an inveterate Louisville Cardinal fan, because I still shake my head in awe that the Cards now compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and because I’m justifiably accused of being OCD, I tuned into the premier evening of the ACC Network.

(Besides I’m not a huge fan of the LLWS, and the episode of “Texas Metal” on MotorTrend Channel didn’t intrigue me.)

It was mostly just Show & Tell, since there was no actual live sports action.

Here are a few of the things I learned: Continue reading Friday Squawks: Dabo, Roy, K, & the ’86 Title →

A Curious Week in CardinaLand

Basketball

Seriously now, David Grissom, what the fazook were you thinking?

Though you haven’t practiced law for decades, you are an attorney. Didn’t you remember enough from your Trial Practice seminar to let your counsel prepare you for your deposition? Advise you how to effectively answer open ended questions like the one to which you dropped a stink bomb of an answer?

Were you too cocky? Too Type AAA, too “I can handle this?”

Did you think, as one diehard Card fan has mentioned to me a couple of times, that you figured you could control things in the deposition because you were “the smartest guy in the room?”

Well, dude, you weren’t. Ann Oldfather is as intelligent as she is assertive, a top shelf counselor at the bar.

But, ya know, she was just fishin’. The answer she was probably hoping for was something along the lines of “I don’t specifically recall anything Ramsey knew that he should have shared with the Board, but didn’t.” That would have plenty for her and her client.

But noooooooooooooooooo!!! Continue reading A Curious Week in CardinaLand →

Cards on the 9s: Strange ’09 Campaign ends in Elite Eight

Basketball, ,

This is last of a series of remembrances of U of L basketball seasons for years ending in 9.

Reality first struck as I sat in the ginormous media room of Lucas Oil Stadium before the Cardinals ’09 matchup with Sparty for a trip to the Final Four in Motown.

Expectations soaring after #1 seed U of L drew and quartered Arizona by 39 in the Sweet Sixteen, and with my belly full of Shapiro’s pastrami, potato latkes and carrot cake, I poured over Michigan State data for the first time.

My confidence quickly abated. I recall reading the numbers, looking up, staring into the middle distance, and thinking, “Louisville could lose this. Izzo’s team is good.”

And damned if I wasn’t prescient. The truth struck with terrible swift sword.

Michigan State 64, Louisville 52.

Louisville’s season and 13 game winning skein and strangest of seasons had fizzed out. Continue reading Cards on the 9s: Strange ’09 Campaign ends in Elite Eight →

Cards on the 9s: W over Cats highlights ’99 Campaign

Basketball, ,

This is another in a series of remembrances of Louisville Cardinal basketball teams in years ending in 9.

It’s difficult, and not wise really, to talk about this specific ’98-’99 campaign, without providing context.

Finishing with a record of 12-20, the season before was not only the first losing one of beloved Hall of Famer Denny Crum’s career, it was the first for U of L since the Cards went 7-10 in ’41-’42.

How much did we love the graphic the networks would put on the screen during every national telecast, “Louisville has had 56 consecutive winning seasons.” A matter of pride had been shattered.

After two more seasons, including another 12-19 clunker in ’00-’01, the two-time national champion mentor, who at the top of his game was as good as any who ever coached, would be gone, becoming an ambassador for the university, and giving his time and lending his stature to many charities in the community.

But before that, something not so good was happening to U of L hoops, and nobody really knew exactly what it was.

There are lots of theories. Continue reading Cards on the 9s: W over Cats highlights ’99 Campaign →

Cards on the 9s: Unexceptional Campaign is Pervis’ Farewell

Basketball,

This is the fourth in a series of remembrances of past Cardinal hoops seasons in years ending in 9.

So when I pitched Glorious Editor on the idea of this series, three campaigns of significance came to mind.

’59, when the Cards gained a toehold in the nation’s consciousness. ’79, the season before The Season. And ’09, when there was all sorts of stuff undermining the team we only learned about after the fact.

Some of the other campaigns, upon further examination, turned out to be, well, meh. Nothing, as we say, to write home about.

Like ’88-’89, which opened with an unexpected L to Xavier, denying the Cards and fans a Thanksgiving trip to the Big Apple, and ended abruptly with a 14 point loss to #3 Illinois in the Regional Semi.

In between there were some highlights. At one juncture, after 14 straight victories in December and January, including a 22 point beatdown of UK, and triumphs over Top 20 Georgia Tech and UNLV, Louisville was ranked in the Top 5. Yet the Cards faltered in February, going 5-4. (More on that free fall in a bit.)

Most of all, the campaign shall be remembered by most simply as the last go round for Pervis Ellison, a national champion, Final Four MOP as a rookie,  an unequivocal Cardinal great, and first pick in the ’89 NBA draft. But a fellow who never really became an endearing fan favorite. Continue reading Cards on the 9s: Unexceptional Campaign is Pervis’ Farewell →

Cards on the 9s: ’79 ends with Too Little Too Late

Basketball,

(Third in a series of remembrances of U of L basketball seasons, from years ending in 9. Next: ’89.)

The 1978-79 season, despite the 24 wins against only 8 losses, never found a groove.

It was, to coin a phrase, a winter of discontent.

For the team, especially leader Darrell Griffith.

For Coach Denny Crum.

For the fan base, growing restless.

For the third season in a row, Darrell & Bobby (Turner), local legends since their early teen days at DuValle Jr. High and exploits for Chocolate City in the Dirt Bowl as prepsters, failed to meet heightened expectations. Wunderkind mentor Crum had led the Cards to the Final Four in his rookie season, again in ’75, and the arrival of that duo had the fan base frothing at the mouth in anticipation of more better success.

U of L lost 4 of its final 6 in ’76. Anticipation notwithstanding, the arrival of the wunderkinds didn’t immediately help. The ’77 campaign ended with 5 Ls in the last 8 games; ’78 with an OT defeat to Dave Corzine and DePaul in the MW Regional.

But a hopefully more mature Griffith and Turner, crafty senior Larry Williams, along with a heralded group of newcomers — Scooter McCray, Jerry Eaves, Derek Smith, Wiley Brown — had all pumped for a return to the final weekend of the season. Continue reading Cards on the 9s: ’79 ends with Too Little Too Late →

On the 9s: ’69 Cards were a Scrappy Success

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This is the second in a series, remembering U of L Cardinal teams of the past, in years ending in 9.

John Dromo was pissed.

The second year head coach of the U of L Cardinals certainly let the sports editor of The Cardinal know of his displeasure about a story in the student newspaper.

“Oh yes, I remember,” advises said editor Fred Smart a half century after the dressing down.

“Dromo said his wife was on the verge of tears.”

What possibly could have irked the hoops mentor so?

At that juncture of the season, the surprising Cardinals had moved on from the graduation of Westley Unseld, who was then fashioning a Rookie of the Year, NBA MVP campaign for the Baltimore Bullets, while showing off the greatest outlet pass in the history of the game.

Yes, Louisville’s ’68-’69 season had an ignominious beginning. The varsity had been throttled at Freedom Hall in the then annual rookies vs. varsity preseason clash by the precocious incoming freshman gang of Jim Price, Henry Bacon, Al Vilchek, Mike Lawhon and Larry Carter. 107-90 was the final tally, favor of the newbies. The varsity had turned it over 15 times in the first half.

But the Cards got their act together, and at the time of Dromo’s ire in mid February were 16-3 and atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

What was it then that got Dromo so upset? Continue reading On the 9s: ’69 Cards were a Scrappy Success →

On the 9s: ’59 U of L Cards crash Last Weekend Party

Basketball,

This is the first of a series of remembrances of Louisville Cardinal hoops teams from seasons of years ending in 9. Today: 1959. Coming soon: 1969.

I guess Poachy Marks is as good a place to start as any.

Thanks to him, my dad and I were up close for the upshot of Louisville Cardinal basketball’s most improbable post season run ever.

Poachy owned an eponymously named haberdashery between 4th and 5th on what was then known as Walnut Street. One time when I was in there, so was the brash fellow who was soon to become our burg’s most famous son, then still known as Cassius Clay.

Looking at himself in a new outfit, and without turning away from his image, with that combination of braggadocio and wink, he called out to Marks, “Tell me Poachy, ain’t I the prettiest?”

Anyway, Poachy Marks was connected in the local sports scene. He was known to make a wager or two, and whether he was on the other side of that equation remains a mystery. To me anyway. Because of those connections, Marks scored my dad and me fifth row midcourt seats for the upcoming national semis and final returning for the second year in a row to Freedom Hall, which venue was accelerating toward its status as the epicenter of college hoops.

(Note: The final four didn’t become The Final Four™ until sometime in the mid 70s.)

Little did we realize, ducats in hand, just a couple of weeks beforehand that our beloved U of L Cardinals would implausibly crash that party, joining The Big O, He Who Would Become The Logo, and heralded Pete Newell’s Golden Bears to fight it out for the national crown. Continue reading On the 9s: ’59 U of L Cards crash Last Weekend Party →