Tag Archives: Donovan Mitchell

Hump Day Hustle: Ch . . . Ch . . . Ch . . . Changes!

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Now, as we bid a sad adieu to long time Cardinal fan favorite QB Luke McCaffery, let’s take a deep dive into his highlights in the red and black:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean really, the memories, so many memories, they boggle the mind. What a career here.

It was, allow me to be brutally honest, really difficult to pick and choose.

I’m sure that CardChronicle.com pigskin guru Keith Wynne will weigh in soon. He’ll have a more astute analysis.

The whole transfer portal thing is wacky enough. And, truly hard for us old school guys to take a liking to.

But this, this is the reality of the current state of affairs in its most severe form.

Mobility reigns.

The kid couldn’t win the job at Nebraska. Transferred to U of L under the delusion he’d immediately become the top dog signal caller. Then, before ever taking to the practice field, realized that wasn’t the case. Nor, obviously it appears, does he have the gumption to try and work for the job.

Luke, got a suggestion for you: Missouri State.

Oh yeah, sayonara. So long, it’s been swell to know ya.

 * * * * *

So, I gots to ask this about Donovan Mitchell.

How come at U of L we never saw this transcendent player he’s become — one of, oh, the ten best in the NBA?

He averaged 7.4 and just under a couple of assists per game as a freshman, on the team that purposely sat out the tourney, per the school prexy. As a soph, he was leading scorer at 15.6, on a 25-9 team that captured U of L’s last NCAA W, a first rounder over Jacksonville State.

But he wasn’t, you know, the Donovan Mitchell who’s taken the NBA by storm, averaging 20.5 ppg and 3.7 apg and 3.7 rpg as a rookie. Increasing those numbers every single season.

Three 45 point playoff performances. Putting him in rare territory.

So, yeah, I wanna know?

Is he simply a late developer? A kid who didn’t discover his mojo until he donned a Jazz jersey?

Or, was he handcuffed as a collegian, by his coach, who advised him he wasn’t ready to play for pay?

Asking for a friend?

 * * * * *

Read a great article today about all the changes in college hoops, and how schools are having to change and add to their staffs.

Analytical experts.

Marketing savants.

Specialized recruiting authorities. For prepsters and portal dwellers.

It’s a whole new game. As if you haven’t noticed.

Which is one of the reasons, I’ve become totally comfortable with Chris Mack’s staff changes.

The idea of Ross McMains is growing on me.

Seems like a bold move.

If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just push him in the portal.

— c d kaplan

Cards vs. Cats, Sort Of

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Thanks to the Southeastern Conference decision to play pigskin during the pandemic within the confines of its own confederacy, there will be no Feathers vs. Fur football matchup for the first time since The Schnell, demonstrating his patented stentorian perseverance, willed the annual rivalry.

(My apologies for way too much alliteration in the opening paragraph, even a whole article.)

Yet hope remains that Louisville and Kentucky shall meet on the hardwood somewhere over the rainbow. This season. Fingers crossed.

But there is a fascinating reasonable facsimile — at least a bone (with lots of meat still on it) tossed our way — in what has gone down in the first round Western Division matchup between the absurdly nicknamed Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets.

Former Louisville Cardinal Donovan Mitchell vs. former Kentucky Wildcat Jamal Murray. Continue reading Cards vs. Cats, Sort Of →

Mitchell, Rozier & the Dean/Jordan Meme

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So, if you happen to be a Louisville Cardinal fan and happened to be out and about last night and couldn’t watch in real time so you taped the Jazz/Rockets game to view later before bed or today, hoping that our main man in the Beehive State was able to lead his underdogs to another W in the Western semis . . .

. . . well . . . (Spoiler Alert!) fuhgettabout any prolongation of the series.

Buuuuuuuut, if you haven’t watched yet, just fast forward to the 3d Q, during which interlude, one Donovan Mitchell, former matriculator on the Belknap Campus, went . . .

. . . en fuego. (Or if you prefer the first translation Google spit out, en llamas.)

Donovan was, it ain’t hyperbole, Jordanesque. It was a fashion show of twists and swirls and crossovers and Eurosteps and reverses and banks and follows and deuces and treys. He tallied double deuces. Which, to put in proper context, was a greater sum for the period than the entirety of the home team, which just so happened to win more games this season than any other.

Plus he was dishing out no look dimes that were, dare I say it, Magical. Continue reading Mitchell, Rozier & the Dean/Jordan Meme →

Louisville CardFile: Boston College

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Panache (puh-nash): a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair.

It is a noun rarely used in the sports vernacular, more usually found when some fashion guru with a purple pen is describing the John Varvatos spring men’s clothing collection.

But, ever the rebel, with a mind still a bit hazy from overdoing it in the 70s, I won’t back down. Since it’s the word that came to mind as Mangok Mathiang displayed any number of moves around the hoop in a cruise control 90-67 U of L W on Saturday afternoon in Chestnut Hill.

Jump hook. Up and under. Fake right, go left. Vice versa.

Mangok Mathiang, Silent K, a guy a pundit recently called “a solid third string pivot” — OK, it was me. A center of which it was stated, “he’ll never be a force of consequence on offense.” Yeah, that was also c’est moi.

So, excuse me a second while I take another drink of water to wash down my words and some gristle of crow.

Like a butterfly from a coccoon, Silent K is morphing into Special K.

Which is probably a bit too much hyperbole. But, really now, who saw this offensive, uh, panache coming? Certainly not me.

In 24 minutes of action off the pine, MM canned 7 of 11 shots from the field and both of his FTs for 16 points. Yes it came against Boston College, an eminently mediocre squad with little inside presence . . . but still.

Those shots that he’s short-armed throughout his career are now caressing the board and netting.

And he’s still windexing that glass and playing steady D.

It’s February kids, in the wackiest college hoops season in memory, and another piece of the Cardinal puzzle has apparently found its spot. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Boston College →

Louisville CardFile: NC State

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There are ever so many things that Rick Pitino does as a mentor that are as good or better than any other member of the coaching fraternity. There are valid reasons other than his sartorial splendor that he’s in the Hall of Fame.

Arguably his best attribute is what he’s been able to do through the years when he’s got enough time to prepare, and the foe has one player who is clearly the team’s star and go to guy and needs to be disenfranchised.

The Rick can fashion a game plan that takes that baller out of his game, out of the ballgame and turns him into a non-factor.

The latest example is State’s Dennis Smith Jr., the best frosh point guard in the land not named Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, or De’Aaron Fox. “A sure first rounder” is what the NBA Draft wags say.

Well, thanks to another boffo game plan and execution, Jr. never got untracked against the Cardinals Sunday afternoon. Hell, he hardly had room to breathe. At the half, his team already down a dozen on its way to a 25 point shellacking, he had but four points on 2/8 shooting.

He had only 6 when the Cards were up 30 at 76-46.

He finished with 8, 11 under his average, on 3/12 shooting. His 6 assists were wiped out by 5 turnovers.

The Cards’ game plan was perfecto. Jr. needed an extra long shower after the loss just to wash off all the Cardinals’ defense.  Continue reading Louisville CardFile: NC State →

Louisville CardFile: Clemson

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Ever the contrarian, I must disagree with Rick Pitino, who was with one exception generous in his praise for the Cardinals after they broke Clemson just before halftime and continued the slaughter the final twenty, prevailing 92-60.

“The guys did a great job tonight in every phase of the game.”

“They were great on offense tonight. This is a very good defensive team. We shot 63 percent in the first half, 51 percent in the second. It was a great performance by our guys.”

When talking of Jaylen Johnson (12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, one of which was U of L’s best skip pass of the year to Deng Adel in the weakside corner for a three), RP called the Cards huskiest big “relentless in his work ethic.”

But, then, referring to the double technical that sent JJ to the showers along with his Tiger adversary Elijah Thomas, Pitino offered that the Kid from Ypsilanti “sort of spoiled a really good night by stooping to a different level.”

And that’s where I must disagree with the Cardinal coach, while acknowledging as I must that he has two national crowns and hundreds and hundreds more Ws than I. I shall not allow that resumé disparity get in the way of offering a contrary take.  Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Clemson →

Louisville CardFile: Indiana

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ccjoaniecardWith 15:28 to play in the Countdown Classic in America’s best basketball arena, Indy’s Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Louisville’s once fifteen point advantage over Indiana had been whittled to 46-36.

During that media timeout, I turned to my pal Doc and offered that the critical juncture in this harum scarum tilt was at hand. Who was he to disagree?

Sure enough, the Hoosiers cut the U of L lead to six at the 11:57 media stoppage, 50-44. Plus IU would have possession when play resumed. The candy-striped crowd — the place, dominated by loyalty-clothed Hoosier fans, looked like Willie Wonka’s factory — was momentarily pumped.

It is at this point in my narrative that I need to and shall recant my opinion rendered in the Comments section of my UVa game report. Donovan Mitchell, it now appears, is no longer, if he ever was, mired in a “sophomore slump.” My apologies for that ersatz judgement.

When play resumed, Ray Spalding pilfered the rock from the Hoosiers. Mitchell then, as I am wont to say, grabbed the battle, such as a smackdown of this order might be called, by the short and curlies.

He drained a trifecta. 53-44. The Cards forced a turnover on their foe’s next possession. Mitchell put his ath-e-let-i-cism on display with a wondrous drive to the hoop. 55-44. After a quick IU counter, Mitchell pulled out the Bill Raftery dagger, plunging it into the Hoosiers’ heart with another three. 58-44.

All together now: Ball Game!!! Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Indiana →

Louisville CardFile: William & Mary

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dunikcardBecause his game was so smooth and effortless, Jamal Wilkes’ nickname was “Silk.”

He went by his real middle name Keith when he was a two-time All American at UCLA, during the Bill Walton years.

He’s the Hall of Famer who came to mind last evening as I watched V.J. King fashion his 17 point, 5 rebound performance in U of L’s 91-58 beatdown of The Tribe.

King was smooth. King’s game appeared effortless, though we know how that works. And it was nothing if not efficient. Seven of those points and a couple rebounds came in the first half, when King was only on the hardwood for four minutes.

His moves to the bucket can’t really be described as slashes. He finds a crack in the D, and wends — slithers — his way through the opening, for a deft but more difficult than it looks floater or short J. Or he drives all the way for the lay in, if the space is there.

He just never seems to be rushing or trying to fashion something when nothing is there.

In thirteen second half minutes, he tallied ten more points, and nabbed three more boards.

In just his second game as a Cardinal, King looked to justify the double arches hype surrounding his arrival on the Belknap campus. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: William & Mary →

Louisville CardFile: Evansville

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ccjoaniecardCorrected 11/12 10:00 am

After eleven minutes of play, Coach Rick Pitino was, to say the least, not a happy camper.

(I’m being gentle. This is a family friendly blog.)

He was furious.

At that juncture, the Purple Aces, shorter by 3′-5″ per man, were matching the taller Cards carom for carom off the glass at both ends.

As quick or quicker than the speedy Cards, Evansville had beaten U of L down court twice in a row for fast break gimmes.

When Mangok Mathiang was Teed after a slam up for hanging on the rim/ slapping the glass/ or some infraction spotted only by the zebra with a whistle, The Rick ran onto the court apoplectic.

But when Jaylon Brown drained treys on consecutive possessions to push the visitors ahead 26-20, Pitino had had enough. I could feel the heat coming from his ears in the corner auxiliary press box.

Whatever the admonitions to his charges were, and what emphatic words the coach may have used to deliver them during that thirty seconds, the message was obviously heard. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Evansville →

Louisville CardFile: Bellarmine

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joaniecardA few observations about the Cards after the final tune up against crosstown foe Bellarmine.

Rick Pitino was not mincing words when he said postgame: “We have a lot of weaknesses we need to work on.”

They were masked in the opening half against the Knights. The visitors from Norris Place seemed blinded by the lights and the big stage.

Early on, Louisville used its superior speed, height and talent to overwhelm Scotty Davenport’s team. The Knights were spooked into 3/16 shooting (18.8%), and 16 turnovers before halftime.

The Cards ran and shot before halftime. Especially hitting half their treys. 7/14.

After the break, U of L showed how young they are, how much this edition of the Cards is a work in progress with a new O and new D to learn and execute, and what happens when they lose focus. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Bellarmine →