Given that Sunday evening’s upcoming halftime show, bookended by two halves of football, shall take place nearby, any number of hundreds of lead-in shows have come from Alcatraz.

Scenic, I suppose.

ACC Country is a continent away from the iconic prison, but make no mistake, U of L’s 88-80 victory over Wake Forest was an escape.

Of the harrowing variety.

No Burt Lancaster, but what the hell, call the Cardinals the Birdmen of Winston Salem.

Louisville made 27/51 of its FGs. 53%.

Ten of their 25 attempted triples. 40%.

In what evolved as FT shooting contest — Where’s the Elam ending when we really need it? — the Cardinals drained 24/31. 77%.

And yet . . . and yet . . . against a Demon Deacon squad that had, coming in, lost 4 in a row, 6 of 7, 8 of 10, U of L’s once 15 point advantage (which should have been greater frankly) had totally evaporated with 4:44 left.

80-80. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Wake Forest →

Thinking long term, which seems apropos since it’s that February turn for the home stretch of the season, there’s a singular vision that haunts.

And, no, it’s not Kasean Pryor firing a triple, thereby pushing  good fortune during far and away his signature performance of the year. As scary as that open FG attempt from the corner was.

I’m thinking of viewing back-braced J’Vonne Hadley trundling through the tunnel beneath the stands toward the locker room with plenty of time left in the 1st.

Listed as “Probable” before the tilt, he started. Then exited for the duration with a lone rebound on his stat line in three minutes of action.

This is not an inconsequential development, given his importance and that the rest of the Cardinals’ ACC schedule is daunting. Plus a trip to the Lone Star state.

Stagnant in the first half, U of L steadied to prevail 76-65.

It was a blessing that injury-plagued Notre Dame, losers of 7 of 8 coming in, was the opponent. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Notre Dame →

It was disturbing and obvious at the start, that the Louisville Cardinals had not dusted themselves off from the butt kicking last time out in Durham.

At the first media timeout, the Cards trailed 4-14 to the stampeding Mustangs.

Four different visitors had already netted a wide open three.

Defense was lax.

Coming off the bench due to some missed practices, Mikel Brown was compounding his felonies of the last outing. Three turnovers in three minutes.

Something was amiss.

Louisville was out of sync. To say the least.

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That U of L trailed only 44-47 at the break was a testament to ??? Continue reading U of L CardFile: SMU →

With 4:30 left in the opening half, Louisville had overcome.

Overcome a weekend of travel uncertainty because of weather.

Overcome having to fly to Tobacco Road on game day.

Overcome a torrid start by the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor.

Overcome a scoring drought of seven minutes or so, when the Cards missed nine field goals in a row.

Then, a triple, followed by an old fashioned three point play, followed by another trey and . . .

. . . lo and behold, the scoreboard read Visitors 25, Home 24. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Duke →

It is now time — long past time actually — for you conspiratorial Philistines to crawl back down that hole you crawled out of.

Let Snowmageddon freeze it shut and seal you there once and for all and forever.

I’m talking about those who came with No Nothing Chitter Chatter about Mikel Brown Jr during his injury absence.

Calling into Glorious Editor’s or Marques Maybin’s show and espousing some BS you heard from a dude on his 11th Bud at Gerstle’s how MB and his dad are keeping him out because: 1) They don’t want to hurt his draft stock; (As if that strategy actually made sense.) or 2) They want more money, or 3) Some other poo poo ka ka.

During Brown’s absence, the Cards went 4-4 (following a 9-1 start with him), averaging 15 less ppg.

In case you were tied up standing in a check out line at Aldi behind people actually handwriting checks for their groceries and balancing their account before moving on, here’s what Brown did on Saturday in Louisville’s 85-71 W over an icy hot shooting, shot blocking Virginia Tech squad.

After in case you didn’t notice, Brown wore his back brace during warmups. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Virginia Tech →

Here’s what will put all the exotic animals to sleep at the Oakland zoo.

An Isaac McKneely three, a Sananda Fru deuce, a J’Vonne Hadley deuce, another IM trey, and one more McThreely.

In Louisville’s first six possessions.

13-0.

An astonishingly ineffective Pittsburgh team was on its heels and out of the game from the tip.

Skeptical the orangutans may be of changes in the their cages, but they were in slumber early.

The Panthers all seemed like they’d gotten into the zookeeper’s cache of rum.

With seven and half left before intermission, the Cards were up 39-8.

+31 was the margin at the break. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Pitt →

Listening to her say it over and over again through the decades was fingernails across a blackboard. A car with a bad differential.

It drove me crazy, her got to phrase, an admonition really, an astute but bracing bit of advice to accept life’s exigencies.

“It is what it is.”

In the years that I’ve come to accept the wisdom of the perception, it still is hard to accept the reality of certain situations.

Like at times like this for Louisville Cardinals.

Mama said there’d be days like this, mama said, mama said.

Louisville 70 , Virginia  79.

Here’s the reality, Cardinal fans.

Without Mikel Brown, U of L will be nip and tuck to make the NCAA tournament. They are 3-4 since he went down.

It is what it is. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Virginia →

My name is Seedy K, and I am most assuredly a hoopaholic.

I realized how my addiction had taken hold this Monday morning, when I was on the SoCon Network, watching a video interview with Samford AD Martin Newton, who is vice chair of the tournament selection committee.

After reviewing a run down of all the weekend’s games at Field of 68. Checking out the NCAA NET Rankings, Bart Torvik (whose rankings are now part of the selection data considered), Evan Miya and Ken Pomeroy, whose metrics are also officially considered.

Also I tripped to Bracket Matrix, which is a compilation of projected fields by the so-called bracketologists.

 * * * * *

Here’s where the Louisville Cardinals currently stand analytically. Alongside Virginia, Tuesday night’s foe, because of Rule #1: You Only Play Whom You Play.

NET: Louisville 18, UVa 16.

Torvik: Louisville 17, UVa 12.

Miya: Louisville 18, UVa 14.

Pomeroy: Louisville 16, UVa 15.

So, for all of you Cardinal diehards with an opinion who have a life outside of this, and don’t pay as much attention, the Cavaliers have better metrics, and beating them is far from an “oughta be.” Continue reading Hoopaholic’s Gazette: Assessing Cards’ Situation →

Art.

That’s where I’m going to start.

Not by invoking my favorite Cardinal Art(s), Kaplan and Zubrod. Who somewhere up there watched this together, as they do, making sure the Cards make their FTs.

I mean art art.

Specifically Alexander Calder.

You familiar with this 20th C artist of note?

He’s most famous for his mobiles.

Different geometric shapes hanging in various configurations by thin wiring. Which somehow stay in balance, though it never seems like it ought to be.

That’s the brilliance of the configurations.

That’s also the importance of team chemistry. Balance. Each portion in its place.

Ah, but but subtract a piece, move one to a different spot . . .

. . . no more balance.

Koyaanisqatsi. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Boston College →