Only one week into
conference play, the Louisville Cardinals have already discovered they are
not in Conference USA anymore. After playing a non-conference schedule
with more cupcakes than Saturday Night Live’s “Lazy Sunday” skit, the
Cards began their inaugural season in the super-sized Big East against
third-ranked Villanova. The Wildcats, who were a phantom traveling call
away from the Elite Eight last year, returned four starters (and would’ve
returned five had Curtis Sumpter not blown out his knee before the season)
and were the highest ranked conference foe Louisville had played in
years. Poor shooting, foul trouble, and inexperience doomed Rick Pitino’s
overmatched bunch, who fell to Villanova, 76-67.
In C-USA, Louisville
would have had the luxury of bouncing back form the ‘Nova game against a
string of mediocre foes. But the Big East has very few East Carolinas or
Southern Mississippis. Only 48 hours after losing to ‘Nova, the Cards
traveled to Providence, a squad picked to finish 13th in the
Big East before the season. They quickly found out this ranking was
deceiving, trailing the Friars 34-30 at halftime before making key shots
in the final minutes to prevail, 72-67. The game was proof that in the
Big East, even the lower-tier teams are tough outs.
The transfusion of
three of C-USA’s top four programs (Marquette and Cincinnati being the
other two) has created a conference unlike any college basketball, or
Louisville, has ever seen. Seven schools in the Big East have won a
national championship. All but one have reached the Final Four. More
important, the tradition is balanced with talent. Six teams are ranked in
each of the current Top 25 polls, and the Big East is seeking to receive a
record number of bids to the NCAA Tournament this season. Unfortunately
for the Cards, they are playing as tough a conference schedule as any in
their inaugural season as members. In addition to playing home-and-homes
with Villanova and Connecticut, both ranked in the Top 5, Louisville also
plays Cincinnati, and must play experienced teams at Syracuse and West
Virginia.
If Pitino and company
are to remain among the nation’s elite in their unfamiliar territory, they
must do so with players who are equally unfamiliar.
The Cards have seven new players, including sophomore transfer David
Padgett, and only two returning from the primary six-man rotation that
propelled them to the 2005 Final Four. As their game
against Villanova showed, Louisville’s youth has forced Pitino to rely on
inexperienced players in meaningful minutes. When star guard Taquan Dean
was benched against the Wildcats with three first half fouls, freshmen
such as Andre McGee, Terrence Williams, Bryan Harvey and Chad Millard saw
extended time.
Against ‘Nova’s lethal
quartet of guards, however, the Cardinals’ young backcourt was in over its
head. Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi scored 54 of
Villanova’s 76 points against Louisville, hitting key threes to stop
Louisville runs and showing superior quickness throughout the game. In a
league stocked with talented guards such as West Virginia’s Mike Gansey,
Rutgers’ Quincy Douby, and Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara, the Cards must
improve their backcourt play if they hope to compete.
Villanova’s four-guard
lineup also exposed another weakness Louisville must remedy if it wants to
succeed in the Big East: rebounding. The Cardinals, who seemed to have
the edge on the glass against the smaller Wildcats, were outrebounded
42-34, managing only 8 offensive rebounds the entire game. Louisville was
also outrebounded against Providence, 35-34. If the Cards are to gain the
upper hand on the boards, their leading rebounders must stay out of foul
trouble. Foul trouble put sophomore forward Juan Palacios on the bench in
both conference games, and David Padgett was forced to sit against
Providence after his third foul early in the second half. Although
Louisville has built its reputation on Pitino’s brand of basketball,
pressing full court and raining three-pointers, they must alter their
style to a traditionally bruising league where a good box-out is just as
important as a good jump shot.
After
demolishing UC Davis on Monday night, Louisville enters a brutal
three-week stretch where it must face undefeated Pittsburgh, Connecticut,
Cincinnati, and Villanova again. Although the Cards are likely to suffer
at least a few defeats in the coming weeks, Pitino is hoping that superior
conference play will prepare his team for the postseason in a way that
Conference USA could not. Consider Memphis, an old nemesis of
Louisville’s who remains in the new-look C-USA. Despite a solid
non-conference schedule and Top 5 talent, the Tigers’ conference slate is
so weak that Coach John Calipari faces the prospect of not playing a
single ranked opponent in the last two months of the regular season.
While it might translate into easy wins and a higher seeding, Pitino hopes
that a more difficult conference lineup will translate into postseason
success. The Cardinals certainly are not in Conference USA anymore, but
that’s a good thing.
