Louisville

Like civilizations, all great basketball programs eventually fall.. replaced by an upstart newcomer. In this week's Rise & Fall series, we'll take a look at which BCS programs are rising, falling, or merely treading water. Up today, the:

BIG EAST

Following my  2009 Field of 65 & Projected All-Americans, here is an early look at the 2008-09 All-Freshman Team.

First Team
G - Jrue Holiday - UCLA
G - Brandon Jennings - Arizona
G - Tyreke Evans - Memphis
F - Greg Monroe - Georgetown
F - Samardo Samuels - Louisville

Second Team
G - Demar DeRozan - USC

PARADE ALL-AMERICANS

FIRST TEAM (Name, School, City, Height)

Brandon Jennings - Arizona - Mouth of Wilson, Va. - 6'2"
Samardo Samuels - Louisville - Newark, N.J. - 6'9"
Tyreke Evans - ? - Aston, Pa. - 6'6"
Jrue Holiday - UCLA - North Hollywood, Calif. - 6'4"
Tyler Zeller - UNC - Washington, Ind. - 7'0"
Al-Farouq Aminu - Wake Forest - Norcross, Ga. - 6'9"
B.J. Mullens - Ohio State - Canal Winchester, Ohio - 7'1"
Demar DeRozan - USC - Compton, Calif. - 6'6"
William Buford - Ohio State - Toledo, Ohio - 6'5"
Greg Monroe - Georgetown - Harvey, La. - 6'10"

One of the fun but also sometimes frustrating aspects of the NCAA Tournament is that CBS televises multiple games at once. This can lead to some exciting in-game looks at close exciting games, but it also means you might be missing the game you really want to see. CBS released their coverage maps of Thursday's Sweet Sixteen action, and I've linked to the maps for each time-slot below.

Louisville Cardinals

Big East (24-8, 14-4)

Seed: #3

East Region

RPI: 13

Games of the Night

A companion to our daily Three Stars of the Day, we present the top three Games of the Night.

The Top Performers at Primetime Shootout in Philadelphia

Samardo Samuels (St. Benedict’s, NJ) #7 Class of 2008 (Louisville)
27 points and 17 rebounds

Samardo has completely dominated this season so far earning MVP awards at each tournament his team has attended. He is a very strong post player with the ability to step out and hit the mid-range jumper but does most of his damage down low. He is going to be an impact player next year in college he combines size with agility and does a great job on the boards.